Help! My son nuked my computer :(

[abbadaba]

He took a usb cable that was attached to the rear of the motherboard and plugged it into an oversized power outlet designed for an AC unit. The outlet was partially obscured by my desk and I never used it, totally forgot it was there. I'm very lucky my son didn't get hurt. A big spark and electrical burning smell, computer wont power up. I assume at the very least the motherboard is fried, most perhiperhals attached to the computer seem to be fine. I don't have another machine to swap parts into to see what still works.

My question is - before I go off to newegg to buy stuff does anyone have any idea what might be salvageable from the computer? ram, video card, processor, PSU, hard drive?

 

[Bubbaleone]

That's a very unusual situation which takes it out of the normal category of things to check. I think at the least, you'll need to start with a new mobo but I'd be very hesitant about the CPU. If it's damaged you run the risk of killimg the new mobo with it. If it was me I'd bite the bullet on a mobo and CPU and then start testing peripherals to see what else needs to be replaced.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

In this situation there's really no substitute for taking the machine in to a qualified shop.

It could be something as simple as the PSU, or it could be everything in there, and without the ability to swap parts, it's going to be impossible to tell.

Hope it's not too bad, and glad your son is alright.

 

[tracerbullet]

Agreed with both of the above, for what it's worth. I have personally killed a new motherboard putting a bad CPU into it. At this point you don't know what is or isn't working, and throwing new parts at it may just end up damaging them and also make things really difficult to troubleshoot as you damage your new components along the way.

I've built a lot of machines but ion this case I'd look for a shop as well, assuming of course people there actually know something. Every component is suspect at this point.

 

[lakedude]

My best guess is that the MB is toast, the rest may be fine, or not. It all depends on the path the electricity from the big outlet took. In order of most likely to be OK absent more information:

1) HD most likely OK
2) GPU
3) RAM and CPU good chance of OK
4) PSU 50/50
5) MB almost certainly toast

Clearly if any part is all black and fried up looking chances are it is toast. A visual inspection should give you better information. Post pics if you can.

Like the others have said you are taking your chances mixing suspect parts with new parts. Still I'd be halfway tempted to just get a MB if a visual inspection shows that the MB is the only burnt part.

 

[abbadaba]

Thank you for the responses.

I didn't know that plugging a damaged CPU into a new motherboard could actually damage the new board.

Would there be any risk plugging the hard drive into a new motherboard? Obviously I would like to recover some files off of it. {Edit thanks post above for indicating HD is probably fine}

I'm not sure how much a computer shop would charge me to test all my parts but I'm guessing I may as well just put that money towards new components.

Fortunately the computer was about 4-5 years old anyway though I wasnt planning on replacing it yet. It ran most new games fine. Overlcocked Q6600, used to have a 8800gt, got a used 6850 for cheap off a friend.

A funny side note, that may also give a clue to the extent of the damage -I had an old playstation dual shock controller plugged into the system via a ps2-usb converter. Immediately after the incident it was vibrating uncontrollably until i unplugged it. Talk about a death rattle!

 

[Mixolydian]

Hope you beat the shit out of your son.

What is wrong with you?
admin allisolm

 

[Torn Mind]

Well, USB cables can conduct electricity. So a huge surge of AC power went straight through the USB circuit board and onto the main board. You can only pray your hard drive and disk drive is safe, but the mobo components are all probably damaged beyond repair.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Hope you beat the shit out of your son.

What is wrong with you?
admin allisolm

<<<<<<< OT is that way...you are truly a disgrace to these forums.

 

[abbadaba]

My best guess is that the MB is toast, the rest my be fine, or not. It all depends on the path the electricity from the big outlet took. In order of most likely to be OK absent more information:

1) HD most likely OK
2) GPU
3) RAM and CPU good chance of OK
4) PSU 50/50
5) MB almost certainly toast

Clearly if any part is all black and fried up looking chances are it is toast. A visual inspection should give you better information. Post pics if you can.

Like the others have said you are taking your chances mixing suspect parts with new parts. Still I'd be halfway tempted to just get a MB if a visual inspection shows that the MB is the only burnt part.

Just finished dissecting my rig and spreading the parts out. There is no visual damage to any parts. In fact I've forgotten which USB port the cable was plugged into and can not tell the difference between one port and the next. There is a black burn mark on the socket in the wall and the tip of the cable that was inserted is melted and burnt.

If I test my graphics card and tvtuner by putting them in a different computer could it damage that machine?

 

[lakedude]

Just finished dissecting my rig and spreading the parts out. There is no visual damage to any parts. In fact I've forgotten which USB port the cable was plugged into and can not tell the difference between one port and the next. There is a black burn mark on the socket in the wall and the tip of the cable that was inserted is melted and burnt.

If I test my graphics card and tvtuner by putting them in a different computer could it damage that machine?

It could but I'd most likely chance it.

USB plugs are grounded by the metal shield on the outside. The ground conductor most likely took most of the blow.

Are you sure you have power? Maybe you just blew a fuse/CB and maybe your computer is fine?

Might also be just the PS instead of the MB or both.

Use your nose. Where is the burn smell coming from?

 

[abbadaba]

It could but I'd most likely chance it.

USB plugs are grounded by the metal shield on the outside. The ground conductor most likely took most of the blow.

Are you sure you have power? Maybe you just blew a fuse/CB and maybe your computer is fine?

Might also be just the PS instead of the MB or both.

Use your nose where is the burn smell coming from?

Yeah circuit breaker is fine other things plugged into the same power strip are fine.

Im having trouble imagining how an ac surge from a USB port would cook a PSU maybe im not thinking about it correctly.

Haha, just noticed there are little melted holes in the carpet where no doubt little goblets of liquefied usb connector landed. This happened last night so there is no smell anymore.

 

[abbadaba]

Hope you beat the shit out of your son.

What is wrong with you?
admin allisolm

He is very sorry. He is 3 and has said nothing but "oh no daddy pooter isa bo-ken!" "howee fixit?" and so on.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

He is very sorry. He is 3 and has said nothing but "oh no daddy pooter isa bo-ken!" "howee fixit?" and so on.

Kudos to you for being a good sport. That comment was WAY out of line.

 

[Mixolydian]

I forgot people couldn't take a joke.

 

[tracerbullet]

Im having trouble imagining how an ac surge from a USB port would cook a PSU maybe im not thinking about it correctly.

It may not have. If it cooked the motherboard, then the PSU may simply not be getting the signal from the motherboard (shorting the pins) to turn things on.

It seems like it's all a big gamble at this point. You could buy and try a new motherboard and hope for the best. But you may throw more new parts at it, say a CPU, then more new parts (RAM), then wonder if your new parts got toasted, and so on until you just end up very confused. I'd like to give out a percentage (it's 10% likely that a new motherboard is enough, or 90%) but just can't say.

If you search a little there are ways of determining if a PSU is good or bad, shorting certain pins and such. I get the gist of it but don't know the details. That may get you somewhere.

I'd still recommend a shop, let them sort it out and take the gamble with a new board and so on. Maybe set up a deal that if they can fix it with a new motherboard, you buy the board and pay their labor. But if that doesn't fix it you pay for their labor only and then start considering your next computer build / purchase.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Honestly? I'd put together a new computer, and start over. I wouldn't even bother to try to re-use things. Except, save the HDD, and pray it wasn't toasted. You might be able to recover it.

 

[max347]

What brand is the PSU? My bet, bad motherboard for sure.

If it is a quality PSU, you might have lucked out with some surge protection (I know my old Enermax had some, diagnosed a few motherboards with that red led). I'd bet your gpu, hd, and ram are all fine. CPU is iffy, but if it had no external signs of damage I would probably test it on a board. MC does BIOS flashes for like $15? They might test a cpu for the same price, I'd ask.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Time for an upgrade. Items that may be salvageable but I wouldn't rely to heavily on:

-disk drives
-cd/dvd roms
-other usb devices
-speakers
-cpu
-ram
-psu

Seriously, if this was my PC I would be buying a new PSU, CPU, RAM, Motherboard, and an OS drive. And cross my fingers any data I needed would still be there.

 

[abbadaba]

Seriously, if this was my PC I would be buying a new PSU, CPU, RAM, Motherboard, and an OS drive. And cross my fingers any data I needed would still be there.

This is what I am going to do. One of the fans on the PSU has been grinding on and off for awhile now so I was planning on replacing it anyway. If I can find a dirt cheap mobo that is compatible with my current components I may try just replacing that first.

Somebody above asked about the PSU - it is a cheap HEC compucase PSU. Says Orion on the side. Way back when I was getting this PC together and was looking for a cheap PSU Anandtech had the very same PSU in some sort of super duper low budget build so i figured it wouldnt be that bad. I got over 4 years of use out of it and i rarely turned off or even put my computer in sleep mode.

The PSU is still providing some juice to the motherboard. My game controller vibrates constantly when I click the PSU switch on. Which is good evidence to me that it is getting a garbage signal from the mobo.

 

[billyevans]

Unless you have some spare parts you don't care about to do some swaps, I second (third, fourth, fifth?) going to a shop and finding out the problem. I really wouldn't recommend shooting in the dark and potentially damaging new components that you bought HOPING they were the culprits.

 

[lakedude]

Nothing wrong with taking it to a shop if you have a good one you trust.

Personally I think you have a pretty good chance of fixing yourself with a MB and PS (EDIT: looks like PS might be OK) but it is a chance either way.

Typically a shop is going to be faced with the same choices you are and they will pass any hardware costs on to you, at marked up prices.

It is really going to come down to how much stuff is toasty which no one knows at this point.

 

[abbadaba]

I'm not going to pay for labor to diagnose a 4 year old build and like the post above noted even a pro would just be swapping parts.


Using a paperclip to complete a circuit on the main atx connector I was able to dupe the power supply into thinking it was plugged into a functioning motherboard. The hard drive spun up, cd-rom lights up and all the fans work. Psu is probably fine. I have a buddy who has a multimeter who can help me confirm it is spitting out the right voltages. If only I had a machine around with an esata port I could check the harddrive and retrieve files.

I found a compatible mobo online for 40ish bucks ill plug everything into the see if it fires up. If not ill junk it all and start from scratch.

 

[lakedude]

Good plan IMO.

 

[VirtualLarry]

geeks.com has an Intel P45 board with Crossfire and 4 DDR2 slots for $35, refurb.

Only downside that I can see, is that it only has 4 SATA2 ports, and no PS/2 ports.