Is a Spark in the PSU Normal? (Blown PSU)

b182tm

b182tm

New Member
Hey guys,
I just got my new computer, I put everything together, went to turn it on, and SPARK. I heard a loud spark in the PSU, and I smelled burnt electricity. So I'm assuming my PSU is blown. My question is, why? I made sure everything was connected properly (You should prob. be warned this is my first build) Also, is there any way anything else was damaged? I pressed the power switch in the back, heard the spark, and turned it off IMMEDIATELY. I went back 5 min. later, and absolutely nothing happened when I tried to turn it on. No lights, fans, nothing. What could I have done wrong? BTW, i have this PSU http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...=874745&CatId=0
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
Derek
 
Make sure your mobo isn't grounded to the case. It should be on standoffs and NOTHING actually touching the case itself. Be sure the wires aren't stripped anywhere. It could of been a bad power supply, but it's hard to tell.

Usally, when there's a power problem, most stuff's dead. It's really hard to say weither or not things are still good or not :-/
 
Hey, thanks. I had a friend come over and look at it, and we think it was a bad PSU. I will send it back, try to get an exchange, and have someone else build my comp. for me...
Thanks again,
Derek
 
The_Other_One said:
Make sure your mobo isn't grounded to the case. It should be on standoffs and NOTHING actually touching the case itself. Be sure the wires aren't stripped anywhere. It could of been a bad power supply, but it's hard to tell.

Usally, when there's a power problem, most stuff's dead. It's really hard to say weither or not things are still good or not :-/
Click to expand...


yea... if your lucky it is a bad psu... if you forgot the spacers on the mobo... youve prolly fried the board. let us know if a new psu fixes it though
 
I definitely used standoffs. I know it wasn't touching the case...I can only hope that they exchange it for a new one. (Also hopefully none of the other hardware is damaged).

Derek
 
Man, links never seem to work for me. It is the Ultra X-Connect 500 Watt Modular Power Supply. Sorry, I don't know what a UL number is...The Item # is ULT31558...

Thanks a lot,
Derek
 
Once when it rained the power went out, (hurricane) and about 2 days later still raining the power came back on, my computer turned on automaticaly, I turned it back off, in about 30 seconds My PSU blew up (kind of), A flash of light containing Blue white and orange lit my room, followed by a huge BANG sound, my parents though someone shot me :P. It fried all but my RAM and HD :( .
 
That is strange, I have never heard of x-connect psu's blowing up. Oh well hope you get that fixed.

P.S. What does burn electricity smell like, j/k. :D
 
I had two PSU's blow on me, it turned out that the switch to my dual blue neons was touching one of the fan grills and shorting everything out, the result after two blowouts was a fried MOBO and dead RAM, thankfully the CPU was fine and so was the HDD.
 
I dont know why y PSU fried.. old age maybe.. well mine only made a miniscule snap.. followed by a few thumps(me kicking it).. i dont really think you can compare the smell of a fried PSU to anything really.
 
Hey everybud...
I'm in a great mood right now, you know why???? Because my comp. worked!!! I was so mad earlier, and so stressed...Got the new PSU, installed everything (again) and voila! Perfectly running. Currently it is formatting the hdd, so I assume everything else is working.

Thanks a ton for everything everyone,
Derek
 
That's good that it all works! One possibility that it blew was because that PSU (same one I'm using) has the optional power connectors. This is a good thing in that you can use only what you will actually use, and a bad thing in that its that many more things to make sure are properly connected. Anytime I open my case, even if I don't move anything I will check all those connections, they don't stay in the best. And it doesn't help that they use those thick cables (which again has its advantages/disadvantages) because they bend the way they want too which can pull the connector out from the PSU... I don't really know what effects any of that could have, but it's a possibility.
 
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