[SOLVED] May have fried CPU 8-pin header..?

[brod21]

I have a Gigabyte AORUS Pro WiFi Mobo. When I was taking my AIO out I somehow didn’t notice the 8 pin wasn’t fully put in (with the 2 4-pins: one was taken out). When I turned it on, the CPU LED lit up. When I turned it off, I heard a small pop and smelled a little smoke that lingered for around 2 hours. That’s when I noticed one 4-pin was out. I’m scared to put it back in and turn it on, did that smoke mean I fried the power supply or something?.. is it safe to turn it back on?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Find the source of smoke first. Only then you can understand scope of damage.
Look for burned components, blown up capacitors.

 

[brod21]

I checked last night: it was hard to tell but I’m almost certain it came from one of the 4 pins that was plugged out. It was a very light pop/crackle so Is it possible that the damage done was very minor? I can’t see any thing that indicates that it was even burnt. This is my first time messing something up w/ my pc so I’m not too sure

 

[SkyNetRising]

If you can't find any signs of damage, then just plug everything in and test it.
Nothing else to do then.

 

[brod21]

If you can't find any signs of damage, then just plug everything in and test it.
Nothing else to do then.

I tried again this afternoon. This time I plugged in the CPU 8 pin and the same thing happened. I smelled smoke coming from the 8 pin and the CPU LED lit up. This time when I turned the power supply off I didn’t hear a crackle but the smoke persisted.
I think might’ve messed up the power supply somehow. I don’t see any damage but my 8 pin connector isn’t working.

 

[brod21]

I smelled smoke coming from either the 8pin cpu connector or the 8pin cpu header from the motherboard. Either way I’m going to have to replace something because the CPU LED lit up and there’s something wrong. I have no idea if I fried the motherboard or PSU? How would i be able to tell?

 

[InvalidError]

There isn't much that can fry inside a connector, especially when there are four pins rated 8+A apiece on each polarity and is soldered to power and ground planes. If the smell is coming from the connector area, whatever went bust is likely on the motherboard.

Also, a single 4-pin plugged in correctly is more than enough to deliver ~200W to the CPU VRM, there is no way that having only half of it plugged in correctly would damage anything unless going for extreme OC.

If you plugged the connector in the wrong row though, you may have shorted 12V to ground via the motherboard, which could certainly fry some stuff. This seems like the most likely deadly mistake to me.