Reasons for PSU's exploding?

[Shortass]

So basically I had an Enermax 460w PSU from the Axp era and was convinced it would work on a new build (HD 4850, Q6600, 2 HDDs) as it had solid rails and enough amps. Last night when I was building I essentially turned on my computer when it was only enough to get into BIOS... video card, cpu, ram and a single hard drive. I got into the BIOS, poked around, check out temps and whatnot. Pleased, I slept.

Today I awoke, installed my DVD drive and a second hard drive... that's it. Ready, I plugged in the power cord to the PSU and flipped on the psu switch to give my system juice and POP. Smoke came out of the back and it was obvious I just fried my psu.

Now... what are some reasons that this could happen? It was old, so I pin it mostly on that, but if there is some way a wiring issue could blow up power supplies I'd be afraid to run out and replace it. I'd hate to fry another psu, or worse my entire new rig.

Link to other thread, with psu link: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...194626&highlight_key=y

Edit: I've purchased an Earthwatts 500w to replace it, now hopefully it will come in and I can test the parts before I can no longer RMA. I never even got to test the rig for stability, memtest or anything... now I can't even be sure if any part problems were due to my actions or if it was out of my control to begin with. Argh.

 

[Yellowbeard]

You should be fine adding a new PSU. However, your will need to test your rig for damage to see if the old PSU damaged anything when it expired.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Hmm.... An Enermax exploding??

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
Hmm.... An Enermax exploding??

Prior to my employment in the PC industry, I was a consumer. As a consumer and not an employee, I had 3 Enermax PSUs and they all died a horrible death after releasing their magic blue smoke. Enermax did honor their warranties and all 3 new replacements went on eBay. Luckily I never had hardware damage but I did not feel like gambling any longer.

 

[beray]

Originally posted by: Shortass
So basically I had an Enermax 460w PSU from the Axp era and was convinced it would work on a new build (HD 4850, Q6600, 2 HDDs) as it had solid rails and enough amps. Last night when I was building I essentially turned on my computer when it was only enough to get into BIOS... video card, cpu, ram and a single hard drive. I got into the BIOS, poked around, check out temps and whatnot. Pleased, I slept.

Today I awoke, installed my DVD drive and a second hard drive... that's it. Ready, I plugged in the power cord to the PSU and flipped on the psu switch to give my system juice and POP. Smoke came out of the back and it was obvious I just fried my psu.

Now... what are some reasons that this could happen? It was old, so I pin it mostly on that, but if there is some way a wiring issue could blow up power supplies I'd be afraid to run out and replace it. I'd hate to fry another psu, or worse my entire new rig.

Link to other thread, with psu link: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...194626&highlight_key=y

That power supply had the same design weakness as mentioned here --> http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=84&threadid=2202580

The part(s) in the PSU which usually exploded spectacularly was the main blocking transistor(s) in the 3.3V or 5V leg.

Originally posted by: Shortass
Edit: I've purchased an Earthwatts 500w to replace it, now hopefully it will come in and I can test the parts before I can no longer RMA. I never even got to test the rig for stability, memtest or anything... now I can't even be sure if any part problems were due to my actions or if it was out of my control to begin with. Argh.

If you have a loZ meter, I'll show you how to verify various components for damages before plugging in the new PSU.

 

[MarcVenice]

I don't think the PSU has damaged anything. Like beray mentions though, those enermax psu's are famous for going out with a bang

 

[Shortass]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
I don't think the PSU has damaged anything. Like beray mentions though, those enermax psu's are famous for going out with a bang

It certainly did. The magic smoke was epic.

I've borrowed a friend's PSU and it appears that no massive damage has occurred. Now I just have to wait for mine to come in the mail >_>

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Shortass
The magic smoke was epic.

LOL, that's almost SIG worthy.

Glad the rest of your parts are fine.

 

[Shortass]

Just a quick update for peace of mind for you fellows; everything is running swimmingly. Going to bench and such but everything seems great at stock! Once my yate loons and a PSU that I actually own come in this will be even nicer with a delicious overclock. Rig in sig in 5...4...3...2..1...

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
Hmm.... An Enermax exploding??

Prior to my employment in the PC industry, I was a consumer. As a consumer and not an employee, I had 3 Enermax PSUs and they all died a horrible death after releasing their magic blue smoke. Enermax did honor their warranties and all 3 new replacements went on eBay. Luckily I never had hardware damage but I did not feel like gambling any longer.

Yeah... Not sure if you got my sarcasm or not.

 

[dennilfloss]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
I don't think the PSU has damaged anything. Like beray mentions though, those enermax psu's are famous for going out with a bang

I blew two Liberty 620 in the last two years. Just got an Infiniti 720 and keeping my fingers crossed. As others said, the PSU went 'crack' and let the magic smoke out but never took any other components with them.

 

[zerogear]

I went Corsair