Really Need Help on This One! *black film*

[serani]

So I wake up this morning and I go to power on my box before I go to work and upon hitting the power button, nothing happens.

So I bend down and check the outlet, everything is secure. I feel around the PSU, everything connected, I even toggled the PSU power switch a couple times.

I pull off the side and see that the mobo lights are on (on this board there are two switches directly on the mobo, a reset and *jump start* , neither do anything right now, but are lit)

Then I start to investigate, I find all over the side panel of the computer, within the grate is a lot of what looks like soot..the same black dusty film is all over my case fans, CPU fan and appears to be in the PSU


My initial guess is that the PSU overheated or malfunctioned in some way
(pretty sure I hibernated the box last night before bed, so it was "on")

But would there still be power to the mobo?

Any other guesses?


This is all from about a 5 minute dissection, I'll have ample time to figure this out after work.

Thanks in Advance !

 

[DefCon_!1!]

this happend with my LOL machine i build form trash parts.

the power was being put into the mobo, but it was crap.


my guess is that something blew, or overheated

but ya, after work, investimigate

 

[LukaszR1]

definitely sounds like something fried. But its weird how the mobo lights still light up
can you post pics for us to see???

Also, try another PSU if you have one...and that'll tell you if its ur psu that went on you...or if its another part in ur pc.

 

[serani]

definitely sounds like something fried. But its weird how the mobo lights still light up
can you post pics for us to see???

Also, try another PSU if you have one...and that'll tell you if its ur psu that went on you...or if its another part in ur pc.

Ya I will test everything tonight..

Will probably go out and buy a PSU tonight to test..really hope that is all that is wrong.

Booooo

 

[LukaszR1]

yeah lets hope....cause a PSU is cheap to replace...if its something else...it could take a junk out of your pocket. well let us know how it turns out good luck! hope its just the PSU

 

[serani]

Ahh thank god for good support:

So I pulled apart everything, and it looks as though the 'soot-like- substance originated from the PSU like I assumed. So I've ripped it out of my box and started an RMA order.

It's a PC Power and Cooling (awesomely a sub manufactor of OCZ !) all their PSU's have a 7 year warranty and if they can't fix it (which they won't be able to) they replace it.

The whole process takes about a week..so I put together my old HP/Frankenstein box (built in 98' and running strong!)


So wish me luck and I'll post some updates.

Anyone give me some insight towards the potentiality of frying my mobo/cpu etc through this mishap?

The LED's still light up on my board so I'm hoping the damage was isolated to my PSU

*CROSSES FINGERS*

 

[Teny]

if it actually was your PSU, then nothing else should be fried, the OCZ PSU should have a thing where it would prevent that.
I would try another PSU and see what happens.
Im guessing its the PSU because the PSU still applies a little bit of power when its off, then it shuts off when it gets overheated, which usually happens right when you turn on your computer.

Did you try unplugging the PSU for a while and plugging it back in? or did you already RMA it?

 

[serani]

Ya I tried taking apart all power connections, reconnecting only the necessary components and then restarting and I still got nothing.

I was going to go out and grab a cheap PSU to test it with..though I think at this point I'll just wait for the RMA order- should get shipped out tomorrow at the latest.


Update: Frankenstein just crashed lol

Wow guys,

PC Power and Cooling has got my customer service of the year award. I submitted an RMA ticket about an hour ago and just received email confirmation accepting my order.

So if they can't repair it, they'll replace it. Furthermore, I put a line in my Ticket Message stating "..once I receive my new PSu I'll then test the rest of my build for further damage"

I'm preparing them, for that minuscule chance that any thing else was damaged..I should have them reimburse me for the 2 cans of Dust Off it's going to take to clean this beast.

 

[serani]

UPDATE***

So it's been shipped, didn't have a chance to take a picture of the PSU..I didn't want to open it up for fear of voiding warranty.

But we'll see just how good their Customer Service and Tech Support is at this point.

I'll keep you all posted.

 

[nevermind1534]

Emachines had a problem with their bestec PSUs dieing, and when they did, they would fry the motherboard, and possibly other components. This happened to my grandparents' computer. It killed the motherboard, a stick of ram, and the keyboard.