My PSU on fire???,

[Naweo]

So I was advised on this forum to get rid of the gigabyte 850 psu cuz they fry...

Ironically I put in the seasonic one, and I used and replaced the cables that followed...

Except... therr was 2 cables that would like go into the fans and lights of the PC etc. But they didnt seem to have come with the original PSU seasonic package, so I just started the machine using existing cables.

I USED the seasonic cables for:

CPU power
GPU power
And motherboard mainframe.

Then rest of cables i reused.

When PC booted to desktop just fine... after 15 second I smelled smoke and i shut everything off.

The fans for the cpu cooling was not running so might have a loose connection.

How do I troubleshoot from here?

[tp4tissue]

Not all power cables are interchangeable between psus.

In this case, get it exchanged.   too dangerous.

[Naweo]

Not all power cables are interchangeable between psus.

In this case, get it exchanged.   too dangerous.

Yes I was thinking about it so thats why I changed the cables that made sense to change...

So... the seasonic one didn't supply me with enough cables to power everything necessary in the PC, so I had hoped it was fine since it seemed to fit nicely.

Anything I need to be concerned about? Motherboard, CPU, Ram?

You tell me to get A PSU that actually fits?

[tp4tissue]

Well, you can use those older cables in case you don't have enough as long as you check the pin out manually.

Probably want to sniff the Motherboard and gpu, make sure nothing obviously burnt.

[Naweo]

Well, you can use those older cables in case you don't have enough as long as you check the pin out manually.

Probably want to sniff the Motherboard and gpu, make sure nothing obviously burnt.

I have the old PSU, the gigabyte 850 that people say is ****ty. PC has worked completely fine with it.

I can just try and plug the old PSU and cables in and see if it works?

Do I have to sniff the motherboard/GPU relatively soon after or?

[tp4tissue]

Well right now, it's probably cast with the old burn't psu smell, so you want to let it air a bit, then go in for sniff.

[Naweo]

Okay thank you. Anything else to be aware about? Can I try wirh my old setup that worked, if I deem no damage done to other circuitry?

[suicidal_orange]

Smell the new PSU - if that's the source of the burning you should know.  Assuming it is you should be fine going back to your previous PSU which could be a good example of a bad model rather than a dud "good" one.

[Leslieann]

I have the old PSU, the gigabyte 850 that people say is ****ty. PC has worked completely fine with it.

All PSUs work fine right up until the time they don't.

If you want to use it, fine.
Just understand that if/when it fails it can take out every other part in the computer.

[Naweo]

I only wanted to plug old one in for troubleshooting. That's all

[Darthbaggins]

You never use cables from one brand of PSU to another, not all use the same pin-out for their power delivery on the PSU side.  This is what everyone was referring to you from other Forums and sites:

[Leslieann]

I only wanted to plug old one in for troubleshooting. That's all

You're playing with fire, quite literally.

That goes double when you swap cables.


Important for EVERYONE....
While it was mentioned you can't swap cables from one brand to another, you can't always even swap cables between different models from the same brand, Corsair has 4 generations of modular PSUs and none of them are compatible. Check before you plug.

[Naweo]

I only wanted to plug old one in for troubleshooting. That's all

You're playing with fire, quite literally.

That goes double when you swap cables.


Important for EVERYONE....
While it was mentioned you can't swap cables from one brand to another, you can't always even swap cables between different models from the same brand, Corsair has 4 generations of modular PSUs and none of them are compatible. Check before you plug.

So I know for sure I used 1 or 2 wrong cables when I plugged in the seasonic, and I saw smoke.

I just tested with the gigabyte 850, computer and everything booted fine, no smoke or problems, and it was on for a coulple minutes before I shut off and waited.

What would be possibilities now?

1. Can I try with the right cables to plug in my seasonic osu. Or do i need to buy a new one?

2. Can I just use my PC with old PSU that seems to work, with fingers crossed?

3. SHOULD i do some backup first before anything first and foremost?

[Naweo]

Everything seems to work but GPU fans are not spinning. Maybe because its idle mode?

[suicidal_orange]

Fire up a game with an animated menu screen - should be enough to kick it out of idle without overheating it if the fans have been fried (which is very unlikely assuming they are connected to the card)

[Leslieann]

So I know for sure I used 1 or 2 wrong cables when I plugged in the seasonic, and I saw smoke.

I just tested with the gigabyte 850, computer and everything booted fine, no smoke or problems, and it was on for a coulple minutes before I shut off and waited.

What would be possibilities now?

1. Can I try with the right cables to plug in my seasonic osu. Or do i need to buy a new one?

2. Can I just use my PC with old PSU that seems to work, with fingers crossed?

3. SHOULD i do some backup first before anything first and foremost?

I have dead shorted MANY PSUs, 12v to ground, 5v to ground, I've even done old school 7v mods where you wire 12v to 5v for slower fans and not once have I had a good PSU let out smoke.  Even the modest ones instantly flick off and yet never any smoke. Which tells me that barring sending 12v through a signal wire (power or standby power, etc) it's probably not the Seasonic that let out the smoke but something else entirely. If I knew what cables you swapped I could maybe figure it out but smoke is never good, but not always fatal either.


As for your next move, that depends.
If you know what let out smoke, great, pray it's the only thing damaged. If you don't know what smoked, I'd be figuring out what wrong cables I used, and how they differ to try and figure out what was fried.

The one thing I do know, is I still would not be using the Gigabyte PSU, if that means buying a new PSU, buy a new PSU. Honestly, a modest Antec or some crappy bronze Corsair or EVGA with enough wattage is a better option than the Gigabyte, probably pick one up for $80 or less. Check for Amazon and Newegg sales and promo codes, I once bought an 850 EVGA bronze on sale for or $70 and combined with a gift card only spent $45 on it. Was it a great PUS, nope, but years later it still runs. Deals are out there.


And you should already have backups.
If you wait until you need them, odds are you're too late, especially if you don't have a already plan in place. Other than a full restoration of backed up data, a full backup is the hardest job a drive ever performs. If the damage doesn't kill it, the stress certainly can.

[Sintpinty]

Hope the residue of the smoke didn't set off anything!

[tp4tissue]

Hope the residue of the smoke didn't set off anything!

xcept possibly lunge (an(er...

[Naweo]

I reinstalled entire PC windows 11. Didn't have problems in beginning.

Its all installed on new drive.

Same problems happening now. My theory is just that windows 11 is a crapshow.

Random explorer crashes and I can't play age of empires 4 without massive lag, into 20-30 fps category.

[tp4tissue]

try stuff that you know should work,

[Naweo]

I am assembling again. Can I reuse these connectors and adapters for fan poeer etc with my seasonic from old system?

[Versaknight]

monkaS

[Leslieann]

I am assembling again. Can I reuse these connectors and adapters for fan poeer etc with my seasonic from old system?

Yes, those are generic Molex and Sata adapters/connectors.
All of the ends that go to the motherboard, gpu, drives etc... are all standardized and interchange.


It's the modular cables, specifically where they plug into the PSU housing that is not standardized.
It probably saved them a penny on assembly so now we all get to keep the PSU boxes laying around so we can be sure our cables don't get swapped and fry something.

[fohat.digs]

I have never felt comfortable buying a power supply with modular connection cables.
Am I being a Luddite, or are hard connections more reliable?

[tp4tissue]

considering you don't pull them in and out all that often, and it's really not that many watts per wire,  modular is fine.

It's easier to clean, that "may" lead to longevity, but it's up in the air because people run 30-50 watt most of the psu's life span..

[suicidal_orange]

Important for EVERYONE....
While it was mentioned you can't swap cables from one brand to another, you can't always even swap cables between different models from the same brand, Corsair has 4 generations of modular PSUs and none of them are compatible. Check before you plug.

It's the modular cables, specifically where they plug into the PSU housing that is not standardized.
It probably saved them a penny on assembly so now we all get to keep the PSU boxes laying around so we can be sure our cables don't get swapped and fry something.

How does having someone design a new pinout and someone else set up a new part number for the "new" cable and so on throughout design, production, packing and managing spare parts save anyone anything?  From where I'm sitting the savings to be made from storing/transporting a smaller box (no-one buys a PSU in a shop based on the box advertising these days) and increased sales to people who already have your cables from their last PSU so save money by being loyal would make standards within a brand a no-brainer, plus you get to claim to be "green" which is a selling point to new customers.

Surely there aren't that many Naweo's (no offence!) buying two to make it worth it?

[Leslieann]

I have never felt comfortable buying a power supply with modular connection cables.
Am I being a Luddite, or are hard connections more reliable?

Any connection is a potential point of failure and I have had to reseat them.

Are they unreliable though, not really, as mentioned they are not used much, the real problem though is the connection itself, early ones in particular had issues with interference and ripple. They were fine for most systems but if you were an overclocker it was advisable to avoid them. Luckily it's less a problem now.

How does having someone design a new pinout and someone else set up a new part number for the "new" cable and so on throughout design, production, packing and managing spare parts save anyone anything?

You're looking at it from a retail and user standpoint, not a manufacturing standpoint.

Where the wires originate on the PCB to where they come out of the box can lead to interference and more importantly, extra wire to make those runs. The extra wire costs more and adds weight, which means added shipping cost as well. Sure it requires some extra cad time but spread across your entire lineup, over time, it can pay off handsomely. Manufacturers will fight tooth and nail over half a penny. It's not a new product, just a new cover and connector on an existing product.

You also have to remember it has a multiplying effect on final price.
On average for every penny you spend in China means a 10 cent increase for the end user, so adding 10cents to the cost of a PSU means adding $1 to the end user. It also means missing that $49.99 price point they targeted.

[Kavik]

I'm probably reiterating what others have already said, but never re-use any cables from an old power supply unless you replaced it with the exact brand and model.

When I first built my PC, I had a Corsair PSU. It died within a few days of having it. While I was waiting for the RMA, I bought a ThermalTake PSU locally, but I didn't feel like redoing all my cable management, so I used the Corsair cables that were already in my case.

Everything was fine until I bought an SSD a few months later. I put the SSD on the 1st SATA slot where my HDD had been and moved the HDD to the 2nd slot. As soon as I powered on my PC, the HDD died. Somewhere along the way, I also killed my optical drive.

It took me a month or two to figure out what had happened. I was lucky that only the HDD and DVD drive were ruined. I installed all the ThermalTake cables and never had another issue. As others have said, the pins on the cables are different for each modular power supply.

[suicidal_orange]

How does having someone design a new pinout and someone else set up a new part number for the "new" cable and so on throughout design, production, packing and managing spare parts save anyone anything?

You're looking at it from a retail and user standpoint, not a manufacturing standpoint.

Where the wires originate on the PCB to where they come out of the box can lead to interference and more importantly, extra wire to make those runs. The extra wire costs more and adds weight, which means added shipping cost as well. Sure it requires some extra cad time but spread across your entire lineup, over time, it can pay off handsomely. Manufacturers will fight tooth and nail over half a penny. It's not a new product, just a new cover and connector on an existing product.

You also have to remember it has a multiplying effect on final price.
On average for every penny you spend in China means a 10 cent increase for the end user, so adding 10cents to the cost of a PSU means adding $1 to the end user. It also means missing that $49.99 price point they targeted.

It's true I've never been on the inside but if the pinout worked on the previous model it will work on the new one without interference - it's not like there's any significant circuitry change after the output stage.  The weight/material cost of external cables will be significantly more than any internal wiring and not including external cables will reduce the retail price and with the significantly smaller box required hundreds more units will fit in the same shipping container.

For me your last point is the only reason - if they mark up a more expensive product they make more money, that's all that matters.

[Leslieann]

Outside wires will always be the same length, it's the length to the backside of the connector (inside the PSU) I was getting at.

The pinout is designed to use as short of wire as possible internally while being aesthetically pleasing externally, they could have rotated the PCIE connectors to shorten the leads even further but that would hurt sales.

On this EVGA we can assume the PSU internal layout is control to the left then 3v, then 5v and finally 12v off to the right.
Had they made the wiring the same pattern as ATX it would require wires running all over the place (rats nest) while this can just use solid bars up to each connector (cheap, easy assembly). Most people don't have multiple PSUs nor do they tend to mix and match wires so it's usually not a problem.

Not all do it this way though, for example Corsair Type 4 has the control system down the right side and there's no reason it can't be flipped or certain sections swapped.  The new ATX spec simplifies all of this greatly (no more 3 or 5v).

It would be nice if they standardized both ends as well but it will be better regardless but after my experience with RGB lately, I have zero faith in them agreeing on anything.