Loud Pop and Burning Smell from PC

[ztak07]

The story:
So my dad had a problem with his pc and asked me to take a look at it. I'm almost 100% positive at this point that is running and he messed up somehow. At this point the fan is still on and It posts but there is no info going to the Monitor and the LED is not lit. I look inside and made things worse, I had the power on and was trying to plug a 4 pin connector into the mother board and then the power supply just went off and so did the fan. I give it like 2-3 hours and I unplug it and replug it and the fan is back on but still no LED lit or signal to the monitor. Long story short it has not given me any sign at all that it is on. Even when I could not see anything on the monitor I could still see some LED's lit up from the motherboard from the Ethernet plug in.

The problem:

So just today we get a new computer and I make a deal with my dad that if I can get it running he will get me a decent GPU. I put everything together to the best that I can without the MOBO manual( looked everywhere on Google and the manufacturer's website[PC chips akonii 74n 7050 is MOBO model No]). So I build the computer and everything looks ok but I could not get any signal that it was working. Someone told me to tap a 2 pin connector for the power switch with a screwdriver and when I did there was this loud pop and the power supply smelled like something was burning. After trouble shooting I found a metal screw inside of the power supply and Idk if that caused it to short circuit or if it was the fact that I did not have all the risers screwed into the motherboard. So is my PSU dead? If it is replacing it wont be the problem but I don't want to spend money if the MOBO, HARDRIVE, CPU, GPU, and everything else is broken.

I tried to plug in an ethernet cord again into the computer to test the MOBO but no LED this time. What can I do to fix/find the problem for this? I would really like to use this computer guys. Thanks
MOBO is an PC CHIPS AKONii P4n 7050 , and the PSU is a FSP 300-60tha(1)
Computer is a prebuilt Gateway dx 4640 ub101a

[lordcalin]

yes the power supply is dead, the screw made contact with circuits inside and blew it. Most likely no other damage was caused but you can never be sure until you have a new power supply to test it with.

[jazen]

that burning smell was bad....since you apparently know little about electricity and how it interacts with metal objects, you may want to stick to prebuilt machines to save money and possible your life (or at least brain cells, 110 only tingles)

[glo]

Well, few things:

1. Whoever told you to poke around jumpers with a screwdriver while everything is plugged into the wall is a major derp. NEVER take advice from them again. You basically created a never ending loop of power from the screwdriver back into the motherboard. That's probably the first thing that contributed to the frying of your PSU.

2. ALWAYS install all of the standoffs before powering on your system. Not having them in there is going to short a lot of stuff out (second contributing factor).

3. Be careful with case screws. You're lucky you didn't burn your house down having a metal screw bouncing around in your PSU...

Anyway, there's no way to tell what got ruined and what didn't. Your PSU is shot, that I can tell you for sure. Popping and smoke are the number one symptom. I'd suggest replacing the PSU first and see if that works. However, I wouldn't expect everything else to still be functioning. All of the things listed above very well could have taken all the components with it.

[vesseblah]

1. Whoever told you to poke around jumpers with a screwdriver while everything is plugged into the wall is a major derp. NEVER take advice from them again. You basically created a never ending loop of power from the screwdriver back into the motherboard. That's probably the first thing that contributed to the frying of your PSU.

I think OP is referring to the very well known 'trick' of starting the computer without front panel connectors plugged on, ie. shorting the power pins from motherboard header mentioned in half of the build guides, which does exactly the same as pressing power button. There's nothing wrong with that if you are poking the right pins.

2. ALWAYS install all of the standoffs before powering on your system. Not having them in there is going to short a lot of stuff out (second contributing factor).

Having those in wrong places or none at all can burn the motherboard. Description sounded more like not all of the standoffs were in place which is not a problem.

3. Be careful with case screws. You're lucky you didn't burn your house down having a metal screw bouncing around in your PSU...

Could be the screw was already loose inside the PSU, or could be OP dropped it in while building. But yeah. Powering up the computer with dropped screws is always bad idea and can lead to... consequences.

Anyway, there's no way to tell what got ruined and what didn't. Your PSU is shot, that I can tell you for sure. Popping and smoke are the number one symptom. I'd suggest replacing the PSU first and see if that works.

Definitely

However, I wouldn't expect everything else to still be functioning. All of the things listed above very well could have taken all the components with it.

Depends... If the motherboard fried PSU there could be multiple components burned. If the PSU just blew up on it's own, there's good chance nothing else broke.


OP take very good look at the motherboard both under and topside near the connectors that are hooked to the PSU to check out if you see anything blackened. You can also try smelling the board, especially near the CPU socket and near the power connectors, if something burned, it'll probably be noticeable.

[glo]

If you hit the actual power pin before the ground though, wouldn't that create a loop? I know when people short pins they do it unplugged first, or at least with the switch flipped.

[DeltrusDisc]

I would also say, look around for possibly any blown capacitors... always a possibility.

[vesseblah]

If you hit the actual power pin before the ground though, wouldn't that create a loop? I know when people short pins they do it unplugged first, or at least with the switch flipped.

Really does not matter which pin you touch first if you think for a moment of how a push-button switch works. It just connects two wires, just like screwdriver jammed between two pins on the motherboard.

It might make difference if there's something wrong with the grounding and you're actually touching the metal of the screwdriver, but holding from the rubber grip properly it's totally fine.

In the often referenced Newegg build guide you see it done at 21:15

[chazus]

There's a lot of things that could be done to test or fix this, but honestly I would recommend handing it over to a professional at this point to prevent further damage by using damaged parts.

Not trying to offend, but a lot of mistakes were made, and these are mistakes that are both dangerous, and costly. System building should be reserved for when you definitely know what you're doing and can take proper safety precautions, and know when you're in over your head.

Notably, PC Chips is the same company as ECS and Jetway, and make particularly BAD motherboards. When all is said and done, return that motherboard and get a different brand. It's entirely possible that it was faulty as well. I have had a number of ECS/PCChips motherboards kill hardware before.

EDIT: The 2 pin thing isn't even a trick. it's actually a required thing to do when testing the motherboard outside of a case. It is totally safe. However, we can't tell if the correct pins were touched. The pop/bang was likely the motherboard or power supply going when power was run through, and not the pin poking action.

[Dazzy]

I would also say, look around for possibly any blown capacitors... always a possibility.

This. Loud pops are 95% of the time capacitors blowing up, literally. You will be able to tell easily which it was, kind of looks like an exploded firecracker.

If not, and you created an arc big enough to make a loud pop, power supply is dead.

[Somebodyelse]

The story:
So my dad had a problem with his pc and asked me to take a look at it. I'm almost 100% positive at this point that is running and he messed up somehow. At this point the fan is still on and It posts but there is no info going to the Monitor and the LED is not lit. I look inside and made things worse, I had the power on and was trying to plug a 4 pin connector into the mother board and then the power supply just went off and so did the fan. I give it like 2-3 hours and I unplug it and replug it and the fan is back on but still no LED lit or signal to the monitor. Long story short it has not given me any sign at all that it is on. Even when I could not see anything on the monitor I could still see some LED's lit up from the motherboard from the Ethernet plug in.

The problem:

So just today we get a new computer and I make a deal with my dad that if I can get it running he will get me a decent GPU. I put everything together to the best that I can without the MOBO manual( looked everywhere on Google and the manufacturer's website[PC chips akonii 74n 7050 is MOBO model No]). So I build the computer and everything looks ok but I could not get any signal that it was working. Someone told me to tap a 2 pin connector for the power switch with a screwdriver and when I did there was this loud pop and the power supply smelled like something was burning. After trouble shooting I found a metal screw inside of the power supply and Idk if that caused it to short circuit or if it was the fact that I did not have all the risers screwed into the motherboard. So is my PSU dead? If it is replacing it wont be the problem but I don't want to spend money if the MOBO, HARDRIVE, CPU, GPU, and everything else is broken.

I tried to plug in an ethernet cord again into the computer to test the MOBO but no LED this time. What can I do to fix/find the problem for this? I would really like to use this computer guys. Thanks
MOBO is an PC CHIPS AKONii P4n 7050 , and the PSU is a FSP 300-60tha(1)
Computer is a prebuilt Gateway dx 4640 ub101a

The BEST option you have is to bringing it to a PROFESSIONAL before you kill another computer...Damn boy...There's no polite way to tell you how dumb it is to plug something in while the power is ON.......................And then from my understanding...NOT KNOWING anything at all about computers, you f-ed up the new one ? PLEASE stop trying !

[ztak07]

Yeah I made a mistake and totally blanked on the whole stand off thing which was a mistake. I had no idea there was something INSIDE the psu before starting. I think thats what went wrong in the first place, maybe my dad knocked a screw in or something while he was building.

So do you guys think I should give up completely?

---------- Post added 2012-08-03 at 05:45 PM ----------

I do know about computers and I made a rookie mistake. If you aren't going to post anything useful then gtfo. Kthnxbai

[chazus]

It's not a matter of 'giving up'. It's a situation of you now have a number of parts that are of unknown functional state, and using them in conjunction with eachother, or other parts, may damage more things.

Unless you have the PROPER test equipment (power testers, spare parts for testing, replacement parts), I would really suggest taking it to a professional, or at least a friend who has done that kind of work professionally before.

This is a cost mitigation situation, rather than a "I want to get this computer working" situation.

EDIT: If you REALLY want to get this up and running though. The power supply is probably dead. You can test at least it's power but unplugging it from EVERYTHING. Literally just have it turned off, with the power cable plugged in, and use a paperclip to jump the green and a black wire (Like this: http://www.overclock.net/t/96712/how...and-components)

Hit the switch. If the fan spins, the power supply MIGHT be good. If nothing happens, it's dead. RMA, or toss it.

The motherboard... I honestly cannot recommend doing anything. PC Chips is just such a bad brand. I would try to return it if you can. if you absolutely cannot... You need to determine if there are any blown capacitors or damaged parts. I don't know you're level of experience, so I can't tell if that's something you'd be able to do or not.

If you can get a CLEAN, HI RESOLUTION image of the motherboard, I could eyeball it most likely.

[vesseblah]

Yeah I made a mistake and totally blanked on the whole stand off thing which was a mistake. I had no idea there was something INSIDE the psu before starting. I think thats what went wrong in the first place, maybe my dad knocked a screw in or something while he was building.

If you had the motherboard on some stands it's fine. Don't really need all 8-9 but it's highly recommended. Those are for support to prevent the board from bending when you press down (graphics) cards or memory sticks into the sockets. If you had no stands at all and the board on the bare metal... Well, then you made the biggest and potentially the most costly mistake first-time builders can do. Shit happens, move on. It wont happen ever again.

It's entirely possible one of you accidentially dropped a screw into the PSU, but it's also possible there was something loose from the factory and that's what's rattling inside. To avoid accidents with loose screws you should always just have one in your hand so that you know instantly if it drops somewhere and can find it. If you have ten and lose one, you might not even notice it before it's too late.

So do you guys think I should give up completely?

Just ignore and/or report the haters. People in forums are dicks. But the post directly above this is also somewhat right. If you want to make sure you don't make any more mistakes let somebody who's done it before fix it, or you can just get a new PSU and pray the motherboard or anything else didn't break.

[ztak07]

Yeah I don't want to put $$ into the pc as will be getting a new one in a month or so. I have a computer I am using now but the one that I am having trouble with a a somewhat decent upgrade so I wanted to use it for the time being. Thank you guys for your helpful replies. I will make another thread when I am building a new PC.

---------- Post added 2012-08-03 at 06:11 PM ----------

FYI This build is around 4 years gold. I know that is ancient in computer years but the one it would be "replacing" is from around 2005.

[rnbwtrout]

your old PS may be compatible with the new motherboard and you can just substitute it for the fried PS.

look at the stickers on the PS. how much watts are the PS rated for? is the old PS at least within 100watts of the new PS? if so, it should be enough juice. look at your MB handbook. make sure the old PS has all the power connections the new MB needs. typically, if you can plug the main lead of the PS into the MB, it's compatible. however, its just not the big power lead you need to plug in, but also the 8-pin or 4-pin or 4x4pin smaller power leads also.

[Cantheal]

Will stay tuned for the fireworks and smoke show. LOL I am kidding but your story sounds like one of my tries and following frustration so I feel your pain bro

[Joán]

1. Whoever told you to poke around jumpers with a screwdriver while everything is plugged into the wall is a major derp. NEVER take advice from them again. You basically created a never ending loop of power from the screwdriver back into the motherboard. That's probably the first thing that contributed to the frying of your PSU.

Absolute nonsense. Shorting the power pins *on the motherboard* is exactly what happens when you press the on button, and every person who works with computers does it dozens of times per day. It will under no circumstances damage any component in any computer ever.

Now... If he shorted leads or poked a screwdriver anywhere inside the PSU? Count yourself lucky to be alive - it's sealed for a reason, and the capacitors inside can and will kill you.

Replacing the PSU with a spare would be the first step to see what's wrong, but you said it's "a pre-built Gateway". Replacing anything in a pre-built brand name PC is usually a bad idea unless you have original spare parts (or if you are *ABSOLUTELY SURE* they are standardized components. Like if a service manual tells you.). Even if plugs fit there's no way you can know that the components or pin-out aren't custom for that model/series/manufacturer.

[ztak07]

Yeah the MOBO on this PC is not factory. We had a problem a year ago and I think it was the mobo back then so we got this PC chips motherboard. I couldn't find manuals or any support so I didnt know if the hookups were even right lol. I will def update you guys with fireworks and cool fog effects for my next pc build.

[Cantheal]

Is good to see you kept your sense of humor through this bro I had to deal with my buddies getting soem pretty good digs in on me for a few weeks when i had my little show hehe

Yeah the MOBO on this PC is not factory. We had a problem a year ago and I think it was the mobo back then so we got this PC chips motherboard. I couldn't find manuals or any support so I didnt know if the hookups were even right lol. I will def update you guys with fireworks and cool fog effects for my next pc build.