New comp build - started smoking! Please help

[timebecomes1]

Hi everyone, I have a question for the experts out there. I have done about 4-5 computer builds in the past, and all of them have went without any major problems, but this one that I tried last night didn’t go so well.
Here is the component list to start – brand new build, nothing from other systems – all shipped new from Newegg besides the SSD which was from microcenter.
Here is the story. I finally got everything situated, plugged in etc in the case – which wasn’t easy, because that vid card and heat sink/fan for the CPU are huge. I turned it on and it booted to the ASUS screen, it said something about a new CPU and that I should go to the bios, so I rebooted – hit delete, and went to the bios screen. Everything looked ok there, so I hit the boot to SSD button, or whatever it was so I could install windows on the SSD. (at this point it looks like everything is fine, and I did check when I started it and all 5 fans were funning and the LEDs were on).
It tried to boot the SSD and seemed to be getting there, but I noticed that there was a small amount of smoke coming out of the top of the case. The Antec six hundred has a large 225mm fan on the top of it and that’s where I saw the smoke, although I also had both sides off of the case as well.
Once I saw the small amount of smoke I immediately turned off the PSU from the switch on its back and started feeling around in the case. It seemed to me that one of the PSU cords seemed very hot while everything else in the case, including the vid card and the CPU heat sink seemed cool, but I couldn’t figure out where the cord led to in time.
At this point I am scared to turn it back on until I can get some sort of theory on what the problem is. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance. Please let me know if you need any more info and I will try to provide it.

OCZ StealthXstream II OCZ600SXS2 600W ATX12V v2.2/ EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Power Supply
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
[FONT=&quot]HIS H695F2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
ASUS P8P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642 (0f12115) 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler bracket included I7 i5 775 1155 AMD and dual fan push pull compatible
Antec Six Hundred Black Computer Case
64 gig SSD Microcenter brand – 3.0 SATA

 

[denis280]

Make sure the input switch is not on 240....maybe the psu is bad.is everything looking ok on the mobo.the wire that whas hot.is the plastic on it looks fussy loose.smell in the psu could be inside.

 

[timebecomes1]

At this point I'm thinking that it's the PSU - but do you guys think that I have damaged anything else at this point? It was running for about a minute - maybe two before the smoke showed up.

 

[dma0991]

OCZ PSU's are not the best around so that could be the source of the problem. Get a spare PSU to test if there are no other parts damaged by it. If there is none then you're lucky and get the OCZ replaced with something else from Seasonic, Corsair, Silverstone, FSP, Antec or PC P&C.

 

[BoomerD]

It's NEVER good when you allow the magic smoke to escape...

the first thing I'd check is the power supply. OCZ are definitely NOT quality units. (although that particular one is FSP built...so it shouldn't be too bad)

 

[notposting]

Well, if you can remember which cord that was, see what it leads too. Check for blown caps carefully on as much as you can. The motherboard was properly mounted with nothing contacting the back of the case, correct? Swap in a known good power supply and see what catches on fire next good luck

 

[Ghiedo27]

Did you use all of the mounting holes for the MB? Heavy heatsinks can absolutely crack a MB that isn't totally secure. If that's the case you should see a scoring mark on the MB where it cracked and shorted something out causing the current draw on the power supply. That may well have killed your power supply too. Just make sure you do thorough a physical inspections.

If all else fails you can use a nicotine patch for the TIM. :sneaky:

 

[timebecomes1]

Thanks for the input everyone, I did check it again very briefly this morning, because the PSU didn't smell at all, so I was curious. I unplugged all non-essentials from the PSU and turned it on with my finger on the PSU kill switch. After about 45 seconds it did start smoking again, but it was coming from the area on the MB where the small case jumper pin things attach to. (LED, HHD light etc). I immediately switched it off again and smelled the PSU - it smelled fine. Any ideas?

The MB is properly mounted with the little washers that they send with it between all of the screw holes and the board. I did use all of the holes when mounting it and the heatsink/fan look sturdy and in place.

 

[KGB]

At this point, I would remove the MB from the case and set it on a non-conductive surface (I usually use the MB box with the anti-static MB bag between the box and board). With just the video card, CPU, RAM and power supply connected... fire it up by momentarily shorting the pins on the MB power switch header. With this vantage point you can see what's smoking and where.

 

[Howard]

should've poured water on it

 

[BoomerD]

This makes me wonder if the OP has the various connectors in the right places...

 

[timebecomes1]

This makes me wonder if the OP has the various connectors in the right places...

That's kind of what I was wondering, but would one of those little pin connectors cause it to overheat and smoke within 2 minutes? I will recheck them though before I try again.

Would it be possible that I put the plugs in backwords? There is a positive/neg for each plug and it is very confusing to me as to which one is which, because the plugs from the case don't show which side is which.

 

[BoomerD]

That's kind of what I was wondering, but would one of those little pin connectors cause it to overheat and smoke within 2 minutes? I will recheck them though before I try again.

Would it be possible that I put the plugs in backwords? There is a positive/neg for each plug and it is very confusing to me as to which one is which, because the plugs from the case don't show which side is which.

If you're talking about the connectors for case switches and LED's, then no. That wouldn't cause things to smoke...or shouldn't anyway.

Looking at the board layout in the manual, in the area you said where it appeared that the smoke was coming from, I see the following:

11. System Panel Connector--that'd be for LED's, on/off switch, reset button, etc.

12. Serial Port Connector--do you have anything connected to that?

13. Clear RTC_RAM jumper. NORMAL position for that jumper is on pins 1 & 2. (left and center) You can do severe damage to the board if you power it up with the jumper in the clear position...on 2 & 3. (center and right)

 

[timebecomes1]

Ok, new info - I just started to take it apart to see if I could find anything that looked weird, and the largest system panel connector (the 4 pin one) was a little bit melted on the bottom, and the cable had split/melted in 2 places as well. It's the one that says something like +5V, D-, D+, ground.

 

[dma0991]

A picture of the affected parts would be more than helpful to find out what is wrong.

 

[timebecomes1]

Sure, here you go: thanks for all the help everyone. I already put some electrical tape on the burnt sections of the cord (there were 3).


http://img849.imageshack.us/g/img3748z.jpg/

 

[dma0991]

That looks just like part of a USB connector to me because I have never seen front panel connectors like that before. If you don't think that you need that USB port for the casing, you could just leave it not connected. If it was the front panel connectors that were burnt that would be another story.

EDIT: That is a FireWire header that you connected to using a USB connector. If you want it burn again I suggest that you do not connect it at all.

 

[sandorski]

Either an incompatible wiring of the Plug or a poorly wired Plug that is shorting out. I suspect. Depending on the functions it does, you might be able to run without it. Unless it's the Power Button. If it's not the Power Button, try booting up without that cable plugged in. If it is the Power Button, you'll need to do some modding of the cable(separate wires, install single post sockets, figure out which does which, plug in). However, you may want to avoid doing this if the Case is under Warranty and you can RMA. Be sure to verify the Socket/Plug type used by the Motherboard and Case, everything should be Standard, but you never know.

That said, the problem could originate on the Motherboard. Perhaps some Traces have been scraped or other Damage/Defect exists on that part of the Motherboard.

I'm no expert on such things and tend to drone on, lol, sorry. I have had past experience with scorching out parts around Internal connectors though. Including one I didn't notice until retiring the system after a good 4 years of 24/7 100% service. :awe:

 

[Raduque]

What DMA0991 said... and that Firewire header on the board is likely dead now. Don't plug anything else into it.

And don't plug that USB connector into anything either.

Sandorski me too

 

[sandorski]

That looks just like part of a USB connector to me because I have never seen front panel connectors like that before. If you don't think that you need that USB port for the casing, you could just leave it not connected. If it was the front panel connectors that were burnt that would be another story.

EDIT: That is a FireWire header that you connected to using a USB connector. If you want it burn again I suggest that you do not connect it at all.

Oh, that would do it.

 

[BoomerD]

If you connected the firewire cable to the USB, you may have borked the whole motherboard. (and vice versa...connecting USB to the firewire will also bork the board)

It MAY remain somewhat usable...or not. Only time will tell.

 

[timebecomes1]

I don;t think I understand - this cable in the pic in the pic I provided comes from the case and attaches to the MB in the third pic. I think what happened was that I connected it backwards though, and that's why it was smoking.