New EVGA 680i Blown To Smitherenes - SMOKE EVERYWARE :(

StrykerX

Junior Member
Oct 16, 2005
15
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Hello guys. The eVGA forums were not very helpful and I can't get any good responses, so I came to the experts.

I got all new parts for a new system and me and my friend put it together. The mobo and processor (e6600) was purchased at Fry's because they had a deal that if you purchased the two, it was about $60 cheaper than Newegg at the time.

On boot we got no post and a "--" error code on the mobo. That code wasn't listed in the manual but after some research I found it was caused by the backplate of the Tuniq Tower 120 people recommended from another forum was shorting out a circuit. The way people solved it was by putting on 1/8" nylon washers in between each of the four corners. The spacers don't come with it and so I was screwed, I had to rip it off by heating up the glue on the back with a blow dryer. The backplate is unusable now without getting some new adhesive. I decided to put the stock heatsink on.

I plugged everything back in correctly and I went to boot it up and to my surprise...it posted! Unfortunately, a horror occurred three seconds after. It shut off.

I didn't know what was wrong but something smelled like burning. Probably stupid of me but I turned it back on anyways - SMOKE EVERYWARE! Not just a little smoke, A TON OF SMOKE! Something was frying hardcore. Funny thing is I saw the boot screen appear for about two seconds before it shut off from the heat. I unplugged it again and took out my video card and my memory and booted again out of curiosity because I figured my mobo was already ****ed anyways. This time it seemed like the smoke was coming out around the bottom of the board near my X-Fi but it's possible it had nothing to do with it. Every component I took out looked fine on the bottom like my ram and video card, even my X-Fi. Anyways, I've never had so much smoke in my house.

Everything else about the board, aside from the frying, seemed to be functioning fine. Anyways, I got it from Fry's and I was able to exchange that and the processor for new ones. I just pray these work and it was just something damaged on my mobo from a crushed capacitor or something. Oh, and on the top of the mobo, it looked absolutely normal, it took me a while to find what burned, which was something on the back. It was about the size of a dime and it was burned and if I wiped away the ash it looked like copper. I don't remember where it was anymore, though.

Anyways, I got my replacement mobo and processor and I guess my question to you guys is what are the chances I fried my memory and 8800GTX or HDD? I don't really care about the X-Fi. I just pray everything else is okay :(.

And can any of this be related to my PSU and could that be damaged?

I'm putting this together again tomorrow when my friend comes over to help me. Really need to know the likely hood that other components got damaged. Also, if they are damaged, will it hurt my new mobo when I test them, or will they just not work?

Thanks.
 

StrykerX

Junior Member
Oct 16, 2005
15
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I know the backplate was the original problem but you think taking it off then powering on fried the mobo?

Anyways, that's not really my question, my question is concerning my components.
 

Hemsky

Member
Feb 8, 2007
59
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What glue was this you were using?
Sounds like the glue burning.
I have the same board, and never had to install a 3rd party backplate or a spacer. As long as your mobo screws are within the silver circular area there won't be a short. Even if a tiny bit is outside the edge I believe it will cause a short. But I don't know your tower that well so I can't be sure.
 

krotchy

Golden Member
Mar 29, 2006
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76
Originally posted by: StrykerX
I know the backplate was the original problem but you think taking it off then powering on fried the mobo?

Anyways, that's not really my question, my question is concerning my components.

I can tell you from experience with hand built power converters, when something is smoking it typically means that it is shorted internally. Likely the backplate short caused a diode/mosfet to blow. At this point instead of having a current block/switch you are just sending a ton of power through a fused piece of metal. It gets hit, it smokes.

Funny thing is I find some things blow and short, some blow open. Open is much nicer. When something blows short it tends to kill everything around it.
 

StrykerX

Junior Member
Oct 16, 2005
15
0
0
Originally posted by: krotchy
Originally posted by: StrykerX
I know the backplate was the original problem but you think taking it off then powering on fried the mobo?

Anyways, that's not really my question, my question is concerning my components.

I can tell you from experience with hand built power converters, when something is smoking it typically means that it is shorted internally. Likely the backplate short caused a diode/mosfet to blow. At this point instead of having a current block/switch you are just sending a ton of power through a fused piece of metal. It gets hit, it smokes.

Funny thing is I find some things blow and short, some blow open. Open is much nicer. When something blows short it tends to kill everything around it.
Thank you for a very informative reply. You sound like you know what you're talking about. How can I tell that it "blew open". I saw a part on the back of the mobo that was charred and when I wiped it away it looked like melted copper about the size of a dime.

Is it possible my PSU is damaged? I've been told that is the only dangerous component that I should be worried about testing on my new mobo.
 

Shimmishim

Elite Member
Feb 19, 2001
7,504
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its hard to say... depends how badly your board freaked out... there might have been a chance (hopefully not) the vreg's may have gone wack and fried components...

but it's hard to say unless you test them out individually...

and where exactly did this burn mark appear on the back, where the backplate used to be, or somewhere unrelated to your backplate?

as for the tuniq backplate... it took a LOT of force to remove it by hand... and i ended up ripping the sticky part OFF of the backplate so my sticky part ended up stuck to the board... but i carefully removed the sticky part, stuck it back on the backplate and put the adhesive cover back on.... so now when i use the tower, i don't remove the paper that covers the adhesive..... it's a little trickier to get the tower mounted but at least i can use the backplate over and over again...
 

StrykerX

Junior Member
Oct 16, 2005
15
0
0
If you show me a picture of the back of the motherboard, I could point it out, but no it was not where the backplate was. It was towards the upper left of the board.
 

orion23

Platinum Member
Oct 1, 2003
2,035
0
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Originally posted by: StrykerX
So far everything is working great. Nothing fried! I'll report back later.

So do you think it had anything to do with the Tuniq Backplate?

Or something else?