Heard a loud bang sound coming from my PC. Are any PC components damaged?

[cpugeek21]

Over the weekend, I was playing computer games (CS:GO, not intensive by any stretch of the imagination) when I heard a loud bang sound and the whole system died. Not only that, it shorted the entire house's electrical supply.

I was naturally worried and decided to leave it for the night, and wanted to turn it on the next day. The moment I try to turn on the power supply (on/off switch from the back, not even the power button on the case), it shorted the house's electrical supply again.

At this point, I can safely say there is no hope for my PSU. But, could the loud bang sound be indicative of more problems, or was it simply the PSU's safety mechanism kicking in to protect the other components from more damage? I'm going to bring it to a technician to get it looked at before buying the parts to fix it myself, but it would be good if I can be mentally prepared if I just have to buy a new PSU, or I'm looking at an upgrade for the entire system.

If anyone's curious, it's a Seasonic 600+W Gold certification PSU that I bought in 2012 first-hand, not from some unknown brand.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

Most likely a blown capacitor.  Don't open the PSU to check, just sniff it.  If you smell burnt electronics, it's done for.  Also check the motherboard for blown capacitors and burn marks. 

 

IIRC Seasonic has a 12 year warranty, so if the PSU is to blame I'd get in touch with them. 

[Jurrunio]

bang? not a hiss like drilling a hole through a fire extinguisher? Then some chip has blown up and is now shorting. trying to turn the system back on really don't help the chances of your components' survival either

[cpugeek21]

5 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

Most likely a blown capacitor.  Don't open the PSU to check, just sniff it.  If you smell burnt electronics, it's done for.  Also check the motherboard for blown capacitors and burn marks. 

 

IIRC Seasonic has a 12 year warranty, so if the PSU is to blame I'd get in touch with them. 

Yes, i also think it's a blown capacitator. I didn't smell any burning though. I'm just gonna get a new PSU to replace it.

 

To be frank, I feel quite good about my computer's survival, with it being a reliable Seasonic PSU and all. I'm just worried about the second time I turned on the PSU if it might have done any damage. But, I didn't turn the computer on. I only turned the PSU on using the PSU's power switch. Is it still gonna be a problem?

[cpugeek21]

3 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

bang? not a hiss like drilling a hole through a fire extinguisher? Then some chip has blown up and is now shorting. trying to turn the system back on really don't help the chances of your components' survival either

Yeah, I agree. Now that I think about it, it probably wasn't a very wise move, but that was the only way I had to know if the PSU still worked. With that being said, I didn't even turn on the computer the second time round. All I did was turn on the PSU using the switch on the back. How do you think my chances are?

 

I'm gonna get a new PSU today to replace the old one. And yeah, it's a bang. A pretty loud one, such that I could hear it even while wearing earphones and playing CS:GO.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

Just now, cpugeek21 said:

Is it still gonna be a problem?

I don't expect a problem.  If something got damaged, it most likely happened the first time. 

[yobson]

when my PSU died in a similar fashion i only had to replace the PSU and all other components were fine.

[Kisai]

28 minutes ago, cpugeek21 said:

Over the weekend, I was playing computer games (CS:GO, not intensive by any stretch of the imagination) when I heard a loud bang sound and the whole system died. Not only that, it shorted the entire house's electrical supply.

I was naturally worried and decided to leave it for the night, and wanted to turn it on the next day. The moment I try to turn on the power supply (on/off switch from the back, not even the power button on the case), it shorted the house's electrical supply again.

At this point, I can safely say there is no hope for my PSU. But, could the loud bang sound be indicative of more problems, or was it simply the PSU's safety mechanism kicking in to protect the other components from more damage? I'm going to bring it to a technician to get it looked at before buying the parts to fix it myself, but it would be good if I can be mentally prepared if I just have to buy a new PSU, or I'm looking at an upgrade for the entire system.

If anyone's curious, it's a Seasonic 600+W Gold certification PSU that I bought in 2012 first-hand, not from some unknown brand.

 

Disclaimer: I also posted this under Troubleshooting. If I'm not allowed to double-post, could I trouble someone with more experience to help me merge the two posts or something? Thanks!

A loud bang was probably the breaker in the PSU firing. The fact that it took out the entire house tells me that your grounding might be an issue.

 

The fact you said "entire house" is troubling. A house has 50A or 100A service typically, and to trip that breaker, you'd need at least 7 of the circuits failing at the same time, or whatever circuit the PC is somehow not wired right and was able to pull 50A to ground before it kicked in.

 

Get an electrician to check for a wiring fault. If you are on something like a generator/solar it's very likely that mistakes have been made.

 

[Turtle Rig]

10 minutes ago, cpugeek21 said:

Yeah, I agree. Now that I think about it, it probably wasn't a very wise move, but that was the only way I had to know if the PSU still worked. With that being said, I didn't even turn on the computer the second time round. All I did was turn on the PSU using the switch on the back. How do you think my chances are?

 

I'm gonna get a new PSU today to replace the old one. And yeah, it's a bang. A pretty loud one, such that I could hear it even while wearing earphones and playing CS:GO.

Awwww man what a downer.  Im sorry this happened to you.  This is why we use quality surge protector.  There is no reason this should have happened to you.  Your is a special case not something normal for most.  If something popped and the system is still working then I think the PSU is what made that pop sound.  This is why I use a Thurman surge conditioner.  You can only install the big triple on this.  But having this, it cost a lot but my sh*T will never go bad in my studio or outage bombs my Studio Monitors.  You just cant connect regular 2 pin connectors.  But grounding issues and every other kind of line issue it takes care of.  Or you can spend much less and buy a nice power surge protector.  maybe 30 bucks for a good one.  Ive read stories like this on here and people are not using a surge protector just directly in the wall.  Im not saying you did that or that you don't have a power surge.  If you did have a power surge Im shocked at what happened.  Let just hope its just the PSU.  If it was motherboard you would get no post.  If you get post then your mobo is ok.  If you see the post your video card is ok.  I think a cap blew up in your PSU.  Very shocking this happened to you again.

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

Most likely a blown capacitor. 

Very unlikely a blown capacitor.

 

More than likely a blown switching diode or MOSFET (depending on model).

 

 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Kisai said:

A loud bang was probably the breaker in the PSU firing.

PSU's have breakers now?!?!

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

1 minute ago, jonnyGURU said:

More than likely a blown switching diode or MOSFET (depending on model).

Ah, thanks for pointing that out.  I automatically assumed it was a capacitor because those are known to go out with a bang.  I didn't know diodes and mosfets did that too. 

[Kisai]

21 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

PSU's have breakers now?!?!

Well had it blown a fuse, it would have not happened again would it?

 

OCP, OPP or SCP triggered, and however it's implemented, is reset upon cold start.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Well had it blown a fuse, it would have not happened again would it?

 

OCP, OPP or SCP triggered, and however it's implemented, is reset upon cold start.

It's a blown component.  There are no "breakers" in PSUs.

 

28 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

Ah, thanks for pointing that out.  I automatically assumed it was a capacitor because those are known to go out with a bang.  I didn't know diodes and mosfets did that too. 

Since it blew while he was using it, the bulk cap wouldn't have blown with a bang.  It would have maintained a full charge and would have just vented.  This sounds just like when a bridge rectifier or switcher blows.

[cpugeek21]

2 hours ago, Turtle Rig said:

Awwww man what a downer.  Im sorry this happened to you.  This is why we use quality surge protector.  There is no reason this should have happened to you.  Your is a special case not something normal for most.  If something popped and the system is still working then I think the PSU is what made that pop sound.  This is why I use a Thurman surge conditioner.  You can only install the big triple on this.  But having this, it cost a lot but my sh*T will never go bad in my studio or outage bombs my Studio Monitors.  You just cant connect regular 2 pin connectors.  But grounding issues and every other kind of line issue it takes care of.  Or you can spend much less and buy a nice power surge protector.  maybe 30 bucks for a good one.  Ive read stories like this on here and people are not using a surge protector just directly in the wall.  Im not saying you did that or that you don't have a power surge.  If you did have a power surge Im shocked at what happened.  Let just hope its just the PSU.  If it was motherboard you would get no post.  If you get post then your mobo is ok.  If you see the post your video card is ok.  I think a cap blew up in your PSU.  Very shocking this happened to you again.

Thanks for the kind words, just gonna hope for the best and buy a new PSU to replace the existing one.

[Jurrunio]

10 hours ago, Captain Chaos said:

Ah, thanks for pointing that out.  I automatically assumed it was a capacitor because those are known to go out with a bang.  I didn't know diodes and mosfets did that too. 

Caps at worst go out with a pop, not a bang. you need to blow up a piece of metal or silicon to get a bang.

[TechyBen]

11 hours ago, Kisai said:

A loud bang was probably the breaker in the PSU firing. The fact that it took out the entire house tells me that your grounding might be an issue.

 

The fact you said "entire house" is troubling. A house has 50A or 100A service typically, and to trip that breaker, you'd need at least 7 of the circuits failing at the same time, or whatever circuit the PC is somehow not wired right and was able to pull 50A to ground before it kicked in.

 

Get an electrician to check for a wiring fault. If you are on something like a generator/solar it's very likely that mistakes have been made.

 

Here in the uk we have safety breakers. No idea if they have a lower Amperage trigger? They are easy to reset. The main fuse is 50A or 100A...

PS, if the fan has a dent in it, perhaps a screw/washer fell in, the bang from the fan whacking something hard at speed, and then dead due to the short (and any damage due to the short).

[RafaelSoaresP]

Had the same issue a couple of weeks ago. New PSU, and all else worked fine.