R.I.P: Enlight 7237 - 230W...

 

Yeap...today's the day I said bye-bye to the PSU from my Enlight 7237 - 230W.

You know how you always see the neighborhood kids playing with all sorts of firecrackers and stuff during the Chinese New Year? Well, with technology being so advanced these days, firecrackers can be made from your own home PC! (Especially one of those huge ones that make a big mess on your front porch... :)  ) Here's my latest : The Enlight 7237 - 230W...small little bugger, that gives out a whole lot of noise!!! And SPARKS!!! You should have seen the little "show"! 

Here's how: Be bored. Be VERY bored. Then, be cuirous. Grab a pen and proceed to walk to your computer. Your computer is still on, idle, not doing anything. You lean over. You look at that voltage selector on the PSU. It shows - 250v. "What's the other choice?" you think to yourself. Armed with a pen, you proceed to inset the pen into the slot and switch it over to 115v. You hear a loud *pOp!* sound followed by a shower of sparks. You're still a little blur and you just stand there, staring at your PC in a daze. It's so "wonderful", It's all happening in slow-motion... You hear that *pOp!* sound again...no wait....now it sounds like a gun being fired....followed by an even bigger shower of sparks, and soon smoke starts coming out. Reality strikes and your like "#^&$#^&@&(**!!" You rush to turn off the mains and start to pray and hope that everything is O.K. Right now you're a little shaky...You start to walk over to the PC to check out the damage. You open the case, only to reveal all your hardware in perfect condition! You're relieved.

So, what did actually happen...? you ask yourself. That smell of burning electric hangs around in the case. You grab your rubber slippers, gloves and a test pen. You stick the test pen almost everywhere and it shows that everything is dead. Safe. You pluck out all the wires, then unscrew the PSU. It's a little warm, and the first thought that comes to your mind is a blown fuse, which happened to your other PC some time ago.

Why is it warm then? All that sparks, loud sounds and heat could not have been from a exploding fuse. You unscrew the cover, to let out a strong smell of burning electric that starts choking you. You take a look inside of the PSU cover, and you see something that looks like what some fire blasting would have left behind on one of the sides. You start to worry. You look over at the PCB, and you see that one little component has been split into 3, a wire has been melted, and a whole lot of black stuff.

Ka-CHING! $$$ "Great...now I have to fork up another RM150 for a new PSU..." you tell yourself. Your eyes move over the fuse, which was what you thought the problem was. A simple 15 cents and almost 30 minute fix. It turns out...the fuse is as good as new!!! You remove the fuse for further inspection and yeap...the fuse is still good, still working, untouched, not even a speck of dust in sight!!! You're frustrated, a little ticked off, and you just go, "Ahh,  f*** it..." and you go fix yourself a little dinner...

The Damage...Here's some pics of what happened in there...

       

See that blackish mark there? That is what the explosion had left behind. It was so powerful that it had hit the top too! See that bluish - blackish thing? That was some small bright blue component that's now all burnt and black, and it has also split into 3!!! The whitish stuff nearby is burn marks, and if you look carefully, you will see some burnt wire like thing coming from behind the component, going upwards. That is a now melted wire that comes from the voltage selector. argh! The stupidest this was the damn fuse!!! Isn't that supposed to go first if there's a power surge or something? sheeesh...

Conclusion...Well, I'll think of it this way, I've now got an 80mm Sunon fan to stick somewhere and a whole lot of wire! There's also two pieces of heatsink that could come in handy somewhere... :) On the other hand, I've got to fork up at least another RM150 for a new PSU!!! Sigh...