Pc I built over 2 weeks ago turned off, will not reboot

[cunninghaaam]

So, it turned off mid-use and it will not turn on. Motherboard standby led is ON and green. Heres what I've tried:

- testing ram, swapping ram, other ram things. Shouldn't be the ram

- testing psu (it works)

- using screwdriver to connect the power on to the ground instead of the case power button. Nothing.

 

(I've also got a pci 1x to usb 3 adapter if that matters. Was never actually in use, but everything else has been running fine for the past few weeks.)

 

SPECS:

H81M-A from ASUS. i5-3440S, 8gb ddr3 @ 1600mhz, 650 W 80+ Bronze from AresGame. Also using an RX 480 8gb from XFX.

 

I'm thinking it's either the CPU or motherboard, but I don't have the parts needed to test.

 

What happens when the power is pressed:

Absolutely nothing. No beeps from the system speaker, neither case fan nor cpu fan spin, LED on gpu does not turn on, fans on gpu do not turn on. It's as if I never tried to press power / connect power to ground.

 

Should I just grin and bare it and buy a new CPU to see if that's it?

Note: I also posted this on Reddit here.

[Pixelfie]

If it doesn't do anything it's likely the PSU or motherboard. If it was the CPU it would have at least done something. Since you said the PSU is fine, I'd try a different motherboard. Maybe there are bulged capacitors or something shorted (I think this sometimes happens when you don't install the standoffs into the case. Also make sure everything's connected correctly.

 

Edit: another very simple thing you can try is pulling out the CMOS battery. Make sure to power it off, then pull the battery and press the power putton until not even the motherboard led shows any light. This sometimes works and is very simple

[Kisai]

29 minutes ago, cunninghaaam said:

So, it turned off mid-use and it will not turn on. Motherboard standby led is ON and green. Heres what I've tried:

- testing ram, swapping ram, other ram things. Shouldn't be the ram

- testing psu (it works)

- using screwdriver to connect the power on to the ground instead of the case power button. Nothing.

 

Always swap one part of a time.

 

If it's in standby mode and won't turn on, there's a possibility that the NVRAM settings (eg for RAM) are wrong and it can't boot. But I've mostly seen "won't turn on" in the context of bad bios settings/wrong timings for the cpu/ram.

[cunninghaaam]

3 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Always swap one part of a time.

 

If it's in standby mode and won't turn on, there's a possibility that the NVRAM settings (eg for RAM) are wrong and it can't boot. But I've mostly seen "won't turn on" in the context of bad bios settings/wrong timings for the cpu/ram.

It was all left on the default settings. Unless the defaults would be wrong, which I guess is possible.

[Kisai]

Just now, cunninghaaam said:

It was all left on the default settings. Unless the defaults would be wrong, which I guess is possible.

It's possible if the RAM is the wrong speed for the CPU.

[cunninghaaam]

20 minutes ago, Pixelfie said:

If it doesn't do anything it's likely the PSU or motherboard. If it was the CPU it would have at least done something. Since you said the PSU is fine, I'd try a different motherboard. Maybe there are bulged capacitors or something shorted (I think this sometimes happens when you don't install the standoffs into the case. Also make sure everything's connected correctly.

 

Edit: another very simple thing you can try is pulling out the CMOS battery. Make sure to power it off, then pull the battery and press the power putton until not even the motherboard led shows any light. This sometimes works and is very simple

I'll try the CMOS trick here in a few minutes. And I wish I could try using a different motherboard, but I do not have the resources necessary- so that will have to be one of those last things to do.

(Case does have standoffs installed, and according to Tom's Hardware, it might short if there's excess standoffs. I've not had the chance to go and check since I ran across that, as it's my brother's PC and he was getting ready for work. Might just steal it from his room, really)

[cunninghaaam]

1 minute ago, Kisai said:

It's possible if the RAM is the wrong speed for the CPU.

I had it running at 1600 mhz on an i5 3440S, seems safe to me

[Kisai]

1 minute ago, cunninghaaam said:

I had it running at 1600 mhz on an i5 3440S, seems safe to me

You never know. On my old DDR2 system, two different sets of memory sticks at the same speed, one caused the motherboard to constantly think the firmware needed to be reflashed. I'm not suggesting that, but I am suggesting that if the system automatically used the XMP profile it might have caused this.

[c00face]

You can take your motherboard to a pc repair shop to have it tested if it’s bad or not. It’s usually free in the U.S. depends on the shop though.

[cunninghaaam]

On 3/2/2021 at 9:04 PM, SGT-AMD said:

You are grabbing at stars,,,,If you can, try swapping out the psu. In the future, buy a psu tester, so you are not guessing. They are about 7-8 dollars.

I did test the PSU using a PSU tester on the 24 pin. The fans spun, and I can guarantee it isn't the PSU.

[cunninghaaam]

On 3/2/2021 at 6:48 PM, Kisai said:

You never know. On my old DDR2 system, two different sets of memory sticks at the same speed, one caused the motherboard to constantly think the firmware needed to be reflashed. I'm not suggesting that, but I am suggesting that if the system automatically used the XMP profile it might have caused this.

That would make sense, tbh. I'll see if there's a way I can flash it without posting, but I seriously doubt it. It's not really worth mass modification, so I might just replace it altogether.

[cunninghaaam]

On 3/2/2021 at 8:41 PM, c00face said:

You can take your motherboard to a pc repair shop to have it tested if it’s bad or not. It’s usually free in the U.S. depends on the shop though.

I live in a somewhat rural area in NC, or else I would. Nearest one near me was about 10 minutes away and near a KFC, but it ended up closing its doors when COVID kept slapping it across the face.