Long story short, my AX850 was faulty and damaged my CPU and motherboard. It was a bitch to nail down the exact problem.
Wall of text ahead.
So, I decided to downgrade/sidegrade most of my stuff, move to a mATX board and single GPU on the Z97 platform and not be bothered with overclocking anymore. I wanted a more modern case with USB 3.0 and easily cleaned fan filters, etc. I got a Z97 Asus Gryphon, the Armor Kit, a 4790K at Microcenter for like $260 and an XFX DD R9 290 for about $180 used. I selected the Phanteks Evolv for the case. It's quirky, but I like the ease of use when compared to a Lian Li. I kept the memory from the previous build and assembled the build like I normally would -- with extra care to use a grounding strap as it is winter and I really didn't want to damage anything.
Everything went downhill from here.
After finishing assembly (in the case, as I never bother to test outside first as I have never had a problem), I plugged in my peripherals and the power and flipped the switch and the system booted. Fiddled with the fan control,SATA controller and rebooted. I wasn't even going to bother reinstalling the OS so it was already good to go and once the drivers were installed, everything was running great. I decided to update the bios and rebooted and did so.
After that, I couldn't get passed the Windows loading screen.
Entered the bios once again to be sure I did not have the SATA controller set to the wrong thing, but it was exactly as I thought -- on RAID. I tried to troubleshoot the problem and could not figure it out. I actually could not boot into any OS I tried. I figured the board went bad and got a replacement.
I plugged everything up once again and this time the board burned.
I did everything as I had for years (assembly-wise) and got a click with an immediate power off. The PSU had been in use up until I decided to replace my parts. I didn't immediately think there was anything wrong with it. I simply figured there was a short somewhere and unplugged every cable and replaced all of them since I have multiple sets of Corsair cables for the AX850. Tried to power on and only got smoke and a sizzling sound and nearly raged out. It had been a trying time -- I had never experienced anything like this. I wanted to throw everything into the trash and go lay down to calm down.
Instead, I emailed Corsair and explained the situation. I figured the CPU was a goner too and explained that to Intel and they RMAd without a hassle. And I ordered yet another board since I didn't want to wait and be without a PC while waiting on Corsair...
Every time I deal with Corsair, I know it's going to take an age for them to get back to me, but I always feel confident in their service. The first reply was kind of vague and somewhat stupid, but I replied again saying that I needed to request a damage claim form as the AX850 seemed to be faulty and damaged my parts. I attached pictures and invoices and in their testing, Corsair found that the PSU was faulty and are in the process of reimbursing me for the motherboard and replacing my AX850 with an AX860i.
Since I got a gig for about a month, I hadn't been back to my home to do any computer stuff, so only yesterday with the snowstorm did I actually go home with the replacement CPU and the new board to try out everything. I had to borrow my daughter's PSU to complete the assembly, but she's okay with dad borrowing the part and not having a PC for a week or two.
It works. Thank goodness. I'm not jinxed or a complete idiot. Lol.
Wall of text ahead.
So, I decided to downgrade/sidegrade most of my stuff, move to a mATX board and single GPU on the Z97 platform and not be bothered with overclocking anymore. I wanted a more modern case with USB 3.0 and easily cleaned fan filters, etc. I got a Z97 Asus Gryphon, the Armor Kit, a 4790K at Microcenter for like $260 and an XFX DD R9 290 for about $180 used. I selected the Phanteks Evolv for the case. It's quirky, but I like the ease of use when compared to a Lian Li. I kept the memory from the previous build and assembled the build like I normally would -- with extra care to use a grounding strap as it is winter and I really didn't want to damage anything.
Everything went downhill from here.
After finishing assembly (in the case, as I never bother to test outside first as I have never had a problem), I plugged in my peripherals and the power and flipped the switch and the system booted. Fiddled with the fan control,SATA controller and rebooted. I wasn't even going to bother reinstalling the OS so it was already good to go and once the drivers were installed, everything was running great. I decided to update the bios and rebooted and did so.
After that, I couldn't get passed the Windows loading screen.
Entered the bios once again to be sure I did not have the SATA controller set to the wrong thing, but it was exactly as I thought -- on RAID. I tried to troubleshoot the problem and could not figure it out. I actually could not boot into any OS I tried. I figured the board went bad and got a replacement.
I plugged everything up once again and this time the board burned.
I did everything as I had for years (assembly-wise) and got a click with an immediate power off. The PSU had been in use up until I decided to replace my parts. I didn't immediately think there was anything wrong with it. I simply figured there was a short somewhere and unplugged every cable and replaced all of them since I have multiple sets of Corsair cables for the AX850. Tried to power on and only got smoke and a sizzling sound and nearly raged out. It had been a trying time -- I had never experienced anything like this. I wanted to throw everything into the trash and go lay down to calm down.
Instead, I emailed Corsair and explained the situation. I figured the CPU was a goner too and explained that to Intel and they RMAd without a hassle. And I ordered yet another board since I didn't want to wait and be without a PC while waiting on Corsair...
Every time I deal with Corsair, I know it's going to take an age for them to get back to me, but I always feel confident in their service. The first reply was kind of vague and somewhat stupid, but I replied again saying that I needed to request a damage claim form as the AX850 seemed to be faulty and damaged my parts. I attached pictures and invoices and in their testing, Corsair found that the PSU was faulty and are in the process of reimbursing me for the motherboard and replacing my AX850 with an AX860i.
Since I got a gig for about a month, I hadn't been back to my home to do any computer stuff, so only yesterday with the snowstorm did I actually go home with the replacement CPU and the new board to try out everything. I had to borrow my daughter's PSU to complete the assembly, but she's okay with dad borrowing the part and not having a PC for a week or two.
It works. Thank goodness. I'm not jinxed or a complete idiot. Lol.
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