motherboard just sparked and I can smell smoke...

El_Mayo · May 13, 2012

My computer was doing some annoying thing where it'd repeatedly try and power up (sd card reader lights were blinking on and off) and I removed everything from the mobo and it powered up. So I plugged in all the usb connectors and a small black chip on the mobo, near the usb ports sparked. I plugged it out ASAP but there's a tiny black burn on it

Edit: it still boots, but now there's the niggling in the back of my mind that it could happen again! Should I RMA to be safe?

brandonwh64 · May 13, 2012

El_Mayo said:
My computer was doing some annoying thing where it'd repeatedly try and power up (sd card reader lights were blinking on and off) and I removed everything from the mobo and it powered up. So I plugged in all the usb connectors and a small black chip on the mobo, near the usb ports sparked. I plugged it out ASAP but there's a tiny black burn mark on it. I don't think my pc will boot again... Can I claim it under an RMA?

You plugged this stuff up WHILE it was running? Could have power surged if you had something in the card reader but NO they will not RMA if board is physically damaged

El_Mayo · May 13, 2012

brandonwh64 said:
You plugged this stuff up WHILE it was running? Could have power surged if you had something in the card reader but NO they will not RMA if board is physically damaged

Noooo I unplugged the psu cable before plugging everything back in. I have no idea why it happened either, its not like its a chip that had a heatsink that fell off or something

Bo$$ · May 13, 2012

must be a USB fuse or something

Laurijan · May 13, 2012

If you dont push the start button to empty the PSU and mobos capacitors after disconnecting the PSU cable the mobo still has some current and can spark.

dorsetknob · May 13, 2012

brandonwh64 said:
You plugged this stuff up WHILE it was running? Could have power surged if you had something in the card reader but NO they will not RMA if board is physically damaged

" Yes They Will "

Example
How many motherboards have been RMA'ed because of Leaking / swelling Caps.
or don't you class Leaking / swelling Caps as physically damaged
or
Electrical arc/burn damage in Cpu socket ((intel 1156 motherboards had this problem i believe)

Apply for A RMA what do you have to lose

Hayder_Master · May 13, 2012

LOL, same thing happened to me before with gigabyte P45-UD3P same place, but still work great no problem at all.

El_Mayo · May 14, 2012

It's working now, but I'll apply for one anyway

tacosRcool · May 14, 2012

My MSI motherboard sparked and something popped. It turned out that my USB controller burnt out and burned up my mouse and keyboard and even portable hd (there was only 1 USB controller on my mobo)

St.Alia-Of-The-Knife · May 14, 2012

dorsetknob said:
Electrical arc/burn damage in Cpu socket ((intel 1156 motherboards had this problem i believe)

How can a cpu socket at 1.5v max produce an electrical arc?

sneekypeet · May 14, 2012

because it controls more than just the Vcore. I took out like 10-12 pins on my 1156 socket due to the memory used and the voltage I was using for it, not the CPU.

dorsetknob · May 14, 2012

St.Alia-Of-The-Knife said:
How can a cpu socket at 1.5v max produce an electrical arc?

If the Electrical contact is to small or Not making good low Resistance Contact The "Load" it Attempts to carry/conduct will overheat and Burn/arc the contacts (resulting in a Damaged Socket "and" CPU

Google the CPU power Draw for Your CPU then look at the contact pad/pin size
Then use Ohm's law to work out the Current consumed By your CPU
Your be surprised at how much "AMPERAGE" your CPU DRAWS thru the Socket

Like 20 to 30+ amps now that can arc/burn

Q answered ? :nutkick:

D007 · May 14, 2012

If you didn't cause the damage. I'd RMA it immediately.. I'd call that a motherboard defect and not your fault. Unless you actually caused it.

DM3K · May 14, 2012

I have seen this happen from having internal devices mis-wired. For example I have seen this happen when the internal header for firewire was hooked up to the usb. USB is supplied with 5v, although current is limited, it can still be enough to fry a chip. So it is possible that your card reader or another device is shorting out.

phanbuey · May 14, 2012

ive had that happen on my MSI 750i chipset. Board was fine tho lol. I shorted it with a backplate.

St.Alia-Of-The-Knife · May 15, 2012

dorsetknob said:
If the Electrical contact is to small or Not making good low Resistance Contact The "Load" it Attempts to carry/conduct will overheat and Burn/arc the contacts (resulting in a Damaged Socket "and" CPU

Google the CPU power Draw for Your CPU then look at the contact pad/pin size
Then use Ohm's law to work out the Current consumed By your CPU
Your be surprised at how much "AMPERAGE" your CPU DRAWS thru the Socket

Like 20 to 30+ amps now that can arc/burn

Q answered ?

Okay its just the terminology used here. Electric arcs are produced by high voltage while sparks (like when you short out a capacitor) are caused by high current passing through a small conductor, just like you have said

But i think we are getting off topic..

AsRock · May 15, 2012

El_Mayo said:
It's working now, but I'll apply for one anyway

Yes just RMA if you can wait for a new mobo. Never know some thing else might go

System Name	N/A
Processor	i7-4790K
Motherboard	Asus Z97-A
Cooling	Thermalright True Power 140
Memory	2 x 8GB GeIL Potenza 2400Mhz
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 970 Gaming
Storage	2TB Seagate Barracuda
Display(s)	24" Samsung 1080p LED Monitor
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Pro
Power Supply	Corsair TX650W
Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Corsair K70 (Brown MX)
Software	Windows 8.1

System Name	N/A
Processor	i7-4790K
Motherboard	Asus Z97-A
Cooling	Thermalright True Power 140
Memory	2 x 8GB GeIL Potenza 2400Mhz
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 970 Gaming
Storage	2TB Seagate Barracuda
Display(s)	24" Samsung 1080p LED Monitor
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Pro
Power Supply	Corsair TX650W
Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Corsair K70 (Brown MX)
Software	Windows 8.1

System Name	Desktop \| Server
Processor	Intel i7 2700k @ 4.6GHZ \| AMD 5350 @ 2500MHZ
Motherboard	Asus P7Z77-V Pro \| Asus AM1I-A
Cooling	Corsair H60v2 \| Stock Air
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 2x8GB CL8 1600MHZ \| Corsair Vengence 2x4GB CL9 1600MHZ
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1060 6GB \| PNY GTX 750Ti
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Display(s)	Samsung S27D390H + Asus VE276Q \| Headless
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Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 850 G2\| Corsair CX430M
Mouse	Razer Imperator 2012
Keyboard	Corsair K90
Software	Windows 7 SP1 X64 \| Ubuntu 16.04LTS

System Name	Enslaver :)
Processor	Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS TUF Gaming B650-Plus
Cooling	CPU: Noctua NH-D14 with LED fans, Case: 2 front in - 1 rear out
Memory	2x16GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB 6000MHz
Video Card(s)	ASUS TUF RTX 4070Ti OC
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Display(s)	LG CX OLED 65"
Case	Lian Li LANCOOL II Mesh C Performance
Audio Device(s)	HDMI audio powering Dolby Digital audio on 5.1 Z960 speaker system
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x
Mouse	Logitech G700
Keyboard	ASUS Strix Tactic Pro
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64

System Name	MASTER
Processor	Core i7 3930k run at 4.4ghz
Motherboard	Asus Rampage IV extreme
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	4x4G kingston hyperx beast 2400mhz
Video Card(s)	2X EVGA GTX680
Storage	2X Crusial M4 256g raid0, 1TbWD g, 2x500 WD B
Display(s)	Samsung 27' 1080P LED 3D monitior 2ms
Case	CoolerMaster Chosmos II
Audio Device(s)	Creative sound blaster X-FI Titanum champion,Creative speakers 7.1 T7900
Power Supply	Corsair 1200i, Logitch G500 Mouse, headset Corsair vengeance 1500
Software	Win7 64bit Ultimate
Benchmark Scores	3d mark 2011: testing

motherboard just sparked and I can smell smoke...

El_Mayo

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!

El_Mayo

Bo$$

Lab Extraordinaire

Laurijan

dorsetknob

"YOUR RMA REQUEST IS CON-REFUSED"

Hayder_Master

El_Mayo

tacosRcool

St.Alia-Of-The-Knife

New Member

sneekypeet

Retired Super Moderator

dorsetknob

"YOUR RMA REQUEST IS CON-REFUSED"

D007

DM3K

phanbuey

St.Alia-Of-The-Knife

New Member

AsRock

TPU addict

Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
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Storage	740GB of SSDs, 7 TB's of HDDs
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Audio Device(s)	Integrated
Power Supply	EVGA 750 P2
Mouse	Mionix Naos 8200
Keyboard	G Skill Ripjaws RGB Mechanical Keyboard
Software	Windows 10 Pro

Processor	Phenom II 955 @ 3955Mhz 1.45v
Motherboard	ASUS M4A79XTD EVO
Cooling	CoolerMaster Hyper TX3 push-pull /2x140mm + 2x230mm + 2x120mm = super noisy computer
Memory	4x2Gb Kingston DDR3-1333 8-8-8-22 @ 1527Mhz
Video Card(s)	Crossfire 2x Sapphire Radeon 6850 @ 850/1200
Storage	320Gb Western Digital WD3200AAJS
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Keyboard	ROG STRIX Scope TKL Electro Punk
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Video Card(s)	RTX 4090 Gigagbyte gaming OC @ +200/1300
Storage	(M2's) 2x Samsung 980 pro 2TB, 1xWD Black 2TB, 1x SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB
Display(s)	65" LG OLED 120HZ
Case	Lian Li dyanmic Evo11 with distro plate
Power Supply	Thermaltake 1350
Software	Microsoft Windows 11 x64

System Name	Nerd 7
Processor	Phenom II 980 x4
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Power Supply	Corsair 750W
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Benchmark Scores	I put a small scratch in my workbench when I moved it.

Processor	13700KF Undervolted @ 5.6/ 5.5, 4.8Ghz Ring 200W PL1
Motherboard	MSI 690-I PRO
Cooling	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 w/ Arctic P12 Fans
Memory	48 GB DDR5 7600 MHZ CL36
Video Card(s)	RTX 4090 FE
Storage	2x 2TB WDC SN850, 1TB Samsung 960 prr
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Case	SLIGER S620
Audio Device(s)	Yes
Power Supply	Corsair SF750
Mouse	Xlite V2
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Software	Windows 11
Benchmark Scores	They're pretty good, nothing crazy.

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Benchmark Scores	Meh benchmarks.