Power Supply Question

[killumanati]

My system consisted of the following

Epox AMD761 Motherboard
1.4 Tbird
512 PC2100
2 Maxtor 40GB drivers running raid 0
DVD drive
CDRW Drive
Sound Blaster Live Value
3com NIC
TV Tuner
1 Light strip
2 8mm case fans
1 floppy drive

***300 Watt power supply***
Recently my system started acting strangely...rebooting,blinking out,video issues. So when I started removing things from the computer i finally removed the
power supply connector from the motherboard, what i discovered was a burn mark on the power supply connector and on the motherboard connector..needless to say the motherboard is gone.

My question is this, can an underpowered power supply cause this kind of damage to the motherboards and its own connector???

 

[KenGr]

I would not specifically say underpowered. I would give equal probabiities to a low quality or defective power supply and to a defect in the motherboard.

Why are you sure the MB is toast? The tolerance of MB's is sometimes suprising. Unless you see physical damage in separated traces or cracks on the board, I would clean everything up and try it again with a decent power supply - maybe go to 350 watt this time.

 

[edblor]

The burn marks on the lead (on the MB side) is probably from a poor connected point.

What you are seeing, is the result of arcing between the PSU, and the MB lead. KenGR is right too, the MB may very well be fine!

But.....you did seem to have quite a load on that 300W PSU. I have seen (and done worse) to a PSU regarding load. Is the PSU you have decent? Enlight, Antec, Sparkle? Or some no-name jobby:Q

Regardless, I would up the PSU to 350W or so, and do not skimp on the make of it either😛

G/L.....hopefully that MB is fine,

Edblor