Secondary Hard Drive failed, took out Video Card with it

[CyberPitz]

So, I came home last night and loaded up some StarCraft 2. After about 10 minutes in the game, I get artifacts and it freezes. Thinking my video card is finally going down the tubes, I pop it out, dust it all out and make sure the fan spins fine. Plug her back in, turn the power on, and the power cable coming from my hard drive sparks and catches fire!!!

Scared shitless, I yank the flaming cord out of the computer. Check everything over, and for testing purposes, unplug everything but my hard drive and turn it back on. More sparks and fire on a new power cord!

So goodbye 8800GT and random 360gb drive that I've had for quite a few years.

Hello new 500GB drive, 5770 and Core 2 Quad *What, if I'm upgrading the video card, might as well not create a bottle neck with the processor!*

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Ho-leeeee-shiit. Cool to see that nothing else caught fire! I've never seen that kind of reaction. Might want to make sure the power supply isn't frying your components? Which Intel are you getting/did you get?

Also makes me worry for my 4-year-old 8800GTX....

 

[No Limit]

Sparks usually mean you ****ed up somewhere along the way, don't worry, happens to all of us. Do you have data on that hard drive that is important to you?

 

[Vegeta897]

Do you have data on that hard drive that is important to you?

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Oh lordy lord ...

 

[VirusType2]

I have heard power supplies can take out other components when they go, so I think this is a power supply fault. Also, the HDD was working fine for a long time before the fire, right? So, it was hooked up right. And you tried a different power cord as well. (not like you can hook them up wrong either).

Also, I would guess a power supply would most likely fail during a heavy load (for example, playing a modern game on a high powered video card).

EDIT:

So, if it was me, I wouldn't use that PSU or HDD ever again. It may be possible that something melted in the HDD or PSU, causing a permanent short circuit condition (two opposing polarities coming into physical contact). The HDD is not likely to be operational again anyway, even with a new PSU - and it may cause damage to another PSU. I mean, if you have a junker PSU laying around and you think it's worth testing, then fine, but don't do anything foolish.

 

[No Limit]

$10 says it wasnt a power supply and instead user error. Your data might still be safe, it depends on how badly you want to get it back.

 

[VirusType2]

Sparks usually mean you ****ed up somewhere along the way, don't worry, happens to all of us.

Speak for yourself, firestarter.

$10 says it wasnt a power supply and instead user error.

If I had $10, I would take that action.

 

[CyberPitz]

$10 says it wasnt a power supply and instead user error. Your data might still be safe, it depends on how badly you want to get it back.

I'll take your $10 and use it to buy some beer.

0% user error. Take the harddrive over to another test machine, flames erupt from the lines again. And I never touched the power cables to and from the HDD in the first place when I cleaned the Video Card.

So no, the data is gone for good.

My paypal address is [email protected]

*EDIT* I've seen hard drives plugged in wrong, I've never seen such an extreme spark/flamage on the 5v wire from plugging it in backwards.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

So you are certain it was the HDD causing the fire? You really need to pinpoint it for sure...especially since you've just splashed out on a load of new components, and you probably don't want to burn your house down. Does the PSU look / smell ok?

 

[CyberPitz]

Yes it is the hard drive. Take it out and plugged it into a test box, same outcome. I opened the psu and all the caps were good. Nothing burnt or funny looking.

Out and cheap video card in and the computer ran fine for a couple hours...

Btw I got a new power supply cause I wasn't curtain my 500w would work.

 

[VirusType2]

So, you got a new PSU already? Is the video card really dead then?

 

[CyberPitz]

Yup. When the drive is out and booting the computer, *Like when you see the IRQ information and random shit* I am getting massive artifacts. Once windows starts to boot, I have anywhere from 1 - 5 minutes before the computer locks up. Replace with a PCI video card and it's happy as can be.

 

[hool10]

Been wondering why I haven't seen you playing SC2 when I get home. I'm saving this thread for the lulz. YOUR DOING IT WRONG PITZ. ALL SO VERY, VERY WRONG!

 

[CyberPitz]

Don't make me eat your legs, Hool.

New parts are out for shipping today. Can't waiiittt. Been going to the neighbors house to play SC2 with him

 

[No Limit]

Yes it is the hard drive. Take it out and plugged it into a test box, same outcome. I opened the psu and all the caps were good. Nothing burnt or funny looking.

Out and cheap video card in and the computer ran fine for a couple hours...

Btw I got a new power supply cause I wasn't curtain my 500w would work.

I dunno what to tell you. If it's truly the hard drive sparking up you need to get in touch with the manufacturer and bitch them out. You sure there aren't any metal shards or anything on the top of the control board or in between the connectors?

 

[CyberPitz]

I dunno what to tell you. If it's truly the hard drive sparking up you need to get in touch with the manufacturer and bitch them out. You sure there aren't any metal shards or anything on the top of the control board or in between the connectors?

The only thing that was off was on the board there was a slight dark spot. It didn't smell/looked too burnt up, but I'd have to assume that is where my problem came from. I've had that drive for many many years, so I can't get anything out of it. I am holding onto the drive until I can find another one with bad plates or something and just swap the board out and get my data back.

On a good note, my shit just came in. It's so sexy.

 

[Vegeta897]

Do you plan on doing Crossfire? That's quite a lot of wattage.

650w could handle two of those cards, with 2 harddrives, and an overclocked CPU.

http://www.corsair.com/psufinder/default.aspx

 

[CyberPitz]

the 750 was already at my fathers shop, and he gave me a deal on it, so I didn't pay any more than a 650.