I think I may have shorted out something (not related to watercooling)

Mar 10, 2014
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Best explanation, I was playing Dark Souls 2 on offline mode, doing video game photography with downsampling tools when my computer turned itself off abruptly, began to make popping (which I didnt notice at first) and sounds as the intake and exhaust fans basically stopped, the monitor going black and then a godawful sound came from below the computer as it abruptly shutted off with distinctive smells of burning after wards (around 5 seconds).

I tried turning it on again but no avail on seeing POST test. I quickly realized that something might have went wrong physically and thus..

...Hesitantly, I unplugged the mains and unplugged the PSU connection and open it after waiting for the voltage to dissipate. I saw no 'black marks' like those of short-out components like spilling liquid on them but I smell a distinctive smell of smoke coming from the fans, the smell dissipated before I could get whiffs of it from the open case but before that I could best describe it with a hint of plasicness in it. I couldn't exactly pinpoint it but I believe it might've been my PSU.
 
Hi

Personally if you have the skill unplug cables from hard disks, DVD drives, remove the graphics card , get a new good quality power supply such as seasonic

Refit new psu and see it powers up
Boot of a bootable USB memory stick to see if windows or Linux can boot up

Then add back components starting with boot hard drive
Then rest of components to see if they all work or not

Regards
Mike Barnes
 
Mar 10, 2014
19
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4,520


At the moment I cannot remember specifically but it is an 800 W Bronze label Enermax, specs are on my profile. gimmie a sec

System Windows 8.1 64-bit CPU Intel Core i7 3770K @
3.50GHz 33 °C Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology RAM 32.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3
@ 800MHz (10-10-10-27) Motherboard Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Z77-DS3H
(Intel Core i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz) 28 °C

Graphics PL2374HD
(1920x1080@59Hz) 3071MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (ASUStek Computer Inc) 25
°C

Storage 931GB Western Digital WDC WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0 (SATA) 29
°C 119GB SAMSUNG SSD 830 Series (SSD) 25 °C Optical

Drives

DTSOFT
Virtual CdRom Device PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-219L

Audio Card is XONAR DS
 
I don't see any 800 Watt PSU in Enermax's current product lineup that has 80 PLUS BRONZE certification.

LEPA is not Enermax. Both companies are subsidiaries of Ecomaster. Only 20% of LEPA PSU models (i.e. highest end models) are actually made by Enermax and none of them are 80 PLUS BRONZE models.

LEPA has the B Series 800W (B800-MAS) made by CWT (Channel Well Technology) and the MaxBron Series 800W (B800-MB) made by Yue-Lin Electrical Technology. Both have a shorter 2 year warranty period as compared to some other reputable companies that offer 3 year or 5 year warranty on their 80 PLUS BRONZE models.

Your description of failure sure indicates that the PSU failed. Remove the PSU and smell it. It should be giving off the strongest burning electrical scent if it did burn out.
 
Mar 10, 2014
19
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4,520


Ah, sorry about the wrong PSU, but its definitely a 800w PSU due to the fact I have a mid-high end GPU and CPU (780ti and intel i7 3770k) and this is because I don't have the actual rig with me at the moment, its been checked at a place called Budget Computers in Glasgow. Mind you, I did smell burning but how would you exactly describe 'burning eletrical smell'?
 


Burned plastic with some metallic hints. If the strongest smell is coming from inside the PSU then it's definitely a burned out PSU.