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186
 
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Last Login: 19/12/2008 20:38:18
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Hi. I am hoping that someone out there could help me with the following.
I gave my PC an autumn clean this morning. Mainly the usual stuff: removing and cleaning fans, video card, checking cabling etc. I also took the liberty of replacing 2 'dodgy' case fans (molex powered) with 2 new fans (3 pin motherboard powered) as well as replacing the CPU heatsink's thermal pad with thermal grease and replacing my DVD-RW drive with a more modern unit.
I plugged in and switched on the PSU and the motherboard stand-by indicator illuminated as expected. On pressing the power button, the case and CPU fans started and approx. 1/2 second later...BANG!. Blue flash from somewhere behind the PC and then a deathly silence (broken only by a few choice words from myself!). The ring main circuit tripped out on its RCD protection. No sight or smell of burning. No beeps. The PC is now lifeless.
I have just removed and checked that my internal backup drive is ok using an external HDD enclosure. I have also used a Maplin PSU tester to confirm that the PSU is indeed dead. However, do I need to exercise caution when simply replacing the PSU? If the motherboard, RAM, CPU etc. were the cause of the fault, or are damaged, is there a risk of losing another PSU due to cascade failure? What would be the logical sleuthing sequence given that all of the components were handled at some point during the clean? I don't have any spare components so I would have to start ordering.
I will remove the CPU heatsink this afternoon to check the grease hasn't shorted anything.
To complicate matters the main drives were configured in RAID5 using the on-board ICH8R chipset so I assume that, if the motherboard was fried, I would need an identical board to let me boot from this array in future?!
Many thanks in advance for any thoughts and help.
System
Motherboard : Asus P5B Deluxe Wifi/AP
Processor : Intel E6600
PSU: Seasonic S12+ 650W
RAM : 2x1Gb (Patriot 6400)
HDD :3x250Gb (Raid5), 1x500Gb (data backup)
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486
Group: Forum Members
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| Apart from checking all the obvious sources of a short including dust, metal swarf and screwdrivers left inside the case (yeah, did that once) I wouldn't rule out the new DVD drive as the source. A few months ago I had a brand new Sony DVD-RW take out a similarly brand new Hiper 680w PSU, although not in such a dramatic fashion. One thing to bear in mind, how old is the PSU? Three year warranty on the Seasonics I believe. Good luck. Where are my manners? Welcome to the Forums!
Mike
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Santa Pig
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I have only once seen a motherboard that has caused PSUs to fail vs countless where it was just the PSU, and that was years ago.
It's also quite rare to see any cascade failures, but normally they're accompanied by scorch marks on the affected bits so you can spot them.
I'd personally not worry about plugging in the new PSU.
If the motherboard (or anything else) is shafted it can't get any worse than it is already.
Dave R
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Pentium
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With prime power disconnected and assuming that you are not suffering from a cold, try sniffing for burnt-out components or under bright light look for burn residue to get a clue as to what caused the PSU to blow up ? 
Then, when re-connecting everything up, try to do it in stages ? 
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386
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You didn't flick the switch on the back of the psu over to 130v by accident when cleaning it did you? That normally makes a nice sound and lots of pretty colours too!
Tim
Famed Author Of The MM Mug Slogan"T:\Invalid System Status, Insert Drink To Continue"! Main Rig;P5V-VM DH, E2160, 2Gig 667,WD 120,Optiarc DvdRw, 6600GT. 2nd Main Rig; Asus M2A-VM HDMI, AMD 64 x2 5000, 1 Gig Geil 667, LG DvdRw, Maxtor 320. Old main;Shuttle Sn45, Xp2600+, 1gig Crucial, Radeon 9200se, WD120 Gig, LG DVDrw Old Spare; MSI K7N2Delta ilsr,Xp3000+, 512meg Crucial, FX5900, 2x WD120Gig +WD80 Gig, Asus DVD + DVDrw, Games Rig; 965P-DS3P, E4400 C2D,2gig Crucial 667, x1950XT, 5oogig Samsung, LG Dvd & Dvd R/W , Dev Rig Asus P5B, E6300 C2D, 2gig Geil 800, 7900GT, 250Gig WD, LG Dvd & Dvd R/W, Kids Rig Asrock 4CoreDualVsta, E4300 C2D, 1gig Geil 667, Asus 6600GT, LG Dvd & Dvd R/W - All XP Pro Sp2 or Vista Ultimate
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 19/12/2008 20:38:18
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| Mike, Thanks for the warm welcome to the forum, and thanks for the advice re: new DVD drive. I'll switch back to the original when I attempt the re-build. James
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 19/12/2008 20:38:18
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| Dave, Thanks for this. I've removed the CPU cooler, video card and RAM and, so far, no sign of damage/scorch marks. I'll remove the motherboard fully when I get the opportunity and give it a good inspection. No sign of shorting due to mis-application thermal grease. In the meantime, I've ordered a cheapish replacement PSU to do a bootstrap re-build. If everthing goes ok, I'll order a better PSU and keep the cheapish one for future fault finding. James ricedg (16/11/2008)
I have only once seen a motherboard that has caused PSUs to fail vs countless where it was just the PSU, and that was years ago.
It's also quite rare to see any cascade failures, but normally they're accompanied by scorch marks on the affected bits so you can spot them.
I'd personally not worry about plugging in the new PSU.
If the motherboard (or anything else) is shafted it can't get any worse than it is already.
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 19/12/2008 20:38:18
Posts: 8,
Visits: 18
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| Thanks Bruce, Funny you should mention it but I'm just starting to get the sniffles. Will have to rely on visuals do help diasgnose! The research I've done indicates that PSUs are predisposed to failure under dusty conditions - even the 'quality' units. Given we have 2 cats and a couple of solid fuel burning stoves (and given the state of the case fans!), I wouldn't be surprised if dust caused the downfall of the PSU. Having said that I followed some advice from an old magazine article which recommended vacuuming dust out of the PSU's inlet and exhaust fans. Perhaps this could have dislodged a circuit component in the PSU, or caused damage due to static. I've used this cleaning method before with no consequences, perhaps I've always been lucky in the past! I certainly wouldn't use this approach for the motherboard or other components. James Bruce R (16/11/2008)
With prime power disconnected and assuming that you are not suffering from a cold, try sniffing for burnt-out components or under bright light look for burn residue to get a clue as to what caused the PSU to blow up ? Then, when re-connecting everything up, try to do it in stages ?
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 19/12/2008 20:38:18
Posts: 8,
Visits: 18
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| Hi Tim, Just dug-out the PSU from its cardboard grave. I think it's an auto-sensing unit i.e. there's no switch and the back simply says 100-240Vac. Thanks for the future tip though! James TKH (16/11/2008)
You didn't flick the switch on the back of the psu over to 130v by accident when cleaning it did you? That normally makes a nice sound and lots of pretty colours too!
Tim
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