3 dead PSUs after installation of 2x SATA HDD (raid0)

Hello,
I've recently bought two Seagate 200GB SATA drives with the intent of setting up raid0 on them.
I put them in, had everything perfect, and bang, my 500w PSU (around 1 year old, on for most of that year) goes up in smoke.
I assumed this was just due to it being old, and it having gone through a lot, so i put in an old 300w which i had lying around and was less used.
I set up the raid array from my onboard raid utility and began to set up windows on it, after a few minutes (just before i began formatting for windows setup) the comp just shut off. No audible fuses blowing or smoke this time however.

Pissed off, i brought home a brand new 550w monster for my machine.
This suffered the same fate as my 2nd PSU, the 300w one, but i got so far as formating the drives at around 20%.

I am very worried and havent much idea what could be causing my PSUs to die so easily. I have a brand new 650w ready to go in, but i am being more cautious this time and asking around first.

Here's the specs of my machine:

ASUS A7N8X-E (1 year old, bought at same time as 500w PSU)
AMD ATHLON XP2500 (clocked to fsb to 400 so it appears as XP3200)
512MB 400mhz Crucial RAM
ATI RADEON 9800 PRO
Creative Sound Blaster Live! PCI card
NEC ND2510 Dual Layer DVD writer
Seagate Barracuda ST3120026A 120GB IDE hard drive
2x Seagate Barracuda ST3200822AS 200Gb SATA hard drives

1. Magna 500w PSU
2. Mercury 300w PSU
3. Jou Jye Electronic Co., Ltd 550w
-
4.Q-tec triple fan 650w PSU.


Im not an expert, but i know how to build PCs, i am not sure what could cause this, but my first impression was that i had too many devices that were asking for too much power. Can this kill brand new PSUs?
The fuse on the plug is still intact.

If anyone has any theories, solutions, help or anything at all, i would be extremely greatful.

Thank you, Osirls

EDIT:
Lights on the board light up when PSU is connected to mains but power button does nothing.

 

Thanks for your reply,
It gave me a recommended voltage of 312watts, which is 410watts after adding 30%, well within my 550w PSU.
Ive just tried the last two PSUs in another machine, this only confirmed they are dead.

 

Your 300w didn't stand a chance either way. I can see that one going up in smoke no matter what.

Some of possibly other things to do next time around
- Re-inspect connections throughout board.
- Connect only one of your SATA drives.
- Return CPU to normal, don't overclock it.
- Especially review your connectiuoins to the power source.
- If your GPU is OC, and it didn't come that way, return it to normal out of box conditions.
- Forget everything Overclocked in general, for this trial.

With all this try another cheaper 550W, before you try the 650W. If it works then try hooking your second drive up (I hope you are getting the SATA raid0 raid1 hooked up right) then try. If it works again, overclocking was the problem. This doesn't seem like to many devices. Rather, the hardware is being taxed, and actually that may be fried because of OC, not your PSU.

I wish I could see it, you say it "went up in smoke", did it? Or di it just shut off? Are the PSUs damaged visibly?

I asked this because it's apparent 500W would have been more than enough.

I could be wrong, because I am not there looking at it. No garuntees here, at all. It's your risk, you do what you have to do.

 

I want to stress your raid0 raid1 connections, review them against all your instructions with the MB and the drives. Are you running a new OS off one of the 200GB SATA drives?

 

I have been running this machine almost permentantly for a year now overclocked, can that really be the problem?

Could it be that one of the drives is faulty? I bought them from ebuyer, which sent me one of the drives which was faulty before (It was not detected) so i sent that back. (They also sent me the wrong colour cold cathode CPU fan(for an xbox jewel mod, thats another story)! Ebuyer have good prices, BAD service )

I am fairly certain i have set up the raid properly. I read my mobo manual well beforehand to ensure i was doing things right, besides, its not extremely complicated anyway.

GPU is not clocked, ive not touched anything on it.

The 500w (first PSU) made a small pop and smoke came out.
The other two appeared to die in the same was as each other, an immeadiate shut down, but no noise or smoke/smell. When i plug them in i can hear a very faint high pitched noise..

I previously was booting off an old 30gb Maxtor, but was going to install my new boot on this raid 0 array, and then back up my 120gb files onto my raid 0 hds.

I have briefly checked for shortcircuits or anything allowing the mobo to contact the case and found nothing.
I am truely baffled.

 

I can't relate, I'd be easier if I could get my hands on the stuff...

You've established the PSU did blow, thank you, thank cleared up alot. OC isn't the problem then.

At this point and with your last post, it seems your drives are messed up. Are these reman or OEM?

I would not hook those things up again, if something is wrong with them, they could easily jack your PSU. I wouldn't plug them in again. I would get two new in-box from manufacturer. It is highly likely, especially given you said they sent the wrong cathode, wow, I would be scared to buy from them. Who knows what those drives really are inside, plastic plates, lol.

I would try a new configuration using in-box new SATA drives. If it works like this with your new 650W, I would complete rant out on that company and make them pay for three PSUs, at least the first.

Try that, different, brand-new, drives. Same brand though, just retail.

 

Argh right i see.
They were OEM, what is reman?

How can i prove they are faulty?

I will try running my system for a while with my two SATA drives removed and with my 30gb maxtor, and a new 400w that i have.

Thanks for your help, i guess ill have to request a return from ebuyer.
*sigh*

 

Ty for your help too ddp.

Im now typing this on my machine, all is fine with drives removed.
How could a faulty drive cause a PSU to die?
How can i identify which of the drives is causing problems?

I will buy from another company next time.

 

Heh i could do that i suppose, but i will let ebuyer waste their money on testing them, i will not lose another PSU.

Just writing my brief/complaints on the issue to them.

Thanks for your help.

 

Score, it was the drives. When you said they sent you the wrong cathode, I figured they were used/OEM/reman, then I got a very bad feeling about them.

This is why I buy everything retail-boxed. I won't even buy OEM. The fact that the PSU works when the drives are not hooked up should be enough for them to refund at least one of your PSUs. Or send a replacement. Go for it, and tell us what they say.

If they send you new PSUs you can send one to me I am building a new computer and need a 650W.

 

Obviously I'm buying my own, I was kidding, duh