Blew up my computer swapping PSU

[Faroukh_Surat]

Hi all,

I have just run into what appears to be a little known problem that I have (Until it occurred to me) never heard of.... Ever!

I needed to put a higher wattage PSU into my system, so I ordered one, read the manual (Yes I really did) and swapped out the old for the new. As soon as I switched it on, I lost all my HDD's. I spoke with the company that I purchased from, and they informed me that between different makes and models of PSU, the PSU SOCKET end of the cabling is different.

Well WTAF !

I remember reading years ago when SATA was new on the scene, about how standardized cables and cabling, and I also remember reading about the new on the scene "Modular PSU" was that the cable were interchangeable. I am NOW aware of this issue, but I am very frustrated as to how little warnings or notifications there are about it. Thermal-take PSU have in the manual 1st point to use cable provided as third party MAY be incomparable. Other PSU Manufactures don't appear to have much in that way except maybe a warning able cables suggesting others MAY cause a problem, but no actual reasoning or forceful warning stating when have our own wiring/configuration.

What I am asking from this community is....

 

Q- Are there any standards like IEEE (or whatever it is called) into PC designs? (I have come across sata-io.org in regards to sata communication cables standards)

 

Q- Was the PSU 6-pin socket ever considered standard, or have manufacturers decided to do whatever so people a forced to buy "their" cables ?

Q- If there is no PSU 6-pin standardization then why are all the cables and sockets so interchangeable?

 

Q- IS the 24-pin Motherboard or 8-pin GPU cables affected by this re-wiring issue?

 

Q- Does anyone know when the first "I blew up my PC" didn't swap power cables problem exist?

 

I'll welcome any other questions others may wish to ask, and would appreciate open discussion on this specific PSU interchangeable power cables (same connectors, plugs, sockets, etc), but don't really want heaps of comments about "It happened to me" or "your fault". I am also really wanting to know if there are STANDARDS anywhere.

Thanks to all for reading and replying.

[EPENEX]

It's different between manufacturers.

[aezakmi]

There are no standards BUT your new PSU included cables... right?

 

Anyway, standard non modular PSUs are better because of that.

 

 

[knightslugger]

4 minutes ago, Faroukh_Surat said:

Q- Are there any standards like IEEE (or whatever it is called) into PC designs? (I have come across sata-io.org in regards to sata communication cables standards)

yeas there are, but not for your particular problem.

Q- Was the PSU 6-pin socket ever considered standard, or have manufacturers decided to do whatever so people a forced to buy "their" cables ?

No idea. certainly not on the PSU side anyway.
Q- If there is no PSU 6-pin standardization then why are all the cables and sockets so interchangeable?

Many of them aren't. I'm fairly certain i can't slot in any of my Seasonic cables into my Corsair unit.

Q- IS the 24-pin Motherboard or 8-pin GPU cables affected by this re-wiring issue?

Certainly can be. Manufacturers can pinout whichever way they want, but when those wires get to the connector the MB side, they have to match.

Q- Does anyone know when the first "I blew up my PC" didn't swap power cables problem exist?

Impossible to know. Someone probably blew up a vacuum tube transistor before modern computing.

answers.

[Faroukh_Surat]

1 hour ago, knightslugger said:

Q- Does anyone know when the first "I blew up my PC" didn't swap power cables problem exist?

Impossible to know. Someone probably blew up a vacuum tube transistor before modern computing.

I have been trying to search this, and I think I read something posted in 2016. I get someone 'popped' a vacuum tube in 1942.

1 hour ago, knightslugger said:

Q- If there is no PSU 6-pin standardization then why are all the cables and sockets so interchangeable?

Many of them aren't. I'm fairly certain i can't slot in any of my Seasonic cables into my Corsair unit.

Yeah that was my problem. I had a Thermal-take PSU cable, and an aftermarket/third party thermal-take. The "install instructions" in the manual said "plug in cables" not something like "Plug in cables supplied with PSU". I have look at photos (those that I can find that are not thumbnail size) and what I have seen so far are identical.

This is the part that is just WTF for me. They can alter the configuration of the groves (Cut corners) so only certain (their) cables fit, but in my case they didn't.

All I need is someone whom likes maths to give an answer on how many configurations there would be. ( 6-pins, 4 corners per pin = ?? possible different configurations) But I guess this would ONLY work if there was a standard registry the manufactures agreed upon to use, so back to square 0

 

1 hour ago, aezakmi said:

There are no standards BUT your new PSU included cables... right?

 

Anyway, standard non modular PSUs are better because of that.

Yes it did include cables, like every other PSU I have purchased. I didn't want to spend 1hr pulling out all the cables and replacing them, when the OLD cables just plugged straight into the NEW PSU without a problem. As I mentioned above, is that if they Manufacture HAD changed their socket groves/corners to be incompatible I would have realised straight away there is an issue, and immediately jumped onine to find out why, or contacted the supplier, or something. I would have found out B4 blowing up my HDD's and losing all my data.

From what I have been reading online is this problem is kind-of like "bad luck" "Your problem" "Who cares", and like what you have said "Did you use the cables supplied".

Meaning there is an underlying problem, that nobody is doing anything about to prevent "accidental" damage to components or data.

 

Something I am prepared to do is (If I can get support) is get the PC component Manufactures to standardize their components/cables/etc INTERNATIONALLY rather than having a line writing in the back of the manual claiming "MAY cause damage" when they must know it will do damage. Get a petition going or something.

[knightslugger]

an industry petition will get you as far as $10 would in Washington.

[aezakmi]

This should be kind of obvious now, but it's not, nobody takes it as a big issue

 

It's like plugging a 110V device into a 240V outlet, it might fit but that doesn't means it'll work though...

[IAnthonyFX]

22 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

This should be kind of obvious now, but it's not, nobody takes it as a big issue

 

It's like plugging a 110V device into a 240V outlet, it might fit but that doesn't means it'll work though...

you will be surprise that it actually does now with current things  I travel a lot myself and 110 to 240v or vice versa has never been an issue. I get what you mean, but your example isn't good

[Matsozetex]

I'll put my complementary Kek here.

 

But this issue was widely talked about in the PC community after Science Studio killed two PCs and proceeded to blame it on NZXT (which he later retracted) and PC Jesus (gamers Nexus) did a video on it. 

 

But it is also fair enough to assume that if it fits it works, maybe such a thing such as "Use x cables with x PSU only" warning should be in the instructions for a PSU. 

[Faroukh_Surat]

1 hour ago, Matsozetex said:

But it is also fair enough to assume that if it fits it works, maybe such a thing such as "Use x cables with x PSU only" warning should be in the instructions for a PSU. 

I agree 100%. My instructions were remove AC. disconnect power cables. Refer to chassis manual for removal and installation of PSU. Plug in cables and AC. Switch ON.

I have found a different user manual that actually states to disconnect and remove internal power cables, and then I found out the PSU wasn't modular. Go Figure! We have International Standards IEC, ISO, and some other I cant find ATM. All these International Standards don't cover PSU, specifically, but do want consumer goods and services to be safe (inhaling burnt computer components is hazardous to your health), consistent (I think we'll agree thats bull dust), and reliable (yeah if used exactly 100% how the manufacture wants you to use it, as long as that IS explain that to you.)

[Blebekblebek]

No one asked what is the PSU?

and what voltage are you on?

 

 

[NMS]

I can relate to OP.

I myself burned down my drives for this exact reason, except for I did swap everything... Well, almost. I forgot about the SATA cables>.>

 

And I do agree, some sort of a standard for all PSUs would be amazing. But that is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

[knightslugger]

Jays2Cents did this same thing where he used a different PSU cable than the one the unit came with and ended up frying his SSD. Granted his problem was piss poor organization, but it just goes to show that it doesn't matter who you are, it happens.

[EsaT]

18 hours ago, Faroukh_Surat said:

This is the part that is just WTF for me. They can alter the configuration of the groves (Cut corners) so only certain (their) cables fit, but in my case they didn't.

Would you be willing to pay extra for PSU makers to do their own proprietary connectors?

Cost difference of modular PSU to non-modular PSU would certainly rise good amount from use of not common connector.

[Faroukh_Surat]

21 hours ago, EsaT said:

Would you be willing to pay extra for PSU makers to do their own proprietary connectors?

Cost difference of modular PSU to non-modular PSU would certainly rise good amount from use of not common connector.

The added cost would be stuff all. I have already found 5 PSU models with IDENTICAL SATA power connectors. 3 of these PSU have plain black cables. I is what I purchased. the other 9 or so have different SATA power connectors to what I have, but some are still identical to each other. I have no idea if they have different wiring or not. Most of these now have plain black unlabeled SATA power cables.

**New problem**

There is nothing tagged onto the cables to indicate which make/model they are for. Now lets say you have more than 1 computer, and you purchased another HDD/SSD, or your changing the boot drive from a single to Raid 0. You go to the garage, scrounge around, find the little unlabeled plain looking cable bag that came with your PSU, grab the cable you need, and it is the wrong one. You just FRIED you boot drive.

WHY did that happen?? !!!!

Because the manufactures are LAZY and STUPID, and from what information I have been reading, don't want to do anything to change this.

 

PS-Sorry for been angry.

[Faroukh_Surat]

On 6/13/2018 at 5:19 PM, Blebekblebek said:

No one asked what is the PSU?

and what voltage are you on?

 

 

Sorry, I wont answer those questions. It doesn't matter, as this PSU internal power cabling is a major SNAFU, and all I am getting is a sore head from banging it against a wall.

I was hoping at least that the LinusTech team might pick up on this, and do a "shame" YouTube video, or even attempt to get the manufactures to standardize themselves someway.

[knightslugger]

12 minutes ago, Faroukh_Surat said:

The added cost would be stuff all. I have already found 5 PSU models with IDENTICAL SATA power connectors. 3 of these PSU have plain black cables. I is what I purchased. the other 9 or so have different SATA power connectors to what I have, but some are still identical to each other. I have no idea if they have different wiring or not. Most of these now have plain black unlabeled SATA power cables.

**New problem**

There is nothing tagged onto the cables to indicate which make/model they are for. Now lets say you have more than 1 computer, and you purchased another HDD/SSD, or your changing the boot drive from a single to Raid 0. You go to the garage, scrounge around, find the little unlabeled plain looking cable bag that came with your PSU, grab the cable you need, and it is the wrong one. You just FRIED you boot drive.

WHY did that happen?? !!!!

Because the manufactures are LAZY and STUPID, and from what information I have been reading, don't want to do anything to change this.

 

PS-Sorry for been angry.

sounds like Jay's problem: Organization failure.

 

a better idea would be the place a label on each cable for the PSU it belongs to.

[Faroukh_Surat]

Thanks to the few people whom responded.

It appears that some other forums have been aware of this issue since about 2012 or 2013.

I have read more articles as recent as mine about people damaging their PC, and an articular about a fire!!

With my new PSU, I have now found that I have enough cables to fill all the Peripheral slots, but not actually do as I wanted which is to power 12 HDD. I have molex cables (according to the manual) to power fans, but I haven't purchased a molex fan in years.

 

I still strongly believe that unless we the consumers try and get some sort of standard cables and/or connectors, this problem will continue until someone dies, and even then nothing will happen. The only immediate and long term solutions is to put the following statement on products

Caveat emptor

 

[seon123]

https://xkcd.com/927/

[OrionFOTL]

Standards restrict freedom. Manufacturers can use extra sense wires, or LEDs, or fancy sockets, or even DIN-style pins in their PSUs because they can. 

It doesn't make sense to standardize PSU-side modular sockets, because you get all the matching cables with your PSU anyway. 

 

You wouldn't try to put Honda parts in a BWM car and expect them to work, you shouldn't expect mismatched computer components to work either. It's nobody else's fault than the consumer's.