Smoke but everything works fine.

[Nantheo]

Motherboard is GA-Z77X-UD3H

So. Let's see... I just built my first computer today. Everything was going swell, no problems during external build and such. Even worked fine when I put everything into the case and did a test boot.

So, thinking I was done, I sealed her back up and tried to turn her on again... nada. Power button on the MB was lit up so I knew it was getting power. Tried multiple times, removing some power supply cables, tightening some (full modular) to see if at least the CPU cooler would turn on. God, I am an idiot. I did not notice I removed the 8-pin connector. PSU must have still had power because it would still try turning on for a half-second, making me think it was still plugged in along with the 24-pin and PCI-E.

Then, one last try, the usual half-second start -- I think I saw smoke on the bottom right of the motherboard, near the LED code-display, above the empty space where all the cables were being fed through the hole. Wasn't too sure, shelf above my desk made the inside of the case a bit dark. I'm sure I smelled smoke, though. Unless it was my mind playing tricks on me since I thought I saw smoke...

But anyway -- Don't even see any burn marks using a flash light. Can't exactly see any in the back of the MB either, being as it's naturally black. Took it out for another external build, worked fine, back in the case, worked fine, installed windows -- I'm typing on this computer right now.

Guess what I'm asking is, what COULD have it been? Am I just better off RMAing the board anyway? ... Was it even the board, maybe the cables?

tl;dr Saw smoke near unusual area, everything works fine, temps normal.

 

[o1die]

Any burn marks on the motherboard will void the warranty. Inspect carefully before you request an rma. But if it works, I would continue using it. The smoke probably came from the first power supply.

 

[deadlockedworld]

Can you post full system specs?

As o1die implied above, it is most likely a power supply issue. Your next step is probably to swap the power supply and see if everything still works.

Smoke is completely unacceptable and not something that should happen in a pc. Cant imagine what would cause that unless you had some paper stuck into an electrical connection or something weird like that.

 

[Nantheo]

Any burn marks on the motherboard will void the warranty. Inspect carefully before you request an rma. But if it works, I would continue using it. The smoke probably came from the first power supply.

First? Funny thing is... it's actually still the same one that's powering this right now.

 

[Nantheo]

Found something. Right around the area where I saw the smoke.

I did have a 3-pin fan header connected to there that time... Moved it to the top during my second boot tests.

Seems like RMA is out of the question -- that looks very noticeable. Does this seem like it could be long-term damage?

 

[Viking2121]

To be honest, Looks like you blew the Fan head, What fan or fans did you have plugged into that head? May have been to much power draw for it to handle. Most Mobos fan head heads are only able to provide 1 AMP per fan. So most heads can only stand 1 AMP, 12V DC, 12 Watts, Do not go over this rating unless stated otherwise, most mobos will not even say how much it can handle in the manual.

But either way, if you can not get an RMA, I wouldn't worry to much about it, I seen boards like this where the fan heads were not working or blew the cap that the fan was controlled with, Board should be fine even for long term. But I would avoid using that fan that was plugged into it tho to be on the safe side.

Also go into bios and turn down or off the fan for the SYS_FAN1 head, if its on auto turn it to manual and turn it to low.

 

[Nantheo]

Best answer selected by Nantheo.