[knobby070]

Hi guys great site I hope you can help me.

I have had a bit of an issue with my motherboard Hope someone can shed some light on the matter!

The last 8 months I had run through 5 motherboards the last of which has resulted in it going up in flames last night.

I have had 1 DOA, 1 BIOS failure 1 ?unknown cause. My latest was a i7 gigabyte ex58-ud3r with an i7 920 D0 o/c'd to 3.1ghz (water cooled cpu and gpu all temps <45C) which was perfectly stable and lasted for a month before packing up as I shut the computer down over lunch 2 days ago, tried to restart it an hour later and all it would do was power up for 1 second then shutdown and continue doing so until I pulled the mains. This has been sent off as RMA.

In the mean time I have been using my old GA-EP45-DS4 (with a dual core 1.6ghz )plus the same PSU (Corasir modular 850w) and GPU (ATI 4870 1024mb) with stock cooling and water cooled gpu (all temps <35C) for a few days as a replacement, all was well until the esata cable connected to my WD 1tb passport drive fell out of the external esata module connected to the mobo. I reconnected it, then went to chek the drive, lifted it up when the computer lost power, restarted itself then heard two popping sounds, and then smoke and flames appeared in my tower!! I pulled the mains and extinguished the flames. Upon assessment the esata cable from the module that is plugged into sata 1 block on the mobo had melted leaving residue in the socket. In addition the mobo had melted under the 24 pin power connector and under some chips about 6 inches to the left.

I have used this drive, module setup for about a year without issue until now. This kinda shook me up, especially with 2 young kids in the house and the comp is next to their rooms!!

Would I be right in thinking that the esata module was the cause? It was powered by the PSU from a 4 pin molex as per attached picture. I have also included links to the pics of the board.

Please help!!!!!! I will provide any additional info as required. Sorry for the long winded story

Pics:

http://img51.imagesh...85/stp83137.jpg

http://img121.images...49/stp83136.jpg

http://img705.images...52/stp83135.jpg

http://img696.images...26/stp83134.jpg


Seem to have lost the hyperlinks sorry!!

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could be that there was a short in the eSATA port...especially with kids in the house, who know what they've been pulling on and wiggling around. could have also been a faulty PSU that overloaded the board. or any number of things really

computers bursting into flames is pretty rare, so it's obviously a major issue. i'd get a PSU tester and check the PSU (or a digital multimeter if you've got one). it's possibly got something wrong with it. i'd also get your house electrical checked, could have been something coming in over the power line that did it (though i'd imagine you've got surge protection right?)

[dsenette]

could be that there was a short in the eSATA port...especially with kids in the house, who know what they've been pulling on and wiggling around. could have also been a faulty PSU that overloaded the board. or any number of things really

computers bursting into flames is pretty rare, so it's obviously a major issue. i'd get a PSU tester and check the PSU (or a digital multimeter if you've got one). it's possibly got something wrong with it. i'd also get your house electrical checked, could have been something coming in over the power line that did it (though i'd imagine you've got surge protection right?)

[knobby070]

Hi thanks for your reply,

Hi have a PSU tester which appears to show no issues and all fans started and HDs spooled during testing, so I don't think it's that. It's also a new PSU and was having problems when using my old PSU (Thermaltake 750w), one of the reasons I upgraded it! I nregards to the esata, the kids wouldn't have played with it as access to the back of the comp it blocked by my desk and you cannot get to it without pulling the 20kg system out!!

And yes I have surge protection everything and anything that plugs into the comp is covered by surge protection.

[knobby070]

Anybody have any other thoughts??

[Jack123]

01-Knobby070 -Motherboard Fire (1-12-2010)

Hi guys great site

Knobby070 – Thanks - Welcome to Geeks to Go

Wow!
The burn spot is the Origin of the Short – This is/was? your – Good Golden Board??

Did you have this board fully installed & properly bolted in place with Standoffs? Or was it just temporarily laying in place - ?? Could it have touched the metal case?

The last 8 months I had run through 5 motherboards the last of which has resulted in it going up in flames last night.

Did you change residence during the last 8 months – or make any – House Electrical Modifications during this period – Or change location of your PC ….Use a different Power Outlet . . . .

Refer to this Post – Classic Faulty Residence Wiring – causing power supply problem)

- http://www.geekstogo...ied-t93691.html

Jack123

[rshaffer61]

If I could chime in here also. It looks to me like a standoff in the wrong place under the MOBO.
Looking at the picture the line up on the standoffs would just about be right for a standoff to be where the burn mark is.
After enhancing the picture and looking at the burn trail the original start lines up almost exactly with a standoff that could have been there.
What is located on the other side of the board where this burn is?

[knobby070]

Thank to all of you for your comments, have been away so unable to reply untill now.

Sorry for the poor pic quality, I don't have PS to resize on my laptop so I went for small upload pics! I think however I included a pic of the upside of the board where the burning occured.

The board was out at the time, resting on a non conductive rubber craft board, which I have used many times previously with out incident.

There has been no change or addition to the house mains supply and we have been in the same house for 6 years. The only difference is however, the last 4 months I have 'forced' out of my office to create a nursery for my 5 month old baby. and I now run off 2 pains plugs rather than the 4 I had before. Both have surge protection, but could that be an issue?

Could the esata data connection cable cause a surge ?

[knobby070]

Jack123 Sorry didn't respond to your picture, no the second area is a burn also not a shadow both occured at the same time. When the fire occured I heard two popping type sounds.

[Jack123]

02-Knobby070 -Motherboard Fire (1-15-2010)

Upon assessment the esata cable from the module that is plugged into sata 1 block on the mobo had melted leaving residue in the socket.

Could the esata data connection cable cause a surge ?

http://img696.images...26/stp83134.jpg

Yes ---- It could ---being that it is a – Panel Mounting Connector Assembly - -
________________________________________

Sorry – but when you mentioned – the esata data connection cable – My mind just quickly dismissed that data - - - -I said to myself – No because they are Plastic/rubber non-conductive - -

My mind did not compute - - -I was thinking - - Internal --- sata not External esata - - -
I even viewed the photo of the esata cable - - - and wondered ---that is a Panel Mounted ---
Where did that come from???

But now that you said you had Motherboard disconnected ---That meant that the esata Panel Connectors were dangling Free . . .waiting to fall - - -

That would/could cause a few short circuits…
I jumped on a phatom question and was trying to relate this problem to your other 4 Motherboard failures . . .Why ?? ….Senior Moment . . .???

_________________________________________________

I really feel stupid - - - Completely Missing your real Question - - -
And acting on your preface /introduction –
_________________________________________________

Hindsight Lesson: Try to Tie up/secure loose flying cables and/or use extension cabling

Jack123