-.- smoke and fire... now what?

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legrand

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
Messages
79
So... I built this system a week or so ago....
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1396869

You can see that I had some hdd problems, and I'm waiting for an rma for a dead hdd from newegg.

Anyway, I have had the system up and running for about a week on an old sata hdd I had lying around.

I need some info off of one of the raid setups I have so I shut down everything and hook up the 4 raid drives and connect their power cords.

I power up the system but there is a small spark from one of the PS connectors to the chasis. This trips (what I expect is) an internal fuse in the PS (Build info in my sig). I think, ok... it'll reset itself and I'll be good to go.

I move the connector and shut off the PS by the toggle switch and wait a few seconds. I flip the switch and press the power button and I hear an electrical crack, then I see flames coming from the bottom of my raid hdds.

Now it stinks like an electrical fire in here, but I'm completely lost and terrified as to what to do. The older HDD is running off a molex connector, so it's fine and the system is running on it just fine.... I unplugged the SATA power connectors from the other drives but I don't know how to test these without plugging them into another HDD and frying it....

What the hell am I supposed to do now?

Pic of dead drive: http://www.clanlocknet.com/files/4.jpg
 
I've seen that brand of carnage quite often here at work. my advice would be to find another drive identical to it, remove the PCB from the good one and put it on that drive, then hope for the best.
 
yikes. is anything around the house acting up? could there be power spikes that your power supply wasn't able to handle? it could also be a bum power supply.
 
Is this the new BFG PSU? I wouldn't trust it. RMA it. Also, contact them about replacing that HDD, lol. Was the PSU plugged into a surge protector, UPS, or line conditioner?
 
This is the new BFG PS. The system is plugged into an APC RS 1500 Battery backup/line conditioner.

Everything was fine till that little spark jumped from one of the molex connectors to the chassis... I don't know if that screwed something up on the hdd or if it screwed up something on the PS. I guess I was hoping for something like:
Well you are still able to run the computer with the molex cord so it should be ok to plug in the sata power connector.
or
F that PS. Get another and don't press your luck.


Also, thanks for the advice Sundicated_Death. I'll try to find another 300gb Maxtor lying around somewhere...
 
I'd dump the power supply. "tripping a fuse" inside a power supply usually means 1 of 2 things:
1) you actually tripped a fuse if you're lucky, but you've probably got some more serious problem somewhere so that you should never have powered it on again until you replaced the fuse and corrected the electrical issue. this would include finding someone with electrical engineering training who can test each component of the PSU and verify proper operation.
2) you fried some component of the power supply, in which case it's toast.

In either case, something is seriously messed up. Fuses don't simply trip in a power supply. If they do, you've got a major problem that will result in further damage (as you've got on the HDD) if you attempt to continue use.
I'd go with Sundicated's advice and try to replace the PCB if you're feeling brace, or if your RAID system permits it, rebuild the toasted drive (basically anything but raid 0). do NOT rebuild the drive while connected on the toasted PS, and if possible put the drives onto an entirely different machine.

If it were my machine, I would consider every single component in the system suspect at this time, since even if they weren't the cause of the failure, they were all connected to a system that just had a substantial electrical failure and could have just been operated at a severe under/over voltage.


*edit*
read through the other thread you made a bit more thoroughly, thought about it for a minute, here's what i've got as far as unverifiable theories go:
hard drives tend to pull 20~25 watts in normal operation, and pull some heavy amps on startup. you could possible have overloaded the ps if it wasn't performing to spec, blown some component which was supposed to have regulated voltage through the molexes, and ended up with the problem you've got.
 
Woofer and others,

Thanks for the input. I am suspect of all the components at this point but am loathed to face that possibility since I just put the stupid thing together.

After the initial spark jumped to the chassis, I did have to power the unit up a couple of times before the HDD caught fire. It was rather disconcerting seeing the flames (as small as they might have been), erupting from the bottom of my HDD. I didn't want to accept what I was seeing.

I am worried that the PS I purchased is not powerful enough for my needs.

1) I remember there being like a power calculator somewhere a long time ago... does such a thing exist anywhere anymore?

2) Any other recomendations for PS's out there? The 650 watt one I had before seemed to be fine for my old AMD 4400+ system, the only difference is the motherboard, ram and cpu. I was told it would not work for this computer so I purchased the 550W BFG one...
 
That PS had plenty of power.

One of your electrical connections was faulty, then grounded and you kept trying to play with it instead of fixing it.

Either the connector broke or wasn't positioned correctly but you should have stopped and inspected the problem.

Chalk this up to going to fast and consider it an expensive learning experience. ;)

PS. Just a thought....you might wanna go post in this thread. :D
 
Well, I wasn't really going too fast, and I've built many a system before, I've just never had (nor really thought) a spark would jump from the metal tang inside of a plastic shrouded molex connector to the chassis. It's not like there's 400kV or something... only 12V max. I deal with static electricity all the time where I work (we make tesla coils and van de graaff generators). I'm used to that kind of voltage jumping to, say, the frame of your glasses when you least expect it.

Careless, maybe... but unintentionally so. I guess that's why you see those connectors covered with the vinyl caps sometimes.
 
where I work (we make tesla coils and van de graaff generators).
Click to expand...

That sounds cool as all get out!

That plug may not have been inserted all the way, had a crack, a wire pulling out, insulation missing...whatever.

Probably the last thing I would have done was to turn it back on without looking at it.

Believe me, I'm a great one for hoping things will fix themselves. I was a millwright in a steel mill for over 30 years and every day I would hope/pray the machines would fix themselves! :D

It's definately a bummer and there was an electrical hardware failure, but the damage could have been kept to a minimum.

Oh well, live and learn. :)
 
legrand said:
... I am worried that the PS I purchased is not powerful enough for my needs.

1) I remember there being like a power calculator somewhere a long time ago... does such a thing exist anywhere anymore?

2) Any other recomendations for PS's out there? The 650 watt one I had before seemed to be fine for my old AMD 4400+ system, the only difference is the motherboard, ram and cpu. I was told it would not work for this computer so I purchased the 550W BFG one...
Click to expand...

What other parts were connected to the stuff in your sig?

1) You can google for "PSU Calc lite", but those calcs overestimate most of the time.

2) Corsair 520W, 550W, 620W, 650W, etc. Silverstone, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling, etc.

The 680W Thermaltake Purpower had even LESS power available on the +12v rail, which is where most of your system draws its power from. Its also of much lower quality (made by Sirtec) than the BFG. There was obviously something faulty with the connector, so you really should contact BFG.
 
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