Smoke Coming from CPU Cooler

[ppbuild]

Hi, I am a first time builder. Here is my build:

Case: Rosewill Viper Z
Mobo: ASRock Extreme 4 LGA 2011-3
Processor: i7-5820k
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Memory: 2x8 GB Corsair Vengeance 2666 MHz
SSD: 850 Evo 250 GB
HD: WD 1 TB Performance Series
Graphics Card: EVGA GTX 950 SSC ACX 2.0
Optical Drive: LG Blu-Ray Drive
Power Supply: EVGA 650W 80 Plus Platinum

Additionally, I am using 5 fans for my build. I used Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste.

I read multiple guides and watched multiple videos on youtube and put all my components together. First I did the external build with just the mobo, processor, cpu cooler, ram, & graphics card and it worked fine (I got the boot screen). Then I did the internal build and put all the components together and it worked fine. Since I completed the build, I had opened the case up numerous times to try and improve my cable management (it is messy) and every time after, I booted it up to make sure it was fine. It would boot up and operate. I have not used this computer extensively yet (as I have another computer in the house and I am still working on improving my new build).

Then one day I was out all day and returned home and I wanted to watch a movie so I booted up the computer. It turned on fine, and I had my desktop on both my monitors when my mom points out there is smoke coming from my computer. So I immediately shut it down and disconnected the power cable. At that point I was not sure why the smoke and where it was coming from. After opening it up, my first conclusion was the cpu cooler as there are 8 nodules on the top of the Hyper 212 Evo and I noticed a couple of them lost their shape (they no longer had the up right cone shape and seemed as if they had potentially melted?

I let my computer be and went to sleep after that night. The next morning I took another look and verified if my wiring was correct and did some online searching. The next day in the evening I tried to turn on the computer once again and there was smoke again. Nothing on the mobo stands out to me in terms of damage other than the pins on top of the cpu cooler that have lost the shape. See photos below.

I am new to pc building but I feel confident about my build except for the cpu cooler portion (which I understand is generally the more challenging part). What do you guys think? Is it a problem with my power supply? Did I put too much thermal paste? Did I get a faulty cpu cooler?

Thank you very much for reading my post!
Summary: My pc build was working fine for first couple of days since build and then one day it began to smoke. I believe smoke is coming from CPU Cooler.

http://imgur.com/r9T2cKo
http://imgur.com/fTMwjk8
http://imgur.com/e95wSNZ
http://imgur.com/DVJiVBG
http://imgur.com/29nTqz4

 

[USAFRet]

Pictures?

 

[USAFRet]

Those copper ends on the cooler look EXACTLY like the ones on my 212 PLUS. It came like that.
They are not perfect cones.

Mine has been installed for 3+ years, running 24/7.

 

[Shaun o]

It would suggest if you say smoke was coming from your cooler a few things.

First of all verify the fan on the cooler is spinning, and there no obstructions preventing it from spinning or causing rubbing.

Such things as the wires that feed the cpu cooler fan are not tangled or touching the fan blades.
Check what the cpu temperature is at using a temp monitoring program in windows.

If your Cpu seems very high in temperatures, the cause could be you may of forgot to remove a thin plastic film on the cpu cooler it`s self that is used to protect the base of the cpu cooler where it makes contact with the cpu`s heat spreading plate.

Or the film of thin plastic in put in place to protect the pre applied factory thermal paste pad of some coolers to stop it from being rubbed off or scratched away.

If it was left on as said the cpu temps would, or will be quiet high.
And the thin plastic film can melt and produce smoke.

So I would remove the Cpu cooling solution and double check as it may be the cause to the smoke you saw.
I`m not saying it`s the case out right. But I have seen over a few years people forget to remove the protective plastic film used to protect the cpu contact area on a coolers base or the TIM application applied to it.

 

[ppbuild]

Great, so I can eliminate that hypothesis. I probably messed something up or I have a faulty power supply. Is it possible this is the result of me putting too much thermal paste? I put the size of about 1.5 grains of rice and used the plastic bag method to spread it out. However it did not spread evenly to all of the processor so i put a slight bit more to spread it all out. In all it was probably the size of 2 grains of rice which from what I read is not lethal.

 

[ppbuild]

It would suggest if you say smoke was coming from your cooler a few things.

First of all verify the fan on the cooler is spinning, and there no obstructions preventing it from spinning or causing rubbing.

Such things as the wires that feed the cpu cooler fan are not tangled or touching the fan blades.
Check what the cpu temperature is at using a temp monitoring program in windows.

If your Cpu seems very high in temperatures, the cause could be you may of forgot to remove a thin plastic film on the cpu cooler it`s self that is used to protect the base of the cpu cooler where it makes contact with the cpu`s heat spreading plate.

Or the film of thin plastic in put in place to protect the pre applied factory thermal paste pad of some coolers to stop it from being rubbed off or scratched away.

If it was left on as said the cpu temps would, or will be quiet high.
And the thin plastic film can melt and produce smoke.

So I would remove the Cpu cooling solution and double check as it may be the cause to the smoke you saw.

Ok, I am going to try this and then I will get back to you. I remember seeing a plastic plate that I removed because it boldly said to remove it. However the smell of the smoke reminded me of the smell of burning plastic so what you are mentioning sounds realistic.

 

[ppbuild]

UPDATE:

I took apart my computer and found the site of the burning. See photos below for visuals. The 4 pin molex connector that comes from the TOP I/O on my case that works with the fan controller my case has had melted wires which gave it away. Those are the only damaged wires but because it partially melted, it stuck to other wires (who's outer casing seems to be undamaged). I plugged all my fans into my case's fan control. Additionally, I stacked all the 4 pin molex's (the plugs stack, however, I did not know that is unsafe). Is it safe to presume 4 fans (all are blue LED) being stacked using molex connectors eventually to one power supply molex is an overload and that is why the wire melted? Is it because I stacked the connectors? Interestingly enough the melt did not happen until 3 days into my build.

Thanks for all the input so far! Hopefully I am close to resolving the issue.

http://imgur.com/6LN0Jgu
http://imgur.com/1zAaVzg
http://imgur.com/r4MKXqA