[SOLVED] Why are my SATA cables melting?

[Tylerd38]

Hello everyone. I’ve been working on a new build and I’ve been having issues with my sata cables melting when I try to turn the PC on. Everything is new, I have replaced the board 4 times, 2 times with different brands, replaced PSU, and I’ve used at least 4 SSD’s by now. I can’t figure out why it keeps melting cables. Usually it only melts the cable from the drive to the board, but yesterday it melted the power to the drive it. The specs of the computer are below.

AMD Ryzen 5 3600
MSI X570-A Pro
Corsair Vengeance 16GB 3000MHz DDR4
Seasonic M12 II Evo
Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD

 

[Deleted member 14196]

You probably didn’t install the standoffs properly and there is a short occurring somewhere

 

[ex_bubblehead]

You have an obvious short somewhere. Remove everything from the case and test everything outside the case. It's likely that you have installed a standoff in the wrong place and have shorted something to the case. It's also possible that this short has caused other components to fail as well.

 

[geofelt]

Your persistence is admirable.

Take your parts out of the case and start with the minimum of attached parts.
You have a short somewhere.

You can start the motherboard by momentarily touching the two PWR pins in the front panel header.
You will find a power switch like this very useful.
https://www.ebay.com/p/631889283?iid=142232821294&chn=ps

 

[Tylerd38]

I have taken the board out and put it back in, all of the standoffs are in the correct spots. I haven’t ran it outside of the case yet. I plan on doing that when I have some time.

 

[theonerm2]

Well here's what we do know. It's not the drive causing it, it's not the PSU, it's not the motherboard... So the problem has to lie somewhere between. That sounds like a short somewhere. While I've never personally had this problem it makes sense. You absolutely must make sure everything is installed correctly in your case. Don't be lazy. Do it right. Make sure all of the standoffs for that motherboard are installed and only install the standoffs you need. If you put standoffs in every hole then you'll for sure have a short.

 

[Third-Eye]

I have taken the board out and put it back in, all of the standoffs are in the correct spots.

This doesn't actually mean it's not still shorting if that is even the issue. You might have metal touching the board somewhere you can't see. Can you post a picture of the melted cables?

 

[Deleted member 14196]

make sure the quality of the cables is good and that there is no exposed wires. somehow there is a short begin created.

take the board OUT and leave it out, then connect up the drives and power it on.... does it melt cables?

no? you have a short somewhere probably something touching the traces on the mobo or really bad quality sata cables​

yes? you have a serious drive/mobo/psu problem​

 

[dorsai]

My money's on the case standoffs...there's likely an extra one in there.

 

[ChevetteSCx]

I have a question...WHAT PSUs have you used?
You mention ''replacing'' the PSU. Were the PSUs the same Manufacturer and Model?
Did you use ONLY the modular cables that came with EACH PSU??

Troubleshooting 101 (preferrably out of the case).
Hookup PSU, motherboard/CPU, GPU (or on-board) + keyboard, mouse and monitor ONLY
- will the system post and can you access the bios?

 

[boju]

I agree with the above enquiry. Are you using modular cables strictly belonging to the psu? Pinouts can change and mixing cables is a v.bad idea.