Motherboard burnt. What could cause this?

[schnewb]

Hello last week i purchased a new motherboard. It was the pcchips m848alu. When it arrived i built it up and switched it on. When i did this the processor fan chugged and a burning smell filled the room. I quickly disconnected the power and inspected the motherboard. I then noticed the primary IDE port was badly scorched. I had read some bad reviews on this board so i decided to return it to ebuyer, the shop where i bought the board from.

Within 6 days they had processeed my return and said the board was faulty and sent me a replacement under no extra charge.

Today i got my new board and built it once again, taking more care to make sure i did it correctly. When i switched it on it did the exact same thing as before.........burnt the primary IDE port. Now i dont believe the board is to blame and i am wonrdering if the power supply is faulty.

When i built the machine the only hardware i connected was the processor and fan, the power supply, the video card and the harddrive with the operating system loaded. Now from these points what do you think is causing this problem.

Hardware:
XP 2000+
geforce4 4600
Maxtor 40gb
Encer 500w power supply.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Nodsu]

More likely you have a bad IDE cable or hard drive causing a short and murdering the IDE port.

 

[Vigilante]

what he said

but it wouldn't hurt to have your PS checked out.

 

[schnewb]

Ok thanks. The IDE cable i used was supplied with the motherboard and the harddrive is now being used in my old machine and doesnt have any problems when being used.

How would i go about testing my power supply. I was thinking about trying it in my old machine but i dont want to risk killing that aswell cos its the only way i can get onto the internet so sort this problem.

 

[Vigilante]

To do it yourself you'd need a VOM and know what wires are what.

Or you can take it down to a PC repair shop. Most shops have a special tester that will test the 20 pin as well as the other 4 pin connectors.

The other thing you could do is put your "old" power supply on your new one, but that's kind of a moot point cause the board is bad again.

If I were you, I'd get a new PS if possible, in case yours is bad or just old and doesn't handle new stuff very well. Then I'd replace your mobo but go with a different maker. Get an MSI or something else.
Also keep in mind all the power a board needs, sometimes it has a 20 pin with a sepparate 4 pin block from the PS. Or it may need a 24pin plug. Just make sure the mobo has the power it expects.

As a side note though, if the IDE is just burning up, that would usually mean over-voltage of some kind. Meaning you could have open diodes somewhere in the PS. Who knows.

Don't try using that same cable again though!

 

[schnewb]

Ok thanks for your help. Ive been in touch with the shop and they are going to replace the motherboard again, but im also going to buy a new power supply to hopefully make sure this problem doesnt happen again.

 

[dgower2]

Test the PSU!

Buy a PSU tester. Here's one for under $9.00 http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163011

 

[Vigilante]

Any luck yet schnewb?

 

[schnewb]

Right i have my new board......the shop sent me a replacement and i have a fully functioning 300w power supply so im going to build it. The only query is if my msi geforce4 ti4600 agp4 will work in the agp8 slot on the motherboard. It fits perectly into the slot but i dont know if the voltage is correct. Does anybody know if it would damage the board if the volatge wasnt correct? I dont want to switch the computer on until i know it will be ok. Thanks for your time.

 

[schnewb]

Ive got my pc up and running again with the new motherboard. The only bad thing is my amd xp2000+ was fried when the mobo went the first time. I only noticed this today when i was inspecting the surface and saw minute scorch marks, so i decided to build my pc using an old amd thunderbird out of my old pc, until i can find a faster processor for a inexpensive price.

 

[Vigilante]

AGP should be fine. Most all boards will be 4x/8x. Backwards compatible. And the BIOS automatically handles adjusting things.

But it wouldn't hurt to check. Your new mobo manual should list voltages. Or at least the BIOS should, if such an option exists to change.

Then check the tech specs on your card and see what it says.

A little bit of research will get you the answers. If you haven't found out already.

To bad about the CPU.

Good luck getting it built. Note, Newegg's lowest Athlon OEM is like $75 or thereabouts. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103417