Floppy Drive Shorted out or Power supply failure?

[Oakenfold]

Okay so I was testing out some hardware today and noticed a horrible smell.
The next thing I know there's tendrils of smoke coming out of the case, I yank the power cord out of my test bed and see that the floppy power wiring is the source of the smog, the wires going to the power supply from that 4 pin connector have melted and were creeping up to the next molex.

Has this ever happened to anyone? I've never heard of anything like this, possibly a defective power supply?
It was really scary, I'm glad I was home, I normally leave test beds running prime95 for hours.
I think it would have gotten very ugly, no telling the power supply would have caught on fire if I hadn't caught it.
I really think it was the floppy since the melting of the wires started from the floppy drive power connector and the melting of the wires was working it's way back to the power supply.
Just curious if anyone has ever witnessed anything like this.

 

[neo4s]

Ive never heard or seen this happening before. If there is a bad connection on the power plug, the resistance can generate quite a bit of heat. Or it sounds like the floppy drive shorted out for some reason. I would assume the fuse in the power supply would have blown before wires started melting. What brand of power supply was it? (so i know not to buy one)

 

[Zepper]

I have seen this happen a time or two and one of those was a floppy drive. Almost any electronic device can fail in such a way that it presents a shorted condition across the power. A good PSU should shut itself down when enough current is being drawn to melt insulation. Draw your own conclusion.
. Also as was already noted by neo, a bad contact point of just the right resistance can generate enough heat to melt insulation and blacken connectors without tripping the PSU protection - I saw that on an ATX mobo power connector once. The contacts in the PSU connector were poorly crimped. I wish they crimped and soldered those contacts, but I suppose that's asking too much.
.bh.

 

[Oakenfold]

What brand of power supply was it? (so i know not to buy one)

It was a Raidmax 350W I purchased from SVC.

Btw I hooked the PS back up to test it, it works fine.
I cut the leads off the melted wires so I don't have to mess with the wounded section.

A good PSU should shut itself down when enough current is being drawn to melt insulation.

Really? That makes me feel safe, my main rigs are fine then, I was starting to get paranoid about leaving the room with any PC turned on.

Draw your own conclusion

Thanks for your input guys, I'm glad I haven't witnessed this freakish experience by myself.

 

[Zepper]

The PSU in my example was an Enlight 250W ATX v.2.01.
.bh.


p.s. Here's a tip. Components that have been sitting around for some time can develop corrosion on connectors (cable, power, slot, etc.) I make it a habit to clean connectors on old equipment before testing or putting back in service. A small wire brush (copper or brass such as is used in gun cleaning) with contact cleaner (I use Caig Labs Deoxit and/or Pro Gold) on power contacts and a foam, chamois or cotton (be sure to remove the lint after) swab on gold plated contacts.bh.

 

[Oakenfold]

Originally posted by: Zepper
The PSU in my example was an Enlight 250W ATX v.2.01.
.bh.


p.s. Here's a tip. Components that have been sitting around for some time can develop corrosion on connectors (cable, power, slot, etc.) I make it a habit to clean connectors on old equipment before testing or putting back in service. A small wire brush (copper or brass such as is used in gun cleaning) with contact cleaner (I use Caig Labs Deoxit and/or Pro Gold) on power contacts and a foam, chamois or cotton (be sure to remove the lint after) swab on gold plated contacts.bh.

You know what's bad about this though, I use the power supply as a test bed, I have used it maybe 3 or 4 times since purchase(I don't move trade much anymore like I used too)..
Very scary indeed!
PS is running fine by the way..
Must have been the floppy..which was old. I'll make sure to clean old drives from now on!
Thanks for the info!

 

[iZero]

I had this exact same thing happen to me two weeks ago. I rearanged my drives to allow me to tuck my power cables better and for better air flow, and when I went to test the system out, smoke started pouring out of the lower drive bay. At first I thought it was my Vantec rheobus, so I disconnected it and inspected it. No problems there. I disconnected most of the components and tried again. More smoke. I look in and see an orange glowing wire. It was the floppy drive's power cable. It has melted all the shielding on the "red" wire. There was soot left over and some of the remaining wires had stuck to eachother. Needless to say, the floppy drive was taken out of the case. I snipped the floppy wire cables and wrapped them up with electrical tape. Damage to the floppy included charing and melting slightly the header. I have since installed a new floppy drive and used the remaining conection to power it. I have no clue as to the cause at this point...

As far as my power supply, it's an Enermax 350 watt.