|
Problem description: Computer won't boot. When I hit the power button no fans spin up but the motherboard light that indicates it's receiving power does light up. This is also the only light that turns on. I get nothing from the power light on the case, monitors, etc. I'll also hear a little click noise when I hit the power button but that's the only feedback I get when I hit the button. Attempted fixes: -Confirmed everything was plugged in and PSU was switched on -Power cycle (both PSU and surge protector) -Tested booting with the motherboard power-on button to rule out anything with the actual power button on the case Recent changes: Nothing internal, added an external USB bluetooth receiver about 4 months ago. Operating system: Windows 10 System specs: Processor: Intel i5 4690k Mobo: ASUS Z97 Graphics: AMD RX 480 RAM: 16GB (4x4GB) PSU: Corsair CS 650M PSU (I think?) HDD: Samsung Spinpoint 1 TB + Segate BUP Slim 2 TB SSD: Samsung 830 256GB + Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB Location: USA I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes, see below for more details/thoughts on what I've found More Thoughts/Details My suspicion is that it's a bad PSU however in Googling I've seen a variety of other causes of this sort of activity including a bad motherboard, weird shorts, faulty power button, etc. A lot of what I found dealt with people building new systems but this machine hasn't been modified in over a year and just suddenly stopped booting sometime between Thursday morning and Thursday evening. There was no power surge from what I could ascertain as all the clocks in the house are fine and the surge protector I have is still indicating its surge protection is active and wasn't knocked out by a surge. This is not the first time I've potentially had a PSU die as I had another one go bad on me a few years back, although I suspect that's because a screw fell into it and shorted out the whole assembly. I also suspect the motherboard or potentially the power button based on what I've read, although my testing so far makes me think that the power button is unlikely as I get the same system response if I use the power button on the case or the power button on the motherboard. My remedy right now is that I'm buying a new PSU as well as a multimeter and PSU testing unit. Hopefully the PSU fixes the problem and if not the other tools will let me get a better diagnosis hopefully. I wanted to make this thread in case I'm missing something here and the issue is more systemic. Are there any tests I can do to more accurately determine what's broken in the event a new PSU doesn't fix it? Did I somehow not supply enough current to the system with the PSU? 650 watts seems like more than enough for a system with a pretty pedestrian video card like mine. I considered pulling RAM and seeing if that was the cause but with the fans not turning on it doesn't seem like RAM would be the issue and I don't have any spare RAM that I could swap in anyway. Thank you in advance for your help! axeil fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Feb 16, 2019 |
#
?
Feb 15, 2019 19:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 12:11 |
|
|
Update Tested the power supply with the power supply tester and got the following results.  I believe this means the PSU is good and it's the motherboard that is dead. Welp.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2019 02:09
|
|
|
axeil posted:I wanted to make this thread in case I'm missing something here and the issue is more systemic. Are there any tests I can do to more accurately determine what's broken in the event a new PSU doesn't fix it? Did I somehow not supply enough current to the system with the PSU? The next step is to disconnect all non-essential peripherals from the computer (HDs/SSDs/other drives, GPU etc.) Also, try using onboard video and only one stick of RAM. If you have everything disconnected and it still won't turn on then you could also try taking it out of the case and placing the motherboard on a nonconductive surface. Your PSU is probably okay as long as it's not too old. axeil posted:I considered pulling RAM and seeing if that was the cause but with the fans not turning on it doesn't seem like RAM would be the issue and I don't have any spare RAM that I could swap in anyway. Bad RAM could prevent a computer from turning on. If it is bad RAM it's likely only one stick that went bad. axeil posted:I believe this means the PSU is good and it's the motherboard that is dead. Welp. PSU testers can quickly show if a PSU is dead but if a PSU is slowly failing those testers won't be able to determine that.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2019 22:22
|
|
|
Thanks for the help Zogo! I ended up using a PSU tester on the PSU last night and it confirmed it was good. Let me tell you my tale so anyone reading this in the future can learn the same very, very expensive lesson I learned but without the cost. I figured a system that won't boot with a good PSU has either a CPU, Mobo or RAM problem. Since my system still used older DDR3 RAM and a replacement CPU/Mobo cost about as much as a new one I decided to just upgrade everything. So I came home this morning from Microcenter (got a new case too) and installed everything and...the system still wouldn't boot.  I cursed my misfortune, tried swapping in the PSU I got last night and still saw no boot. I finally did exactly what Zogo said and started pulling components. Lo and behold, it was the GPU that was busted. I then went and got a new RX 580 and everything works great. I've got a dead RX 480 but can't think of why it would've died. Bad OC maybe?
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2019 03:18
|
|
|
axeil posted:I've got a dead RX 480 but can't think of why it would've died. Bad OC maybe? Capacitors exploding, overheating, GPU memory failures etc. There are a lot of things that can go wrong.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2019 23:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 12:11 |
|
|
Zogo posted:Capacitors exploding, overheating, GPU memory failures etc. There are a lot of things that can go wrong. And this was a reference design from XFX which from what I hear is a manufacturer of questionable quality.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2019 04:40
|
|