24pin ATX cable melted into motherboard

[mleinum-95]

Lately my computer has been shutting down randomly when either gaming, watching youtube videos or just surfing the web. When this happens both my screens go black and the fans on the GPU ramp up to 100%. to get the computer working again i have to manually restart it by holding in the on/off button and powering up the computer again. this usually happens from time to time, but yesterday it happened twice in a row, and i was unable to fully boot the computer back up after the second time. Both my GPU and CPU were running at stock speeds at the time, and the temperatures never exceed 70 °C on either one while gaming. I decided to check my cables to see if there were any loose connections causing this. When i went to pull out my 24pin cable i noticed it was pretty difficult to remove from the motherboard. This was because 2 of the pins on the 24pin cable had melted into the socket on the motherboard. At the time i was using an extension cable instead of the original cable that came with my PSU. My CPU is also delidded and was overclocked to 5ghz at 1.34v i believe. It ran flawlessly for a few months before i decided to go back to stock settings as i had no use for the extra speed at the time and wanted to avoid straining the CPU unnecessarily. I am wondering if this problem could have happened because of the delid or the extension cable, or if it is a problem with either my PSU or motherboard. There is no damage on the outside of the PSU as far as i can see.



My specs are:

- Asus Geforce GTX 1080ti strix 11gb

- i7700k

- Corsair Vengeance 16 GB DDR4 2400 MHz

- NZXT Kraken x62 280mm

- Asus Rog Strix z270-f gaming

- EVGA supernova 750 G3



I have attached pictures of the cable and the socket. Any help is appreciated as i do not know what my next step should be.

MB: https://imgur.com/a/xhzZgUq
Cable: https://imgur.com/a/0UvFSeZ

 

[richiestang_78]

This is why its really never a good idea to use 3rd party cables with power supplies. Looks like poor insulation resulted in heat and melting. Your MB is toast most likely.


If this was a high end third party cable like Cablemod brand then you should probably contact them, if this cable was just some cable off Newegg or Amazon I bet you're kinda screwed.

 

[mleinum-95]

This is why its really never a good idea to use 3rd party cables with power supplies. Looks like poor insulation resulted in heat and melting. Your MB is toast most likely.


If this was a high end third party cable like Cablemod brand then you should probably contact them, if this cable was just some cable off Newegg or Amazon I bet you're kinda screwed.

The cable used was Phanteks Sleeved Cable Extension. If this was the problem, do you think the PSU is alright, and i should only focus on replacing the MB?

 

[richiestang_78]

Contact Phanteks, see what they say, they may replace the mobo for you.

I doubt it harmed your PSU but its possible if it caused a short.

 

[mleinum-95]

Contact Phanteks, see what they say, they may replace the mobo for you.

I doubt it harmed your PSU but its possible if it caused a short.

How would i be able to test this assuming i bought a new MB? i dont want to ruin another one...

 

[richiestang_78]

If you have a multimeter https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

They also seem to make testers, not sure how well they work but have good reviews
https://www.amazon.com/HDE-Power-Supply-Tester-PCI/dp/B005UZHB6G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1536753229&sr=8-3&keywords=power+supply+tester

https://www.amazon.com/Insten-24-pin-Power-Supply-Tester/dp/B005CTCD6S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1536753229&sr=8-6&keywords=power+supply+tester

 

[SkyNetRising]

I am wondering if this problem could have happened because of the delid or the extension cable, or if it is a problem with either my PSU or motherboard.

I'd say - that happened because of excessive cpu overclocking.

 

[mleinum-95]

If you have a multimeter https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

They also seem to make testers, not sure how well they work but have good reviews
https://www.amazon.com/HDE-Power-Supply-Tester-PCI/dp/B005UZHB6G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1536753229&sr=8-3&keywords=power+supply+tester

https://www.amazon.com/Insten-24-pin-Power-Supply-Tester/dp/B005CTCD6S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1536753229&sr=8-6&keywords=power+supply+tester

So i have contacted Phanteks and i am waiting for a reply. I also contacted the company i bought the MB and PSU from. they told me straight away to just change the MB and PSU.

 

[mleinum-95]

Phanteks replied and told me this was a seating issue with the cable. They offered me a new 24pin cable. Im now wondering if this is just a seating issue, is my PSU fine?

 

[grimfox]

Looks like poor insulation resulted in heat and melting. Your MB is toast most likely.

The first statement here is non-sense. The second statement is true if you don't what to take the connector off/void your warranty.

I'd say that happened because of excessive cpu overclocking.

This is closer to the truth.

There are a couple things that could have happened here.

1) excessive overclocking and high current cause these two pins to melt.

2) A defect in the contacts or poor contact in the connector. With this type of molex connector it can happen that the contacts are not fully seated in the connector. When inserted into the mating connector on the board the pins push out and make very little contact. When fully inserted the pins can handle a few amps of current with ease. When they aren't making good contact, the mating pins don't have enough contact surface area to transfer all that current. In that case the contacts behave a bit like the filament in a lightbulb. They get very hot. If the plastic is cheap then it will have a lower melting point than other connectors and melt. Going back to the first quote. It's the high heat that results in the poor quality insulation melting. The insulation can not cause heating, that's non-sense.

3) There was a short. Somehow the 3.3V pin shorted to ground at the connector (those are the two pins that melted) which would cause your PC to shut down.

What to do now? Get rid of that extension cable, it is absolutely toast. Get a new one. The motherboard can be repaired, you'll need a new connector and someone with the right equipment and skills to remove the old connector and install the new one. A new connector will cost you about $1 before shipping. (link below looks pretty close to your original connector). This will void your warranty, but we're already past that point. You wont be able to return it or exchange it for a new one. Basically, you broke it. If you don't want to have the repair done you have to buy a new board.

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/1-1775099-3/A127799-ND/5272985

 

[mleinum-95]

Looks like poor insulation resulted in heat and melting. Your MB is toast most likely.

The first statement here is non-sense. The second statement is true if you don't what to take the connector off/void your warranty.

I'd say that happened because of excessive cpu overclocking.

This is closer to the truth.

There are a couple things that could have happened here.

1) excessive overclocking and high current cause these two pins to melt.

2) A defect in the contacts or poor contact in the connector. With this type of molex connector it can happen that the contacts are not fully seated in the connector. When inserted into the mating connector on the board the pins push out and make very little contact. When fully inserted the pins can handle a few amps of current with ease. When they aren't making good contact, the mating pins don't have enough contact surface area to transfer all that current. In that case the contacts behave a bit like the filament in a lightbulb. They get very hot. If the plastic is cheap then it will have a lower melting point than other connectors and melt. Going back to the first quote. It's the high heat that results in the poor quality insulation melting. The insulation can not cause heating, that's non-sense.

3) There was a short. Somehow the 3.3V pin shorted to ground at the connector (those are the two pins that melted) which would cause your PC to shut down.

What to do now? Get rid of that extension cable, it is absolutely toast. Get a new one. The motherboard can be repaired, you'll need a new connector and someone with the right equipment and skills to remove the old connector and install the new one. A new connector will cost you about $1 before shipping. (link below looks pretty close to your original connector). This will void your warranty, but we're already past that point. You wont be able to return it or exchange it for a new one. Basically, you broke it. If you don't want to have the repair done you have to buy a new board.

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/1-1775099-3/A127799-ND/5272985

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I am already at the point where I am looking for a new MB as i do not know how to repair it myself. The question now is if there is something wrong with the PSU and i should replace it as well.

 

[grimfox]

I'd be concerned about the 3.3V rail. The rest of the system should be fine. I would definately get a load tester linked above and check it out. Your PC shutting off is likely the short circuit protection kicking in. The supernova is a pretty solid PSU AFAIK so it probably weathered this "disaster" well.

Edit: For reference I think I have the SN850G2 or something like that.