So my motherboard caught on fire....

[torveo]

So yesterday I had opened up my computer to do some testing on weather my airflow was good or not, because my fan layout really isn't ideal. But that's besides the point. My computer had been running fine all day, everyday for the past year when I got the mother board. But when I took it out from under my desk today, plugged it in, and pressed the power button, a small component near the bottom left of the board (See pic) sporadically shot out a flame and tons of smoke. I quickly hit the power switch on the back of the PSU once I noticed what the hell was happening, nothing else was damaged, even though the sound card was less than an inch from the flames it seems fine and currently works. I've already submitted an RMA form and will probably send it in tomorrow. But that's not why I'm here. I was hoping somebody could give me some info on what the part that failed is, what It does, and possibly how it could have failed? I'm curious if it was random or if I did something(Even though I hadn't actually touched anything yet). Thanks for your time.

 

[The Paladin]

make and model of the motherboard please. otherwise it just plain guessing

 

[torveo]

make and model of the motherboard please. otherwise it just plain guessing

Oh, right.... duh....

MSI Z97-G45 Gaming

 

[The Paladin]

could not find a service manual for the motherboard, so could not discover the layout of the chipset sorry, no Bueno, I would RMA the board though popping chip and fire is a sight of definite failure.

 

[Gam3r01]

You should also make a special request to ask them what that portion of the board does. Im sure they would get back to you on that.

 

[torveo]

Alright, well thanks for trying. I appreciate it. I've got the RMA papers printed up, hopefully all goes smoothly. I'm going to do some digging around to maybe find some information on what exactly that thing is. I'm thinking it has something to do with the fan headers, because there is always a chip identical to the one that failed not far from each header. Though I'm confused how that one failed because AFAIK nothing was plugged into it. I precisely remember not using that header because one of the pins was bent, as you can see in the picture.... But, oh well. s**t happens.

Thanks again.

 

[torveo]

You should also make a special request to ask them what that portion of the board does. Im sure they would get back to you on that.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'll swing by the MSI website and see if I can get some info from them.