Put my mind at ease

[ibex333]

I bought a new OCZ 700w PSU for my PC so that I can use my new 8800GTS and upgrade in the future...

Today everything arrived, and I installed the OCZ psu... I was puzzled because the 24 pin connector is split to 2 connectors. The 20pin and the 4 pin... Oh well I said, and plugged in both. (bizarre)

Then I noticed that there's no 3 pin connector for the fan. There's only a 4 pin connector.
I plugged the 4 pin in to 3 pin. Then I connected the HD and DVD drive. Finally I plugged in the 2nd fan from my case and another 4 pin connector on the mobo.

I decided to see if everything works before I put in the g80... I crossed my fingers and turned on the power when.. BANG! I heared a loud pop and saw sparks flying. I thought I was gonna have a stroke right there on the spot...

I sniffed the PC.. No burning smell....


I crossed my fingers and plugged it in and turned on again... To my great surprise the PC booted up into windows and everything seems to be fine.... DVD drive works.. HD works.. Internet works.. video works.. - obviously.. fans spinning.

Everything is perfectly fine...


What do you guys think might have happened? Did I blow something in my PC even though everything is fine? Is it ok to install the GTS now? (I'm scared)

Also, do video cards hold current when PC is off? After I get a reply, I'll go and install the GTS. Is it ok to take out the old card and put in the new, or I have to wait some time?(dont want to get shocked)

I am not really a noob because I built thins PC almost entirely by myself 2 years ago, but I am still clueless about many things.

 

[Bill Kunert]

The split 20 + 4 pin connectors are pretty common to accomdate both 20 pin and 24 pin motherboards. Don't know about the bang. Could have been a short in the power supply that burned itself open. There are no voltages on the mother board higher than 12 VDC so you won't get shocked, you just have to worry about dropping conductive materials into the computer and creating shorts.

 

[WoodButcher]

what does the manual say about this "4 pin fan" connector?
I looked quick at newegg and the only small connector was the floppy.

 

[Bill Kunert]

Originally posted by: WoodButcher
what does the manual say about this "4 pin fan" connector?
I looked quick at newegg and the only small connector was the floppy.

If the four pin connector had heavy wire it was the floppy connector. The fan connector on a power supply usually only has 2 light guage wires that are used to monitor fan speed. The fan itself is powered from within the power supply.

 

[ibex333]

Very strange... This 3 pin connector on the mobo... I dont know what it is for. I "assume" it's for the fan. My old PSU had a 3 pin connector for it, but this one doesnt. So, I just pluged the 4 pin (female) from the PSU into 3 pin male on the mobo. I doubt this in particular would cause a short, no?

What really concerns me is the POP/SPARK.. Am I ok since everything works, or this kind of event ALWAYS means trouble, and whatever it is it could show it's ugly head later?

PS: I cant make sence of the manual since it's not wery good at explaining things.
I doubt the short was caused by wrong PSU connections since there doesnt seem to be anything hard there.... I just matched the wires to right sockets - same way I did with old PSU. If I connected something wrong, wouldn't the PC NOT work?

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: ibex333
Very strange... This 3 pin connector on the mobo... I dont know what it is for. I "assume" it's for the fan. My old PSU had a 3 pin connector for it, but this one doesnt. So, I just pluged the 4 pin (female) from the PSU into 3 pin male on the mobo. I doubt this in particular would cause a short, no?

What really concerns me is the POP/SPARK.. Am I ok since everything works, or this kind of event ALWAYS means trouble, and whatever it is it could show it's ugly head later?

*smacks head*

That was the FLOPPY connector dude. Old school yes but it is still there. Let me guess, sparks came from that area of the mobo....?

Pics of said connection you made please, odds are it is the floppy connector you put in the fan connector but it might be something else. Pics please!

 

[ibex333]

ok.. pix coming.....

 

[ibex333]

ok.. here's the pic. It shows exacly how I plugged it in. You guys were right about one thing though. This wasnt for the fans, because when I yanked the connector out, the fans still work perfectly fine. Still strange because it says "fan2" on the mobo next to the connector.



Picture



PS: I cant understand how to connect the video card to the SPU with the privided "Y" cable.

It has one end that goes into a card, and 2 ends that are free to go into the psu... Should I connect each free end to a separate PSU wire, or should I connect both ends to one psu wire?

 

[SparkyJJO]

Yes I was right. You plugged a floppy power connector into the fan header on the mobo. And you did blow something, take a look at this pic - I circled the blown component. Don't expect that fan header to work anymore. You are lucky it didn't blow anything else though.

Also, to post images you need to use {L=your title}link to pic{/L} only replace the { } with [ ]

The molex to 6-pin PCIe should be hooked up to 2 separate lines from the PSU. Doesn't your PSU have a 6-pin PCIe connector already though?

 

[ibex333]

OUCH!!!

What is that fan header for? An extra fan I'm guesing? Hopefully If I wasnt using it up till now, I wont be using it later...

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: ibex333
OUCH!!!

What is that fan header for? An extra fan I'm guesing? Hopefully If I wasnt using it up till now, I wont be using it later...

Yeah, just an extra fan, like a rear case fan if your case fans happen to be 3 pin.

As long as the system works fine I wouldn't worry about a blown fan connector. Problem is I'm 99% certain that plugging in a power connector to a fan header voids your warranty

 

[ibex333]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO

The molex to 6-pin PCIe should be hooked up to 2 separate lines from the PSU. Doesn't your PSU have a 6-pin PCIe connector already though?

Yah, it does, but I was aftraid I'd blow the video card this time...
Is there any way I con connect this thing WRONG, and blow the card?? lol

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: ibex333

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO

The molex to 6-pin PCIe should be hooked up to 2 separate lines from the PSU. Doesn't your PSU have a 6-pin PCIe connector already though?

Yah, it does, but I was aftraid I'd blow the video card this time...
Is there any way I con connect this thing WRONG, and blow the card?? lol

Not unless you force it really hard it is keyed in a similar fashion as the 24-pin mobo connector, it only fits one way.

 

[WoodButcher]

If you try to rma tell them fan header #2 does not work, don't mention what you did. :roll:

This is your mobo manual

 

[ibex333]

Thanx guys.... I cant RMA now since I had the mobo for more than 2 years now.... If I'm not mistaking, it's too late.

In the end, I'm glad that I didnt blow something more important. A blown fan header is a small price to pay for a lesson in "NOT PLUGGING ANYTHING THAT DOESNT SEEM TO BE DESIGNED TO BE PLUGGED IN INTO THE WRONG PLACES". This lesson I will remember for the rest of my life, whereas when people told me to be careful, it just didnt sink in, untill I f-ed up my mobo. Now it definately sunk in.

PS: I installed the card, and it fit into my tiny case. I used the power connector from the PSU labeled PCI-E1, and left the one provided in the box.

Medieval 2 finally funs with everything on max but with 25-30fps campaign map and battle... Dissapointing to say the least. I certainly hope it's because of my CPU, but I would have never imagined the fps difference can be this great. I expected at least 40 fps. I'm running 1280x1024 with 16x Anisotrophic and 8x AA.

 

[crispy2010]

:shocked:

 

[mushroom3]

sorry do hijack your thread but do you guys think that the 700w gamexstream will be able to handle future vid cards? no sli or crossfire