Burned yellow cable from video card 4 pin cable

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by dsnf, Mar 13, 2010.

  1. dsnf

    dsnf Private E-2

    Hello, could you please give me an idea of what may have caused my cable to fry up - please see attached photograph? Computer was working fine till I turned it on last night, and nothing on monitor. Power LED on comp and monitor and hard drive LED continuously on. Took computer apart and powered up - CPU fan works, video card fan not working. Yellow cable from 4-set cable (4pin cable) burnt right through and broken!! Have replaced the cable and all working OK again now, but is there a more sinister probem? THank you in advance for any assistance - dsnf:confused
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2010
  2. tr00pertj

    tr00pertj Private E-2

    Hi

    In reply, Was the burned cable touching any heat sinks inside the case when you first opened it up? It could also be a cap overcurrent problem where the cap it overdrawing amps through that particular wire. No pic. Was the wire burned from the inside? Was there black burn marks on the yellow plastic cover?

    What card model is it, it`s probable that its on the way out or the cable (wire) it`s self was faulty.
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2010
  3. dsnf

    dsnf Private E-2

    Hi there, firstly yes silly, forgot to attach the photo, went back into the post to edit and add the attachment, but timed out while resizing the pic. I've emailed the administrator of the site (as per the instructions) to request he add the picture to the thread. It didn't look like the cable was touching anything hot, It would seem it's heated up from the inside, the plastic yellow cover is bubbled and burnt right off in a couple of spots, and the cable has snapped. The video card is 3 months old-when I upgraded to Windows 7 my old video card wouldn't work. This one is HD3850 PowerColor ATI Radeon 512mb Dual DVI. Belarc advisor: System Model
    Windows 7 Ultimate (build 7600)
    Install Language: English (United States)
    System Locale: English (Australia) Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 4600i
    System Service Tag: 39LS91S (support for this PC)
    Chassis Serial Number: 39LS91S
    Enclosure Type: Mini-Tower
    Processor a Main Circuit Board b
    2.80 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
    8 kilobyte primary memory cache
    512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
    Not hyper-threaded Board: Dell Computer Corp. 0F4491
    Serial Number: ..CN4811143304IB.
    Bus Clock: 533 megahertz
    BIOS: Dell Computer Corporation A12 08/26/2004
    Drives Memory Modules c,d
    100.00 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
    49.25 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
    I'm wondering if the new video card is too power hungry for the quite old motherboard perhaps?
    Thank you for your interest and advice, kind regards Darlene
     
  4. dsnf

    dsnf Private E-2

    This is the photograph of the burned cable. Any ideas for a solution to the cause would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance:confused
     

    Attached Files:

  5. dsnf

    dsnf Private E-2

    Hi - have now inserted the photograph of the burned cable. Thanks again
     
  6. scajjr

    scajjr Sergeant

    Was that connector end plugged into anything or just lying loose? From the pic I'd guess it was touching something hot but pic is kinda small.

    Sam
     
  7. dsnf

    dsnf Private E-2

    Hi Sam, yes one end was plugged into the video/graphics card and the other end plugged into the hard drive. I don't know of anything in the case it would have been touching that was hot. Thanks for your reply. Kind regards dsnf :)
     
  8. rjc862003

    rjc862003 Corporal

    wow thats NOT good 2 things could have done that
    1 it touched something hot ( maby gpu MOFsets or something)
    2. Something got Shorted/ tried to Draw to much power or something surged
    at any rate I am surprised its still working

    yellow is the Main 12+ feed it would take alot to overload it to the point of burning
    I should point out that the 3850 cards are Notoriously Hot running and draw a lot of power
    my theory is because the 3850 is known to exceed 90-100c under load the HOT air coming off the back of the card softened the plastic insulation to the point when it arched and shorted burning it self out
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2010
  9. tr00pertj

    tr00pertj Private E-2

    Hi

    I took a look at the pic and it is indeed hard to tell (low res pic) but rjc862003is spot on I think in that it can only be a short and/or overdraw (surge) when the yellow plastic wire cover had been blisted and melted due to it being very close to or in contact with a hot component (vid card component most probably). My 4870x2 was hot as buggery with the fans default of 26% on all drivers up to the cat 10.2 when amd/ati Must have changed the driver settings to default too 50%. I almost lost my card because the gigabyte implementation of powerplay was shoddy and did not kick the fan in when the temps were on the way up (under load). I tested the back of the pcb under one of my gpu`s (on the aluminium cover) with a multimeter and the temp was way to high 106-109degrees c, hot enough to melt plastic I believe.

    Make sure you`ve got the latest drivers for the card and would suggest you make sure the fan on the card is working under load, With the wires well out of the way, just bend them out of the way and/or use cable ties.
     
  10. dsnf

    dsnf Private E-2

    Thanks for your replies everyone, and for your advice, I'll make sure the new wires are well away from the card!!;)
     

MajorGeeks.Com Menu

Downloads All In One Tweaks \ Android \ Anti-Malware \ Anti-Virus \ Appearance \ Backup \ Browsers \ CD\DVD\Blu-Ray \ Covert Ops \ Drive Utilities \ Drivers \ Graphics \ Internet Tools \ Multimedia \ Networking \ Office Tools \ PC Games \ System Tools \ Mac/Apple/Ipad Downloads

Other News: Top Downloads \ News (Tech) \ Off Base (Other Websites News) \ Way Off Base (Offbeat Stories and Pics)

Social: Facebook \ YouTube \ Twitter \ Tumblr \ Pintrest \ RSS Feeds