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Antec True430W PS exploded!

F

FluxCapacitor

Senior member
That's right, exploded.

I just purchased one of the new Plus1080B cases from Antec with their new and improved 430W "smart" power supply. After migrating all my components from the old system to the new Antec system I pressed the power button to turn the system on.

At first, nothing happened and I wondered if I had forgot to make a connection to the motherboard. I didn't have time to finish that thought before I heard a sizzling sound and about a second later there was a very loud bang from the power supply! I could hear the sound of electricity arcing between two points and could SEE bright blue sparks burning inside the power supply.

I ripped the power cable out of the power supply just as smoke started billowing out the side. Apparently during all this, the fuse inside the power supply never "blew" to shut off the current flow.

I just sat there dumbfounded for a minute before I started to get really mad. "What kind of junk is this?" I thought. Believe it or not, I got up the guts to replace the burnt up Antec PS with the old one I had after checking all the case wiring. It took me a while to actually get up the nerve to push that power button again, but when I did the system booted right up! Nothing was fried!

You should have heard the Antec people when I called up to request an RMA. "Hi, I just bought a new Plus1080B and when I turned it on the power supply blew up." "BLEW UP?" "Yes, blew up." "Oh my goodness!" "Yeah"

Sad. I wonder if this has happened to anyone else with a new Antec PS?
 
This sounds eerily similar to a Tom's Hardware article about six months ago. I don't think it was an Antec supply in Tom's rant but the circumstances were similar.
 
This has happened before. I can't remember the person, but a year or two ago there was a member here that pissed and moaned about his Antec PSU exploding. Nobody believed him. It got a bit funny with him worried about Antec sending him booby-trapped replacements because he was complaining so much.

(BTW, I have an Antec box and psu and I'm pretty happy with them.)
 
Well, certainly the fuse in the PSU should have prevented that from happening... having said that though, it's a man made part, and all it takes is a bad cap or rectifier (or something else) and BOOM no more PSU.
 
Damn.. I have used Antecs before and use them in 2/3 of my PC's and I think they are very top notch products.. I think you got unlucky 🙁

Unless the new Antec PS's are like the IBM hard drives now... :Q a new string of faulty products? hope not.. lol
 
was the switch in the back not on 115vac and the other one (210vac? the euro one) or something?

I remember my friend got his antec p/s shipped with the euro setting, and i caught it before trying it, maybe thats what happens...
 


<< was the switch in the back not on 115vac and the other one (210vac? the euro one) or something? >>



That wouldn't make it blow up. 210 needs more juice to run it.
The circuit board inside was probably shorted out.
They are suppose to shut down when a problem arises.
 


<< Damn.. I have used Antecs before and use them in 2/3 of my PC's and I think they are very top notch products.. I think you got unlucky 🙁

Unless the new Antec PS's are like the IBM hard drives now... :Q a new string of faulty products? hope not.. lol >>



Another vote for unlucky...stuff happens...next please...
 
I had an Enermax 350w PSU burn up one of the floppy power connectors (which of course was attached to my floppy drive). Turned on the computer for the first time and wham, smoke starts billowing out of the side of the case. Rip the power cord out, run outside with the case...hehehe. Anyhow, luckily only the power supply and the floppy drive were dead...but the next PSU I put in there I made sure I would be able to run back outside if I needed to, but luckily there have been no more computer fires for me 😱
 

I have had this happen several times.
It sounds like a firecracker went off inside the box.
If you take apart the PSU you will see a bunch of frizzy looking paper all over.
A filter capacitor metal can blows when the dielectric shorts.
Very impressive, and guaranteed to get the heart started pumping at full capacity.
It has never hurt anything else on the involved computers - its not a "fusing thing" - the powersupply just
stops.
Don't blame Antec - just the capacitor manuf.

Tho I will say the times it happened was in places that had poor fluctuating mains power.
I have never seen one blow with a UPS connected.
 
LOL! Good one todesengel...

Well, you can't really see any damage from the outside. Suprising considering the fireworks display it gave off. I've seen and heard what happens when you plug a power supply into 220v when it's set at 110v. My house is 110v. When mine blew it sounded a lot like that except it kept sparking and shorting afterwards. I've just never heard of that happening before.

I also have horrible luck so I'm sure it was a 1-in-1,000,000 chance. Now why can't I get that lucky when I play the lottery?

BTW, I love the new Antec cases. Look a lot like the Alienware cases with new front panel and blowhole on the side. That made me even more bummed when all this happened.
 
I had a CMOS battery explode on me once, and I do mean explode. The computer was running quietly when it blew up. It sounded like a firecracker had gone off in my living room. The PC kept running and never missed a beat until I rebooted it. Once inside I found nothing but the + and - leads left of where the battery used to be.
 
Anyone here ever get a bum set of Enlight supplies a few years back?

A company I worked for built a whole batch of computers for a bank they had a contract with. They had to replace nearly everyone of those supplies from that batch number of supplies. I always wondered if it was a large or small incedent. But Enlight replaced them (just wouldn't let us until they failed or started stinking), it just meant extra labor for the company I worked for and downtime on those machines. Had spares, but that again meant extra labor for the company I worked for.

Those Enlights all would kind of fry (none exploded but most of them smoked like heck and really "stank up the bank"). They started calling us the moment they smelled anything strange at all. Many times were false alarms because they smelled so bad, they didn't want to play around. I think it was a bad batch of wire and it started shorting at the exit grommet and literally started cooking the insulator off. It almost would of been funny, except I almost always got powersupply replacement duty.
 

BTW that
is one bitchin' case series. too bad you have to buy the smallish 330 watter with them. guess i'll have to wait
until directron gets it.


Edit: Helluva photo too - wish I could take pics like that







 
Another vote for unlucky...stuff happens...next please...

Ditto. Who knows how the things are being handled through the endless miles of shipping etc...

If you are dealing with expensive kit and have the time, it's a good idea to check the PSU on an old junk board first.
 
LOL, condolences, but i remember during work experience at computer place Triage in Trafford Park, Manchester England, one of my tasks was to replace a faulty 440W PSU in a Silicon Graphics workstation, got the replacement, put it in and then set up and ran computer -large bang flash of lightning and dead computer! oh, and the silican workstation belonged to Arrows Formula1 Team! checked supply and found that i forgot to change voltage to 230V (UK) instead of... 115V whoops.
 
oh, and the silican workstation belonged to Arrows Formula1 Team! c

LOL!

Boy, I hope Tom Walkinshaw (Team Arrows owner) doesn't read this board. Perhaps that missing workstation caused them to miss a GP point 🙂
 
Ack. My Enermax was dying a slow death so I replaced it with a TruePower 550. Damn thing better not blow up!
 
Ack. My Enermax was dying a slow death so I replaced it with a TruePower 550. Damn thing better not blow up!

Well I would say if it hasn't happend by the first or second time you use it you should be fine. Right now I'm quite wary of these new PSU's 😱
 
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