Power Supply Was Set to 230v! - HELP

[Guest]

Greetings all!

I was building a new AMD system (my first) and believe I may have blown up all my computer components 🙁 I installed the mobo (Asus A7A266), cpu (Athlon 1200 - AXIA), & ram (256 mb Crucial DDR). Fortunately, I did not install the ASUS GeForce 3 Deluxe, IBM Deskstar 75GXP, or any other cards. I wanted to start with the mobo, cpu & ram. Once installed correctly, I attached the power cord and noticed the mobo led lit up. I then pushed the power button and the system jumped to life. Suddenly, I noticed the distinct smell of burning circuitry. Immediately I pulled the power cord (within 30 secs). After checking that the voltage jumpers were set to auto on the mobo, I happened to notice the red tab on the power supply was set to 230v!!! I know it should be set to 115v for North America. My question to you is, did I destroy the mobo, cpu, & ram? A friend who is a network specialist stated he thought I may have just buggered the power supply and the other components should be ok because the mobo wouldn'd allow the voltage. Any input is appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
SHODAN

 

[noko]

ahmmmm, place it in 115v and try it again. Really you underpowered everything when selected to 230v using a different winding in the step down transformer. You may have damaged your power supply due to excessive current due to the reduced voltage. Let us know what happens.

Correction the step down transformer probably uses a shunt to drop the turn ratio down when you select the 115v setting.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by noko on 07/13/01 09:16 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[noko]

I also recommend you inspect the motherboard power transitors by the cpu and inductors to see if you see anything burnt. Also smell the vent on the power supply to see if you still smell anything. Hopefully you can locate what got hot. Also make sure you are not shorting anything out like a loose screw or a mobo hold down screw hitting a trace on the motherboard. Smell everything. If you can't find nothing then try it at 115 volt setting.

 

[Guest]

Thanks so muck Noka for your replies!
In your corrected post, do you stand by the statement that "I underpowered everything" by having the switch to 230? Or, does your correction mean I "overpowered everything?" I really am anxious to know if I damaged any of the components, (I don't care too much about the power supply), as I won't be able to play with the box until Monday 🙁 I want to be able to sleep this weekend, lol
Thanks again! Any further input greatly appreciated!
SHODAN

 

[noko]

You underpowered everything unless your Powersupply shorted out then you would have overpowered everything which I doubt very much, you should have an inline fuse in the power supply. Well I guess I won't let you sleep any better. Best solution is to get a different power supply and try again. If I didn't have another P/S I would try again and if it was going to burn up everything I would make sure it was a good fire ball maybe some fire works. I did do this once with a computer I help someone build, we didn't smell any smoke though, we switched to 115v and the computer didn't boot. I changed out the ram and it worked. I don't think it caused any damage to the ram since the ram I took out worked perfect in my machine with a differnt motherboard. His computer is still working after about 2 years, it is a K6-2 400mhz setup. What else can you do?

 

[CALV]

Seems strange that it would damage the mobo or any of itc components, if the psu was set to 230V, then as stated, it would be UNDER powered, now the other way round would probably have been fatal, are you sure the switch was FULLY in the 230V position and not part way between 110/230? Ive seen a psu blow (and I mean BLOW!) when the little switch was part way between the voltages, I would try at the normal voltage, if no joy, take it back and if they so much as mention a voltage selector- say "whats one of those"!!


Next time you wave - use all your fingers

 

[peteb]

Personally I'd get that psu out of there and forget it ever existed. Even if it not dead now I would not trust it with many hundreds of $$ of equipment hanging off it!!!

try your kit with a new psu (350W or better) and keep your fingers crossed.

Even if it is not dead now, it may fail because of this episode (but it may not) and all too often dying psus kill a lot of system components (memory, HDD, CD, mobo, cpu, vid card - you get the picture)

-* This Space For Rent *-
email for application details

 

[noko]

That does sound like good advice since you had tell tell signs of smoke.