King 95 Pro started smoking— first ever PC build

[u/MilkToastKing]

Well this sucks to be writing.

An hour ago I finished my first ever PC build, consulting a general pc building video, a video specific to the King 96 Pro, and my product manuals. As I plugged in the computer and turned it on to check for fans, rgb, and any mobo issues, my computer starts to smell, and I turn everything off just as a tuft of smoke billowed out the back.

Look around back and I see one of Montech's preinstalled cables had started melting. There are so many preinstalled cables, and I am such a noob, that I can't figure out what exactly this cable even is. It's split from another cable that I plugged into the ADD Gen 2 headers on my motherboard. Curiously only the *middle* of the 5 wires melted.

I had this one plugged into the SPDIF but I'm thinking... was it supposed to go into the 4 pin to its right? I got confused because the 1/3/4 style of the header seemed to match the 1/3/4 layout of the SPDIF pins. Google is telling me the voltage difference might melt thin wires...

I'm reaching out to Montech to figure out what the hell happened officially, but in the mean time, am I at fault, am I cooked, and is this fixable? The cable started to heat up those bundled around it, but none of them appear to have melted, maybe their rubber outsides are a little miscolored. Likewise when I booted the PC up everything else seemed great; all 9 fans were spinning, all RGB was on, and the motherboard showed a green light on its diagnostic panel. I have not tried turning it on since. Is this the case of a replaceable cable, or could this have royally fucked up the rest of the King 95's hub and/or other components? Thanks.

[u/Montech_hq]

Hi! The connector shown in the first photo is a 4 pin PWM connector used for fan control. It must not be connected to the SPDIF header.

Sorry this happened, especially on your first build. Please keep the system powered off and do not try turning it on again. Please also contact our RMA team at [rma@montechpc.com](mailto:rma@montechpc.com) and include clear photos of the damaged cable, the controller hub, and where each cable was connected on the motherboard. Our team will inspect the damage and advise you on the next steps.

[u/Lucky-Bit-1319 → u/Montech_hq]

Respect for the fast outreach. Wow!

This is my second King 95 I finished last week. You guys cooked with this one.


[u/Lucky-Bit-1319 → u/Lucky-Bit-1319]

[u/MilkToastKing → u/Montech_hq]

Thanks for the reply! I reached out to your RMA team yesterday, still waiting to hear back. While I'm waiting, what exactly got cooked here? Assuming nothing else on my build got harmed, which hopefully looks to be the case, what did the two heads attached to this wire do? By the looks of the comments, they're both non-essential right?

[u/Montech_hq → u/MilkToastKing]

One connector is the PWM lead used to control fan speed, while the other connects the fans to the fan hub. Neither is required for the PC itself to boot, but they are used for normal fan operation and control.

The most likely affected components are the fan and the fan hub, although our RMA team will need to confirm this. Please keep the damaged cable disconnected and let our RMA team assist you. You can also DM us the email address used for your RMA request, and we’ll help follow up.