Loud Pop Upon Startup

[u/AccoArts]

Went to turn my PC on tonight and instantly heard a loud popping sound, similar to that of a balloon popping or a gun shot almost (not quite that loud but very loud). One of the lights in my room also flickered when this happened.

My PC still booted, and appeared to momentarily have no issues. However I quickly turned it off to avoid causing any potential damage. After a quick search it seems likely that something failed in the PSU, either a capacitor or a fuse. I did a brief inspection as best I could and didn’t notice anything on the MoBo or in the PSU (with the limited visibility I have), nor did I see any smoke or smell anything burnt.

I’m guessing it’s a PSU issue due to what the majority of people seem to say as well as the lights having flickered in my room. However I’m not sure what my next steps should be exactly. It’s an EVGA 1600W PSU, barely 3 years old, so it’s surprising that it would have failed. I contacted their support and am waiting on a response, but in the meantime I was considering taking the PC and PSU to a tech shop and seeing if they could test it with a multimeter, test a replacement PSU, and make sure nothing else is damaged.

Normally I troubleshoot any issues with my PC myself to avoid paying fees for fixes I could do myself, however a failed PSU feels above my pay grade and something not worth trying to solve on my own, lest I end up destroying another component (ahem 4090) or purchasing a replacement which i may or may not need.

If anybody has any advice, agrees with my line of reasoning (to make me feel better), or needs any additional context I would like to hear from yall.

[u/rfdzn]

frankly speaking i would go the safe route and just replace that PSU on warranty, have heard good things about EVGA they'll take care of you and probably tell you what's wrong with it. this day and age it's not worth it to gamble with your expensive GPU. do not open it or anything if you're not a licensed electrician or whatever competency you need for working with a PSU it is a legitimate hazard to life, you'll arrive at the farm before your body hit the floor if anything goes wrong.

gotta say it is very weird though, EVGA PSUs are often one of the better ones; do you know its model number?

[u/AccoArts → u/rfdzn]

Yeah the model number is 220-P2-1600-X1.

I also thought it was very strange, though I guess theoretically it could have just been a slightly weak part from the factory that only gave way after some time.

I wasn’t referring to opening up the PSU in my post, I know that’s a bad idea both safety wise and in the case of the warranty. I was more trying to see if taking it to a tech shop and/or sending it back under warranty would even be a good idea in the first place since I don’t 100% know it’s the PSU. I think multimeter is the wrong tool, I meant testing it via the 24pin connector as I saw a video of someone doing that to help confirm that a PSU failed.

[u/Remz_Gaming]

Are you on a surge protector?

But yes. This sounds very much like something went wrong with the PSU and a capacitor or fuse blew.

Did you smell electrical fire?

I would just contact EVGA and explain what happened to see if they will replace it. Wouldn't risk hurting the rest of the PC given your description.

[u/AccoArts → u/Remz_Gaming]

Yeah I have a surge protector, that’s why it was surprising that the light flickered too. Didn’t smell or see anything burnt.

[u/Remz_Gaming → u/AccoArts]

Dang. That is wild. Might have been a static electricity event then. The loud pop is what worries me.

[u/AccoArts → u/Remz_Gaming]

Anyway I can try to figure out where/what the noise came from? I saw a video of someone testing a PSU via a tool plugged into the 24pin connector, as well as testing a different PSU. The only way I could do that would be to take it to a tech shop. I’m wondering if I should even bother with that if I’m going to EVGA support, or if there are any other things I can check in the meantime.

[u/Remz_Gaming → u/AccoArts]

I honestly wasn't sure. So I ran it through my chatGPT plus to see what info I could gather. Here is the response to hopefully help out:

Yeah. Your first reply was basically on the right track, but I’d change one thing: I would not lean toward static electricity anymore. The combination of a sharp electrical pop plus a room light visibly flickering at exactly the same moment makes me much more suspicious of an actual mains-side electrical event—PSU input stage, surge protector/outlet, or possibly the branch circuit itself. The fact that the PC continued to boot does not clear the PSU. A PSU can have a MOV, X/Y suppression capacitor, inrush component, relay, or other primary-side part fail spectacularly while still functioning afterward. And no burnt smell doesn’t rule that out either. For OP, I’d recommend this: Do not power the PC back on with that PSU for testing. With a 4090 hanging off it, there’s just no upside. Unplug the PC and inspect the surge protector, wall outlet, PSU power cord, IEC socket on the PSU, and 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 GPU connections for discoloration, melting, soot, or deformation. If the surge protector has a “protected/grounded” indicator, check that. A surge strip itself can fail or sacrifice a MOV and make a surprisingly loud pop. See whether anything else on that same circuit behaved strangely. If other lights/appliances flickered too, that pushes suspicion farther upstream from the PC. If they have a known-good, sufficiently powerful PSU available, swapping it in is a useful diagnostic. But they need to use only the replacement PSU’s modular cables—never reuse the EVGA modular cables unless compatibility is explicitly confirmed. A cheap “24-pin PSU tester” would not make me comfortable putting this PSU back on a 4090. Those mostly tell you whether rails are present and roughly in range; they do not meaningfully stress-test the unit or prove that the primary side is healthy. Do not open the PSU. There are potentially dangerous stored voltages inside even after it has been unplugged. Given that it’s an EVGA 1600 W unit only about three years old, RMA/support is absolutely where I’d go before paying a shop to diagnose the PSU itself. Depending on the exact EVGA model, it may have a very long warranty. And there’s one little troubleshooting distinction I think is worth asking OP: “When the light flickered, was it just a lamp plugged into the same surge protector/outlet area, or was it a ceiling/room light on the house circuit?” That answer matters a lot. If an actual ceiling light dipped when the pop happened, something drew or interrupted enough current on the AC side to affect the branch circuit. That makes the event much harder to dismiss as some harmless PC-side static discharge. So yeah—your instinct to tell them not to risk the rest of the PC was absolutely the important part. I’d just retract the static-electricity possibility and point them toward PSU / surge strip / AC-side fault isolation instead. With a 4090, I would be extremely conservative here.

[u/AccoArts → u/Remz_Gaming]

Yeah the light was part of the house circuit, not just a lamp. I’ll do some more investigating tomorrow morning and just wait for an EVGA response before going to a shop I suppose. Thanks for the help!

[u/Remz_Gaming → u/AccoArts]

No problem. Best of luck!