Smokin pc :(

[Marshmallowman]

it may have just been the pin making a bad connection, stuff does not melt like that becasues its "underpowered"

When that happens the connection has a slightly higher resistance and begins to heat up then one thing leads to another ..the plug statrts to melt ,connection gets worse and then it lets the smoke out.

Either way you have to replace both plug and socket but a new mobo and PSU may be the easiest way.
The plug may be easy to replace but the socket on the board will be very tricky.

PS: if the PSU was underpowered , IT would NOT have melted not the plug. The reason it melted is the reason newer PSU's have the extra auxillary power plug.

[TransformX]

Originally posted by Chrono_Wanderer
How are the capactiros on the Abit MAX models? I have heard about capacitors blowing up on older abit boards...

Abit boards (especially MAX boards) look appealing these days, so I wanna know their choice of semiconductors components, whether they are high quality or not.

Cheers

Ron

Beats me, my knowledge in electronics is close to null.

[bibble]

OK being a risky type of person I took out the power hungry graphics card/DVD/ and a hard disc and all seems to work fine.

Marshmallowman - The connection was very good as it was melted into the socket !!! Any idea what else it could be? What does the auxilliary plug do - I havent heard of that one.

[az]

The ATX12V plug, or P4 connector. It's there to free the main ATX power connector of some load.

AZ

[bibble]

do newer athlon boards have this plug too?

[Wombat]

Nope, not yet at least. Itaniums have their own power supply though.

[a_h]

I don't know wether this aux-plug would help much with Athlons, since it's a 12V connector and the athlons draw their power mainly from the 3.3/5V rails.

Depends on the mb too.

[Marshmallowman]

some athlon MP boards have auxillary power connectors

[TransformX]

My board has an auxilary plug for "extra juice".

From the manual:

AT7-MAX2 had designed two power connectors (ATX1 and ATX2), it is different from the regular one. It can provide for power supply designed for Pentium 4 processors, also can provide for general designed ATX power to connect to AT7-MAX2. It's a newly designed ATX12V1 +12VDC power with 300W, 20A +5VDC capacity at least for heavily loaded system, and 720mA +5VSB at least for supporting some special features.

[a_h]

some athlon MP boards have auxillary power connectors

hehehe.

[Technoid]

most modern athlon motherboards has that new power conector

[TransformX]

Ok, so what are those "special features" that need it ?
the Asus A7V333 and A7S333 doesn't have it and they're both very good motherboards.

[bibble]

Another day another dollar. Or in my case smoked again - so much for my idea of plugging the supply back in with less items. Still no visibile damage other than the connector but i'm now playing it safe. Stuck on wifes computer which shes really happy about.

So I did the calculations based on what I needed with 3 hard drives/a dvd/radeon and the usual sound/network etc from Goopsulator. I came up with needing 342 watts:

6.9 amps on 3.3v (old 15a)
16.3 on 5v (old 30a)
14.52 on 12v (old 10a - herein lies an issue)


This calculator says that the chip mainly draws from the 12v rail but a_h said it was 3.3 and 5v - which is true?


I have looked at an asus a7n8x, anything else similar?

[bibble]

just realised - on the power connector to the motherbaord its only the red (5v according to the sticker) wires that are burning. Any idea why that is???

[Marshmallowman]

Once you have scorched a high current power connector you really have to clean it otherwise it will keep happening. The scorch marks increase the resistance and will keep burning out.

Best thing to do is replace the ATX plug, or be *VERY* sure you have cleaned all traces of carbon and whatever krap has been left behind. Also make sure all pins are tight/snug fitting.

Sounds like your CPU is using the 5volt rail as its power source, which I think is the most common way its done, but it does vary from board to board.

I am going to say again ,your high current power connectors MUST be clean and in good condition!!

I would defintely replace the ATX plug(and its pins), if you can't then don't use the PSU as it is dangerous in that condition.

Th same goes for the mobo itself, if you can't fix the power connector, don't use it.