Corsair HX1000W failed overcurrent protection, help

MasseySian · 02-06-2012

Couple of days ago when working on my computer, i smell something burning started coming from my CPU. First it was not much so I didn’t care about it and ignored it. After some three to four days, the smell became nastier and stronger. I first thought that the problem must be with the cooling fan or radiator. So I tried using my friend’s liquid cooling system to see if there is any change or not. But the smell continued to fill the CPU. I took a look at my motherboard, graphic card and other cooling devices to see if they were giving the smell.

It may have happened that some small piece of plastic or rubber must have got stuck on it and emitting smells when temperature increases. But I couldn’t figure out any problem in them. Just three days back. My computer failed to boot. I tried many times, but there was no response from it. One of my friends who have good experience in working with hardware peripherals pointed out that the Corsair HX1000W PSU had being burned because of its failure to stop excessive current from flowing within it. Due to this flow of excessive current, the ESP12V connector on my motherboard where PSU was connected was burned.

I wanted to ask if I should get myself a new PSU or should I just replace the burnt ESP12V connector?

**Anuja Darzi** · 02-06-2012

I have heard of PSUs failing to control the spikes in flow of the electricity and getting damaged. But in these cases, the internal capacitors or resistors get damaged. This is the first time I am hearing that the connector got damaged due to over current. Did you ever do any overclocking on your Corsair HX1000W PSU? When you overclock a PSU, then it restricts the power that flows through the rails of it.

Also this happens if the PSU is built with single rail architecture. IF you are using the single rail architecture based PSU, then it becomes difficult for the connector to control the flow of the power through it after overclocking. To simplify the problem, it must have happened that your PSU must have drawn only the current which was half rated on the single rail. This half rated current was then passed through the ESP12V connector. The connector not being able to handle it got over heated and thus burned down. If your Corsair HX1000W PSU is still under warranty, you can get RMA for it.

**Non-$ensoi** · 02-06-2012

The problem that you have discussed in your question happens when the computer is the only one of the few devices that are working and consuming in your home. No one at their homes uses the expensive inverters or generators to control the proper flow of the electricity. When you are at home awake then it happens that you must have kept numerous electric appliances active. For example, you must have kept on the refrigerator, ceiling fan, lights and other appliances too. But when you are leaving home, you switch off most of these appliances.

I want to ask, do you regularly keep your computer switched on and leave home for hours. This can also cause such problem in the PSU. When you leave house by just keeping the computer switched on and the other devices turned off, all the electricity consumption is done by it alone. Due to this many time, huge amount of electricity which is not needed also creates spikes in flow leading to such problems.

Even if you get the connector repaired or get a new PSU, I suggest that you should avoid keeping your computer turned on while leaving house for hours. You should put it on the Standby mode or Sleep mode.