Never seen this before

[cmdrdredd]

Hers's the story. XFI was giving popping sounds after windows update on Vista x64. Rig in sig btw. Decided to plug in onboard and enable it in bios. Went to shutdown windows...it didn't want to. So I pressed the power button. I reset the CMOS as a precaution. Then pressed the power button and this area around the CMOS jumper labeled as LPC connector lit on fire literally. I hit the switch on my PSu to shut down all power immediately and tried to blow out the flames quickly. None of my other components are harmed as far as I can tell...memory looks untouched, CPU looks clean, videocard has some smoke that discolored part of the fan assembly but I cleaned it up. The board also left char marks on my case. I have included pics below.

My case will still be useable if I manage to clean up the marks left behind right? This was not a short, this was circuitry that went bad because of what I believe to be a poor design.

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/801/dsc0002vz4.jpg

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/8478/dsc0003iz5.jpg

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/250/dsc0004xk4.jpg

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/6021/dsc0005un5.jpg

 

[orion23]

That's pretty scary!

Could the fire have been worse if you hadn't been home?

I'd say contact EVGA right now and tell them about it!

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: orion23
That's pretty scary!

Could the fire have been worse if you hadn't been home?

I'd say contact EVGA right now and tell them about it!

Well, yeah if I wasn't standing right there with the side of the case off I'd never have seen it. I dunno what parts would have been lost if I wasn't right there to turn it off. I'm not even going to use this board if I get a replacement. Probably try to sell it and cut my losses and go with something different. I got a good price on it locally so I gave it a go to replace my P5B Deluxe...very sad.

 

[Don66]

:Q WoW!

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Power has always been an issue with 650i/680i. These boards run HOT and place a lot of stress on discrete components. They draw a massive amount of "in-rush" current when you hit the ON switch. It's going to take Nvidia several generations to fine-tune their Intel-compatible chipsets.

 

[Old Hippie]

YIKES! :shocked:

 

[cmdrdredd]

Small update...I went to the retailer I got it from and showed them what happened. They are calling their vender tomorrow and telling them that the board lit on fire in their lab (which it didn't, they are trying to help me out) and will see if they will accept an RMA on it. If they do I can get a refund and just buy whatever board I choose. This time I'm looking at the ABit IP35 Pro.

 

[orion23]

Great choice there!

And I'm sure EVGA will take it back! They wouldn't want an angry customer posting such story all over the internet!

You'll probably get a replacement board. Ebay it and buy the Abit P35 PRO!

 

[Peter]

My guess: You put the jumper onto the LPC bus connector rather than the CMOS Clear pins.

There is a non-fused supply power pin there, which you would have shorted by that theory.

Confess! *pokes with pointy cushion*

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Peter
My guess: You put the jumper onto the LPC bus connector rather than the CMOS Clear pins.

There is a non-fused supply power pin there, which you would have shorted by that theory.

Confess! *pokes with pointy cushion*

the LPC connector is bare, there's no pins and no plug in that location. The Manual says it's for debug *shrug*

Looking at other forums I'm not the only one who had this happen. There's at least 5 or 6 reports of it.

 

[Skott]

That is scary. Very cool how the retailer is trying to help you out like they are. Most wouldnt even bother. I'd switch mobos too. The eVGA mobos are okay but there is better available.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Skott
That is scary. Very cool how the retailer is trying to help you out like they are. Most wouldnt even bother. I'd switch mobos too. The eVGA mobos are okay but there is better available.

going to be purchasing the Abit IP-35 Pro first chance i get.

 

[kmmatney]

I once had a "flame jet" come out of a hard drive. Specfically, one of the IC chips on the HDD PCB board blew a hole thorugh the cermic package, and it literally looked like a jet of flame coming out of the whole. The flame was about 1-inch long. The hard drive was several years old.

 

[Wicked Akuba]

Oh, thats really not good. :/

 

[Trajan76]

Yeah, flames are bad. I had a laser printer shoot out a flame about six inches outside its casing. I immediately unplugged the damn thing and tossed it in the dumpster.

 

[masteraleph]

This sounds like a job for Computer Stupidities: Smoke.

 

[Regalk]

You know if you are sure that there was no installation issues (e.g. loose screw or standoff or similar) then I would probably take it a step further and report this (after seeing what the retailer and manufacturer does of course) since this could be a major defect that could perhaps warrant a recall. Others (and property) may be at risk.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Regalk
You know if you are sure that there was no installation issues (e.g. loose screw or standoff or similar) then I would probably take it a step further and report this (after seeing what the retailer and manufacturer does of course) since this could be a major defect that could perhaps warrant a recall. Others (and property) may be at risk.

Well, It was running fine for a few hours, installed windows and everything. Only upon shutting down and unplugging my XFI and attempting to startup again did this happen.

There are multiple reports on various forums of this occuring in the same spot with the same board. It is a flaw in the refrence design of the 680i chipset that was resolved in later revisions, at least from what I have found.

Anyway my Ip35 Pro is a rock so far.