question: What causes a PSU that blows up to also sometimes take other PC parts with it?
comment: The PSU is the "power supply unit", so when it "blows up" you could have transient voltages making it to the motherboard, hard drives, etc. The job of the PSU is to convert 120 V or 220 V AC to the 5V and 12V DC that the computer parts use. When the PSU gets shorted or damaged, you could have 120V dumped into the 5V or 12V components, frying them too.
passages: There are two types of PSUs, modular PSUs (MPSU) and non-modular PSUs. Non-modular PSUs come with fixed cables, meaning unused ones will be left unconnected. Modular power supplies have cables that are detachable so unused cables do not create excess clutter but are often more expensive than their non-modular counterparts. Both fulfill the same purpose, but often Modular PSUs are preferred because they allow for better cable management, as they remove the issue of unused cable clutter that non-modular PSUs often have. Semi modular power supplies come with only the necessary cables fixed, while cables that are not necessarily needed are able to be detached.
   Some flaws in hardware may lead to security vulnerabilities where memory protection or other features fail to work properly. Starting in 2017 a series of security vulnerabilities were found in the implementations of speculative execution on common processor architectures that allowed a violation of privilege level.
  
  In 2019 researchers discovered that a manufacturer debugging mode, known as VISA, had an undocumented feature on Intel Platform Controller Hubs, known as chipsets, which made the mode accessible with a normal motherboard possibly leading to a security vulnerability.
  
  Section::::Pentium bugs.
   BULLET::::- BSOD (Blue screen of death)
  
  BULLET::::- Corrupt data
  
  To address them, BIOS updates were released for some NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI based motherboards that eliminate those symptoms. Affected motherboards include: 
  
  BULLET::::- EVGA nForce 680i SLI
  
  BULLET::::- BFG nForce 680i SLI
  
  BULLET::::- Biostar TF680i SLI Deluxe
  
  BULLET::::- ECS PN2-SLI2+
   STOP is layered into four "rings" and each ring is further subdivided into layers. The innermost ring has hardware privilege and applications, including privileged commands, run in the outermost. The inner three rings constitute the "kernel". Software in an outer ring is prevented from tampering with software in an inner ring. The kernel is part of every process’s address space and is needed by both normal and privileged processes.
   Amongst devices known to have bricking issues are: older PCs (more recent models often have dual BIOSes or some other form of protection), many mobile phones, handheld game consoles like the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS, video game consoles like the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, many SCSI devices and some lines of hard disk drives and routers.
   In space-based microprocessors, one of the most vulnerable portions is often the 1st and 2nd-level cache memories, because these must be very small and have very high-speed, which means that they do not hold much charge. Often these caches are disabled if terrestrial designs are being configured to survive SEUs. Another point of vulnerability is the state machine in the microprocessor control, because of the risk of entering "dead" states (with no exits), however, these circuits must drive the entire processor and are not as vulnerable as one might think. Another vulnerable processor component is the RAM. To ensure resilience to SEUs, often an error correcting memory is used, together with circuitry to periodically read (leading to correction) or scrub (if reading does not lead to correction) the memory of errors, before the errors overwhelm the error-correcting circuitry.
   Improperly designed and insufficiently tested SMM BIOS code can make the wrong assumptions and not work properly when interrupting some other modes like PAE or 64-bit long mode. According to the documentation of the Linux kernel, around 2004, such buggy implementations of the USB legacy support feature were a common cause of crashes, for example on motherboards based on the Intel E7505 chipset.
   NTF returns are often caused by the following patterns:
  
  BULLET::::- Service technicians using a "shotgun" approach to troubleshooting when they are unable to quickly diagnose a problem or error. Under time pressure to resolve problems quickly, the technician uses multiple replacement parts in hopes that one of them will fix the issue.
  
  BULLET::::- Inability to distinguish hardware problems from software or configuration issues. For example, a device driver problem may mimic a true hardware problem.
  
  BULLET::::- Intermittent problems.
  
  Section::::Impact.
   BULLET::::- The disks are likely to have been shipped at the same time, thus they are likely to have suffered from the same transportation damage.
  
  BULLET::::- As installed both disks are attached to the same power supply, making them vulnerable to the same power supply issues.
  
  BULLET::::- As installed both disks are in the same case, making them vulnerable to the same overheating events.
  
  BULLET::::- They will be both attached to the same card or motherboard, and driven by the same software, which may have the same bugs.
   Asuka 120% Burning Fest
  
  Originally released on the FM Towns home personal computer in 1994, it was released for multiple systems through the years.
  
  Section::::Plot.
   On Linux, a process (such as codice_1) writes a message to the kernel log and/or the console screen (usually only to the console when the error is non-recoverable and the machine crashes as a result):
  
  Section::::Problem types.
  
  Most of these errors relate specifically to the Pentium processor family. Similar errors may occur on other processors and will cause similar problems.
  
  Some of the main hardware problems that cause MCEs include:
  
  BULLET::::- System bus errors: (error communicating between the processor and the motherboard).
   BULLET::::- Using a BGA "preform" with embedded balls corresponding to the device pattern, or
  
  BULLET::::- Using semiautomated or fully automated machinery.
  
  For the PS3 and Xbox mentioned above, the time is about 120 minutes if all goes well.
   Section::::Complex assembly.
   As of May 2008, there is a superior exploit called Free McBoot, which is applicable to all PS2s including Slimlines except for SCPH-9000x models with BIOS 2.30 and up, where the exploit was patched by Sony. Manufacturing of such homebrew-proof models started in the third quarter of 2008, which is denoted as date code 8C on the console, although some consoles of this line still have the old unpatched 2.20 BIOS.
   Section::::Cause.
  
  Terrestrial SEU arise due to cosmic particles colliding with atoms in the atmosphere, creating cascades or showers of neutrons and protons, which in turn may interact with electronic circuits. At deep sub-micron geometries, this affects semiconductor devices in the atmosphere.
   General protection faults are caught and handled by modern operating systems. Generally, if the fault originated in a user-mode program, the user-mode program is terminated. If, however, the fault originated in a core system driver or the operating system itself, the operating system usually saves diagnostic information either to a file or to the screen and stops operating. It either restarts the computer or displays an error screen, such as a Blue Screen of Death or kernel panic.
  
  Section::::Technical causes for faults.:Segment limits exceeded.
  
  Segment limits can be exceeded:
   For example, the excavations of voids leads to increased wiring resistance and the growth of whiskers leads to contact formation and current leakage. An example of a conductor which exhibits whisker growth due to electromigration is shown in the figure below:
  
  One example which exhibits void formation (in this case severe enough to have led to complete failure) is shown in this figure:
  
  Section::::Computer components.:Memory.:Temperature.
  
  Contrary to popular assumption, DRAMs used in most modern computers retain their contents for several seconds after power is lost, even at room temperature and even if removed from a motherboard.
   Devices such as a USB Killer may be used to damage or render completely unusable anything with a connection to the motherboard of a computer, such as a USB port, video port, Ethernet port, or serial port. Without proper protection, these devices may result in the destruction of ports, adapter cards, storage devices, RAM, motherboards, CPUs, or anything physically connected to the device attacked, such as monitors, flash drives, or wired switches. These types of devices can even be used to damage smartphones and cars, as well.
   Single event upset
  
  A single event upset (SEU) is a change of state caused by one single ionizing particle (ions, electrons, photons...) striking a sensitive node in a micro-electronic device, such as in a microprocessor, semiconductor memory, or power transistors. The state change is a result of the free charge created by ionization in or close to an important node of a logic element (e.g. memory "bit"). The error in device output or operation caused as a result of the strike is called an SEU or a soft error.
   BULLET::::- Bogus USB ports will be detected by mobile PCH equipped with 6 USB ports (HM55) on the first EHCI controller. This can happen when AC power and battery are removed after entering ACPI S4. Applying AC power or battery back and resuming from S4 may result in non detected or even non functioning USB device (erratum 13)
  
  BULLET::::- Reading the HPET comparator timer immediately after a write returns the old value (erratum 14)
  
  BULLET::::- SATA 6Gbit/s devices may not be detected at cold boot or after ACPI S3, S4 resume (erratum 21)
  
  Section::::Langwell.
   Monolithic operating systems such as Linux and FreeBSD and hybrids like Windows have millions of lines of kernel code. In contrast, MINIX 3 has about 6,000 lines of executable kernel code, which can make problems easier to find in the code.
  
  Section::::Reliability policies.:Cage the bugs.
  
  In monolithic kernels, device drivers reside in the kernel. Thus, when a new peripheral is installed, unknown, untrusted code is inserted in the kernel. One bad line of code in a driver can bring down the system.
   BULLET::::- TSOP flashing: reflashing the onboard BIOS chip with a hacked BIOS to circumvent the security mechanisms. The Xbox BIOS is contained on a commodity EEPROM (the 'TSOP'), which can be made writable by the Xbox by bridging points on the motherboard. Flashing is usually carried out by using a specially crafted gamesave (see 'Game save exploit', below) to flash the onboard TSOP, but the TSOP can also be de-soldered and re-written in a standard EEPROM programmer. This method only works on 1.0 to 1.5 Xboxes, as version 1.6 (the final hardware version produced) replaced the commodity TSOP with an LPC ROM contained within a proprietary chip.
   BULLET::::- The design did not have any hardware interlocks to prevent the electron-beam from operating in its high-energy mode without the target in place.
  
  BULLET::::- The engineer had reused software from older models. Such methods manifest in so called cargo cult programming where there is blind reliance on previously created code that is poorly understood and may or may not be applicable. These models had hardware interlocks that masked their software defects. Those hardware safeties had no way of reporting that they had been triggered, so there was no indication of the existence of faulty software commands.
   BULLET::::- Bogus USB ports will be detected by desktop PCHs equipped with 6 USB ports (3420, H55) on the first EHCI controller. This can happen when AC power is removed after entering ACPI S4. Applying AC power back and resuming from S4 may result in non detected or even non functioning USB device (erratum 12)
   In August, 2011, information about hardware that was downgrading PlayStations on system software v3.70 was being released. These hardware mods were Nand/Nor chip flashers that would either be soldered or clipped onto the PlayStation’s chips on Nand/Nor chip located on the PlayStation’s motherboard. It would then flash the memory off the chip and backup the PlayStation's firmware hence downgrading the console when the hard-drive was formatted. These flashers still work on the latest system software version and can be purchased online.
  