First time PC build: Power surges detected when starting PC

gened216

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Jul 31, 2010
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I have recently built my first custom build PC. Here are the components:

Thermaltake Core 71 Case Full ATX
I7 6700k
Corsair Vengance RAM 16gb 2400Mhz CAS 14
LG Blue Ray drive
Corsair RM 850W PSU
Corsair H75 Water Cooler
Crucial BX100 500gb SSD
WD Black 2TB HDD
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
ASUS ROG Viii Hero Socket 1151 Motherboard

So, When I got everything together I noticed a cable from the Case's fan control panel needed an adapter. I plugged in the only cable that fit from the PSU's supplied cables. The other end looked like it was keyed in a way to either fit a 4 pin fan connector or something else. I plugged it into a 4 pin fan connector on the MB. The fan control panel has high/low settings, HDD indicator, LED control and the reset button.

On the first attempt to start the PC, everything got power, but seconds after powering up, I heard a buzz then a loud pop....a capacitor on the Case's fan control panel exploded.

I quickly turned it off and took a break.

the next day did some troubleshooting and eventually got everything working.

The 3 200mm blue led fans built into the case went too that circuit board where the capacitor blew. I bypassed that circuit board, plugged the fans directly into the MOBO (one of which is in the same 4 pin connector I had plugged the Fan Control Panel into), left the reset button and HDD LED indicators detached from the MOBO, and that seemed to work.

My problem is that when I cold start the PC, about 50% of the time, it power cycles right after pushing the button and either 1) hangs with a Q code of 00, and sometimes 3 of the 6 fans don't spin after the power cycle, or 2) boots to the UEFI with a notification stating that it had detected power surges on the previous startup and the MOBO took some actions to protect itself from an 'unstable power supply'.

I am worried that when the capacitor blew up that something else was damaged.

I have been able to install Windows and have had no other problems software related, other than when trying to install Boarderlands from the disc, it tells me something about not being able to access some security module.

Please help. I don't really know how to troubleshoot this issue and I would like to know if there is a way to do so, or if I should be ok since everything seems to work after a successful startup. I have read that sometimes the surge protection features on my MOBO can cause this message about the power surges, and that turning that feature off might help, but if my PSU was damaged I don't want to try that method yet.

Much thanks to anyone who helps!!!!!!
 
Solution
Hmm... I'm don't quite follow all of it- especially which cable you connected to the motherboard. Pictures would help.

Is this the fan controller?

Regardless, these troubleshooting steps should help narrow things down.:

1. Disconnect absolutely everything (and i mean everything from the motherboard except the following:

cpu + heatsink,
cpu 4-pin fan to motherboard,
ram,
power switch front panel connector of case,
24 pin psu power cable,
4/8 pin 12v cpu power cable to motherboard.

also disconnect everything from the back of the case- any usb/lan/speaker cables , leaving only the monitor cable to the onboard graphics card and the power supply cable.

Power it on and see if the same issue happens. If it...

jbseven

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Dec 2, 2011
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Hmm... I'm don't quite follow all of it- especially which cable you connected to the motherboard. Pictures would help.

Is this the fan controller?

Regardless, these troubleshooting steps should help narrow things down.:

1. Disconnect absolutely everything (and i mean everything from the motherboard except the following:

cpu + heatsink,
cpu 4-pin fan to motherboard,
ram,
power switch front panel connector of case,
24 pin psu power cable,
4/8 pin 12v cpu power cable to motherboard.

also disconnect everything from the back of the case- any usb/lan/speaker cables , leaving only the monitor cable to the onboard graphics card and the power supply cable.

Power it on and see if the same issue happens. If it does, report here. If not, power off and power-on-test a few times more to make sure. Ideally you should see something like "no boot device found"

2. Install the graphics card and connect the 2x 6/8 pin pci express power connectors from the psu. test.

3. Plug in the hard drives and optical drives and do a power on test. If failure occurs, determine which device is the culprit by disconnecting them one at a time.

4. Connect each fan directly to the power supply's molex connectors (and none to the motherboard) one at a time, powering on each time to test. If failure occurs, discard the fan and continue with the rest until all fans are connected to the power supply. You may need 3/4 pin to molex adapters.

5. Connect your peripherals- usb, speaker, lan and test.

6. Connect all the remaining front panel cables- power led, reset switch, hdd led, and speaker (if any).

That should help narrow things down! Report back here.
 
Solution

gened216

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Jul 31, 2010
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Thanks for taking the time to helpout!

I have tried to narrow down a device that may be causing issues but have had very inconsistent results. Sometimes it would show an error saying that overclocking has failed, and i could only reproduce the power surge error when having several devices plugged in, but this would not happen every time, so it didn't seem like a specific device causing the issue.

The problem only happens when I shut down, cut power completely from the system by flipping the switch and unplugging the power cord, then power the system back up. I also notice the power and reset button LEDs directly on the MOBO do not turn off instantly when I turn off the switch on the PSU, and even when I unplug the power cord. sometimes it takes up to 10 seconds for the LEDs to completely turn off.

I eventually got everything back together, plugged in the cord, turned on my surge protector, waiting 10 seconds, turned on my PSU, then left and came back a few minutes later, when I turned it on it did not give me the error message.

Could it be that the PSU or MOBO has to be somehow primed before starting to avoid tripping the power surge feature?

I will test this theory and see if i can reproduce an error-free start up by waiting longer to turn on the PC. In the mean time I will try to figure out how to post the requested pictures I have taken to this thread.