Smoked two SSDs

[Jerrymc3]

I added a couple more Hard Drives and two SSDs and changed the Graphics card to a 680 GTX. on a computer. My mother board is a Gigabyte Z97 Gaming 7. When I started the computer I immediately smelled smoke so I turned it off. I discovered that one of the SSDs had smoked. There was no sign of any burning on the sata cables or any of the connectors. I thought maybe it was just the SSD going bad so I ordered a new one. When I installed it the same thing happened. I went to Microcenter and bought a new EVGA SuperNova 750G3 to replace my Corsair CX750M. All 3 HDDs are woking fine but I'm still afraid to plug in another SSD. I don't know if a bad Sata data cable or Sata port on the motherboard can cause an SSD to burn. Is there any way to test that?

Jerry

 

[boju]

Are you mixing modular cables from different PSUs? Due to differing pin arrangements it is advised to keep to original cables. There is a high risk of shorting and frying components mixing any cable delivering power. Sata, Pcie, CPU 12v, and 24pin atx.

 

[Jerrymc3]

I'm really not sure. I originally built this rig about a year ago. Anyway, I used only the new cables that came with the EVGA so that shouldn't be an issue now. However, I don't have any new sata data cables and I'm concerned that there could be a problem with them or the sata ports on the mother board. I'm just not sure if bad data ports or cables can cause an SSD to smoke.

Jerry

 

[boju]

Faulty data cables wont cause shorts and these are universal and can be mixed as it connects to the motherboard and not PSU.

Id say the sata power cable used wasn't a match when the drive smoked. It's a common mistake made so don't feel bad. PSUs should follow a standard but sadly don't.

 

[Solandri]

It's a common mistake made so don't feel bad. PSUs should follow a standard but sadly don't.

Back in the 1990s, Dell used PSUs with a proprietary motherboard power pinout, but whose motherboard power socket was identical to a regular PSUs. So if your Dell PSU died and you tried replacing it with a generic PSU, or you tried to use the Dell PSU in another computer, you'd fry the motherboard and possibly the RAM and CPU.

I'm not so upset at modular PSUs not following a standard. But if they're not going to standardize they should at least label their cables so it's obvious at a glance which cables go with which PSU, making it harder to mix up extra cables with PSUs.

 

[boju]

I'm not so upset at modular PSUs not following a standard. But if they're not going to standardize they should at least label their cables so it's obvious at a glance which cables go with which PSU, making it harder to mix up extra cables with PSUs.

You're absolutely right i agree. There should be some form of label or even documentation that comes with PSUs to state this loud and clear. Perhaps there is some sort of effort in the leaflets that come with but not sure, i've never bothered to read them or those who know what goes where probably don't either. Or unless you've got nothing else to read while on the crapper then ya might find out something of importance lol.

Then there's the propriety thing where people could think " Oh yeah they just want my money for parts", never in thought there would be an actual reason.

Also being modular, those who are unaware is easy to think too,"Ya know, how goods this, can replace PSUs and never have to muck around with the motherboard side of things in reconnecting cables because it all fits"

I was one who was unaware too. I replaced a Corsair HX750 for an AX, re-used all cables, pcie, sata, cpu, atx, the lot. Was very lucky nothing bad happened. Found out a couple years later about this shenanigan and my jaw hit the floor lol and thanked my lucky star.

Not advocating brand - model to model is fine to mix, i was just lucky. Models from the same brand can differ too.

 

[Jerrymc3]

This is good to know. I have 3 or 4 bags of psu cables from different PSUs. I assumed they were interchangeable. I have no idea which brand I had plugged in to the Corsair. I was prepared to take the motherboard out and check the sata connectors and that area of the motherboard for any burning or damage. Tomorrow I'll hold my breath and start it up.

Jerry