Burned out PSU connector?

[xbcrguy182x]

Hi everyone. I was wondering about something. I have been having problems with my pc for the past couple of weeks. It would keep restarting by itself, etc. I narrowed it down to the PSU. Its crappy 420 watt one that came with my Aspire case. I ordered a new PSU an thats on its way (a actual good one for my future build). Enough said about that, I noticed there are burn marks on the 20 pin connector of the PSU. Actually like four burn marks. What do you think could of caused this? I had this PSU for 3 years. Thanks

Specs:
Athlon XP 2100+
MSI KT4VL mobo
512 mb ddr pc2700
2x Maxtor hard drives (40gb and 100gb)
Geforce 4 MX440
Sound Blaster Live 5.1
CD Burner
DVD Burner

 

[LithiumSunset]

Probably the reasoning for the burn marks are because the existing PSU had a spike or two or was subjected to a power surge at some point. If it's a cheap PSU like you say it is, chances are, it's not regulated very well or protected.

 

[xbcrguy182x]

Oh ok, could of this damaged any other components like the motherboard?

 

[Grimmy]

It can.. its very hard to determine what the spike actually damages/reduce life on parts.

I'd take out other stuff to inspect. RAM, Expansion cards, look at the gold/silver leads for burnt spots. As well as 5/12v power molex connections..

Only other thing I'd would do, is to check stablity when you get the new PSU.

Memtest - Prime95 and run them for awhile to get an idea, if those conponents are okay.

 

[Brandons]

My brother had a simmilar problem.. His computer would restart randomly, and occasionally there were video card problems (video would go completely crazy colors and distorted to the max, kinda like throwing little random color lines all pointing outward in a circle on a white peice of paper.. cant describe it well.

I examined it and noticed the 3 3.3volt cpu power cables connection on the 20 pin connector were all burnt, and one was actually melted/broken away (the plastic that is). To the touch while running it was too hot to put your finger on.

The power supply is one of them thermaltake Xaser 3 480 watt silent pure power psu's, which definately surprised me with this problem coming up. I immediately changed to the crappy psu that came with it and absolutely no problem since. Later i took it upon myself to hack into the factory (400watt) psu and added the two fans as well as the cover to it, just for the little extra cooling. I was going to swap the whole psu case entirely but theres no point.. I also kept the wiring for a fan control in tact too.

Heres a couple pictures of the mangled connection..

And the connection the motherboard as of now..

Something else ive noticed about the cheapy psu's, i find that the best brand ive used for cheaper power supplys was Orion, never had a problem yet with one and i havent seen a toast one yet. L&C technologies is ok.. for older machines, and Okia is just plain and total crap, and i cant stress that enough (been through 2 in one week). Better yet ill never use a crappy powersupply in any of my good machines anymore, even this ocz psu seems a bit crappy at 450 watts.


Anyways i hope everything goes perfect once you get it

 

[xbcrguy182x]

Wow...thats really something....While waiting for my new psu to arrive, my pc would only boot up successfully once in a blue moon..lol..One example would be, it turns and doesnt even get to POST..Then after playing with the power connector, it would work fine...RIP $20 PSU...lol

 

[Guest]

Sheeshh.... Did a lightning strike your puter case directly? These are some nasty burns there. You get those if you short a power line directly AND if the fuse doesn't switch at once...

 

[Brandons]

No idea, brothers comp, by the looks of it and the heat from it it seems like an ongoing problem with the psu... i shall test the psu on an old p1 or p2 motherboard and see if it does indeed heat up or not. I doubt it may since theres probably a lot less power being drawn... I also plan on soldering a new connector onto power supply just in case it was the problem. The plastic around the 3.3v pins is very britle and charred almost.

Also i think i found the problem with my old $30 psu, while ripping it apart looking for resistors and other fun crap (such as one of them black chips with the 3 pins out the bottom usually attached to heat syncs, planning on using one for a fan control) part of the board was actually brown and i could see the one pin soldered in were it started. The board is also warped from the heat it looks like.

I think it was a big mistake on my part to even consider that psu for a case with about 9 fans 80mm or over as well as a p4 3.0 (socket 775) with a 6600gt. Im not surprised i went through two, and have learnt from that mistake. Though the power supply i happen to use now is only 450watts and i find its also having problems, so im waiting for the thermaltakes 700watt psu

The machine with the thermaltake psu was an athlon 64 3000+ (socket 754) with a 9800pro one hard drive and 3 fans that are 80mm (two in psu, one on the side). I doubt the psu had any problem powering it so i think its some sort of problem either on board or in the power supply.. Ill find out soon enough.

 

[xbcrguy182x]

Damn...I plan on cracking open my PSU when the new one comes to see the possible damage..

 

[xbcrguy182x]

Cool. btw, I ordered a Thermaltake Purepower 460 watt....I hope its good...

 

[Guest]

I rather doubt the burn marks were caused by lightning. For one thing lightning energy is not going to travel well on the power supply cables, and it would likely have jumped to a healthier conductor somewhere in the system. The other main reason I say this is you didn't mention any shrapnelled components. With enough lightning energy to char connector components there would certainly hve to be some launched ICs or AEL capacitors somewhere in there as well.

My theory about the charring is an underated power supply with wires so small they overheated from the load that was on the supply. As time goes on and the contacts become more oxidised the heating only gets worse.

 

[Dominic_21]

Hi think ive got same problen with a 4pin connector but its melted stuck on the motherboard what can i do