Please Tell Me I Didn't Destroy Everything...

[toretto]

i have the 9500 pro plugged directly into the PS. i know in the documentation, it states that you are not to plug the card in via a line that is also used for hard drives.

 

[melon]

No offence but my first guess would be that you plugged a power connector in backwards. It is possible. I did it once on a quad fan controller with a loose molex conenctor on it.

My second guess would be to blame the new kid on the block. That's the video card. Look for scrapes on the metal, crooked heatsinks, bulging capacitors, cracked or discolored chips by the voltage regulator, etc.

Antec and any other good power supply should have overload protection. They shutdown if you draw too much power. Smoke is not an option to an overload.

It's killing me, because I see no evidence of anything wrong. I see no ruined capacitors, etc. I don't see any messed up Molex connectors or backwards ones. I even checked to see if there was any corrosion anywhere. None.

I also have absolutely no extra systems to be able to test any of my existing hardware. If my motherboard proves to be ****ed up, I have no way of knowing whether or not the CPU or RAM has been taken out with it. I also don't know if the video card is to blame or the other hard drive I added with it. I have nothing to help me with anything, and all I have to assume is that it had something related to the video card, for the beast that it is. For all you Radeon 9800 people or who also has to plug a Molex in, which colored wire is on top? It's red on mine, so I assume it is red for everyone else?

I don't know. I wonder if now I'm over my head, and I have no money to get a professional to help, and, with the way things are going, I'll have little choice but to blow a month getting all this **** in order, and who knows....the next PSU could blow its top too.

I'm just very frustrated with the whole thing. I've never had to do this before, and I guess I wish I knew the easiest way to tackle all this ****.

I just wish I had the money to get an Alienware computer.

Melon

 

[Maveric169]

No offence but my first guess would be that you plugged a power connector in backwards. It is possible. I did it once on a quad fan controller with a loose molex conenctor on it.

My second guess would be to blame the new kid on the block. That's the video card. Look for scrapes on the metal, crooked heatsinks, bulging capacitors, cracked or discolored chips by the voltage regulator, etc.

Antec and any other good power supply should have overload protection. They shutdown if you draw too much power. Smoke is not an option to an overload.

Yeah and the wait is the draw back to warantee work. I now buy cheap end stuff and toss it. Note my MB brand.

As for checking out what you have left is there anyone who would let you try your RAM and CPU in their MB? Do not try a new RAM or CPU in that MB. It's dangerous until after you prove your CPU and RAM were not fried. I keep a pile of old stuff around for just these kinds of crisis. Actually it's in my AVATAR the pile of junk on the left is a fully operational XP2000 system.

Just a side note, while the PSU is designed to shutdown on overload, (here is the oxymoron part, but kinda neat) they are also designed (Antec anyway accouding to them) to absorb the full force of a short or overload by killing power from the PSU to the board, but keeping the ground path open back to the PSU while the PSU stays up to "take the hit" and sacrifice its self.

The reason for this "new approach" was that older PSU were designed to shutdown and "save themselfs" in the even of a short or overload, but that did nothing for the current/voltage that was already produced, that caused the fault. The current/voltage that was already produced would then goto the closest ground point and with the PSU "out of the loop" all that was left is your Mobo and components.

So in theory, and only according to the engineer that I spoke with at Antec (in person I might add, don't know if that means anything or not) the new generation of PSU's are designed to allow themselfs to "self-destruct" rather than take your system down with them.

 

[Maveric169]

*sigh* I seem to be doing everything wrong. I will call Antec tomorrow; if they really are that helpful, I will RMA the other PSU and eat the shipping / 15% restocking fee on the other, or sell it on eBay.

So you think it could be a defective video card? I wish there was a way to know, without taking all the time and shipping costs to RMA everything and try again. I wish I wasn't working on such a ****ing deadline! I'm probably now going to have to live at school now, while I wait for all the warranty processing, returns, and the time it'll take them all to reship the ****.

Melon

Antec was VERY helpfull for me when my PSU died, and offered to rush ship me a replacement. Granted they were only a 2 hour drive from where I lived in Cali so I just paid a personal visit. But you do have to ship them your suspected dead components so they can verify that the PSU caused the damage.

 

[melon]

Well, allow me to follow up on my old thread, as my computer is now back up and running...

I still have no definitive reason as to why my PSU puked out. The only two things that I have learned to be possible is that either I ****ed up screwing in my new HD by digging into the aluminum (I exchanged that drive for a new one I was very careful to screw in) or my ATI Fire GL X2 256t card just sucked too much power out of the Antec 430W PSU (as I am currently using that same exact card, and there are no problems). I since replaced the Antec 430W PSU with an Antec 550W TrueControl PSU. Very nice. I went with Antec again after realizing how great their warranty service is, and realizing that the 430W PSU worked exactly like it was supposed to: it didn't take out anything else but itself. How can I complain about that?

So, at least, it all ended with a relatively happy ending...

Melon

 

[Maveric169]

I still don't think that you over-worked that 430W PSU, you most likley just got a bad one like I did. Glad to hear that everything worked out!

 

[melon]

I still don't think that you over-worked that 430W PSU, you most likley just got a bad one like I did. Glad to hear that everything worked out!

Well, considering how many components I have installed in my computer (I have even used up all the Molex connectors in my 550W PSU actually... ), I'm not going to rule it out. The PSU was a year and a half old, so, prior to switching from an Asus GeForce4 128 MB card to the ATI FireGL X2 256t, it worked perfectly. Heck, I even had my second hard drive disconnected at the time (out of fear that the PSU really would explode...as it did).

But who knows. I have everything installed and running currently on my Antec 550W PSU, and I think I have officially maxed this case out. But I really cannot think of what further I'd need to install anyway.

Melon

 

[Kendrilanthis]

Well, seeing as how I have a 400 watt PSU and I have all pci slots filled, agp Radeon 9600 Pro, 3 HDD's, 2 Optical drives, floppy drive, 4 light up case fans, cpu fan, northbridge fan, Hardcano Harddrive cooler with fan, 3 Laser Projection LED's, UV Light and Floppy drive with no problems and everything running prime on it I doubt you blew yours

 

[melon]

Well, who knows. It makes it all the more mysterious, eh?

Cheers...

Melon