Motherboard broken?

[Killervolt]

So my mate's PC was broken, i.e. stuck in a boot loop so we both tried to troubleshoot it. So far it appears that the motherboard is broken, but would anyone be able to offer another opinion? Here's what happens:

Press power on

Fans spin for a couple of seconds

Fans stop spinning

Repeat.

No POST, No Boot.

He's had this PC for 4 years now so I think the motherboard's decided to brick itself. Here's what we tried:

Swapping PSU

Removing GPU and running video through the onboard graphics

Pulling out case power connectors and manually shorting the M/B pin to boot (same effect)

Pulling out all the RAM sticks

Using RAM in different slots

Putting the stock cooler back on the CPU

Checked the CPU and RAM by putting them into my own motherboard. Both worked fine

 

Motherboard is an AsRock Z87m Pro4, CPU is a 4670K. Has not been overclocked.

Since the issue started happening, he would try it every now and again and it actually worked once and booted up normally . . . however he has never been able to replicate that.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

[Gessler555]

"he would try it every now and again and it actually worked once and booted up normally . . . however he has never been able to replicate that."

 

Hmm...that makes me think there may just be some sort of power delivery issue or something. A totally bricked Mobo isn't gonna come back to life like that. I'd think it can be fixed by someone who knows what they're doing.

 

I've actually had similar issues with my MB in the past (MSI Z97 Gaming 7) where lights & fans will spin up for a second and then shut off. But after repeated tries (sometimes 5-6 attempts) it would boot up fine. In my case I assumed it was the PSU's fault (as the problem fixed itself once I got a new PSU). But your friend seem to have tried that already and things didn't work for him.

 

I doubt it's gonna help (considering everything else he's tried), but I'm gonna tell you what I used to do which sometimes helped me boot up my system:

 

> Power on once. Let it shut down after that split-second spin up.

> Turn off the switch on the PSU and pull out the plug (on the PSU end, not the wall socket, though you could do either).

> Press the power on again. Let it drain out any charge left in the MB.

> Put the plug back in, flip the switch and press power.

 

Used to work for me. It's obvious we're not having the exact same problem but can't hurt to try.

[191x7]

Check the capacitors on the board.

[Killervolt]

6 hours ago, Gessler555 said:

"he would try it every now and again and it actually worked once and booted up normally . . . however he has never been able to replicate that."

 

Hmm...that makes me think there may just be some sort of power delivery issue or something. A totally bricked Mobo isn't gonna come back to life like that. I'd think it can be fixed by someone who knows what they're doing.

 

I've actually had similar issues with my MB in the past (MSI Z97 Gaming 7) where lights & fans will spin up for a second and then shut off. But after repeated tries (sometimes 5-6 attempts) it would boot up fine. In my case I assumed it was the PSU's fault (as the problem fixed itself once I got a new PSU). But your friend seem to have tried that already and things didn't work for him.

 

I doubt it's gonna help (considering everything else he's tried), but I'm gonna tell you what I used to do which sometimes helped me boot up my system:

 

> Power on once. Let it shut down after that split-second spin up.

> Turn off the switch on the PSU and pull out the plug (on the PSU end, not the wall socket, though you could do either).

> Press the power on again. Let it drain out any charge left in the MB.

> Put the plug back in, flip the switch and press power.

 

Used to work for me. It's obvious we're not having the exact same problem but can't hurt to try.

The problem is that the PC is cycling- so when I flip the power off it still uses the last bit of power to attempt to boot one more time. Tried your method but no results thanks for the help though.

[Killervolt]

6 hours ago, 191x7 said:

Check the capacitors on the board.

Which capacitors in particular?