Just installed my new Earthwatts 500

[ConstipatedVigilante]

I just swapped out an Antec Smartpower 2.0 450W for an Earthwatts 500W. It took me a little while to do, and once I started the computer with the new PSU, something strange happened. I heard a small "puff" sound and could have sworn that I saw a little flash of light on a corner of the mobo. I also smelled what I thought was smoke. Just to see whether my computer/PSU was dead or not, I started it again. It's fine; I'm running with the new PSU. Was that just a stray tag that caught some electricity, maybe? Or should I be worried? The only thing I was a bit skeptical about when swapping the PSUs was a connector in the corner of the mobo. There are 3 pins sticking out of the mobo, which were connected to a 3-opening connector on my old PSU. My new one had a 4-opening connector, but there was a little plastic division between 1 of them and the other 3. I interpreted this as being for 3/4 pin mobos, so I connected 3 of them.

 

[NoelS]

Whoa.... sounds like that 3 pin thingy could be fan header for the PSU fan from the way you describe it, but they normally have a shroud around the pins.

2 things come to mind: First, have you checked your mobo manual to see what the 3 pins are intended to do? Second, if they are for a PSU fan, or even if not and you hooked the PSU up to them, is your PSU fan running? If you have 2 fans on the PSU, are they both running? You may have shorted out something, maybe a fan... could be you selected the wrong 3 of 4 pins...

Think I'd be worried until I figured out what the 3 pins were for and if you used them properly - they may have caused that small "puff" sound you heard.

Noel

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

My mobo manual says it's chassis fan 1, and I only have 1 chassis fan - which is spinning. The PSU's only fan is also spinning. I played some Call of Duty 4 a little while ago and it worked fine as well.

 

[aigomorla]

uhhhhh boards do not smoke and then smell like smoke unless there is something wrong with the board.

If i were you, i would pull everything out and inspect that area where you saw that flash for burnt marks.

The stray tag could of crossed 2 connections, and shorted that out. You could have more damage then normal, so i would really recomend you pulling the board out and examining the front and rear of it.

 

[NoelS]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
My mobo manual says it's chassis fan 1, and I only have 1 chassis fan - which is spinning. The PSU's only fan is also spinning. I played some Call of Duty 4 a little while ago and it worked fine as well.

EDIT: aigomorla and I posted at the same time. I agree with what he says, but also read mine before you proceed... he's right, where there's smoke...Noel

Now I'm a little bit mixed up. So I just downloaded the ASUS A8N-E manual and it looks to me like you actually have 4 fan headers on that mobo. 2 at the top of the board (by the RAM) are the Chassis Fan 2 and the CPU fan. There is a fan header mid board on the back side for a Power fan (usually used for the PSU fan). The last one, the one you probably described as at the corner, is on the bottom of the board and it's labeled Chassis 1 Fan.

If you hooked the PSU fan up to Chassis fan 1, that may have been why you got a "puff" from it... the PSU fan should be hooked up to the Power fan header (labeled PWR_FAN in the manual, page 1-9).

That chassis fan you say is spinning must be hooked up to one of the other 2 fan headers and the CPU HSF to the CPU fan header, right? So you should have an open fan header you can still use.

I would check the mobo out like aigomorla suggests, then afterwards move the PSU fan connector to the Power fan header, then let 'er rip

Good luck to you, Noel

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

My dad (an electrical engineer) took a look at it with me just now and everything looks fine. The PSU fan header is for a secondary PSU fan (my old PSU had one). We looked at all the fans (chipset, cpu, chassis, gpu) and they're all running. There are no marks on the motherboard in that area that I could see either - probably just a stray tag or something.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
The only thing I was a bit skeptical about when swapping the PSUs was a connector in the corner of the mobo. There are 3 pins sticking out of the mobo, which were connected to a 3-opening connector on my old PSU.

That is a fan header. Your old power supply had a fan lead to allow the motherboard to monitor the power supply fan RPM. Your new power supply does not.

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
My new one had a 4-opening connector, but there was a little plastic division between 1 of them and the other 3. I interpreted this as being for 3/4 pin mobos, so I connected 3 of them.

I'm pretty sure that is a floppy drive power connector.

Does it look like this?

Sounds as if you connected your power supply 12v (the yellow wire) to the ground pin on that fan header. The fan header probably no longer works, but everything else should be fine.

 

[John]

Nice catch Zap. Here's a working pic of the "floppy" power connector.

 

[NoelS]

Zap,

Good thinking, never occurred to me that he had hooked up a floppy power lead from the PSU to a fan header, but that's sure what it sounds like! Explains the "puff" he got and the flash. Just that the floppy connector doesn't have that "little plastic division between 1 of them and the other 3" pins that he talked about...

ConstipatedVigilante, think you're out a fan header

Noel

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: NoelS
Just that the floppy connector doesn't have that "little plastic division between 1 of them and the other 3" pins that he talked about...

It does, just on the other side of the connector. Look at the pic John linked.

Guess Tom's doesn't like direct image linking from Anandtech.

 

[NoelS]

Zap,

I think I see what you're talking about - that tab on the outside edge of the connector, to the upper left in the picture. I was looking for something that separated the 3 and 4th pins... communications can be misleading, eh?

Noel

 

[SerpentRoyal]

99.9% of these mysterious problems can be avoided if people would read the instruction! The Government lost billions in scrapped aerospace hardware because the technicians would work based on "memory".

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
99.9% of these mysterious problems can be avoided if people would read the instruction!

99.9% of computer parts either does not have instructions included, has insufficient instructions or has "Engrish" instructions.

It's like expecting to have detailed installation instructions come with the new head gasket purchased at Autozone.

I am impressed though with some CPU heatsinks coming with fairly detailed instructions. However, some of those have really intricate ways to keep them attached.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

MB should come with instruction. There's always the internet.

Bottomline...most people are too lazy to ask for help. They only post question when something goes wrong.

Hell, most engineers are also clue-less with ZERO COMMON SENSE. About 15% of the top engineers keep the company humming, while the rest crank out papers and grease the equipments. If there are flash and smoke coming out of the equipment, then there should be visual evidence of the damage!

This case reminds me of an Ivy League engineer trying to mill a plate by running the motor in reverse. This clown would crank on the lever until the bit start to chatter.

 

[Quiksilver]

Lesson #1: Read the instructions, even their "Engrish".
I have yet to see a set of instructions that are completely unintelligible. So it's not like you can't figure out what they meant by using their small diagrams or by using the process of elimination.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Alright, so I'm out a fan header. Everything's still working just fine though - good I didn't do more damage. And I still have 1 or 2 more headers which I'm not using right now, so it's not a fatal mistake. And John, that picture you linked to is what the connector looks like. So there's the problem. But for the record, my PSU didn't really come with instructions. It basically said "plug stuff in" - no specifications of what to plug where or diagrams. But anyway, thanks all.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

You should see some sort of FAN label on the MB...either CPU fan, system fan, or aux fan. Check the other fan headers to make sure that they are functional.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Well, I know that all of my fans are running, so that's a good sign. I'll just make sure to be more careful.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
Well, I know that all of my fans are running, so that's a good sign. I'll just make sure to be more careful.

It could have been much worse. At least you're up and operational.

 

[SparkyJJO]

That happened to someone a while back, he did the same thing. If you look around closely you'll probably find a mosfet someplace on the mobo nearby that is busted.