I think I may have broken my PSU

[cuiggy]

Hello, after plugging in one cord that came with my graphics card on a previously working build, my computer will now not start. Two of my exterior fans now do not work when plugged into my MOBO, but do work when plugged directly into PSU. I think using the power cord included with my graphics card has somehow damaged my PSU. Can anyone tell me what has happened?

 

[dragonlord12832]

Honestly, I am having a difficult time trying to understand what you wrote. Okay, so you plugged the cord (that came with your graphics card) into your PSU. Did I read that correctly? I assume that you also put a new graphics card in. Is that correct?
Working under these assumptions, I think you may have blown your motherboard. Note: I said may. Have you tried to boot without the new graphics card? If not, then try that first. It is also possible that your PSU is not powerful enough to run your (new?) video card.
Having computer specs would be immensely helpful.

 

[cuiggy]

I'm sorry, I was pretty frustrated and didn't want to go into a lot of detail. Here's exactly what happened. I got all of my parts about a month ago and put my computer together (my first time putting one together), and got it running fine with no problem parts. Specs are:

Windows 7 64 bit OS
Corsair CX750 Builder Series ATX 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Power Supply
MSI Radeon HD 6870 1 GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity R6870 Twin Frozr II
ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8 GB (2X4 GB) PC3-12800 1600mHz DDR3 240-Pin SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit CMZ8GX3M2A1600C​9B
Intel Core i5-2500K Quad-Core Processor 3.3 GHz 6 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80623I52500K
Crucial m4 128GB 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2

My graphics card wasn't really performing well (I thought), because I was getting software errors in the games I play and I didn't know how to fix those problems. I couldn't get the Afterburner software that came with my graphics card to work and I thought maybe it wasn't getting enough power. The box says to plug in 2 6-pin PCI-E plugs into the graphics card and I only had one 6-pin plugged in. If I tried with two, my pc wouldn't start, but after I unplugged and plugged in just 1, it started fine. So I got my graphics card box and found this two-pronged plug that looks like this:

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-6-Inch-Express-Adapter-LP4PCIEXADAP/dp/B0007RXDDM

and, stupid me, I plug the two plugs into my power supply and the other into my graphics card and try to start my pc. It won't start. So I unplug the two-pronged thing and plug in just one PCI-E plug (the way it was when it would work). It would start, but two of my fans that were plugged into my MOBO would not spin. One of my fans that was plugged into my MOBO would spin and the CPU fan would spin. After several more tries to get any monitor display, It would either do the same thing or start for a few seconds and then shut down. I plugged my two not working fans directly into my PSU from my MOBO and then they would work when started, but still no display. I tried taking off my graphics card completely and the same thing happened. I'm pretty sure that my PSU is the problem, and my MOBO isn't getting enough power. I don't know if I damaged my MOBO or graphics card or PSU or what.

 

[joeh_87]

Strange, You should of encountered no problems with using the cable provided on such PSU. though you had no reason to use the adapter.

Your PSU already has 2 6pin PCI E plugs yes? and If correct your system would not boot with those 2 plugged into the GPU as it's meant to?

 

[dragonlord12832]

That adapter shouldn't have caused your problems, but, I could see that happening if one of the pins were bent, or in the wrong spot or something. Also, when you are connecting your power cables you must be mindful of the volts allocated to each one. Depending on your PSU there may not have been enough coming from the cable that you connected the adapter to.

I think that you had a faulty power supply or video card before you bought the adapter. I think that using the adapter amplified your problem. Of course, it is incredibly difficult to know what is to blame, especially without using a volt meter.

 

[cuiggy]

There are no bent pins on my GPU, and my PSU has like 4 PCI-E plugs. I may have plugged in the adapter cord (which looks more like this after I looked around more)

http://www.amazon.com/Cables-Go-35522-Express-Adapter/dp/B000NK7ML2/ref=sr_1_14?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359511933&sr=1-14&keywords=PCI+express+video+card+power+cable+adapter

with a regular PCI-E plug from my PSU both at the same time. The adapter has five pins in it, not like the plugs on my PSU, which have six pins. I don't know if using the adapter and a PCI-E plug at the same time is any better than using it by itself.

 

[joeh_87]

have you tried different combinations of PSU PCI express cables?


judging from what i read it does sound a PSU problem as Dragonlord said You'll need a voltmeter or another computer to test it in.