Question PCIe cable shoved into CPU power slot

[Pralat]

I accidentally shoved my PCIe cable into the CPU power slot, I did not power the PC on yet and I have taken it out. I’m just wondering if this could have damaged my PC.

 

[Eximo]

Without powering it on, no, should be fine.

You may have warped the plastic around the connector a little, but all that matters is that the metal pins contact each other inside the connectors.

 

[Pralat]

Without powering it on, no, should be fine.

You may have warped the plastic around the connector a little, but all that matters is that the metal pins contact each other inside the connectors.

The cpu power cable fit right in so it should be fine yes?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Yes, it could have. There's no way of knowing until you do try it (properly connected). Of course, if the motherboard power connector was damaged, I'd expect black outs/crashes/sudden shut downs. If the PCIe power connector was damaged, I'd expect it to fry your graphics card on initial boot up. I'd inspect each for any type of cracks in the plastic shielding. If you find any, do not add power and start the warranty process.

-Wolf sends

 

[Pralat]

Yes, it could have. There's no way of knowing until you do try it (properly connected). Of course, if the motherboard power connector was damaged, I'd expect black outs/crashes/sudden shut downs. If the PCIe power connector was damaged, I'd expect it to fry your graphics card on initial boot up. I'd inspect each for any type of cracks in the plastic shielding. If you find any, do not add power and start the warranty process.

-Wolf sends

Thanks a lot, I didn’t shove it in with force it connected with ease so I’m not sure I guess I’ll just try.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Thanks a lot, I didn’t shove it in with force it connected with ease so I’m not sure I guess I’ll just try.

An 8 pin PCIe power connector and an EPS12V CPU power header are keyed differently, the former should not have fit into the latter. What motherboard and PSU do you have?

 

[Pralat]

An 8 pin PCIe power connector and an EPS12V PC power header are keyed differently, the former should not have fit into the latter. What motherboard and PSU do you have?

B450M DS3H Gigabyte and Corsair CX450

 

[TJ Hooker]

Huh, weird. Maybe the header plastic was extra soft, or the connector hole shapes had a loose enough tolerance for the connector to fit in when it shouldn't.

 

[Pralat]

Only 6 of the pins actually went in

Huh, weird. Maybe the header plastic was extra soft, or the connector hole shapes had a loose enough tolerance for the connector to fit in when it shouldn't.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Ah, ok, that makes sense!

 

[Pralat]

Ah, ok, that makes sense!

So is it looking like it’ll work or nah?

 

[TJ Hooker]

If nothing was powered on you should be fine. I was just wondering how you got the connector in there without forcing it, but the 6 pin portion on its own would fit in without resistance.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

As said above, if the pc was off, it shouldny hurt anything.
Good thing you caughr it!

 

[mdd1963]

There was another case of this about a month or so ago, only it was then powered on, and with predictably disastrous results...; not sure whether just the MB or MB and CPU were 'gone'...

They should color code these connectors, perhaps....but, the mainboard LED/aesthetics-color matching crowd would cry over lime green, bright purple, and/ or blaze safety orange connectors, I suspect!

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Yea, I was just helping someone with this. Fried the motherboard completely, and I think the power supplies safeties caught it before anything else happened.