Blown PSU

[spleenharvester]

I have a blown X-Power GTX Light 580w PSU.

Basically, it's about 1.5yrs old. I was playing L4D, went for tea, came back and it smelt of burning/something melting. I tried to pull out of L4D to check voltages but it switched off before I could open speedfan.

Now, it will not start at all if the graphics card power is plugged in. If the GFX power is unplugged it starts and my basic diagnostic card shows all voltages as OK and the PC as POSTing fine but obviously I cannot check.

Does this sound like a cap issue to anyone? I can't check all of them but they all look absolutely fine to me.

The big 200v capacitors are Capxon built, which I understand to be awful.

Cheers

[etnietering]

Re: Blown PSU

The burning/melting smell would indicate to me that something other than the caps blew, or at least got way too hot. Check all of the ICs and the power transistors/diode packs (the things attached to the heatsinks) for signs of damage/overheating. Take some pictures, too, and post them here, so we can help you try to find the problem.

Also, try not to run your system with it in this state - if the voltages aren't regulated properly it could seriously ruin the rest of your hardware.

Good luck!

[spleenharvester]

Re: Blown PSU

How long do you recommend I wait for before opening it up?

I.E how long do I have to wait to guarantee not getting shocked?

I can wait weeks, months even, I'm in no rush

[etnietering]

Re: Blown PSU

Well if it's designed properly, you should only have to wait a few minutes. However, if it was designed properly, it would have turned off before melting....so I'd wait at least half an hour. The only place with enough voltage to hurt you is the primary side, so if you're still uneasy you can stay away from that for a while longer.

[stj]

Re: Blown PSU

lesson1:

if you smell burning or see smoke, dont try to logout or run diagnostics.
PULL THE PLUG!

[stj]

Re: Blown PSU

and examine your gfx card - incase it's that.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Blown PSU

Yes it sounds like caps -could- be it.
Crap caps will cause other parts to burn-up, but so will other faults.

The 'beer can' caps rarely go bad or cause problems regardless of who makes them.
It's the 6 thru 13 mm caps you need to look at first.

[spleenharvester]

Re: Blown PSU

It ain't the card, pretty sure of that.

Basically, what happened: we had a pretty bad surge, my PSU melted, my brother's SXS400w actually caught fire ( ), both laptops were plugged in so they died, and we've lost the oven and TV as well.

The only thing I found on the card was some small, burnt-looking brown stuff behind one of the MOSFETs, but I think that's the stuff they put on at manufacture (my 6600gt has similar stuff)

I'm going to leave it a few days before opening. I can see in atm (fan grill is off) and every capacitor within my site looks A-OK. What should I look for?

Also, the smell's coming from the back of the PSU, near the transformers and some other stuff I can't see.



**Also - I didn't think much of it at first because I've had similar smells before when it's under load. Kind of like the ones you get off a new PSU sometimes, just a bit stronger. Then I realised "hang on, something's wrong here", and it went off seconds later.

[stj]

Re: Blown PSU

open it, you cant get a shock just removing the cover.

[kc8adu]

Re: Blown PSU

if its the x-power i have seen it belongs in the trash anyway.hope it didnt kill anything when it died.
found one in a customers tool grinder.it overshot and killed the sbc.i/o,motion control,and probe interface.
i guess cash was tight and they guessed the original psu was bad.they bought the cheapest thing they could rather than calling me out to fix it.it bit em in the ass bigtime!

[spleenharvester]

Re: Blown PSU

The Lite series has served me well but the others are truly awful.

This one was 1.5yrs before it got surged, was under heavy load regularly.

Anyhow: I opened it up, and the transformer near that back part is pretty badly melted. Didn't look salvageable so I just pulled the fan and soldered it to a 3pin connector

Cheers for the help people.

[spleenharvester]

Re: Blown PSU

...And it continues, with the new PSU.
Won't boot with card power plugged in. Will boot and card powers with power taken out, but the card beeps and won't display (obvs)

Basically, can't take a pic atm though, the MOSFET I mentioned has brown crap at the solder joint at the back, and it also has a random ball of solder stuck to it... reckon that's the one? ~EDIT: Just found another MOSFET further up with the same kinda shit over it, there's less of it though. You know how there's like a straight edge on the opposite side to the joints? On BOTH the MOSFETs I've mentioned they're both all rickety and messed up.

What should I be looking for? Maybe the solid state 16v caps need replacing? They do seem a bit bulgy.

[spleenharvester]

Re: Blown PSU

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...php?p=11586520

WTF? My card layout is the same, and it's the exact same MOSFET model that has blown. The two he shows in the picture, except mine has more brown gunk.

[stj]

Re: Blown PSU

the brown is just flux,
but you are describing symptoms of a shorted fet on the gfx card.