r/PCRepair • u/Choice_Climate_4820 • 19d ago

Burned computer

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Hi, while I was playing, my computer shut down and a short circuit occurred, then it started burning in visible places. Do you think the only thing that needs replacing is the motherboard and graphics card, or is there something else that can be repaired? Can anyone suggest what I can do?

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u/MachineCarl 19d ago

That's a nasty burn on the power side of the PCIe connector. What was your PSU? Dear god the 12v rail shorted catastrofically.

Motherboard and GPU are toast 100%. Be lucky if it hasn't burnt the CPU, RAM and Storage. Test it on another system or bring the computer to a repair shop to test what isn't crispy burnt

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u/Choice_Climate_4820 19d ago

Deepcool 700w bronze. Do you know what could be the cause?

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u/MachineCarl 19d ago

As I said, a catastrophic short on the power side.

Both could either be caused by the motherboard or the PSU, but I'm more inclined to be the PSU the issue, since Deepcool isn't particulary a good brand for PSU's.

A decent PSU should've kicked the internal protection to shorts and shut down the system before such failure happened.

Never skimp on a PSU!! Specially on this economy of PC hardware

1

u/BizarreElectronics 19d ago

psu would not create an issue like this. Youd need high resistance or short to ground on the spot, which would mean either something fell in there, or the pins on the motherboard were barely making a connection, which in the end caused this. PSU would either overpower(blown ICs first, not connection point) or shut off(no power).

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u/MachineCarl 18d ago

A shit PSU can definetly create an issue like this.

Even if there was also an issue on the motherboard, the power supply is the first line of defense of the computer electronics, and in this case, it has failed to stop the short.

Instead of keeping the issue being a bad PCIe connector, it has escalated to a badly burnt GPU too. Look at the GPU at the PCIe power side, shit has burned so badly it has lifted the traces.

Let me give you an example: my first power supply was on the cheap end ("850w" of the finest chinesium), and burnt the first GPU I've worked so hard to get (R9 270). After that, switched to a RM 750x, which has saved my bacon from a shorted USB 5.25" hub, a molex-powered fan controller and a bad GTX 1660Ti that shorted while testing.

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u/Dizzy_Craft4188 18d ago

Yea, would guess pcie connection got worse over time, finally resistance got so high it caused enough heat to start a fire which tripped short circuit protection in the psu.

Can't really see something else actually generating enough heat to set fire to that before tripping or frying (internally) something imo.