FireWire card possibly shorted my PC

[snapware]

After installing a firewire card into the motherboard last week, my pc stopped working. Apparently the motherboard died, i think the firewire card must have shorted the machine because a light in the case went dead also.

[zoobie]

You can double check here:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/index.cfm?go=discuss.allthreads&forumid=1

[redwudz]

It could be the FW card, but I would check a few other things first, it you haven't.

Pull the FW card and look for any physical damage on it. For it to blow a PS or MB, there would need to be a short in the traces or the plug to the MB. Components shorted internally aren't likely to cause that problem. Check the MB PCI socket, maybe something was stuck in there.

Usually PS's don't blow that easily unless it was a major short. And that sounds like the PS is dead. It may have blown the internal fuse in the PS. I hesitate to tell you to try another PS, since if the problem is still there, you could blow it also.

I would also check all the internal connections in the case on the off chance something got unplugged when you installed the FW card. If something obviously burnt up and you witnessed it, then you could be more sure of the shorted FW card idea. If it just failed to turn on, then it might be something else.

Beyond that, you almost need another PC to test the drives and other parts to see if they are OK.

I've had a couple of PS's blow, one on it's own with smoke and flames and the other quietly when I dumbly moved a cable when the PS was on and shorted the 5V lead to the 12V one. Both incidences took out most all the computer. I had one DVD ROM that survived from both, everything else was toast.

If all it did blow the MB, maybe everything else survived.