Server case back plane went crackle, pop and boom

[craigdt]

Hey all,

So my TGC-4824 case I have been running for 2 years has recently decided to have a little problem with the backplane on it as you will see with the photos below:



So I thought maybe the capacitors caused the problem, but then the harddrive that connected to that port also has its port melted/burnt.

When I disconnected the backplane completely, the server actually turns on again no problems, but I'm now in the middle of testing all the hardware that survived from being scorched.

So do you think it was the capacitors that caused the problem or something else ?

So far from the burn marks, I've lost:
1x 6tb WD Red HDD
1x Backplane
1x cable that connects to the back plane

Hoping I haven't lost any more hardware with my testing.

 

[garm]

Computers run on smoke, when the smoke escapes they stop

 

[jgreco]

So I thought maybe the capacitors caused the problem, but then the harddrive that connected to that port also has its port melted/burnt.

When I disconnected the backplane completely, the server actually turns on again no problems, but I'm now in the middle of testing all the hardware that survived from being scorched.

So do you think it was the capacitors that caused the problem or something else ?

My offhand guess in order of likelihood would be that a pin got bent when you inserted the drive, or wasn't making sufficient contact, or that the drive had a spectacular stall failure of some sort.

A bent pin might survive for quite some time and one day vibration might finally cause lateral movement that shorted out the supply to ground. An insufficiently well connected pin can cause heating on other pins. SATA power connector fires are not unheard-of.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/power-connector-burned-can-my-drive-be-salvaged.653637/

Anything that would cause a larger amount of power than the connector is rated for could potentially cause this sort of damage. That basically works out to the three cases I suggested above. The capacitors are almost certainly just collateral damage.