Hard Drive on Fire!!

[Indigopeacock]

I need some help desperately.

I finally got all the parts together to build a new system. After I hooked everything up and powered it up, within maybe 5 seconds the under side of the hard drive caught on fire! I inspected the hard drive and found 1 chip has burnt mark on it.

Parts: dfi nf4 sli-dr, seasonic s12 500w, maxtor diamondmax 10 300gig sata 16 meg, saphire 850xt, ocz pc3200 vx gold.

What do you think went wrong? The hard drive is new and was connected to the power supply sata power connector directly. What should I do next? All four diagnostic LEDs light up and no post at all. All the fans spin as well.

 

[socket]

send the HD back i have never heard of a Hd catching on fire.

 

[Indigopeacock]

Do you think it is a problem with the drive rather than the power supply?

 

[StrangerGuy]

Remove the hard drive and see whether the PC can boot to the BIOS screen or not.

 

[Indigopeacock]

Nothing shows on screen at all.

 

[cubby1223]

I once purchased a PSU that put out 10 & 24v instead of the proper 5 & 12v...

Suffice to say, everything was dead except for the cpu (thanks to voltage regulators on the motherboard). Harddrive, floppy, cdrom, motherboard, ram, vid card, sound card, all dead.

I would get a new PSU. Maybe there is nothing wrong with it, maybe there is. But at what cost is it to test it out? An SLI mobo with an x850 XT? It's not a gamble I would make.

Yeah, it sucks when stuff like this happens.

 

[Googer]

Did any thing else catch fire? Did any other componets conected to those molex pins burn up? If this happens again, I would inspect the psu and get my money back for it.

Get a turbo cool from pc power and cooling inc.
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/

 

[Indigopeacock]

looks like nothing else caught on fire, but the there is still no post.... fans spin though, just no boot

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Indigopeacock
looks like nothing else caught on fire, but the there is still no post.... fans spin though, just no boot

Was that the only thing hooked up on that wire? I think it may be possible if that was the only device in that line that it could be reversed. I.E. 5v is swapped with the 12v wire. So any thing that needs 5v is getting 12v (vice versa)

 

[Bozo Galora]

does PSU have only 20 pin ATX molex and you shift it wrong direction?

edit - pics?????

 

[Indigopeacock]

One of the wires coming out of the power supply has 1 single sata power connector. There is one other wire with 2 sata power connectors. The one that was connected to the hard drive has 1 single sata power connector. I don't think I reversed the plug because it can only fit in one way.

It has a 24 pin power supply, and I double checked, it is plugged in correctly.

 

[fell8]

There are several possible culprits. Start by checking the house's electrical. Use a multi-meter (set to AC for house current, DC for inside the computer) to check the voltage. It should be 110v +/-10v. Test for several seconds/minutes to check for spikes. Next use one of those 3-light plug-in circut testers on the outlet. If a problem is detected, 1) get your electrical fixed; 2) contact your homeowner's/renter's policy agent (assuming you have such). If no problem is detected, keep reading.

Bad PS is the most likely culprit. First check to see if the voltage switch on the back of the PS is set to 110v (if applicable). If it's not, that's likely your problem and you have no legal recourse as you should have made sure of this in the first place (of course it doesn't hurt to try exchanging the damaged parts anyway). If it is (or if no voltage switch present), power up the system and measure the voltages with the multi-meter (set to DC). Test each for several second to check for voltage spikes. If the voltages check out and there are no spikes, you can be somewhat confident the PS is not the problem. If you're feeling daring, hook the PS to a known working computer that you're not afraid to also possibly fry (but not before testing all other parts from the dead computer, except the HDD which is probably fried). If that computer doesn't fry, the PS should be good.

Having eliminated the house current and PS as culprits, this leaves the HDD as the logical culprit.

Now here's the rub. Assuming house current is not the problem, any of the dead parts could be the culprit and have simply taken out the other parts in the process. If the PS is not functioning properly, assume it to be the culprit.

The easiest thing to do with the dead parts would be simply exchange them. For any you can't exchange, you will need to seek recourse through the culprit's manufacturer. Check the warranty on the culprit. If it doesn't exclude damage caused to other parts (unlikely), they will have to replace any parts damaged. If it does exclude such damage (likely), check your local/state laws as some do not allow these exclusions. Otherwise there's always small claims court which you have a good chance of winning (as most companies simply blow these off resulting in a default judgement in your favor), but is a hassle--and you still have to collect if you do win.

I hope this helps, and wasn't too confusing. Good luck.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: fell8
There are several possible culprits. Start by checking the house's electrical. Use a multi-meter (set to AC for house current, DC for inside the computer) to check the voltage. It should be 110v +/-10v. Test for several seconds/minutes to check for spikes. Next use one of those 3-light plug-in circut testers on the outlet. If a problem is detected, 1) get your electrical fixed; 2) contact your homeowner's/renter's policy agent (assuming you have such). If no problem is detected, keep reading.


I hope this helps, and wasn't too confusing. Good luck.

Who ever said he lived in North America or Japan? He could easily be writing this from Europe or India where there is 220v and having It set to 120/110v provides more (too much) current than the PSU can handle and would burn out the psu with that swtich set to the lower voltage. Having the switch set to 220 on a 110/120v current would simply provide less current than the PSU needs.

 

[Indigopeacock]

I live in NJ. There are no V selectors on the power supply. What's a good model for me to get, preferably quiet?

 

[wisdomtooth]

to the OP: Did your hard disk do THIS?

Could be the HD or mobo.... Though I'd suspect the HD because to date I've only seen this happen to Maxtors (but it can happen to other brands too so I don't know for certain).

 

[sharkeeper]

I had that happen to a quantum fireball. Little bastard lived up to its name. The woman using the computer screamed like she saw a mouse. This was actually caused by a severe power spike through the lines.

 

[Indigopeacock]

Yes! The exact same chip.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: cubby1223
I once purchased a PSU that put out 10 & 24v instead of the proper 5 & 12v...

Sounds like the 120V/240V switch in the back of the PSU was set wrong.. either that, or something internally was mis-wired, relative to that.

Originally posted by: cubby1223
Suffice to say, everything was dead except for the cpu (thanks to voltage regulators on the motherboard). Harddrive, floppy, cdrom, motherboard, ram, vid card, sound card, all dead.

Ouch! Assuming that it wasn't user error, did the PSU mfg give you any compensation for your loss? Or was this some no-name generic PSU?

 

[sharkeeper]

Maxtor drives delivering explosive performance I see.

The results are clearly shattering.

Drive with caution and make sure you know how to back up. You're going down a dead end street.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Originally posted by: Indigopeacock
Yes! The exact same chip.

It definitely doesn't sound like your Seasonic is at fault then-- The guy with the two dead Maxtors was using an OCZ Modstream PSU.

Same chip on HDs of same make and model, but different PSUs. Definitely sounds like the HDs are at fault.

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper
I had that happen to a quantum fireball. Little bastard lived up to its name. The woman using the computer screamed like she saw a mouse. This was actually caused by a severe power spike through the lines.

lol

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Indigopeacock
I live in NJ. There are no V selectors on the power supply. What's a good model for me to get, preferably quiet?

PC Power and Cooling Silencer 470atx- Its a 20 pin model, It's but a 24pin is avalable as one of many custom options avalable just ask for it when ordering over the phone.
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/...pplies/ultra_quiet/silencers/index.htm


The Turbo Cool line is a technicly better PSU than the Silencer. Personaly I do not find turbo cool to be a very noisy PSU and is (10x) far quieter than a single 60mm 8000 rpm delta fan, but that is just my opinion on silence.
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/highperformance/index.htm

 

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: cubby1223
I once purchased a PSU that put out 10 & 24v instead of the proper 5 & 12v...

Sounds like the 120V/240V switch in the back of the PSU was set wrong.. either that, or something internally was mis-wired, relative to that.

Originally posted by: cubby1223
Suffice to say, everything was dead except for the cpu (thanks to voltage regulators on the motherboard). Harddrive, floppy, cdrom, motherboard, ram, vid card, sound card, all dead.

Ouch! Assuming that it wasn't user error, did the PSU mfg give you any compensation for your loss? Or was this some no-name generic PSU?

Naw, the switch was set correctly on the PSU, just crazy on the inside or something. This was probably almost 10 years go by now, was with like a 300MHz machine maybe? Even though it was a bare minimums machine, this was back when the bare minimums cost ~$800 for the parts alone! Our supplier at the time did replace all the parts, though I do not know if he was able to get compensation as well. I've long forgotten what brand PSU it was.

 

[Googer]

Since he has 120v and lives in north amreica, setting the swicth to 220v would result in an undervoltage. If he went to europe and forgot to change to from 120v and left it there after pluging it in would result in overvoltage. See, here in the USA we do not have to worry about switch damageing our pc's, they just wont start with it set to 220: No damage done.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: cubby1223

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: cubby1223

Naw, the switch was set correctly on the PSU, just crazy on the inside or something. This was probably almost 10 years go by now, was with like a 300MHz machine maybe? Even though it was a bare minimums machine, this was back when the bare minimums cost ~$800 for the parts alone! Our supplier at the time did replace all the parts, though I do not know if he was able to get compensation as well. I've long forgotten what brand PSU it was.

10 Years ago Pentum 100's were Avalable in mass quantity and the 75mhz model was the most popular; A 486 DX4 100mhz (75, 66, 50mhz) was considerd a modest and accepable processor, many were sold and used in notebooks and desktops. At this time In 1995 I was still drooling over the thought of a 133mhz processor that Intel had not yet released. 120 mhz Pentiums were just coming out avalable but were the high end stuff of the day, Much like the FX is today. We broke the 200-233 Mhz mark in early to mid 1997. 300mhz did not come around untill early 1998. Oh what fond vivid memories I have of those days....

What ever happend to CYRIX and those other clone processors?

In 1995, the average system cost around 2,300 usd and a budget machine had a price tag of $1,400-1,500 usd. A power users system or desktop replacemet DELL notebook cost around $6,000.