Oh my god help my computer went on fire.

[jkellynewyork]

I am in the middle of building a new computer for a friend. Everything is hooked up and I go to POST. Looks good but then says "Floppy Drive Fail (40)". I look at my floppy and did not see the light going on. I figured it was a power supply problem. I thought I might have plugged the 4 pin in the wrong way. I flipped it around and went to POST again. Next thing I know the wires for my power supply are on fire, smoke everywhere THICK!!!. I go to grab the wires and pull it out of the floppy, no good to hot, fire, think I even got shocked in the craziness. Then I pulled out the back power supply plug going into the case.

Okay after the smoke cleared the damage was the four pin wire going back to the next connector has no plastic coating left.

WHat did I do? What should I do now? PLEASE HELP.
Do you think anything else was damaged?
I have to send this computer across the United States and I wont be there to trouble shoot if anything goes wrong.

I hope I did not do any other damage.
I pulled the 4 pin back out of the floppy and did another POST.
Everything looks fine and it says "Floppy Drive Fail (40)" again like before.

 

[TunaBoo]

<< I am in the middle of building a new computer for a friend. Everything is hooked up and I go to POST. Looks good but then says &quot;Floppy Drive Fail (40)&quot;. I look at my floppy and did not see the light going on. I figured it was a power supply problem. I thought I might have plugged the 4 pin in the wrong way. I flipped it around and went to POST again. Next thing I know the wires for my power supply are on fire, smoke everywhere THICK!!!. I go to grab the wires and pull it out of the floppy, no good to hot, fire, think I even got shocked in the craziness. Then I pulled out the back power supply plug going into the case.

Okay after the smoke cleared the damage was the four pin wire going back to the next connector has no plastic coating left.

WHat did I do? What should I do now? PLEASE HELP.
Do you think anything else was damaged?
I have to send this computer across the United States and I wont be there to trouble shoot if anything goes wrong.

I hope I did not do any other damage.
I pulled the 4 pin back out of the floppy and did another POST.
Everything looks fine and it says &quot;Floppy Drive Fail (40)&quot; again like before. >>



Let me make sure I got this straight. WHILE it was plugged in, you revered the 4 pin wire?

 

[TunaBoo]

I am also confused. The 4 pin wire only goes on 1 way. Did you JAM it in there or something?

 

[yiwonder]

<< I am also confused. The 4 pin wire only goes on 1 way. Did you JAM it in there or something? >>


My thoughts exactly. I thought it was nearly impossible (always the chance I guess) to put it in the wrong way. You'd have to bend the wires or cut off the little stopper thingy.

 

[Jittos]

wow, this's gotta be one of the most exciting thing happened in this forum.

 

[jkellynewyork]

Okay I am stable now.

I am going to cut out the exposed wiring and attach another floppy powers supply connector from an older computer.

I am not sure now if I had it in backwards or if I only plugged it into three prongs and not all four.

Either way, I am just curious, should this have happened, all this fire and smoke, or is the power supply crappy?

I am kind of nervouse having a possibly faulty power supply running this computer even if my wiring of a new floppy power supply connector works.

 

[RayThunderEarth]

if there's somethign wrong with the power supply it can burn your motherboard like me. but i'm bit confused why a floppy drive can do this?

i think u smell the floppy drive is smell like something burn or maybe u'r cable was not in good condition ?

 

[frizzlefry]

something was drawing way too much current. usually happens when it's in wrong. make sure that it is in the right way. usually the red pins go towards the center. compare floppy connector and power cable, they should both go towards center. this is for most. just check and make sure.

HTH

 

[BFG10K]

Number 1 rule of computer building: never EVER EVER connect or disconnect anything while the power is on.

 

[jkellynewyork]

So if it was drawing to much current for a bad connection, this is normal?

Should I just get a new power supply to be on the safe side?

 

[jkellynewyork]

Raythnderearth what happened to your motherboard?

Was it completely destroyed?

 

[frizzlefry]

<< So if it was drawing to much current for a bad connection, this is normal?

Should I just get a new power supply to be on the safe side? >>


It should never draw that much current. It means that there was a bad connection somewhere. Positive voltage shooting to a ground connection, draws alot of current through the cables. And no this is not normal.

Also, yes never ever ever disconnect and connect a connection while the system is on.

Yes I do recommend a new power supply. Rather than spend the time cutting/stripping/soldering new connector, and have it not work, get a new PS. Plus it's always good to have a backup PS in the event the old one still works. Strange though that the PS didn't shut itslef off because of over current.

 

[jkellynewyork]

Thanks for the support Frizzlefry, I needed someone to tell me that.

Well I am going to go get a new power supply.
Although I did splice and put on new floppy drive connector and it all works fine now.
I still dont feel comfortable with this power supply in here, especially after you thought it was strange that it did not shut down when it felt to much current.

Thanks again.

 

[RayThunderEarth]

yes, luckily i can change it at the comp agent.
i agree with frizzlefry you should buy a new Power supply.

 

[MGMorden]

<< Number 1 rule of computer building: never EVER EVER connect or disconnect anything while the power is on. >>



One of the guys I work with does this all the time. Everytime I tell him it's not good for the system he keeps saying &quot;Nah, it'll be fine.&quot;. I mean stupid crap too like connect the hard drive ide and power connect while the computer is on and then turn it right off and then back on so the BIOS will recognize it. Oh well.

 

[dingdongdingdong]

lol did it get nuclear reaction

 

[GrumpyMan]

I'm sorry for your troubles but this has been a most entertaining thread. Thanks.

 

[Sundog]

Sorry to hear about your problems, but it makes a great story!

 

[MallowJr]

if nobody's told you yet:
Never Ever EVER connect/disconnect cables while PC is on. This includes cables not connected to the PC.. (TV plug...) - in fact dont turnanything on or off while PC is on, maybe it's best to not move while PC is on. ok in allactality once PC is on liveyour life therewithout moving and starve to death OK friend it's the best thing to do if you're not wantingto be safe....