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My PC took fire

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First post, by JustJulião

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Well, not my PC itself, sorry if it looks like a clickbait.
A Molex to Sata adapter that was hanging in air, still plugged in the Molex. it's a PC I sometimes use booting Acronis to clone OS and disks. I was not using the PC for that purpose so the adapter wasn't in use.
It used to work without any issue. I didn't change anything and it happened suddenly while the PC was powered on since 5mins or so.
It made actual flames, I could hear it taking fire, but the PC seemed to work before I unplugged the PSU.
I didn't turn it on again yet.
I have no clue on what could have caused this, especially since it was not being used. Maybe something metallic stuck in the Sata port ? It would be strange anyways since it's hanging this way since weeks with the PC turned on sometimes all day long.
Not sure what to do now. Any advice ?

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Last edited by JustJulião on 2023-02-23, 21:30. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 10, by konc

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Yes, throw away these SATA adapters and buy proper ones. It's a known issue, give me a min and I'll find a reference on this forum of what a "proper" adapter is.

Edit: I found the photos I was looking for: Re: Power supply for 6800 Ultra OC AGP?

Last edited by konc on 2023-01-17, 17:26. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 2 of 10, by JustJulião

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konc wrote on 2023-01-17, 13:24:

Yes, throw away these SATA adapters and buy proper ones. It's a known issue, give a min and I'll find a reference on this forum of what a "proper" adapter is.

Thank you, it's "good" to know that it's a known issue with these. I was feeling slightly traumatized to be honest.

Reply 4 of 10, by JustJulião

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Jasin Natael wrote on 2023-01-17, 14:05:

Did it at least "halt" first?
J/K, I have had this happen. Those adapters are terrible.

No everything was behaving normally besides the adapter taking fire.

Reply 5 of 10, by debs3759

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Definitely clickbait (why would I click on a post about a dodgy cable?) 😀

Glad it wasn't plugged into a drive. Coulda been a lot worse!

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 6 of 10, by Half-Saint

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holy crap. I've been using various sata-molex adapters for years any never had a problem. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Just took a look at my adapters and one out of three was molded. Maybe better to just throw it away.

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Reply 9 of 10, by jmarsh

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Maybe cheap and nasty metal used for the pins in the plug, that "splintered" and created a metal whisker when it got plugged into something. Think what happens when you put steel wool on a battery's terminals...

Reply 10 of 10, by chinny22

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I like modular PSU's that way you can get the right connectors type direct from the PSU without any adaptors.
I will admit I do it for looks over safety reasons though.

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