What did I break?

[Marble]

Well this is my first build, I got the parts today, I went by mechBgon's guide and the help of some others, got everything together, powered it up and... the HSF started spinning, then smoke came out and it shut down... did I fry my parts? Should I just RMA them to newegg and try again? What do I do?
thanks

 

[hjo3]

Where did the smoke come from? The PSU or the HSF/processor? My guess would be that you somehow applied the thermal pad/grease improperly (or didn't remove the plastic cover on the thermal pad).

 

[Marble]

hm ill take the HSF off and see if that might be it, it def came from HSF or proc, psu was fine

 

[dudeman007]

Originally posted by: hjo3
Where did the smoke come from? The PSU or the HSF/processor? My guess would be that you somehow applied the thermal pad/grease improperly (or didn't remove the plastic cover on the thermal pad).

Good advice there. Ouch though. Good luck.

 

[Marble]

the thermal grese was already on the heat sink, im using the retail, nothing went wrong there

 

[hjo3]

Originally posted by: Marble
the thermal grese was already on the heat sink, im using the retail, nothing went wrong there

Sometimes it has a thin plastic sheet covering it that needs to be peeled off before the HSF's clipped on over the CPU. It could have been that which was burning. I think it's likely your CPU is okay though. EDIT: But it was a pad and not grease, right? Never seen an HSF with thermal grease pre-applied.

 

[Marble]

the thermal grease looks fine though, just the indent from the processor there, nothing burt.

 

[mobobuff]

Perhaps a defective processor.

Did you leave any stand-offs or screws between the motherboard and the mounting plate?

Edit: Also, look around the processor at the capacitors and check to see if any of them look weird or bulgy or burnt, or leaky. There's a lot of power-control near the processor, which would be likely to smoke if dodgy.

 

[hjo3]

Originally posted by: Marble
the thermal grease looks fine though, just the indent from the processor there, nothing burt.

Huh. Try taking the processor off; maybe the temperature probe underneath burned somehow...?

 

[Marble]

i dont think so, i lost a screw in the process of putting it together, maybe it got wedged under the mobo? should i take the mobo off and check?

 

[mobobuff]

Yes, definitely check.

 

[Marble]

Originally posted by: hjo3

Originally posted by: Marble
the thermal grease looks fine though, just the indent from the processor there, nothing burt.

Huh. Try taking the processor off; maybe the temperature probe underneath burned somehow...?

did that, everything looks perfectly fine

 

[Marble]

took mobo off, no extra standoffs or screws in there

 

[mobobuff]

Does the bottom of the processor itself look okay? No scortch marks or anything? Are there any noticeable signs of burning at all? On anything?

 

[Marble]

nothing, it all looks like new, no marks or anything

 

[mobobuff]

You are entering... The Twilight Zone.

No but seriously, if there was smoke, something was burning, and if something was burning, it would have left marks, but there's no marks. So in conclusion, something not visible now was burning. And the only thing I can think of not visible is the actual internals of the processor. So perhaps defective processor.

 

[Marble]

I guess that could be... what should I do? RMA it to newegg? what should i send back? Mobo and procssor? mobo, processor, ram?

 

[mobobuff]

I'm going to take a stab and say that the mobo is still good. If you have a spare compatible processor laying around you could try that to see if it works, do that before RMAing anything.

If you don't have a spare proc, the least you could before before RMA is to take everything out, the RAM, the processor, all the accessories and peripherals and drives, and plug in the main power connector and the 4-pin 12v connector and turn it on (so you're testing the power supply and the basic circuitry of the board). Let it run for a few minutes and make sure there's no smoke or undue heat. If not, go ahead and RMA the processor. NewEgg will be good to you.

 

[Marble]

Sorry.. I'm a bit confused, I take all the stuff out the plug the mobo in with a 4 pin connecter? how do i do that?

 

[navo]

There are two power cables going from your PSU to your mobo, the big one and the square 4-pin one. I think he meant plug both these in and turn it on.

 

[mobobuff]

If it's a Pentium board it will definitely need the 4-pin 12v connector, looks like this. Some AMD boards have it too but don't really need it. If it's a Pentium board and your PSU doesn't have this connector, then you have a problem. I've never seen the absence of a P4 power connector making smoke problems, but there's a first time for anything.

So in short, if it's a Pentium 4 board make sure that that 4-pin connector in the picture is connected, and the large power connector (this) are connected and turn on the power with nothing else connected to the board and see if it runs without smoke. You'll be able to tell it's "running" if the PSU fan is spinning.

 

[Marble]

Its an AMD, i just have the second one

 

[mobobuff]

So slap it in there and let it run, put some case fans on the molexes too so you can be sure the power is on and also to distribute the power load.

 

[dudeman007]

Have you even tried to boot your system again!?

 

[Marble]

Ok the PSU is fine, hooked the power to mobo up, hooked one fan up, and of course my power switch to mobo, its running fine, gonna leave it on for about 10 minutes... as for dudeman's comment, no I havent, I sort of assumed smoke = stop