[SOLVED] Mega noob error on psu: could use help on damage assessment

[gn842a]

All right so I have learned the hard way that one should never use the psu cables from one OEM (Thermaltake) on another (Seasonic). "It never even occurred to me that this would not be standardized. I mean, the shape is standardized, but not the pin order???" Oh well....

So the seasonic was plugged in to the mobo and cpu with its own wires because the Thermaltake it was slated to replace was not fully modular; SATA etc were modular , but the two main mobo connectors were hard wired to the Thermaltake so the Seasonics own wires were connected there. The older design may have saved me from 100% calamity.

But I appear to have blown out three drives that were hooked up in series because I thought it wouldn't matter if I saved myself some time and maneuvering in tight space just to take the existing SATA power cable and switch it to the seasonic.

Well to its credit the Seasonic immediately switched off, but now to get things working again I need to assess the damage. It is useful to know that I have a nearly identical home build upstairs which was spared these experiments so I was able to connect some things to see what was working.

1. SSD with operating system on it: when hooked up to the upstairs computer you can read the directory and navigate around. But I haven't been able to get it to accept a Win 8.1 operating system disk to repair damage

2. Two other Western Digital HDDs that were on the same cable will get slightly warm when I plug them in upstairs but they appear be dead. The 8.1 operating system up there won't recognize them. At all.

3. I don' t know how to assess the condition of the Seasonic, I see on the net that they come with a little tester but there wasn't one in my package that I saw. It seems to me likely that it protected itself but I can't really know.

4. There was a second "string" of SATA power cable devices that provided power to two DVD read/write drives. These are working (they open and close) but it is possible that I fried them too. I do have extra DVDs installed on the computer upstairs so I suppose I could bring one of those down and see what happens. It is possible that if I switch an upstairs DVD drive to downstairs and vice versa that the one from downstairs won't work upstairs which would tell me I fried that one too.

The error I get on the BSOD is 0xc000000e so the system is self-diagnosing with a hardware issue that can be fixed through software, but frankly I think that is wrong, I done did something real bad to the hardware. And the system in blue screen is completely unresponsive in any case.

So what I see is:

1. Likely need to replace the three drives with fresh install of the OS
2. Diagnosis needed on the DVD drives to be done by switching one unit from upstairs to downstairs
3. Keep the new Seasonic psu? About the only way to diagnose it is to install it fully on the bad computer, and see if it gets the same error as the Thermaltake. You might say, what about installing it fully on the computer upstairs. To which I respond: that is my only functioning computer right now, I dare not risk its health on either of the psus downstairs.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Should I proceed as if the mobo is OK, thereby sparing myself the expense of a new OS installation and new mobo etc?

Greg N

 

[Ralston18]

Does not bode well...

You may indeed have done real damage.

Just FYI:

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2702-psa-on-mixing-modular-psu-cables-dont-do-it

Older link but makes the point.

As for the drives:

Do you have a known working external USB drive case (independently powered) that you can use to test each of three drives as is?

I.e., install the drive in the case, connect the case to the upstairs computer via an USB port and then run the applicable drive manufacturer's diagnostic software on the drive.

As for testing the Seasonic PSU that can be done to a limited extent - basically just a voltage check in an unloaded condition.

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

For what it may be worth I would not expect that the Seasonic PSU itself was damaged - just anything misconnected to it.

Caveat being some built in "feature" that self-destructs if there is some improperly connected load.

Overall, working it all out may be tedious.

For example you will need to compare the PSU's pinouts pin by pin. Voltages and grounds.

If, for example 12v was sent into the motherboard where 3v was expected then the motherboard may be damaged.

 

[gn842a]

well the motherboard and cpu were both correctly set up near as I can see. So if bad voltage sneaked in there it would have been the Seasonic somehow routing bad voltage to the mobo because of the other bad inputs. Thank you very much for the link, which I read--AFTER the damage.

I'm debating whether to try to salvage some aspects of this build or just re-do the whole thing.

Depressing.

Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed answer.

Greg N

 

[gn842a]

Well it looks like the Seasonics is working it powers up its own fan, the mobo and its fans, and the USB and sends data out to the monitor.

I was never able to get it to boot to disk for an OS repair with win 8.1. I did purchase Win 10 and made a boot USB. When plugged in it offered to repair or install a new OS. I opted for repair and it tried before giving me the same old error message. Subsequent boots it refused to offer to install the OS or do anything at all.

It's opposed to me.

I'm still where I was at the beginning with the Thermaltake, don't know if it is basically working or has some flaw. It powers its fan and other parts of the system.

Meantime it would appear that by crossing the wires I blew out all or most of my data peripherals. I've ordered a bunch of new stuff and will build a new system. At least I can save a few bucks by re-using the fans and the case.

(sigh)


Greg N

 

[gn842a]

I did find a thread here on Tom's H. where three or four people fessed up to having lost a lot of peripherals on this modular psu cable business. Given the different sorts of warnings one finds in manuals I'm surprised this one does not make list.

 

[gn842a]

To close off this thread, I note that I ended up going with a new build.

1. The Thermaltake I got rid of. It was suspect before the blow out and the usual tests (its fan did move, it did power up the board) did not solve the question that I had about it, which was whether it had suffered some heat damage and had a tendency to shut down. Furthermore I have a Thermtaltake upstairs and now being sensitized to the issue of cables I decided to ditch this one so as to avoid getting any cables confused with the 1080 upstairs. With more than 15,000 hours of use on it, I can't say I didn't get my money's worth.
2. I kept the Seasonic reasoning that if nothing else it was good at protecting itself. It seems to be doing very well in the new build and there are no detectable irregularities that I can see. (Yet.)
3. The mobo and CPU were fine but after having blown my peripheral data storage I found it difficult to do a complete reinstall of Win 8.1 which is slated to "go away" in three years. And I couldn't see keeping the ASUS F2-85 A V Pro mobo (and A10-5800 apu) in use when it would be hitting the ten year mark if it lasted to 2022 and I just figured well the replacement time has come three years early and I just have to deal with it.

Thanks for the help and advice.