Some Advice Please ;)

[ChrisIMRIE]

Hey,

Now before i explain my problem, don't beat me down with a stick, i know what i did was wrong, so don't rub it in anymore, and also, beware of these new USB gadgets they're more trouble than their worth.

Right so i saw a gadget on www.play.com, USB Coffee Warmer and 4 Port USB Hub built into one unit, bought it, plugged it in and bang, off went the computer, ringmain fuse blew also, so something bad must of happened.

Now visually i just took the whole motherboard to pieces, took the CPU off and cleaned the whole lot up and got a magnifying glass out and looked for burnt / smoke / shorting symptoms, nothing, it seems perfectly fine.

So do you guys reckon it'll be fine, none of the connectors are black or any signs of damage, i think the PSU suffered a overload of some kind as that seems to be the only thing which looking through the grill it looks like a capacitor is black, as in exploded.

Now im off out tomorrow to look at a new car, now about a minute's walk away is PCWorld, so would you suggest getting a new PSU and trying to boot the system up or would the motherboard, if not visually damaged, still manage to blow the new PSU up?

Just curious as nothing is showing any signs of damage here, as the whole PC is in bits on the floor next to me, and only the PSU looks damaged.

Any help is greatly appreciated,

Regards,

Chris

 

[BigJock2005]

It's taking all my effort to refrain from a jibe about the coffee warmer, it really is.

HOWEVER, I think you might have been lucky/unlucky. Is it a good brand of PSU? If it looks damaged, it almost certainly will be. A decent PSU should be fused or have thermal cutouts that would prevent a faulty device blowing it up. It may even be pure coincidence and your PSU was about to go up anyway.

On the other hand, the surge that can result from a suicide PSU can blow your whole board.

Solution: Buy another PSU, fit it and fire up without your USB hub. If all is well, plug your USB hub in. If it goes bang then I guess you know the prolem.

Best case: Coincidence, PSU is gone, replacement will be fine.

Worst case: The USB hub is faulty, it's taken out your PSU and in the process irrepairably damaged your mobo and/or some components.

Good luck.

Jock

 

[ChristopherP]

Don't go to PCW - i'll test it for you, free, with a 430w PSU that i know works.

His PSU was a brand new Hiper 480w or something like that... so it should have all the protection gubbins. Working perfectly until that.

 

[floppybootstomp]

If you think the PSU has a damaged capacitor, then that's probably the culprit.

USB coffee warmer? Oh, come on......

Looks like it drew more current than those tiny little usb wires can handle, the people who sell those gadgets should be beat with a big muddy stick. Twice.

In my opinion, it's unlikely the motherboard would blow a new PSU, although that isn't a given, only connecting will tell.

You could be lucky, and mobo is Ok, or it could be suffering from symptoms, I've seen everything from blown sound chip to crippled PCI bus after similar incidents.

I've recently repaired two computers where a faulty PSU completely blew the motherboard and another instance where a blown PSU took out a Creative Audigy sound card (the motherboard was actually Ok after this).

So, two lessons here:

1) Don't buy **** you don't need, like heaters that are supposed to run off a very low current USB circuit.

2) Always buy a quality PSU, cheap ones don't make it.

 

[muckshifter]

Yep ... been there, seen it ... but not with a 'warmer'.

As Floppy said ... try it and see.

OH



AND ONLY USE A 3AMP FUSE IN THE MAINS PLUG

 

[ChristopherP]

The PSU was pretty good - well its a model or two below mine, so should be more than enough.

Chris - maybe you should plug it all in and see if it works - maybe the Ring main fuse went before any damage could be done?

Take un-necassary devices out to minimise the amount of power drawn...?

See if she boots perhaps... im no expert with PSU explosions, but my PSU went **BANG** and **FLASH** once (i was messing with PC while on) and the PC turned off instantly... i pressed the power button and hey presto, no problems at all! Booted perfectly.

I'm guessing your PSU will have the same safety things as mine...

 

[ChrisIMRIE]

Hmm... firstly, the whole PSU area smelt bad of electrical smoke, so turning it on is something i don't want to do, because i *think* i can see a damaged capacitor.

I thought it might be a good gadget as i often do long spates of webdesign in one go, so when i get stuck in i don't like leaving half way through a design, thus the gadget i bought.

But yes i know i was stupid and nothing like this will ever go near a computer of mine, funny thing is, PCWorld are selling the same kind of thing on their website.

Not sure what to do then... as the laptop im using is rather pants, the screen is bad for webdesign, it's tiny, and is making my life hell. Thus why i want to get the PC sorted tomorrow.

 

[ChristopherP]

Well plug your 17" tft into the VGA out on the laptop. Just use it as a base station.

Dont take it to PC World... they dont know what they are doing.

 

[ChrisIMRIE]

I do have the 17" plugged into the laptop, but the 17" is all fuzzy when plugged into the monitor port on the laptop, no idea why but it's all messed up and the auto focus doesn't help either.

Think the output monitor port on laptop is nackered.

And i never said im taking the PC to PCW, i said im buying a new PSU at PCW.

 

[Me__2001]

try chris' PSU and see what happens, the worst that could happen is you fry it all a bit more and you owe chris a PSU

 

[ChristopherP]

There is no WAY he is messing with my *BRAND NEW* Hiper Type R Modular!

The only other one powerful enough is my parents one... err no

 

[Adywebb]

Don't go to PCW - i'll test it for you, free, with a 430w PSU that i know works.

Come on now Chris, you promised......

 

[ChristopherP]

I will test his motherboard and processor and RAM and graphics and HDD with that PSU, but my parents 430w is not getting any where NEAR that coffee warmer !!

 

[Me__2001]

no the coffee warmer needs throwing in the nearest bin, just re build the system and try it

 

[Quadophile]

Anything that has heating element would need a hell of lot more current than what a USB can provide, I am not sure how anyone can promote it on their site, you should consider yourself very lucky a fire did not break out.

 

[ChrisIMRIE]

It doesn't use a heating element, it uses some form of resistors which release heat energy.

It runs on about 3.5v and it is sitting next to me running off the power stick for my Creative Muvo so it must not of been that which made it fail.

Honestly though guys it did smell of electrical smoke afterward, the PSU that is, i didn't see smoke anywhere, it just smelt of it when i knelt down next to the case.

Thus why im not sure about testing it...

 

[ChristopherP]

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...0&tm=undefined&sku=290535&category_oid=-24780

 

[ChrisIMRIE]

Simple Plug-and-Explode

 

[BigJock2005]

It doesn't use a heating element, it uses some form of resistors which release heat energy.QUOTE]

Er, bud, that would be the definition of a heating element... Maybe I am just missing your sarcasm :-?

 

[ChrisIMRIE]

A heating 'element' is a strip of wire which has a flow of electric running through it, such as that of a Kettle / Electric Hob cookers.

This is different, i took it to bits earlier, it's just tiny little square resistors... and they emit heat naturally, so they are totally different things, a cooker heating element functions on 240V.

Where as this USB thing runs on 3.5V, big difference