Thar she blows!(carnage pics)

[JDXNC]

Had a client call me last night saying her computer blew up, so I went over and investigated. She siad it sounded like a shotgun going off in the house followed by massive amounts of smoke, at which point she unplugged it and threw it out in the snow.

Now in my years working on pc's, I've seen loads of blown psu's, but I've never seen caps blow like this:

http://under-your-skin.com/jdxnc/blowncap1.jpg

http://under-your-skin.com/jdxnc/blowncap2.jpg

http://under-your-skin.com/jdxnc/blowncap3.jpg

All the remnants inside the cover:

http://under-your-skin.com/jdxnc/blowncap4.jpg

[EarthDog]

Subscribed to see the pics at home.

LOL @ "threw it out in the snow" haha!!!!

[DrSpanky]

Shotgun blast outa the back of the skull? some suicidal caps :shrug:

[torin3]

THAT is IMPRESSIVE!

[jhanby]

THAT is IMPRESSIVE!

+1

What make and model ?

[MattNo5ss]

Wow, that's ridiculous...

[Old Thrashbarg]

Damn, and that's the primaries, too. Those don't usually go out, even when they're crappy ones.

(What brand are those, anyway? I don't recognize that logo...)

[JDXNC]

+1

What make and model ?

L&C Technology Inc.
Model: LC-A350ATX

This was powering a 2Ghz northwood with integrated everything, 1 hdd and 1 cdrom.

[Xtreme Barton]

this my friends is why you dont have a crappy PSU !!

[atomic ferret]

WOW...just wow.

[Old Thrashbarg]

Ah, found 'em. They're apparently Yang-Chun caps. Doing some searching around, it seems they have a reputation on the level of Fuhjyuu, i.e., epically terribad.

On a related note, this might be a useful site (http://capacitor.web.fc2.com/)... it shows the brand logos of all sorts of different capacitors.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

L&C Technology Inc.
Model: LC-A350ATX

That's a Deer. Surprise, surprise, surprise :p

[Xtreme Barton]

hhmmmm go figure .. a crappy 350 in there .. i wonder what it was actually putting out under load .. oem build right ?

[RollingThunder]

Here's a prime example for new guys here (and some veterans) that saving $30 - $40 on a PoS power supply is like playing Russian Roulette.

A dead deer, like roadkill. :)

[JDXNC]

hhmmmm go figure .. a crappy 350 in there .. i wonder what it was actually putting out under load .. oem build right ?

Ya, something a local shop put together, other than the psu, it's half decent, Intel board, name brand ram, well ventilated case, but top it all off with a $15 psu and burn it all to a crisp.

[Xtreme Barton]

is the mobo damaged too ? dang to bad you couldnt throw a new psu in and give it back to her .. she might be mighty grateful and reward you with a kiss :D

[JDXNC]

is the mobo damaged too ? dang to bad you couldnt throw a new psu in and give it back to her .. she might be mighty grateful and reward you with a kiss :D

I actually haven't tested it yet, I will see, whole case smells pretty toasted though. I don't have high hopes with the way those caps went out. One thing I've learned is psu's don't usually go out nicely.

[Xtreme Barton]

funny to just see the color difference between the two .. looks like the one on the left has been baking for a while .. and im still trying to think what th shotgun sound was actually more equivalent to beings ladies like to exaggerate a bit .. 22 ? party popper ?? hehehehe

[JDXNC]

party popper ?? hehehehe

Most likely :p

[Jolly-Swagman]

That is one pretty impressive look at just how cheap PSU,s are not worth risking your good Hardware on

[Xtreme Barton]

my next psu will be gold certified :D

[JDXNC]

Little update,

I found a spare 250w FSP psu lying around, so I gave it ago. System powered right up, booted into windows, I left and went to the bathroom, came back to the screen in power save mode. I moved the mouse, nothing, hit the keyboard, nothing. Held the power button on the case, held it for a good 30 seconds and it would not power down, it kept running. So I hit the switch on the psu, waited a bit, turned it back on, as soon as the switch is turned on, the system turns on but has no video or beeps. It will not shot off if you hold the case power button. Pulled all the drives/unnecessary components, same results. Pulled the ram, no beep codes.

I think this one is a write off, deer took out another one.

[Xtreme Barton]

silly dude .. you shouldnt have left the room .. after it runed on should ave been a quick turn off ..cause a 250wat psu is junk too .. somewhere near the plug something cooked .. maybe try jumping the power button wires to make sure the switch isnt baked

[JDXNC]

silly dude .. you shouldnt have left the room .. after it runed on should ave been a quick turn off ..cause a 250wat psu is junk too .. somewhere near the plug something cooked .. maybe try jumping the power button wires to make sure the switch isnt baked

Whatever you want to think. That is a 250w FSP, thats a Fortron psu, not a cheap junk. That PSU came out of a 3.2Ghz prescott system, which has been powering it for about 3 years non stop. Not to mention this 250w power supply weighs in about 3x what that Deer did. It was plenty of power. It will works fine in the prescott system as well.

[Xtreme Barton]

i wouldnt trust that old FPS anymore than i trust a psu that comes with a case these days .. cause really i dont see how you put it in and turned it on then came back and it didnt work no more .. oh well im not trying to ruffle your feathers its too late anyway

[vgta88]

think bag of chips popping, it most likely sounded like that or when you step on a square boxed drink thats been air filled.

my first(correction, second) system was white box and same thing happened. the psu blew everything, cd rom wouldn't even eject disc, nothing. it's likely the motherboard was damaged and couldn't take it anymore the first time (not sure if re capping that thing will do any good) but theres more of a chance the other components weren't damaged since a "decent" psu was in the second time.

it sounds like a fried cpu to me (auto start with no video or beeps) but then the switch not working is something i've never seen blow. don't leave the other psu in there, you can check the southbridge and see if it's hot, I've had a bad psu kill a board that way (bad psu + bad board gave me a hot southbridge) haven't tried a good psu on the bad board to see if it will do the same thing. these weird quirks really help diagnose things.

I don't remember them all
bad cpu usually= auto start once plugged in. no post just fans
bad mobo = no post at all or fan starts for half second,
ram I think no ram will still allow a motherboard to make beep codes.
vga not clear if i'm mixing it up with the ram.
that can rule out a lot if anyone can correct it.

[KonaKona]

Always worth baking the motherboard in the oven. :bday:

Also, yeah those caps got owned.

[JDXNC]

This morning it booted right up, ran for a half hour and froze, hit the reset button, and no more post. I gave her the news and she's gonna buy a new comp, free case and hdd for my effort lol.

[visbits]

Was that a POW!!!-Max?:rolleyes:

[johan851]

i wouldnt trust that old FPS anymore than i trust a psu that comes with a case these days .. cause really i dont see how you put it in and turned it on then came back and it didnt work no more .. oh well im not trying to ruffle your feathers its too late anyway
FSP generally makes a pretty good PSU, and 250w should be plenty.
This morning it booted right up, ran for a half hour and froze, hit the reset button, and no more post. I gave her the news and she's gonna buy a new comp, free case and hdd for my effort lol.
Sounds like she needs just needs a new motherboard or something. Her data is all still there.

Anyway, that's a pretty spectacular blowout.

[Kilroy Was Here]

Crazy.

[Nebulous]

See, it's threads like this that I refer back to this:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm104/DamNeb/pricelesspower.gif

:cool: