Question URGENT Did I burn my motherboard?

[JoaquinResus]

Please I need urgent help.

I was building my PC and thought my modular PSU was broken. I unplugged it and realized that the 8 pin I was using was wrong, so I used the right one. However I failed to realize that the 8-Pin that comes together with the 24-pin was supposed to be plugged into the PSU as well. After I turned on the PC, it flickered and a bright orange light appeared on the bottom of my ram slots. It faded and now my PC won't turn on.

Please, did I just burn my motherboard? I don't know what to do but panic. I don't know what to do and if I can still get my money back. I'm desperate. This was my first build in 8 years after I finally saved up enough.

My motherboard is a B450 Tomahawk Max, PSU is a 600W Be Quiet! Fully Modular.

 

[Nemesia]

Hi JoaquinResus.

You had the 24pin connected on the board and you forgot the CPU 8 pin connector? That shouldn't have caused any damage. A lot of people just forget to plug that and the PC just doesn't POST.

What do you mean by your PC won't turn on? No life at all? No fan turning? No lights on the board nothing?

What is your full system specs?

 

[JoaquinResus]

Hi JoaquinResus.

You had the 24pin connected on the board and you forgot the CPU 8 pin connector? That shouldn't have caused any damage. A lot of people just forget to plug that and the PC just doesn't POST.

What do you mean by your PC won't turn on? No life at all? No fan turning? No lights on the board nothing?

What is your full system specs?

Hello, thank you for replying, and no, I did not forget the CPU 8-pin connector on the motherboard. What I did forget was the other 8-pin bundled together with the 24-pin to be plugged on the modular PSU labelled "MB" meaning motherboard, for both. The 8-Pin CPU was connected to thr modular PSU labelled "P8". My system worked fine when I used an older non-modular power supply.

My specs:

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600X
Ram: 8x2 XPG 3600Mhz Ram
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050Ti (was using this with hopes on installing windows)
Storage: 1 TB WD Blue HDD
256 GB Aorus M.2 nvme SSD
Mobo: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
Cooler: Corsair H80i v2

Another side question, if you don't mind, what other components have I possibly damaged aside from the motherboard? The ram is probably one of them as the burn mark appeared under the DIMM slots. But I hope that isn't the case for the CPU, GPU, and NVMe.

 

[JoaquinResus]

The cable that comes with the PSU has a 24-pin to plug to the motherboard, and on the other end of the same cable, has a 24-pin male and 8-pin male to plug to the PSU

I assumed because I didn't plug the 8-pin to the PSU that I somehow burned my motherboard.

And yes by won't turn on, I meant it is lifeless. I tested the PSU and it's still fine; worked on my other desktop. I cannot however test the ram since my older desktop is a DDR3.

 

[Nemesia]

The cable that comes with the PSU has a 24-pin to plug to the motherboard, and on the other end of the same cable, has a 24-pin male and 8-pin male to plug to the PSU

I assumed because I didn't plug the 8-pin to the PSU that I somehow burned my motherboard.

What is the model of that Be quiet PSU? I suspect that this is a cheap model. A good PSU would have just shutdown. It's not like you gave more power to the board. That was the opposite. When there isn't enough power it shutdown. Not burn.

That PSU is cheap or was defect. Or it was the board.

Are you still under warranty or return/replacement window? It's not the first time I see people not plugging that cable either and it doesn't burn your motherboard.

Where did you buy the parts / system and when?

 

[JoaquinResus]

What is the model of that Be quiet PSU? I suspect that this is a cheap model. A good PSU would have just shutdown. It's not like you gave more power to the board. That was the opposite. When there isn't enough power it shutdown. Not burn.

That PSU is cheap or was defect. Or it was the board.

Are you still under warranty or return/replacement window? It's not the first time I see people not plugging that cable either and it doesn't burn your motherboard.

Where did you buy the parts / system and when?

The Be Quiet PSU model was SFX L Power 600W, and it's 80Plus Gold certified. I bought all the parts from Lazada, an Amazon alternative local to the Philippines, and both of these products had stellar reviews with proof of purchases. Both the power supply, and motherboard were bought two days ago, while the other parts were bought last week/weeks before.

Regarding the motherboard and PSU, they are still under the return window for a few more days, but as for the other parts that got fried, unfortunately they can't be returned anymore. I'm taking the entire PC to a tech shop in two days to get all the parts checked out and tested. I'm hoping that at worst, only the ram and motherboard got fried.

The scariest thing about frying a motherboard is all the components possibly dying. I want to at least save my processor and NVMe, since those were the most expensive parts out of the build.

 

[JoaquinResus]

Here is the burn mark on the motherboard for reference:

This area lit up a bright orange and killed the motherboard afterwards.

Update: It killed my ram. Tried inserting the two sticks in my friend's system and they didn't even light up, much less get detected. I fear for my other components now.