Rosewill ARC 550W Power Supply sparked up then fumes came out!?!

bobbyJay · 20 Aug 2017

Hello, I installed a Rosewill 550W PSU on my old XPS Studio 9100, I believe the stock one was a standard ATX 525W Power Supply.

This is the one I installed in it. Rosewill ARC Series 550W Modular Gaming Power Supply, 80 PLUS Bronze Certified, Single CrossFire Ready - ARC-M550 - Newegg.ca

I connected every cable and when I tried to turn it on there was sparkles and then smoke came out of the case from the power supply. I immediately went and unplugged the cord. Did I fry everything in my computer? What happen? Thanks

fireberd · 21 Aug 2017

First, the Dell 525 watt power supply is actually probably a larger capacity. Dell tends to underrate their power supplies, from my many years working the Dell forums.

Second I avoid anything Rosewill - they tend to be low end/quality components. You are better off with a "name brand" as many inexpensive power supplies tend to be over rated (watts) and have poor DC power regulation. The power supply is one component not to go "inexpensive".

As far as what you "zapped" ?? Could have been something on the motherboard, something in the power supply, etc. Hard to tell without testing. Look around inside and see if you can smell anything anywhere - the power supply, motherboard, hard drive, etc. If the old Dell power supply still works OK, reconnect it and see what happens.

Megahertz07 · 21 Aug 2017

Three possibilities:
- You new PS was defective.
- If there is a voltage switch, it is on wrong setting.
- You inverted one cable at the MB or you have a short circuit on the MB.

Why did you replaced the PS? If it burned out you can have a short circuit on the MB.

mrjimphelps · 21 Aug 2017

You already had a 525W power supply which was in good working order. You replaced it with a 550W power supply. You didn't gain hardly anything on power output. Unless you will get a big gain on power output (say, 100W or more), I recommend against swapping out a power supply which is in good working order.

Microbell · 22 Aug 2017

Power supplies can be defective even when they are new. As Rosewill is the "in house" brand from newegg they will replace it quickly and with modern power supplies it's unlikely (not impossible though) that anything else got fried as they have a built in protection system. The one you listed has these......

Over Voltage Protection
Yes
Over Load Protection
Yes
Short Circuit Protection
Yes
Under Voltage Protection
Yes
Over Current Protection
Yes
Over Power Protection
Yes

Another poster mentioned you didn't gain anything by replacing the PSU but that's not always true. It's a misconception that the higher the wattage the better as you can have a 650watt PSU outperform a 850watt PSU in stable power draw and amps on the rails.

RoasterMen · 22 Aug 2017

Dell doesn't put cheap power supplies in their computer. 80Plus certification shouldn't be your major basis in choosing a good quality PSU.

You shouldn't have replaced your power supply unless you're going to upgrade to an ever higher ones.

You can use your old power supply to check if the components are dead.

Mellon Head · 23 Aug 2017

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't Dell have a different pinout on its motherboard power harness than the standard PSU?

Meaning that an off the shelf brand would be physically incompatible with a Dell motherboard unless the 24 pin connector was rewired?

If so, I suspect a lot of damage to the mobo in this case.

mrjimphelps · 24 Aug 2017

Mellon Head said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't Dell have a different pinout on its motherboard power harness than the standard PSU?

Meaning that an off the shelf brand would be physically incompatible with a Dell motherboard unless the 24 pin connector was rewired?

If so, I suspect a lot of damage to the mobo in this case.

The only difference I have found has been that sometimes there was a 20-pin connecter paired with a 4-pin connector, resulting in a total of 24 pins if you used both connectors. Some motherboards had a 24-pin socket, and in these you plug both connectors into the socket; others had a 20-pin socket, so you plug in only the 20-pin connector.

Note the motherboards in the following picture. The Standard-ATX and the Mini-ITX each have a 20-pin socket, while the Micro-ATX has a 24-pin socket.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX#/m...Comparison.jpg

The reason for having 20+4 as two separate connectors was so that the power supply would work with both types of motherboards.

fireberd · 24 Aug 2017

Dell, years ago used a proprietary power connector and front panel connector. They quit doing that 6 or 7 years ago.