PC Won't Turn on after accidentally unplugging boot drive

[Mogli_]

Hey guys, I really need help here.

 

While trying to reconnect the front pannel usb3 to usb 2 adapter (while booted into window, I know it was very stupid) I believe I unplugged the boot drive and everything went black and won't turn on. I'm not super sure if this is the issue, or if I managed to damage the PSU. the cables were kind of stuck and I had to pull on them, but these things are pretty thick.
I got the impression that it went off after slightly unplugging the SSD sata cable.

I tried unplugging the psu, pulling the ram out and using the CMOS jumper thing (do I just move the pin cap and wait 5 seconds with everything turned off? that's what I did ).

Any ideas on what the problem is or how to debug this? All fans are spinning, including GPU, but no usb powered devices are lighting up.

[WereCatf]

4 minutes ago, Mogli_ said:

Any ideas on what the problem is

Sounds to me like you fried your mobo.

[Mogli_]

4 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

Sounds to me like you fried your mobo.

Any way that I can make sure of that?

It's not the end of the world, this is an 8 yo pc that I gave to my wife, and we were going to buy a new one anyway. Just wasn't expecting to do it now.

I could go out and buy replacements (if it is the mobo that i'd need to buy a CPU too), just don't want to buy the wrong stuff.

 

Maybe I damaged the cable that powers the mobo?

Wish I could pinpont the issue

[WereCatf]

Just now, Mogli_ said:

Any way that I can make sure of that?

There isn't really any other way than testing all the other components on another PC.

[homeap5]

You cannot damage your psu by unplugging drive if it's sata. Unless your psu was really bad.

[George.]

Probably fried the mobo. If pc turns on and only usb ports don't work you either fried your usb controller or damaged its driver.

If pc turns on but doesn't recognize boot drive it's either a fried ssd or a damage bootmgr partition. If it turns on but doesn't post anything could be a damaged Bios. Try replugging everything and replacing the bios battery. Without another pc laying around you can't really test every part. 

If you you have any cables you could try replacing those. I've had faulty cables causing weird issues in the past.

[Praesi]

Uplugging things while PC is running....Jesus...

 

The fact aside that you kill Hardware that way, you can hurt yourself badly. Dont do it again.

[WereCatf]

5 minutes ago, Praesi said:

Uplugging things while PC is running....Jesus...

Surprisingly many people plug or unplug stuff while their PCs are running and then run to forums like this one when their PC ain't workin' no more. Technically, it could be safe, but it's just way too easy to touch the wrong thing and then fry stuff, so it just doesn't make much sense to take that risk.

[Mogli_]

It was a stupid thing to do, there's no arguing there. I only wanted to reattach the adapter but the cable was stuck. I should have stopped there, turned everything off and continued.

Anyway. I bought a new mobo and CPU. I was going to do that by January anyway.

 

I'm still a bit hesitant about plugging the PSU in it, though. Could I have damaged the PSU in a way that it would fry the new MOBO?

The PSU still works, at least part of it. The case leds light up and all fans spin (including GPU).

If I damaged the cable that powers the CPU, would the usb ports still be working?

My only concern now is damaging the new components. Do you guys have any insights on this? If the PSU is indeed faulty for some reason, would fry the new components or simply not work?

 

Thanks for your help

[homeap5]

15 hours ago, WereCatf said:

Surprisingly many people plug or unplug stuff while their PCs are running and then run to forums like this one when their PC ain't workin' no more. Technically, it could be safe, but it's just way too easy to touch the wrong thing and then fry stuff, so it just doesn't make much sense to take that risk.

Some interfaces are designed for plug and unplug while PC is running. Like USB for example - it's designed that way. The same is about SATA - it's hotplug by design. So the same as you unplug USB devices, you can unplug SATA device and risk is basically the same. Unfortunatelly, some PSUs are really bad and you can have problems with voltage spikes when you unplug devices - even USB drive for example if needs more power. Also - SATA power connectors should use separate line for hotplug devices just for safety (from my experience). And most important is - PSU is not computer part anyone should buy "as cheap as possible".

[WereCatf]

5 hours ago, homeap5 said:

Some interfaces are designed for plug and unplug while PC is running. Like USB for example - it's designed that way. The same is about SATA - it's hotplug by design. So the same as you unplug USB devices, you can unplug SATA device and risk is basically the same.

All of that is irrelevant. I was talking about going ham inside a PC's case, not outside of it; with how easy it is to accidentally short something or unplug something while the system is running, it just is not a good idea to do that with a running PC. Is USB hot-plug? Yes, obviously, but that makes literally zero difference to my point.

[Mogli_]

Just to let you guys know, leaving the battery out of the MOBO for much longer actually worked. The computer is working again normally.

 

Please consider other options before telling people they fried their components. It's not helpful at all and as we can see nothing was damaged after all.

I was going to buy new parts anyway so at least I can sell these old ones now, but you could induce people to waste money by giving advice like this.

I know you all had good intentions, but still...

 

Hope you all have a nice weekend