Gaming Rig not powering on :(

[abillybob]

It would happen on the release date of South Park wouldn't it... Been waiting ages for this game!

 

Basically I live on a pretty large hill out in the country and on Monday night when the storm hit I fancied playing a bit of Mafia III but as soon as I turned my rig on it instantly shut itself down, it then keeps doing it like it's in a boot loop. It was working fine on Sunday night and I've never before had a problem with it for 3 years of using it. So last night I took all the components out and just tried powering it on with only the motherboard. I have figured out that regardless of whether or not the CPU is in the socket as soon as I connect the CPU's 8-Pin power to the motherboard it will turn itself off but if I just power the motherboard up with the 24-Pin ATX power and no CPU power plugged in it stays on.

 

It won't POST, it doesn't beep or give me an error code of any sort. I'm unsure as to whether it's the PSU not giving enough power out, although it will run the motherboard and will run Hard Drives and everything else just fine. Or do you think it would be the motherboard, I can't see any obvious damage but I'm unsure, I've checked the CPU and CPU socket too but can't see anything wrong with the pins.

 

Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks

[Norphy]

I've found that if everything is spinning up but there are no beeps, it's usually the CPU that's FUBARed.

[Passat1983ICTech]

have you reset the bios and take out the ram and put it back in I had something like this and it was the ram not on the ram slot right

[3s-gtech]

I'd put money on the PSU being toast. It's often the component to die first due to it's nature and connection to our sometimes variable grid. If it's a good one, it most likely won't have taken any other components with it.

[Joanne]

I'd be tempted to try swapping out the PSU too. When they don't push out enough power on a couple of cables you can get weird and wonderful things happening.

[Katy]

We had powercycling looping on about 30% of a batch of 60 PCs, after replacing nearly every component on the first few it turned out it was usually RAM (the case design was poor meaning all the cables went up wedged between a stick of RAM and the side of the case), although I never tried them without the 4 pin CPU power being connected, what you said about the 8 pin makes it sound board or CPU related.

 

Have you got access to another machine with the same CPU socket so you can try your CPU on a known good board (and a known good CPU on your board)?

[difinity]

Do you have a multimeter ? Check the motherboard 8 pin connector for a short. Check the PSU for a short on the same connector.

[abillybob]

Cheers all! Even with the RAM out of the motherboard it still won't power on. I have 2 sticks of RAM which I've tried and tested and they work fine so I know it's not the RAM. I've also tried with another PSU and it still does the exact same thing so I can now rule the PSU out.

 

I have tried turning it on with no CPU in the socket and it still does the same so that's why I thought it won't be the actual CPU because my computer turns off whether it's in or not

 

I've tried clearing the BIOS on the motherboard using the clrcmos switch and I've tried using Asus BIOS Flashback feature which apparently doesn't need a CPU installed to work but it won't enter the flashback mode at all! Any other ideas?

[Boredguy]

If your not getting any error beeps with just the bare motherboard, that might be the problem since you said you have already removed everything else and checked with a different PSU.

[Rob_D]

sounds to me like it's time to get a new motherboard.

[Passat1983ICTech]

so you don't get post test when it light up on the key board

 

are you using a hard drive witch spines or ssd drive have you got any other drive one the motherboard if you have take them off and just leave the drive witch have the os on it

[abillybob]

I'd expect though if it was the motherboard for it to power off even when only the 24pin connector is plugged in but it does remain on. I still don't get any video output though when it's like this! My keyboard doesn't light up either when plugged in but my snowball mic does.

 

I haven't even got a HDD connected at the moment I'm just trying to get to the BIOS but it won't even allow me to do that... Although secure boot is enabled but I wouldn't expect this to stop me getting to the BIOS

[difinity]

Cheers all! Even with the RAM out of the motherboard it still won't power on. I have 2 sticks of RAM which I've tried and tested and they work fine so I know it's not the RAM. I've also tried with another PSU and it still does the exact same thing so I can now rule the PSU out.

 

I have tried turning it on with no CPU in the socket and it still does the same so that's why I thought it won't be the actual CPU because my computer turns off whether it's in or not

 

I've tried clearing the BIOS on the motherboard using the clrcmos switch and I've tried using Asus BIOS Flashback feature which apparently doesn't need a CPU installed to work but it won't enter the flashback mode at all! Any other ideas?

 

If you have tried with another PSU use a multimeter to check if you have a short between the 12v and GND on the motherboard on the 12v connector. Sounds like a short on the CPU VRM.

 

The 12v ATX connector is on a separate rail in the PSU and is separate on the motherboard. It's why it partially works with the 24 pin connector plugged in.

Edited October 18, 2017 by difinity

[Joanne]

MOBOFO!

 

It might be one of those annoying problems where there are 2 failed components!!

 

Good luck!

[BOOT]

Tried booting with all the 3\4 pin fans unplugged?

[Rob_D]

Have you tried with the motherboard out of the case and on a non-conductive surface? Something might be touching the back of the board (or the board might be touching something) and causing it to short (I had this with an fan header card once).

[abillybob]

If you have tried with another PSU use a multimeter to check if you have a short between the 12v and GND on the motherboard on the 12v connector. Sounds like a short on the CPU VRM.

 

The 12v ATX connector is on a separate rail in the PSU and is separate on the motherboard. It's why it partially works with the 24 pin connector plugged in.

Haven't got a multimeter unfortunately So can't test that way! If I do some how find one how would I go about testing it? Do I just touch the pins inside the block connector on the 12v power?

 

I have tried without any fans being plugged in the same still happens unfortunately if it helps when I power it on using the 24pin power only the CPU fan will work but the case fans won't spin!

[difinity]

Haven't got a multimeter unfortunately So can't test that way! If I do some how find one how would I go about testing it? Do I just touch the pins inside the block connector on the 12v power?

 

I have tried without any fans being plugged in the same still happens unfortunately if it helps when I power it on using the 24pin power only the CPU fan will work but the case fans won't spin!

 

Yes, there are a couple of ways but the easiest is put the multimeter in diode mode, then the red probe on one of the ground pins in the 12vATX connector on the motherboard and the black probe on the 12v pin.

I expect it to read near 0v indicating a short, a working board will show around 0.5V on the meter.

A half decent multimeter is cheap. ANENG AN8000 Portable Digital Multimeter 4000 Counts Auto Range Ammeter Ohmmeter | eBay

Edited October 18, 2017 by difinity

[abillybob]

Yes, there are a couple of ways but the easiest is put the multimeter in diode mode, then the red probe on one of the ground pins in the 12vATX connector on the motherboard and the black probe on the 12v pin.

I expect it to read near 0v indicating a short, a working board will show around 0.5V on the meter.

A half decent multimeter is cheap. ANENG AN8000 Portable Digital Multimeter 4000 Counts Auto Range Ammeter Ohmmeter | eBay

 

Ok so I've been able to source one but I don't have a clue on how to use this thing or what to turn the dial to?Do you happen to have any ideas?

 

[difinity]

Turn the dial to the diode symbol. With the display at the top it's the symbol at 5 o'clock between 200ohms and hFE.

Red lead on the ground of the socket, black lead on the 12v

[abillybob]

Cheers buddy but how do you know whats the 12v and ground on the plug? Here's a pic of the motherboard

 

[difinity]

You could look at the power supply EPS connector, yellow is 12v black is ground, but you have all black cabling.

You could Google EPS 12v pinout.

Or I can tell you top row (closest to the latch mechanism) is 12v , bottom is ground

 

I should add that when you are testing, it's just the naked motherboard on a bench (not in the case) and no power needs applying.

Edited October 18, 2017 by difinity

[abillybob]

Thanks all for your help!

 

The plot thickens unfortunately I bought a new Processor this time it's the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (Stock Cooler not overclocked) along with a new MSI Gaming Plus B350 Motherboard (Updated to the latest BIOS) and grabbed 16GB DDR4 Ram. I'm still using the same PSU which is a Corsair AX750 and the same Hard Drives and GPU.

 

Sometimes the computer starts up just fine but then at other points when starting up I'll hear 3 Beeps come from the motherboard speaker, it restarts itself and the Debugging LED shows VGA but then there's a separate LED for GPU so I don't think it's that... I know that Ryzen processors don't have integrated GPU's so presumed it was an error to do with this as when the machine restarts it's fine and boots.

 

I ignored it and have been ignoring it but when playing Mafia III tonight my whole computer restarted, I jumped at the opportunity to see if the motherboard was telling me anything and the CPU Led was lit up this time!! I'm starting to loose the will to live as now I'm wondering could it be the PSU that's having problems, it could also be the GPU maybe? and now I'm starting to question whether the CPU and motherboard is DOA! I really don't know what to do but it's starting to cost a fortune to put right!

 

I've looked through event viewer and it doesn't give any indication there's anything wrong only tells me an unexpected shut down has occurred and there's no pattern to a service or driver starting just before when it does this! I've looked online regarding the beep codes which apparently means the RAM is knackered but then why would it be showing up VGA on the LED at the same time and nothing on the DRAM slot!!

 

Any ideas would be most appreciated the other half is starting to get frustrated as we don't have the money for us to keep buying parts for it, I feel like such an idiot I'm an IT guy and can't work this thing out!!!

[difinity]

Did the test I suggested show a short on your old board ?

It's possible there's some ripple on the power supply, but you'd need an oscilloscope to measure it.

Don't feel such an idiot, the field of IT is huge, I have mainly ignored the managing and admin of networks to concentrate on hardware repair. I started with building PCs in 2000 and now do repair work looking through a microscope.

Chucking money at new kit without fully testing the old is a little....., well it's done now, we need to get what you have sorted.

Have you run memtest on each stick of memory ?

You're not a million miles away from me if all else fails.

[3s-gtech]

As I said at the start, it'll be your PSU. You've spent a lot of money on stuff that is most likely not necessary! At least a PSU is fairly cheap and you'll have a nice up to date PC.