High end PSU gone in spectacular fashion

gabgio · June 12, 2019

Just reaching out to know whether anybody has ever experienced the same, tell me I'm not alone in this valley of tears..

Came back home, quick dinner and fired up my PC for an evening of training (lately I've been trying hard to reach some sort of proficiency with the Warthog), PC suddenly shut off right after windows login. Weird.. Brief overall check, nothing to note, and started it again. After a couple of seconds, crackling noise, visible smoke and small flames coming within the PSU (I could see it through the glass side of the case, thankfully it's not lying below the desk or hidden). I pulled out the power plug as fast as I could, flame stopped but smoke kept going for a few seconds more, with smell of electronic death expanding in the room. I am rather "surprised" about this, since it is, (it was, I should rather say) a Seasonic Prime 80 Platinum which costed half a kidney, goddamit!

Seasonic offers 12y guarantee on this one, so I am not that worried, but a) I'll be out for at least ten days, methinks, and b) I am worried it may have fried other components.

SVgamer72 · June 12, 2019

I see you let the magic smoke out....it's a goner for sure. :)

It is possible that other components are damaged, but you can typically swap out the PS and be fine.

gabgio · June 12, 2019

I see you let the magic smoke out....it's a goner for sure. :)

It is possible that other components are damaged, but you can typically swap out the PS and be fine.

I surely hope so..

After a few g&t's to placate my ire and fight the inevitable boredom, the irony of the mishap starts to become evident: I still keep teasing friends who fearlessly decided to try their luck with the not-so-rarely burning 2080ti's, and here I am, with a cozy fire lit right below the VII :doh: Karma is indeed a cruel mistress

sea2sky · June 12, 2019

had a similar accident at work a while ago (lots of smoke and sparkles). But strangely enough the PSU has survived that time.

Nodak · June 12, 2019

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't feel good about putting another one in as a replacement. Little loss of confidence in their ability to deliver. So how long was it in use?

gabgio · June 12, 2019

had a similar accident at work a while ago (lots of smoke and sparkles). But strangely enough the PSU has survived that time.

Oh wow, the cable got melt and nothing else was damaged?

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't feel good about putting another one in as a replacement. Little loss of confidence in their ability to deliver. So how long was it in use?

One year and four months.. Bad luck, I suppose, given Seasonic reputation. And I don't know any other brand that offers a 12y warranty.

I'd happily investigate the problem myself, out of curiosity, but opening it would void the warranty, so back it goes

sea2sky · June 12, 2019

Oh wow, the cable got melt and nothing else was damaged?

CD drive that caused it has died, but PSU has turned off due to some high current protection I guess.

HC_Official · June 12, 2019

a decent PSU will have over voltage and over current shutdown protection

Buy a new PSU and try it out

gabgio · June 12, 2019

a decent PSU will have over voltage and over current shutdown protection
Buy a new PSU and try it out

I'll wait before buy, it should be covered by the warranty.

In the meantime, I managed to hook up an older PSU I had lying around, and both mobo and CPU seem fine. The VII is still on hold, as the old PSU does not have the necessary 2x8 pin connectors, of course.. :badmood:

cichlidfan · June 13, 2019

This is a most likely a case of 'stuff' happens regardless how good your components are. I recently lost a very expensive keyboard during a fairly mild thunderstorm. The PC would attempt to boot and shutdown shortly after POSTing. At first I thought something in the PC had gone but further investigation showed that something in the keyboard fried. Another keyboard solved the problem.

BitMaster · June 13, 2019

Wow !

I mean, yeah, with a good PSU other components should have been protected ( big SHOULD ).

Any visible damage anywhere ? I have fixed quite a few of those "mishaps" and it's roughly a 50/50 chance. If you see any capacitor with a dome, or even worse, with the liquid foaming out, then you know it's bad.

Take a magnifying glass and inspect your board and GPU before you fire it up again.

gabgio · June 13, 2019

Wow !

I mean, yeah, with a good PSU other components should have been protected ( big SHOULD ).

Any visible damage anywhere? I have fixed quite a few of those "mishaps" and it's roughly a 50/50 chance. If you see any capacitor with a dome, or even worse, with the liquid foaming out, then you know it's bad.

Take a magnifying glass and inspect your board and GPU before you fire it up again.

wow indeed..

So, at first inspection no visible damage, that's why I tried to hook up mobo and gpu on an older psu to start and double-check. Of course, damage may appear down the line, but so far I'm optimistic. The GPU still needs to be tested though..

If you mean on the PSU, I can't tell, I cannot see inside as the openings are too narrow. But it still smells, so I guess it's been properly cooked.

Meanwhile, kudos to Caseking/Seasonic to quickly handle the problem, I've already received a free return label for sending the part back, they will check it and according to them, most likely than not, I will simply receive a full reimbursement (weirdly, it is the only model in their Prime platinum line that got discontinued from last year... mmmhhh).

Edited June 13, 2019 by gabgio

Abburo · June 13, 2019

Might be the overall power of your PSU been exceed after some GPU upgrades?

What is your PSU power and how much is consumed by your components?

gabgio · June 13, 2019

Might be the overall power of your PSU been exceed after some GPU upgrades?
What is your PSU power and how much is consumed by your components?

Probably not, it was a 1200W unit. Also, it failed at startup. As you suggest, there could be some (low) correlation with my recent GPU upgrade, but I'd say it is extremely unlikely that there is any causation, way too high of a safety margin..

BitMaster · June 13, 2019

Must have been real bad luck tbh.

I run 3 Seasonic Prime Ultra PSU's with 650 and 750 ( iirc )....flawless, silent...and I would buy them again any time.

My 1200w Corsair AXi ( also 12y warranty ) had an RMA, have the 2nd unit now, the fan thermostat was defective. It can and does happen even with the best money can buy.

sea2sky · June 13, 2019

btw, I highly recommend buying one of these:https://www.amazon.ca/SCHNEIDER-ELECTRIC-11-Outlet-Protector-P11U2/dp/B017VXU6GG/

cichlidfan · June 13, 2019

btw, I highly recommend buying one of these:https://www.amazon.ca/SCHNEIDER-ELECTRIC-11-Outlet-Protector-P11U2/dp/B017VXU6GG/

Nice but I prefer a full blown UPS to plug my PC's into. Surge protectors are fine for peripheral equipment.

sea2sky · June 13, 2019

Nice but I prefer a full blown UPS to plug my PC's into. Surge protectors are fine for peripheral equipment.

Of course, but a surge protector is a must. Basically, UPS is a surge protector + battery.

cichlidfan · June 13, 2019

Of course, but a surge protector is a must. Basically, UPS is a surge protector + battery.

Exactly, the battery gives me the chance to shutdown the PC properly. Plus they are also handy to have a low wattage lamp plugged into so that I am not operating on candles and flashlights. ;)

Tekkx · June 14, 2019

Once upon the time I played Battlefield.

We've been 4 friends and we had an appointment for BF4 (or BF3? I don't remember).

I ran home from work and planned to spend this weekend with these friends (real friends in real life, no facebook or sth).

I started the PC and as soon as everything was loaded (it took a while, SSD was still unknown - or unaffordable) there was a really loud BAMM (similar to a gun shot). All fuses in my flat were blown. I sat there inside a (small) cloud, looking pale (I think).

PSU was blown by unknown reason. Not a cheap one, generously sized.

Situation: Friday night, friends are waiting at Battlefield, local dealers are preparing for weekend.

I think this has been the fastest ride by bike I ever did.

I was that lucky and caught the last well sized PSU at the local shop.

At the inspection later I found a broken (blocked) fan as cause for this incident.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Tekkx

gabgio · June 14, 2019

Yeah, seems like I only got unlucky, shit happens.

Good idea about the surge protector/UPS, I never considered one where I live now as the wiring in the house seems pretty decent. I had one in my room for my pc in Italy, that house was a mess, every two-three months something would blow up (I can't count how many times we had to fix the boiler..)

I'll probably get one, I had a look at how much I spent on this pc so far while searching for the PSU original bill, and got scared

BitMaster · June 14, 2019

my advise: get a UPS with a Sinus Wave and not the rectangular switching modells.

I prefer APC ( meanwhile owned by Schneider )

apcc.com

gabgio · June 14, 2019

my advise: get a UPS with a Sinus Wave and not the rectangular switching modells.

I prefer APC ( meanwhile owned by Schneider )

apcc.com

Something like this?

https://www.cyberport.de/?DEEP=6G03-24I&APID=117&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9aGD2qXp4gIV0eJ3Ch2jBA_REAYYBCABEgJ_g_D_BwE

540W should be enough, I mean, what is the likelihood of an event occurring exactly during max utilization of all my components (the estimated my peak power with all the stuff I have attached is on the high 600's - never directly measured it, I simply used various PSU calculators).

I had to laugh at the 150k insurance protection.. I now want to read the fine prints about that

Alternatively,

https://www.alternate.de/html/product/1186215?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsICJv6fp4gIViM13Ch10Zwt8EAQYASABEgJuE_D_BwE

BitMaster · June 14, 2019

Well, ehhh NO.

Back-UPS is the cheap variant, the one with 90° edges.

The ones I mean are called Smart-UPS.

The price may shock you.

https://www.cyberport.de/pc-und-zubehoer/akkus-batterien-usv/usv-ueberspannungsschutz/usv/apc/pdp/6g03-29v/apc-smart-ups-750va-tower-lcd-usv-230v-smt750ic-.html

Edited June 14, 2019 by BitMaster

gabgio · June 15, 2019

The price may shock you.

https://www.cyberport.de/pc-und-zubehoer/akkus-batterien-usv/usv-ueberspannungsschutz/usv/apc/pdp/6g03-29v/apc-smart-ups-750va-tower-lcd-usv-230v-smt750ic-.html

It did :lol:

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