Can a bad motherboard kill a power supply?

[nomad147]

I just got a new Gigabyte 7VKML motherboard with case/psu and assembled it all. When I hit the power switch, I got a burning smell from the psu. I thought is was just doa, so I just took the one out of my main machine to check that the rest of the components worked ok. I got the same burning smells from my psu as well.

DAMN!!

I removed all the components from the pc so all I had was the case, power supply, motherboard, and the connector that wroks the power switch. I put my last psu in and fired it up. I got the same burning smells

So, can a faulty motherboard kill a psu??

BTW: All these psus were AMD certified 300W.

Cheers

 

[joohang]

I had the same sh*t happen to me with a K7S5A.

 

[nomad147]

OK. Just wanted to know if it had happened to anyone else.

Should I try to get the retailer to replace the psus that I fried trying to figure out what the problem is, or would the warranty not cover that sort of thing?

BTW: I've been using only Asus/Abit mootherboards up until now, this first impression of gigabyte isn't very good

Cheers

 

[Nack]

I highly suspect that if you tell the retailer you bought the power supply from that "the motherboard I bought somewhere else just killed the power supply you sold me", they will not be sending a warranty replacement, and will probably laugh.

I also suspect that if you tell the retailer that sold you the bad motherboard that "the motherboard you sold me killed the power supply that I bought somewhere else", their reply will be something like "how do you know that it wasn't the other guy's bad power supply, that killed that perfectly good motherboard we sold you? (actually, they will probably state it in the definitive - i.e. The power supply killed that motherboard, therefore not only will we not send you a new power supply, we won't send you a new motherboard either).

Moral of this story? Choose your words carefully when requesting warranty replacement on either product. One thing is certain. One of those devices killed the other (very likely motherboard killed the PSUs, but you may never know 100% for sure which), it probably wasn't your fault, but rather was the fault of a legitimately defective product that should be covered under warranty, and someone is going to eat it. Is it going to be you? Do you feel this was actually your fault? If so, then eat it, and learn. If not, choose your words carefully. There is no need to lie about anything or provide any false information (that would be wrong), just describe the symptoms truthfully and concisely, and request a replacement. Too much information can be a bad thing when a retailer or manufacturer is looking for a reason not to honor a warranty (and they usually are, as honoring warranties costs money).

Nack

 

[nomad147]

I bought the Case/PSU/Motherboard all from one place at the same time. So I have sent them all back to be replaced. It was definitely the fault of the motherboard, so the manufacturers of the psu are not to blame at all. I spose you could say that they don't have to provide a replacement because their product was fine and the Gigabyte motherboard caused the problems. But then Gigabyte should really pay for the whole thing because it was their fault, but that's not going to hapen

I think it then falls to the retailer to be responsible for the situation.

One of the other psus was still under warranty so has been sent back, but I did feel slightly guilty doing this as their product was fine.

It's a vicious circle really, who should be responsible??

Just my $0.02

Cheers