Burnt Power connector

[DLeonR]

My computer that has been running for over a year, just went down. The power connector to the motherboard (atx), a few of the pins are burnt. I first smelled it, then turn the computer off, when I checked where the smell was coming from then I realize the problem. I know that I will have to buy a new motherboard and power sourse. My big question is, afteer I do so will I lose everything on my hard drive, because of the new board and power sourse when I re-assemble?
I hope I explained what happened here.

DLeonR

[Paul Komski]

Since it isn't known what caused this burning it's hard to be categorical as to whether any other devices attached to the mobo/pc would have been damaged in whatever was going on.

It seems unlikely the the HDD, CDROM, Floppy etc would have been damaged - but without a full diagnosis its impossible to be sure.

[Beta Geek]

I'd recommend you do as thorough of an inspection as you can on the motherboard itself, your RAM, all your expansion cards (especially video), and your hard drive(s). Look for any discoloration, evidence of bulging or bubbling on individual ICs (microchips) attached to the above-mentioned components.

What brand of Power supply was it?
Were you using a surge suppressor?

[DLeonR]

From what I could checkout all my peripherals are ok (HD, video card itc.) But on the motherboard 3 of the post for the power connection is burned badly in the sense that I would have cleaning them out to see how strong are the 3 burned post. Before doing that I did get the computer to come on that is how I know that most of the parts are working, but when I started to smell the wires burning I shot it off right away. By the way it is a gigabyte board I can't remember the model right now I would have to look for the manual, and I am using AMD 2000 XP cpu. I still need to know if I have to buy a new motherboard and power source, will I be able to use the same hard drive or would I have to format it and install every thing again I hoping it will not come to that.

DLeonDR

[Budfred]

If you buy a different motherboard than what you have now, you will probably have to reformat and reinstall. However, you could get a new hard drive and set it up as the boot drive, then install the old drive as a Slave and copy any folders/files you want from it... You may even be able to run some programs from it...

[Fruss Tray Ted]

It's truly amazing how much smell can come from so little burning of plastic or carbon etc. Things as simple as loose connections can over time cause the connectors to become more brittle and once the arc is wide enough, generate enough heat to cause MAJOR smells and problems. If the amperage is there, you have the potential for sparks or arcs. Your choice.

Most normally something is wrong that caused a short which resulted in some burnt components or wires and such. Other times simple things like a loose connector over time will get to the above proportions. If it is a wire that needs several amps to run and is loose, you will see problems.

What wires are discolored or 'fried'? What color were they and what pin number did they connect to? These answers may clue us into hypothesizing whether any of the other peripherals may be at fault or not. We'd be looking for the 'path of least resistance' or a shorted component.

I fixed someones artesian well system today that burnt physically! It was merely the pressure switch that developed an arc over time and a condition that made it run more often than normally neccessary. It failed prematurely because the lifespan of the part was shortened due to the excessive cycling and run time,, the amperages just said it was this switch'es time to throw in the towel (we almost needed a fire extinguisher!). Pump was fine, the switch said bye-bye with a little theatrical 'smoke-and-mirror' approach. But another part in the system caused the switch to work tenfold as often.

Conditions of other peripherals can cause parts in remote locations into 'giving-up-the-ghost'.

This problem of yours will need a full exam to remedy the whole situation. The ATX wires that were burned near the mobo, what ones are they? Color? Pin number?

[valver]

as a last step before throwing away your MB and PSU, you can try cut and solder the respective wires to the (wery well cleaned) pins.
david

[DLeonR]

I have been reading some of your replies and I think we are starting to get somewhere on this. After Fruss metioned the color wires I went back and took a good look and what I found was three wiretips severaly burnt and on started and they are all red color wires. I checked the motherboard power connection and the positions that are burned are 4,6,19 and 20.
The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP and the power unit is a Morex
Model MXA-250PTF1 250W.

[Beta Geek]

Looks like the problem occurred on the +5V supply level. You may want to unplug the molex connectors from your drives and inspect the +5V (red) connections.

Fruss, just a little nit-pick: It's voltage that is the potential. Amperage is the measurement of the amount of electricity moving. The Voltage is what has to be high enough to overcome the resistance of air between two conductors before the electrons will arch across the gap. Only once the electrons start moving does amperage comes into the picture. Again, just a nit-pick... I'm really annoying that way. ;)

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Good catch.

I actually meant more on the terms 'likelyhood' than physical or electrical potential.

[DLeonR]

Well I'll finish up by saying that I took the motherboard out of the computer and checked it out real good and I will not be able to use it again, the plastic sockets for the power connection is fiussed to the pins in the four locations mentioned. Not to take anymore chances with the rest of the computer I will go to a computer show and pickup a new case motherboard and an upgraded CPU.
Any recomendation for a food motherboard with at least 6 pci slots?

[Budfred]

The first recommendation is don't pick one up at a computer show.... I have been going to shows for years and have found that I get much more consistent quality and price online at places like Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?submit=list&catalog=22&DEPA=1&order=price&sort=asc) and even Directron (http://www.directron.com/index.html) (especially for cases).... Beyond that, MSI, Asus, Gigabyte and Soyo seem to get the best press around here....

[DLeonR]

Thanks for the reply, Budfred, I think I will pick you up that recomendation and try buying on line. So I will check out the places you mention. Thanks again. I think I found a great place here on this site, all of you guys are very helpfull.

[DLeonR]

This problem been on my mind for some time and I think I have a theory why these wires burned. I have in my computer three hard drives, a dvd r-w, cd r-w, geforce nvidia 3 video card, scosi zip drive, printer and 4 usb drives, 512 ddr ram, onboard sound, onboard lan, etc. All of this with only 250 watts power supply. Mayby that could have couse those red wires to over work, I don't know, I am not good on electrical part of the computer. However, I got me a new motherboard and 500 watt power supply I hope I wont have any more of that kind of problem. What do you guys think?

[Budfred]

Certainly that poor overworked power supply may have flamed out as it died... 500 watts should be good, IF is is a good quality PS. If it is not, it will hopefully fail quietly rather than taking any components with it....;) :rolleyes:

[DLeonR]

Thanks for all your help guys.

[jeyps]

Overloading a power supply (say, loading a 250W psu with a 500W load) should not cause it to flame out. A decent power supply should have protection circuits built-in that will shut it down before major damage occurs to it and its load (in this case your computer). Maybe some of the wires were frayed or there were some loose connections.

[DLeonR]

Hi jeyps, I don't think you read the post correctly, I did not overload the power supply. I bought a new power supply that is 500 watts power supply, I think this one is a good one with builtin protection circuits for inrush current and over current and over temperature.

[jeyps]

Ok, make sure to recheck the conections and the board though, because whatever caused the problem might still be there. Good luck!

[DLeonR]

Thanks jeyps.

[mjc]

jeyps

A decent power supply should have protection circuits built-in that will shut it down before major damage occurs to it and its load

The key part is decent power supply...I have seen some remarkable failures with cheap power supplies....they usually don't have adequate protections and can cause damage when they fail.

[DLeonR]

Ok guys, hit me with a few good name brands this one part of the computer that I rarely had to deal with with the little experience that I have with computers.

[Budfred]

If you are referring to power supplies, here is a good article to read:

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/default.asp

and here is review about a number of brands:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html

[jeyps]

Sorry, don't know any good brands for pc power supplies. (I just know (a little) about the PSUs in general.) The links Budfred posted should be helpful, though.

[jeyps]

One more thing that I think the abovementioned links did not address; with some power supplies you have to be careful about the specs. For example it says "5V, 30A" and "3.3V, 20A" then "total power of 5V and 3.3V outputs not to exceed 200W". This means the 5V can provide 30A (150W), and the 3.3V can provide 20A (66W), but not at the same time (216W). I don't know if there are PC power supplies that have this characteristic.

[DLeonR]

Thanks Budfred for the sites, I will check them out and purchase a real good power supply for my computer.
Thanks to you also jeyps for your replies, you guys are great. Thanks again.

[mjc]

Most computer power supplies share...so the max that any one leg can supply at the same time as any other leg is th over all maximum. There are some where each leg is independat of the others and these can supply the full rated power for the leg at the same time as any other leg is doing the same....

Antec TruePower series is on of the latter...