Help, I think I just fried the new system I just built

[Zandelo]

I just built a new pc (see specs below) and fired it up and every thing worked... SWEET! I've built three other systems and never had everything working from the start. I booted it on and off a few times and everything was fine so I powered down it down and called it a day.

The next day I booted it up and had no video, %#@*%!, I heard the XP music come on but no video. I powered it down and check the all the connections and tried to re-boot and go into Bios. This time I still had no video and it didn't try to boot at all. All the fans came on, except the power supply fan, and the mobo led but it didn't boot. I then re-connected most devices and connections and tried to boot again, this time the power supply screamed like a small wounded animal and my mother board started to smell like it was about to burst into flames around the CPU! Ouch, my wallet was now starting to hurt.

I think power supply and mother board are toast, and maybe my CPU. Any ideas on what went wrong or how to test the parts to see which ones are damaged without starting a fire? Your esteemed help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Intel E6600
ASUS P5N32-E 680i SLI
EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320M
Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
Thermaltake Purepower W0129RU ATX12V 600 W
ZALMAN CNPS9500 CPU Cooling Fan

Thanks, Zan

 

[ches111]

Zandelo,

Is there a way for you to post a pic of your cabling /internal setup?

Kinda difficult to talk to/walk through MB headers and such without seeing what you did?

 

[leo2kp]

Bummer man.

Sounds like something shorted and fried. You have decent parts so you either got really unlucky, or something wasn't hooked up right. Good luck :-/

 

[Morg77]

I would start by checking the capacitors on the MB for "doming", scorch marks, or leaking. I know this is a new mobo but its possible. Also, you could pull the CPU and look for discoloration.

I'd say that you probably fried the PSU, just have to find out if it took anything with it. You said you could smell burned plastic, I find that that smell can be deceptive as its strong to a point that it can make you think alot went wrong that didn't.

Check the stuff above, if all is well, check the video card, since the problem started there, check around the pci-e port and check the card. Before you remove it tho, check the placement to see if it was properly seated and so not shorting out.

I know this seems simplistic, but I like to check the easy stuff first before assuming too much and making a whole job of it.

Don't forget to check if the Mobo is shorting to the case.

The above is usually how I start when I smell something burning (has happened a few times) I all looks good then start with a more detailed search for problems (i.e. full dis-assemble)

Good luck,
Jeff

 

[goldragon_70]

Sounds like the power supply started to fail, and damaged itself and everything pulling the most power on it's way. But check like Morg77 said. If it was the power supply and your still under warranty, and you had enough power for your system, and didn’t modify your system, then they owe you for the power supply, your CPU, Mobo, and anything else damaged.

 

[Zandelo]

Thanks for the advice. It turned out to be caused by the mother board shorting out against the case.

Zan

 

[Morg77]

After you fixed the short, does the computer work?

If not, I'd start by just replacing the MoBo, the processor and other parts may still be fine. I'd replace 1 part at a time until it all works.

Let us know.