Psu went bang

[Cupar19]

So i plugged in a psu to my computer and when i turned on the system, it went bang and the whole inside lit up. What happened?

[Faisal A]

Is it a cheap PSU (under £30 or a unknown brand)

[Spuriae]

Just now, Cupar19 said:

So i plugged in a psu to my computer and when i turned on the system, it went bang and the whole inside lit up. What happened?

Probably NTC thermistor inrush current protection. Those tend to produce an exciting bright explosion when they fail, and they also tend to fail on startup.

[Fasauceome]

System specs pls, if just to sate our curiosity

[Cupar19]

5 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

System specs pls, if just to sate our curiosity

Pentium 4, 2gb ram, 1tb hdd 350watt psu,no case and a oem motherboard

[Cupar19]

18 minutes ago, Faisal A said:

Is it a cheap PSU (under £30 or a unknown brand)

it was an HP that I got for £1, I don't care about what happened, I was just interested in why it happened

[Cupar19]

17 minutes ago, Nimrodor said:

Probably NTC thermistor inrush current protection. Those tend to produce an exciting bright explosion when they fail, and they also tend to fail on startup.

interesting thanks

[Fasauceome]

3 minutes ago, Cupar19 said:

Pentium 4, 2gb ram, 1tb hdd 350watt psu,no case and a oem motherboard

From the sound of these specs, as nonspecific as they are, probably an old OEM PC that went snap after enough time. Shame but they all have their time 

[Cupar19]

1 minute ago, fasauceome said:

From the sound of these specs, as nonspecific as they are, probably an old OEM PC that went snap after enough time. Shame but they all have their time 

Actually after further investigation the psu had one of those red vintage switches and it was on 120v instead of 240v so that seems to have made that happen. The system still seems to work however I can't get a video output, not sure if that is unrelated though.

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Cupar19 said:

Actually after further investigation the psu had one of those red vintage switches and it was on 120v instead of 240v

That's a really big oof

[Cupar19]

1 minute ago, fasauceome said:

That's a really big oof

Well I guess that's what happens when you try to build a PC for less than £5, it is now just sitting on my shelf until I can get another agp gpu to test

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Cupar19 said:

it was an HP that I got for £1, I don't care about what happened, I was just interested in why it happened

If the PSU had been sitting for a while, could have been the bulk cap blowing up.  Would be fun to open and see what damage there is.