Build a brand new computer, smoke and popping

[Bobmal]

Hi. Yesterday I recently built a brand new computer, and about 1 second after I turned on the computer, there were loud popping sounds and a fairly large amount of smoke followed by the smell of burnt electronics. I immediately shut it down, and in case anyone asks, I was unable to locate where the smoke was coming from due to surprise. I don't want to turn on the computer again, to avoid damaging the parts/damaging the parts even more. I live in Japan, so could the American made motherboard and Japanese power supply have possibly clashed?

Here are the specs:

-Intel Core i5-3450 Quad-Core Processor 3.1 GHz
-Gigabyte Intel Z77-D3H LGA1155
-1x4 Kingston ValueRAM 4GB
-Gouriki Compact 2 700 Watt PSU (Japanese company)
-ATI Radeon X1550 512MB DDR2
-Samsung 830 128gb SSD
-WD 1TB HDD

 

[manofchalk]

My first instinct is the PSU.

Dont think the nationality of the parts would matter. Does the PSU have active PFC? (you can often tell by seeing if there is a small switch, not the power switch, on the back. Should say something along the lines of 120-240v). If it doesnt have Active PFC and was set wrong, that could have killed your PSU as it was expecting different amount of voltage from the wall.

Or you could have been plain unlucky and just received a dud unit. If you have another PSU that is known to be good, try replacing it and see if that works.

Also to minimize possible shorting (which could have been the issue), bread-board the machine when you do it. So the motherboard is on a non-conductive surface (a wooden table, the mobo box, rubber mats are all good surfaces) and everything is assembled outside the case.

EDIT:
I suppose a visual inspection of the components would also help. If there are any burn marks on the back of the mobo, graphics card PCB or anything like that, that will probably help you figure out what went wrong. If there's nothing, then its likely the PSU internals.

 

[Bobmal]

My first instinct is the PSU.

Does the PSU have active PFC?

I don't think that my psu has active pfc. But just to make sure, here is a picture of the back of my power supply.

http://i.imgur.com/PW3EA.jpg

I do not see any burn marks on the motherboard or components, so hopefully it was just the power supply that died. Do you think that there might be a reasonable chance that the psu took another component with it, such as the motherboard?

 

[manofchalk]

No voltage input switch at the back means it has Active PFC. All is good in that aspect.

There is every possibility that it might have.
If you have another supply (maybe pull one out of another computer) that you know works, you could see if it killed the other components as well.

 

[Bobmal]

Ah okay thank you for the answer.

 

[Bobmal]

Best answer selected by bobmal.