Hey there,
I had an exciting time a couple days ago when my PC quite literally caught on fire.
Basically, this happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqVNGSh-8Wo.
Since then I’ve been trying to find out exactly what went wrong and how to get it running again. I think I’ve narrowed the problems down to the CPU or the MOBO. But I’ll describe all I know about what happened, then you can come to your own conclusions. Any ideas and advice welcome. First of all, this isn’t a new build. I built this PC about 2 years ago. It has run fine until now.
The fire:
It started a couple seconds after I tried to boot up the PC. It sounded like something either went in or rattled loose. The thing (whatever it was) seemed to get stuck in a fan (I think it was the CPU cooler fan, based on the sound), rattled around the fins of the cooler, then I heard a crack/grinding noise. That’s when I saw fire (through the top exhaust). The fire was contained to inside the case, so it wasn’t big enough to come out the exhausts. The fire quickly went out on its own within about 2 seconds. Then a puff of smoke went out the rear exhaust fan. All of this happened in about 6 seconds. My first response was to unplug the power (after saying “oh f**k”). After that nothing happened, other than a horrible plastic/electrical burning smell pervading the entire top floor of my house.
Examining the damage:
After I was sure there was no more fire, I took off all the paneling on the case. Oddly, there was no visible damage at all. Nothing seemed to have come loose (including the MOBO standoffs). Other than the smell, there was no sign anything had even happened.
Trying to boot up:
Seeing no damage, I decided to try booting it up (holding a blanket at the ready to put out fire). The PC did not boot up. Here’s what did happen.
-The GPU tried to spin up its fans and light up, but within half a second shut down.
-The PSU light on the MOBO it up, so power is coming from the PSU.
-The CPU led on the MOBO lit up red, but half a second later shut off.
-The CPU cooler tried to spin up, but shut down half a second later.
Narrowing down what doesn’t work:
Seeing this, I decided to disconnect my PSU from the MOBO (and CPU power connector on MOBO) and plug it into a PSU tester. The test showed normal results and the all the case fans ran fine (all off which are connected to the PSU through a fan controller). The CD/DVD drive also started up. The SDD and HDD also both seemed to run. None of these stopped functioning at any point while using the PSU tester.
My conclusions:
The PSU, SDD, HDD, case fans, and fan controller are not defective or damaged. Also, the GPU and CPU cooler are also likely functional, since they attempt to run when the PSU is connected to MOBO. They simply shut down quickly. I also find it unlikely the RAM is the issue (especially since I see no red RAM led on the MOBO when attempting to boot).
I think the CPU or the MOBO is damaged. It could be both, or just one of them. The CPU light on the MOBO being red makes me think it may be the CPU.
I think what happened overall was some piece of plastic inside the case rattled loose, got caught in the CPU cooler’s fan and caught on fire. Then the fire either burned out the CPU or shorted the MOBO. I don’t think something got in since something that big could not fit through the fan’s filters. Though it certainly did sound like something got inside, but I don’t know how it could.
What I need help with/what I’m confused about:
-I want to narrow down whether it’s the MOBO or the CPU that needs to be replaced.
-Also, I’m confused by how when I try to boot the PC with the PSU connected, only the first time I switch the PSU on does the CPU cooler and GPU try to boot. If I try to boot again, they won’t even spin up. However, if I switch the PSU off then back on again, then try to boot, the GPU and cooler try to spin up. I have no idea why that’s happening.
-Is there any damage I should look for that I haven’t already?
-Any other ideas about how this fire could have started?
-Will I have driver conflicts if I replace the parts with new ones but use the old hard drives? Similarly, will Windows still function if I replace the MOBO (since I used a OEM windows install disc originally)?
Any answers to these questions or overall advice is welcome. Thanks for any help you can give.
Here are my PC specs should you need them:
-Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0.
-CPU: AMD FX-8350 8 Core Vishera.
-GPU: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2gb.
-RAM: G-Skill Sniper Series 16gb (2 x 8).
-HDD: WD Black Series 7200RPM 3TB.
-SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SATA III.
-CPU cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo.
-Thermal paste: Arctic Silver 5 (applied in "grain of rice" method).
-PSU: Rosewill HIVE 650.
-Optical drive: Asus Blu-Ray Reader.
-Case: NZXT Phantom 410.
