First my PSU, now what? [PC repair]

Improvolone

The Past: I built my own pc about 6 months ago, yay! My PSU died about a month ago, boo! NewEgg sent me a new one, yay!

The Present: I've installed the new PSU and can't get the computer to do anything. I can't even to get it to beep or post. Out of sheer curiosity I tried the old PSU with the same results. Oh God, I hope I don't have to buy a new fucking motherboard...

The Future?: I didn't have to buy a new fucking motherboard! There was just some weird problem that fixed everything!

Pirusu

I wish I had a good response for you, but it sounds like your PSU fried your motherboard (at the very least).

Improvolone

Perfect, just after the wonderful Black Friday sales.

Tox

What brand is your motherboard?

I always like to inquire, because of everybody I know that's had PSU issues, I'm the only one that's never fried a board. I'm guessing it has something to do with my preference for ASUS/ASRock boards, but I always like to know what brand of boards can survive a PSU failure.

Improvolone

Gigabyte

Tox

Really? Gotta tell ya, that's the first positive review I've heard of them. Has their product quality improved much over the last 5-10 years? Back when I first started building rigs, their mobos were just terrible.

Improvolone

No clue, but I wouldn't take my mobo possibly dying as a positive review.

Tox

Thought you said everything was fixed. Is the mobo not in the clear yet?

Djeet

You could try resetting the CMOS before replacing the motherboard. I've had some luck with that when a system won't even power on after a power event. Pull the power cable, ethernet and any powered peripherals connected via USB. Pull the CMOS battery from its holder and count to 30, then replace everything and try to power up. Alternately there may be a jumper on your motherboard that lets you reset the CMOS.

Improvolone

Ahh, seems the OP was a bit misleading. "The Future" is me saying what I hope is this case, since I'd rather not have to get yet another piece of hardware replaced.
So yea, mobo is still very much suspect. Highly suspect, I might add.

Tox

That sucks. I hate it when a mobo fails. It's just the worst.

Yeah, I guess try to reset the CMOS, hopefully that will fix it.

Is even the power indicator on the board lighting up when you plug it up to the PSU?

Improvolone

The board kinda powers up; CPU fan turns on and the power light comes on (the case power light). Interestingly enough, I can turn it on with the power button, but the only way to turn it off is by pulling the plug. The power button doesn't respond at all to turn it off.

Tox

After you turn it on, try pulling the connector for the power button. I had what sounds like a similar problem on a board, and that helped. I could turn it on with the power button, but then I had to immediately d/c the connector, and just turn it off from the OS (or pull the plug before I got that far).

It could be the connector is bad, or a short in the wire. That'd be a much cheaper replacement than the whole board.

Improvolone

I disconnected the HDD because I have a tiny ass case and this gives me more room to work in. If it worked, it would still show me something on the screen without a HDD connected, right?

edit: CMOS battery pulled and reseated, no change

dbl edit: When I said the power light comes on, I mean the case's power light

Tox

Yeah, it would go through the BIOS boot, and then give you the "Insert disk" prompt, basically. Is the optical still hooked up?

Improvolone

It is only the new PSU and the mobo, I even took the RAM out

Tox

Yeah, it should give you the "Insert disk" or whatever prompt.

What, if anything, is displayed on the screen when you boot? Does the keyboard/mouse light up?

Improvolone

I don't have a wired mouse or keyboard to check with, but the screen (over HDMI) has no signal at all (my TV tells me if there is a signal or not). I have an mp3 player I could use to check if the USB ports are getting power though, if that could matter.

Tox

Do you have anything VGA you can connect it to, to see if there's any feedback from the POST or anything?

Improvolone

I don't have a VGA cable here, but I might be able to get one at work tomorrow.

Tox

Yeah, I guess try that. I'm not really sure.

Are you using onboard or card? Generally, before I diagnose motherboard, I want it to be the only thing I'm dealing with, because they can be damned expensive, especially if you're replacing it needlessly.

Improvolone

Yea, onboard. It is quite literally a PSU and mobo hooked up to my TV.

Foomy

do you have a pc speaker(the tiny little one that plugs into the mobo) hooked to it? see if you can get some beep codes if any to help narrow down the problem

Improvolone

My case usually beeps when it starts up, it currently make no beeps at all.

corky842

Improvolone wrote: »

It is only the new PSU and the mobo, I even took the RAM out

Computers will not boot at all if there is no RAM or CPU installed.

Improvolone

All right, RAM is back in (CPU has always been in, a-duh on my part here) and nothing has changed.

Tox

corky842 wrote: »

Improvolone wrote: »

It is only the new PSU and the mobo, I even took the RAM out

Computers will not boot at all if there is no RAM or CPU installed.

Wow I can't believe I missed that.

It is entirely possible the PSU is bad (it's always possible to get a DOA product). Your machine seems to be doing essentially what mine was when the PSU was failing on it. Was it brand new in the box, or off the shelf?

I'm just trying to come up with anything it could possibly be besides the motherboard because....yeah, I hate saying a board is fried.

Improvolone

The PSU is brand new from NewEgg. I actually found a Dell sitting next to my dumpster the other day. After making sure it didn't have any bugs inside (yay thumbscrews), I took it home assuming I could do something with it. Maybe I'll scavenge the PSU to at least see if my mobo is working. I don't have a proper monitor and since the Dell doesn't have HDMI out I can't test its motherboard at home (as a double check against mine).

Tox

I'm seeing a few PSUs on NewEgg that have reviews reporting DOAs, or just crummy units. How high quality of a unit did you purchase?

Improvolone

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151090&Tpk=seasonic%20psu%20300tfx

My case has stupid psu dimensions. Next time, I'm just building my computer directly into my home theatre cabinet.

Soggybiscuit

Improvolone wrote: »

Gigabyte

Actually, I just had a problem with my gigabyte board that turned out not to be the board in the end.

Start by removing the video card - if it posts, beeps, etc. You know you have a bad video card. That is exactly what happened to me - thought the PSU went out, system wouldn't boot (at all, no beeps, nothing). Bought a new PSU, same results. Eventually I bought a new system, tried to reuse my video card, same results again. Had to replace the video card.

Improvolone

On board video

Tox

Soggybiscuit wrote: »

Improvolone wrote: »

Gigabyte

Actually, I just had a problem with my gigabyte board that turned out not to be the board in the end.

Start by removing the video card - if it posts, beeps, etc. You know you have a bad video card. That is exactly what happened to me - thought the PSU went out, system wouldn't boot (at all, no beeps, nothing). Bought a new PSU, same results. Eventually I bought a new system, tried to reuse my video card, same results again. Had to replace the video card.

Is it possible that, since he's using onboard video, for that to still be the problem, and able to be solved by using a video card?

Mugsley

Dell uses proprietary connectors and only (iirc) PC Power & Cooling has aftermarket PSUs that will work for their mobos/cases. Hence, I'll be surprised if the Dell you scavenged will have a PSU that will work for you.

I've heard good things about Gigabyte recently, but I have never owned one of their boards myself. Right around when they released the Dual-Bios, their reviews started getting better.


Check that everything is seated/reseated properly. Look for any kind of grey goo around any of the capacitors on your board. Look for any possible brown marks on the board that could give away where something could have fried.

Try using a different or no power strip if you're using one. It's possible you're still getting bad power to the PSU itself.

If you're getting lights on the board, use the mobo manual to tell you what they are indicating (one may be a "power good" light). You can also pick up a PSU tester from a Radio Shack type place to test the PSU without connecting it to the mobo. Unfortunately you can't do the same with the mobo itself.