PC not starting up. burn marks on PSU 4-pin connector

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Hello,
Just a while ago, I tried starting up my PC, and it simply played dead. It was working perfectly fine 10 minutes before.

I opened the case and started taking it apart and nothing seemed out of the ordinary until I got to the PSU.
The 4 pin motherboard connector had these burn(?) marks on 2 of its pins, as you can see here:
http://i44.tinypic.com/i23b74.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/imotfp.jpg

Thw motherboard is an ASUS M4A87TD/USB3. The PSU is an HEC 420w. I'm not really sure how good it is. Here it is:
http://i43.tinypic.com/6gwxg7.jpg

So what Im trying to figurenp out is what needs to be replaced.
- The PSU is probably dead, right? Is there any way of confirming or testing this? Can I plug it into another motherboard or could it damage it?
- any ideas on how damaged the motherboard, if any? There seem to be no burn marks on its power connectors, but I guess its possible it got damaged as well.
- I'm puzzled how happened out of the blue. Is there a plausible explanation for this or is it just a case of a PSU acting up?

Thanks in advance.
 
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hunter315

hunter315

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May 12, 2009
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That PSU should no longer be used, the burn marks indicate arcing and the burn marks are not conductive so they introduce more resistance into the connector which will just lead to it overheating and possibly melting in the future. That 4 pin connector is used to provide all the power to the CPU. Since the PSU has taken damage it should be replaced, you won't be able to tell if it is the PSU or the motherboard that caused the issue without a new PSU.

What CPU and GPU were you trying to power with that PSU? HEC units are overrated and generally not reviewed but super cheap PSUs tend to be super cheap for a reason. Get a good unit this time, preferably one with all the protections, it should have stopped before it started arcing and burning the connector.
 
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Oh, My bad for not mentioning the rest of the components. The CPU is an AMD Phenom II X4 965, and the GPU is an AMD Radeon 4850.

I guess the first order of business should be to try and obtain a PSU to test the motherboard with?
 
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Thought I'd post an update on my situation.
I borrowed a good Thermaltake PSU and another mobo from a friend of mine.
Thankfully, I confirmed that neither my motherboard nor any other components of the system were damaged.
For the power supply, the results were a bit surprising, the PSU was not actually dead, apparently the power cable connecting it to the outlet was somehow fried. It seems like it's still working, even the ATX 12V connector somehow is still working (if the technician who was testing it is to be believed). However, frying a power cable and the marks on the 12V connector are evidence enough that this power supply can no longer be trusted at all. I've put it aside for the meantime until I buy another good PSU.

Thank you for the help, it's really appreciated!
 
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