Power supply fire

[Gomer]

A friend recently built a new system. It was only in use for about 2 hours to install OS and whatnot. Afterwards it was left plugged in but shut off. That was a month ago.

He just graduated and is no longer living in the area. Just got a job abd has yet to move everything to his new apartment. I am home on break. His mom calls me today (I am like a son to her) because she smelled something electrical "hot" in the basement. I rushed over and could smell it the moment I went in the door. It was very strong in the basement and hard to locate but it turns out it was the PS (ATX) in the new box that had been undisturbed for a month. It was warm, almost hot to the touch, and it smelled horrible. No smoke or flames, but judging by the quantity and quality of the stench, plus the heat... it had to have smoked somewhat.

Anyone else ever have this happen? It was a new case bought through Tiger. Not sure of the PS manufacturer. Just for the heck of it, I tried to power up the system and of course got nothing. Being the holidays and all I didn't have time to swap PS's from another box to test the system out. What are the odds he lost his mainboard due to this PS self destructing? What could have caused it?

Oh ya, it was plugged into a grounded, quality surge protector.

[Ed_S]

Never heard of that happening before! I've fried a couple of ps's, the worst one tripped the house breaker. System was otherwise OK afterwards.

But in your friends case... even if the board's fried, so what?? Small price compared to a fire, which it sounds like it was headed for.

Better to lose a motherboard than his mother's home!!

It's VERY lucky you were there in time!
Do her another favor & check for anything else unused, but plugged in. Unplug it.

[This message has been edited by Ed_S (edited 12-23-2000).]

[NDC]

WOW! That does sound like a case in a million! I've never heard a fire starting in PSU period! Yeah, your friend's mother was very lucky. No computer could be worth the price of a house or someone's life!

[Steve R Jones]

Been here done that. Brand new, three week old Dell. Bossman first had his surge protector melt to the ground. Three days later he was just sitting at his desk and the power supply in the pc started smokeing. (we hadn't replaced the surge protector)

Luckly, the pc was turned off. Replaced the power supply and all was well. Replaced the surged protector and bought two extras. Had electrician repair circut breaker...

[Gomer]

She was pretty worried. So for piece of mind, I disconnected the surge for the new box and accessories, and the surge for the old box and accessories.

She was pretty lucky she was still home when it happened. She had been getting ready for work and the house would have been empty for 9 or so hours.

[CMonster]

About two years ago, I was in the 28th day of using a new system that I had bought bare-bones and built up - in fact I think I was posting to Sysopt - when I heard a "SNAP" and my screen went blank as a whisp of acrid smoke came from the power supply...

After soom testing I replaced the power supply (later the vendor made good on it) and I am using that very same system right this minute.

It is possible that the rest of the system is still good.

[wahrez]

Maybe the system went in to stand-by, and the PS was still running?

[tonym]

Hi Gomer,

Just some troubleshooting questions.

Did the system get wet or damp?
Did the system get real cold? [Hey, it's worth a shot. A basement in Michigan and winter and all...]
Is there the possibility that a small creature (spider, moth, etc.) crawled into the PSU and committed hari-kari?
Is the voltage select switch on the PSU set to the correct position?
Have there been any power disturbances in your area? Not surges, but dips and brownouts?

It's really not normal for a PSU to "smoke". Each has a fuse in the AC input to disconnect in case of fault, and the only circuitry running during an "OFF" condition is the +5V standby output...the regulator in this circuit may have failed (shorted) in a condition that dissipated signficant power to roast itself and the PC board beneath it, but not drawing enough current to blow the input fuse.

I doubt that the mobo was damaged. Unless you have a real crappy PSU, most are designed to fail "safe" and not propagate their failure to their load(s).

Good luck and Merry Christmas...


Tony

[Gomer]

Tony.... Nothing out of the ordinary like that.

And it was off for sure, not in standby.