New AX860i up in smoke!

[Croak]

So my AX860i arrived today from Amazon.co.uk. First thing I did was run a self-test with the unit, the relays clicked, the fan spun up, and the green light came on.

 

From there I removed the CX750 that was powering my perfectly running system, installed the 860i but didn't plug anything in, pre-routed all the modular cables nice and tidy, checked and double-checked that everything was seated and good, then connected all the modular cables to the PSU.

 

Plugged the PSU in with the supplied new beefy mains cable, flicked the PSU power switch, and all my board and GPU LEDs glowed. Hit the power switch, the system tried powering up for a moment, then shut off before completing POST.

 

Tried this a few times, same result. Unplugged and plugged back in all the cables, double checking that nothing was shorting or bending weird, same result, it would power on briefly then quit. Removed my video cards and plugged into the on-board Intel graphics, same thing.

 

Disconnected everything again, nothing at all plugged into the PSU, and tried another self-test.

 

That's when the fireworks happened. It started sizzling and big fat white sparks shot out of the "24PIN ATX" socket, followed by a thick mass of smoke. I killed the power on the battery backup and then went and changed my shorts.

 

Ok, feces occurs, I was bummed out that I'd have to wait for a replacement to be cross shipped from Amazon and glad that my bowels were mostly empty before this happened, but not too concerned.

 

Went through the process of re-installing the CX750 and to my dismay, the system still wouldn't complete POST, and won't even stay on long enough for the diagnostic numeric LED to display any error codes. It's dead, Jim.

 

I'm typing this on my dusty old laptop, very upset that my new PSU may have just fried my expensive and week-old system before it took itself out. Let me also add that I'm on the tiny island nation of Malta, so there's no quick replacements even if I wanted to throw money at the problem, just about everything in the system had to be imported.

 

Amazon will replace the AX860i, no worries there other than the week turn-around time, but what recourse do I have with the rest of the system?

 

Also, would you rather I sent the unit back to Corsair instead of Amazon UK so you could investigate what happened?

 

And did I mention I was upset?

[peanutz94]

Amazon will replace the AX860i, no worries there other than the week turn-around time, but what recourse do I have with the rest of the system?

Also, would you rather I sent the unit back to Corsair instead of Amazon UK so you could investigate what happened?

 

It would be best in this situation to return it to Corsair and this way you can request a damage claim for for your other hardware.

 

Please use the link on the left to request an RMA. Also please stress to them that this is a brand new PSU and ask for a shipping label for the PSU. At least that would be covered postage wise, but you may need to send the MB as well.

[Croak]

RMA submitted, with an edited version of my OP attached as a comment.

 

Ticket number is 6277487

[Croak]

RamGuy jumped right on this, we worked it out, I'm no longer upset. :)

[V-Man]

Out of curiosity, what resolution did they offer you?

[Croak]

They offered to check out the suspected damaged components and reimburse if the the power supply was the cause, and pick up the cost of shipping to and from. About as fair a deal as I could ask for, considering, and if I were Corsair I wouldn't be writing a check for somebody's broken stuff before I investigated either.

 

After I got the details on that, I didn't want to send EVERYTHING in my system to Corsair if I didn't have to, so I borrowed a motherboard from work and tested all the components. Drives, GPUs, CPU, RAM all checked out ok in the test board, the only casualties seem to have been the PSU and my Asus motherboard.

 

Since I had just purchased the motherboard from Amazon less than a week before the PSU, I sent a support request in, told them all the details, and asked what they could do for me.

 

Answer came back in less than five minutes: "We're shipping you a new PSU and motherboard, unless you'd rather have a refund instead".

 

I opted for the replacement parts, and they're not going to charge me unless I fail to send the defective units back within 30 days after getting the new stuff.

 

Moral of the story? Corsair support is damned solid. Amazon support is amazing.

[Rubeus]

I´m very worry reading this, because I bought a Corsair AX860i, together with a Corsair H80i Cooler, seven months ago, and it was a surprise for me the low quality of these components. I´ve always bought Corsair because I always thought it´s a good quality hardware company, and I was very happy and secure... but with these AX860i and the H80i... I´m afraid my opinion changed 180º :(

 

My AX860i makes a strange sound when I switch on and switch off my PC. Also, sometimes there´s a little buzz which is scary... I don´t know what to do. I´ll try to RMA them and ask for a refund, because I don´t want to take any risks of this kind...

[peanutz94]

Thats awesome. Glad that worked out for you.

[peanutz94]

Rubeus, this is a support forum. Your going to see failures of all kinds here. Go to any other other manufacturers site and you will see the exact same things. It's impossible to manufacture anything with out a defect here and there.

 

My AX860i makes a strange sound when I switch on and switch off my PC.

A click?

Also, sometimes there´s a little buzz which is scary... I don´t know what to do. I´ll try to RMA them and ask for a refund, because I don´t want to take any risks of this kind..

.

It's quite normal.

 

Where did you buy your PSU?

[Croak]

Just a quick update, new PSU arrived from Amazon yesterday, installed it last night.

 

Great PSU. Totally cleared up issues I was having with my 7970's that I thought were the fault of the GPU, and get this...they run almost 10C cooler now under long term benchmarking loads.

 

I'm guessing it has to be cleaner power and the rock steady output on the rails. The new modular cables are routed exactly like my old fixed cables so it's not increased airflow, and my old CX750 wasn't putting that much heat in the case, it was always cool to the touch.

 

The lack of fan noise from the 860i is eerie, and now I can actually notice the pump whine on my H100i that used to be masked by the PSU sound. Not a big deal, just an idea how much sound levels dropped with this thing at low load.

 

Only thing I'm not fond of is the PCI-e dual cable design, hard to make them look pretty, and they tend to put more pressure on the GPU boards than I'd like, either both leads into one card or one lead to each card.

 

Might I suggest in future revisions you have them "Y" out of the main cable instead of inline, would make mounting easier and cleaner, put less stress on boards, and you could hide the lumpy chokes or resistors or whatever it is that's under the heatshrink.

 

For now I'm using the extra two single cables that were in my defective kit, but those will have to be shipped back to Amazon.

 

One other note...my H100i would never retain the LED settings after a reboot, it would always start as light blue. To get the colors to change I'd have to fire up Corsair Link and adjust the settings after every reset (even loading Link at startup didn't solve the problem). Now that the AX860i is plugged into the H100i pump's comm port, everything is working properly, the LED settings persist after reboots, even without Link running at startup. Nice bonus, that.