A microphone killed my computer? 600T corsair case

deadfish

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- I plugged a microphone into the front panel of my 600t special edition corsair case and almost instantly my computer died.

I try reboot from front panel power and nothing happened. I open up the case my computer has a power/ reset on th xfx780i mb... Nothing!

But 1 blue led on the board so I think I now blew a capacitor on the PSU . No plastic smell and I checked for any blown resets power wall cable etc., none found so I am not sure. Hope I didn't kill everything. Any advice on this? :confused: I posted on corsair forum but that place is nearly a ghost town.
 

deadfish

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More info:

... As I am typing this the PSU was still plugged in and a blue led was lite up on the MB... And now on its own I hear some static from my speakers and see the blue light is out?

Dead PSU?

I plugged it back in for a sec after a quick disconnect: blue led on the board but power/reset button pushing not workin. Computer still dead. What's your opinion now? Thanks in advance.

This forum is weird on my iPad
 

makkem

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Hi
Your microphone could not have done this as there is no power to the sockets.However I think the audio sockets are on a plate with usb sockets which have a 5 volt supply.Its possible that the action of unplugging has caused a short in this supply.
Try disconnecting all the cables from the motherboard to this plate and try turning on again ,
 

deadfish

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I unplugged all the USB devices, I unplugged mb connections to the front panel USB ports, and a FireWire connector I unplugged the 24 pin and plugged it back in, plugged and unplugged the PSU
I unplugged the fan controller ... Tried again: not starting up, but this one. Blue led on the mb.


 

makkem

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Hi
It sounds like it could be a power supply problem .
If a fan is running then the 12v line is ok. However the 5v line could be down,this is also the voltage to the usb sockets.
If you can get hold of a multimeter you can do the paperclip thing and read the voltages at a spare molex.
If you are uk or europe you can get cheap meters at Maplin or Conrad.If US try Walmart or radioshack.
 

deadfish

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Thanks Makkem, I think it was a terrible grounding of this PC's motherboard to my new 600T case that contributed to this too.. When I moved the whole unit around 3 screws fell down from the motherboard - and they are very tiny compared to the thickness of the MB, I think they probably had a connection to the frame of about 2 threads and way to loose. So for the rebuild I got my longer screws and some paper/rubber(?) washers.

Also the wiring of the powersw, LED +,-, etc. from the case... I really think that the wiring was screwed up at the factory underneath the front panel. But then again, Everything worked but the mic/headphone part of the front panel.
the HD Audio connection is a no brainer on how that connects its a big chunky connector... unless its messed up under the front panel from the factory wires going to the wrong connectors?

Is there a safe way I can test this front panel again?

I looked at the date of the PSU "2008" I think its time to get a new one. I just really hope I did not fry my motherboard.

This is what I had - it looked great: Athena Power AP-P4ATX55FEC Continuous 550W @ 40°C EPS12V Ver. 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Nickel Coating PS2 ATX v2.2/ EPS12V Power Supply - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817338013
I called Athena and surprisingly they were pretty helpful and quick to answer the phone - so I think they make a decent product.

I will probably step up to a 700W... any suggestions. But I really am worried this is going to happen again the instant I plug a microphone in!?!


 

makkem

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Hi
Yes you could test each part individually with a multimeter set on resistance.
You would need to take one of the cables to the outlet plate and put the meter probes on each of the conductors on the plug.You may need to insert thin wires into the plug if the probes are too big.If the meter shows a very large resistance then it is ok,no short.Also measure between cable conductors and the case metalwork (ground).
Repeat for each of the other cables.If you find a low resistance you will need to either strip out the front panel or leave that cable unconnected.
 

deadfish

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Laugh, I'm not going to do all that. I will press my luck again with a new PSU = atleast it would be under warranty. I guess this burn in my cashfunds just got a little deeper. Going shopping this afternoon.
 

deadfish

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Picked up a 530 PSU by thermaltake. Confirmed that I got functional PSU via paper clip test. Hook up my pc... Blue led... Will not fire up. Now I didn't bother hooking every single item up to the mb just the essentials. The CPU fan never spun up.

Pulled it all out and went back to my original computer case: and again it's dead.

So yea a microphone killed my computer.... Or am I wrong? What else can I do?