ASRock motherboard caught fire- PLS HELP

[acon5]

Recently decided to buy a new gaming pc after years of waiting. I went with a ryzen 5 2600 cpu, asrock b450 pro am4 motherboard, cosair cx 550 80+ certified, and rx 580 gpu. PC was working completely fine for about a week but when I was playing one night the fans and display just stopped. My fans have red led's on them and those were still on for some reason so I just thought to turn off the pc and turn it back on. While I tried to press the powerbutton a tiny fire just came up from the bottom right corner of the mobo. Unplugged the psu immediately but now I do not know what other components could be damaged. Im already in the process of getting a new mobo but I do not know what parts are affected in this situation. The fire happened right by the m.2 slot and above where I had my fans plugged in. 

[AndrewMKlasen]

Wow, I don't really know what to say, I just bought an ASRock X370 Extreme 4. Hope it doesn't catch on fire.

[DrMacintosh]

Looks like it happened near some of the circuitry for that M.2 slot. 

 

I just bought the B450M Pro4 which is literally the same board just smaller. 

 

Did you reach out to ASRock?

[SenKa]

God damn! Looks like you got unlucky... Since the build was relatively new, you should have 0 issues warrentying the other components.

 

IMO, I would RMA everything but the fans (have ASRock cover those if theyre damaged in any way) and say it came in DOA. They usually won't bother questioning you, and if they do it'll just be basic troubleshooting steps, which you should just say you did anyways.

 

With a motherboard failure like that, it could have sent all kinds of strange voltages to components that don't expect them.

[acon5]

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Looks like it happened near some of the circuitry for that M.2 slot. 

 

I just bought the B450M Pro4 which is literally the same board just smaller. 

 

Did you reach out to ASRock?

Already reached out to them and they just offered a replacement. Talked to newegg about getting a refund and got it. ASRock was useless and they didnt even attempt to help. Everything was through newegg

[acon5]

6 minutes ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

God damn! Looks like you got unlucky... Since the build was relatively new, you should have 0 issues warrentying the other components.

 

IMO, I would RMA everything but the fans (have ASRock cover those if theyre damaged in any way) and say it came in DOA. They usually won't bother questioning you, and if they do it'll just be basic troubleshooting steps, which you should just say you did anyways.

 

With a motherboard failure like that, it could have sent all kinds of strange voltages to components that don't expect them.

Hopefull I can warranty the other parts but how do I know which ones will need it? Do I just have to wait for the new mobo and then troubleshoot the other parts? Even then, if the computer doesnt turn on how do I know which part or parts are broken.

[Imbellis]

The debug LEDs / beep codes can help you identify problems. Just look in your motherboard's manual.

 

If you're debugging no-posts in general, check this list.

[SenKa]

8 minutes ago, acon5 said:

Hopefull I can warranty the other parts but how do I know which ones will need it? Do I just have to wait for the new mobo and then troubleshoot the other parts? Even then, if the computer doesnt turn on how do I know which part or parts are broken.

With any motherboard failure I would just automatically concider the CPU dead. It likely got damaged in ways you couldn't see, and even if it didn't not only will the damage possibly not be apparent immediately, you're taking a large risk to killing your new motherboard with a dead CPU.

 

The PSU may be fine, your unit has good OCP protection but may have been shorted in a way that killed it anyways

 

RAM is a simple test, you can wait to RMA this until your motherboard is replaced. It's pretty much a yes or no question if it's working correctly.

 

GPU is another yes or no test, when you get your new mobo stress it on Firmark and see if it crashes. If yes, RMA. If no, you're fine.

 

Fans should be fine, have AsRock cover them if theyre not.

[TheRandomness]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it specificall was the FETs regulating power for the M.2 slot that shorted out and burnt itself/themselves to a crisp. Therefore, the other components (GPU, RAM, CPU) should be fine, though a voltage spike probably occurred (which caused that first shutdown).

[.Apex.]

@acon5

seems like the Mosfet for the Fan Header blew up, do you have power hungry stuff connected to that fan header? or probably the fans shorted

talking about CHA_FAN3, if you look on top of it there's a mosfet that blew up.
 

[Stefan Payne]

38 minutes ago, acon5 said:

above where I had my fans plugged in. 

What fans did you plug in?
Because that looks like something about the fans and that might have been overloaded and puff...

[Stefan Payne]

9 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it specificall was the FETs regulating power for the M.2 slot that shorted out and burnt itself/themselves to a crisp. Therefore, the other components (GPU, RAM, CPU) should be fine, though a voltage spike probably occurred (which caused that first shutdown).

While that is possible, I'd say its not the case and its a MOSFET for the FAN connected below it.

https://www.reichelt.com/de/en/asrock-b450-pro4-am4-asr-b450-pro4-p244943.html

(they are German but have rather high resolution pictures, that's why I link to them).

 

 

More Proof that that might be the case:

https://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_b450m_pro4_review,5.html

[acon5]

1 minute ago, Stefan Payne said:

While that is possible, I'd say its not the case and its a MOSFET for the FAN connected below it.

https://www.reichelt.com/de/en/asrock-b450-pro4-am4-asr-b450-pro4-p244943.html

(they are German but have rather high resolution pictures, that's why I link to them).

 

 

More Proof that that might be the case:

https://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_b450m_pro4_review,5.html

These are the fans that I am using right now. I have 3 of them installed across the computer but 2 of them were plugged in close to where the fire was. 

https://www.amazon.com/uphere-3-Pack-Computer-120mm-Cooling/dp/B07BJX5G4D/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=uphere+case+fan&qid=1549931789&s=gateway&sr=8-5

[TheRandomness]

2 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

While that is possible, I'd say its not the case and its a MOSFET for the FAN connected below it.

https://www.reichelt.com/de/en/asrock-b450-pro4-am4-asr-b450-pro4-p244943.html

(they are German but have rather high resolution pictures, that's why I link to them).

 

 

More Proof that that might be the case:

https://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_b450m_pro4_review,5.html

Wow I managed to completely ignore the sight of the MOSFET beneath what I was looking at with the huge white circle on it... So yeah, fan power busted then  Shouldn't have affected much else regardless, anyway.

[acon5]

1 minute ago, TheRandomness said:

Wow I managed to completely ignore the sight of the MOSFET beneath what I was looking at with the huge white circle on it... So yeah, fan power busted then  Shouldn't have affected much else regardless, anyway.

https://www.amazon.com/uphere-3-Pack-Computer-120mm-Cooling/dp/B07BJX5G4D/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=uphere+case+fan&qid=1549931789&s=gateway&sr=8-5

These are the fans that I was using. Should I just get new ones, if so any good recommendations?

[TheRandomness]

2 minutes ago, acon5 said:

https://www.amazon.com/uphere-3-Pack-Computer-120mm-Cooling/dp/B07BJX5G4D/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=uphere+case+fan&qid=1549931789&s=gateway&sr=8-5

These are the fans that I was using. Should I just get new ones, if so any good recommendations?

If they still work, they're probably fine. Because I'm a Noctua fanboy I'm going to recommend Noctua for the sake of it, though there's really no reason to replace them. Maybe spread out where you plug them in though? Startup current might've been too much for those MOSFETs, or you just had a bad MOSFET and it decided to die. So basically, everything should be fine on the replacement board.

[acon5]

1 minute ago, TheRandomness said:

If they still work, they're probably fine. Because I'm a Noctua fanboy I'm going to recommend Noctua for the sake of it, though there's really no reason to replace them. Maybe spread out where you plug them in though? Startup current might've been too much for those MOSFETs, or you just had a bad MOSFET and it decided to die. So basically, everything should be fine on the replacement board.

Hopefully this is the case. I should be getting the replacement board in a few days. Will keep you guys updated.

[Sylvie]

That's a major unluckers, it must really suck to have this happen to you so soon.

It should be under warranty, though, and I doubt there'd be any harm to other components. Hopefully they all work fine when you get a replacement.

[HoneyBadger84]

Honestly, when something like this happens, especially with a brand new system, I would RMA everything that was connected directly to the board, at the very least the RAM & CPU.  Even though it happened down there in the corner, there's no way of knowing what kind of damage was done to those components, and the last thing you wanna do is get a new board in there to find out you have a dead CPU, then you RMA the CPU & find out something else is broken too.  Don't run out of your RMA for replacement window by procrastinating & hoping for the best.

[acon5]

4 hours ago, HoneyBadger84 said:

Honestly, when something like this happens, especially with a brand new system, I would RMA everything that was connected directly to the board, at the very least the RAM & CPU.  Even though it happened down there in the corner, there's no way of knowing what kind of damage was done to those components, and the last thing you wanna do is get a new board in there to find out you have a dead CPU, then you RMA the CPU & find out something else is broken too.  Don't run out of your RMA for replacement window by procrastinating & hoping for the best.

A lot of people are saying that I should be fine but I was considering replacing the CPU just in case. I dont want to go through all the trouble though if I dont have too. How would I be able to troubleshoot the problems till the replacement mobo comes in.

[HoneyBadger84]

7 hours ago, acon5 said:

A lot of people are saying that I should be fine but I was considering replacing the CPU just in case. I dont want to go through all the trouble though if I dont have too. How would I be able to troubleshoot the problems till the replacement mobo comes in.

There really isn't any way to test things in the mean time, unless you have another system to try at least the CPU or the memory in, do some RAM-intensive benchmarking like CPU tests or the like.

 

Is it possible that the Fans you had plugged in to the motherboard needed more power than the motherboard headers were rated for?  For example, in my old system, I have 180mm fans from Silverstone that specifically come with a paper telling you DO NOT plug them in to your motherboard because they need a higher amperage connection than most motherboard fan headers give & it can result in frying the header if you use them like that anyway.  I always ran them directly off PSU molex connectors as a result & never had issues.

[X_X]

10 hours ago, acon5 said:

A lot of people are saying that I should be fine but I was considering replacing the CPU just in case. I dont want to go through all the trouble though if I dont have too. How would I be able to troubleshoot the problems till the replacement mobo comes in.

I would be more concerned with what was plugged in CHA_FAN2/WP as it may cause problems next time it is used.

 

Seems like what appears to be a Nuvoton fan driver IC has failed catastrophically near pin 3. Maybe you can tell us the actual chip number when you get the new board. Typically has current limiting, short circuit protection and over temperature protection so in that case burn out should not happen, was full speed selected for this fan?

 

[acon5]

13 hours ago, HoneyBadger84 said:

There really isn't any way to test things in the mean time, unless you have another system to try at least the CPU or the memory in, do some RAM-intensive benchmarking like CPU tests or the like.

 

Is it possible that the Fans you had plugged in to the motherboard needed more power than the motherboard headers were rated for?  For example, in my old system, I have 180mm fans from Silverstone that specifically come with a paper telling you DO NOT plug them in to your motherboard because they need a higher amperage connection than most motherboard fan headers give & it can result in frying the header if you use them like that anyway.  I always ran them directly off PSU molex connectors as a result & never had issues.

I bought three fans that are 120 mm with:

Rated voltage: 12V
Current: 0.12A
Input power: 1.44W
Speed: 1200RPM (constant speed)

They are 3 pin connectors and im 99% sure that they are meant to be plugged into the mobo. Doing some more research now and i see that most peoples fans are running 600-1000 rpm. Could this be the problem, if so how do I change what speeds they run at. These were cheap fans so maybe not good quality.  

[acon5]

10 hours ago, X_X said:

I would be more concerned with what was plugged in CHA_FAN2/WP as it may cause problems next time it is used.

 

Seems like what appears to be a Nuvoton fan driver IC has failed catastrophically near pin 3. Maybe you can tell us the actual chip number when you get the new board. Typically has current limiting, short circuit protection and over temperature protection so in that case burn out should not happen, was full speed selected for this fan?

 

Rated voltage: 12V
Current: 0.12A
Input power: 1.44W
Speed: 1200RPM (constant speed)

I dont know how to change the speed of the fans so they were just running at 1200 the whole time I was using them. Maybe it was too high so how do I lower the speeds? Is that a bios thing?

[X_X]

13 hours ago, acon5 said:

Rated voltage: 12V
Current: 0.12A
Input power: 1.44W
Speed: 1200RPM (constant speed)

I dont know how to change the speed of the fans so they were just running at 1200 the whole time I was using them. Maybe it was too high so how do I lower the speeds? Is that a bios thing?

Should be something to set fan speed in the BIOS, maybe under a @H/W Monitor" tab.

 

If the fan is stalled or has a winding problem it can draw a lot more current. More likely it's a faulty fan driver chip though if it has the usually protections but we wont know that without a part number.