Static shock to case fried... something?

[ttkoshi]

Hi all! This is my first time posting, and I'm going to try to include as many details as possible. Please let me know if there's anything else I should add. Thank you in advance. 

 

So yesterday, I went to go turn on my PC by hitting the front-panel power switch, and before I could get to it, a good 2-cm static discharge arced from my finger to the front of the case. After a few prime curse words, I proceeded to hit the power button, and the PC appeared to boot up as normal (e.g., fans all kicked on). However, when I switched my TV on, I found I was getting no signal from the PC. I have tried several things, listed below, and gotten nothing. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all!

 

Things that I have checked:

1. Checked AC power cable with multimeter to ensure wall-to-PC power is good. 
2. Checked the voltages on the 24-pin connecter, as well as the MOLEX connectors, and all were at appropriate levels (e.g., 3.3V, 5V, 12V, etc.)
3. Tried booting using on-board graphics (though I honestly don't remember if my processor has on-board graphics, its an i7-6700, but I don't remember if there's a letter after the model number)
4. Tried booting with various components removed (to try to narrow down what's causing the issue)
5. Tried other HDMI cables
6. Tried other HDMI ports on my TV
7. Tried other power cables
8. Checked the power strip

The only other thing to note, because this is a mini-ITX case, the external metal part of the HDMI cable might have been in close contact to the back panel cutout on the case, causing arcing between the case and the exterior of the HDMI cable, but I thought the case is supposed to be grounded...

 

Thank you all again, please let me know what I can respond with if more information is needed. Cheers!!

[Biggy styles]

6 minutes ago, ttkoshi said:

Hi all! This is my first time posting, and I'm going to try to include as many details as possible. Please let me know if there's anything else I should add. Thank you in advance. 

 

So yesterday, I went to go turn on my PC by hitting the front-panel power switch, and before I could get to it, a good 2-cm static discharge arced from my finger to the front of the case. After a few prime curse words, I proceeded to hit the power button, and the PC appeared to boot up as normal (e.g., fans all kicked on). However, when I switched my TV on, I found I was getting no signal from the PC. I have tried several things, listed below, and gotten nothing. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all!

 

Things that I have checked:

1. Checked AC power cable with multimeter to ensure wall-to-PC power is good. 
2. Checked the voltages on the 24-pin connecter, as well as the MOLEX connectors, and all were at appropriate levels (e.g., 3.3V, 5V, 12V, etc.)
3. Tried booting using on-board graphics (though I honestly don't remember if my processor has on-board graphics, its an i7-6700, but I don't remember if there's a letter after the model number)
4. Tried booting with various components removed (to try to narrow down what's causing the issue)
5. Tried other HDMI cables
6. Tried other HDMI ports on my TV
7. Tried other power cables
8. Checked the power strip

The only other thing to note, because this is a mini-ITX case, the external metal part of the HDMI cable might have been in close contact to the back panel cutout on the case, causing arcing between the case and the exterior of the HDMI cable, but I thought the case is supposed to be grounded...

 

Thank you all again, please let me know what I can respond with if more information is needed. Cheers!!

Wow  sparks to finger tips , its very possible its earthing out with positive to ground/case on wires, ive never known hdmi cables to arc with cases tbh, do you have after market cooler? Maybe touching the case on back plate?

[Mark Kaine]

Honestly this could just be a weird glitch.

 

i would turn the pc off, unplug it from power. then remove the cmos battery for 30 minutes. 

And while the battery is still removed press the front power button,  for *30 seconds* that should discharge the capacitors of the motherboard. 

Then put the battery back, but dont plug it in right away... wait a couple of hours and then plug it in and try to boot.

 

reason is because voodoo just works we're trying to remove any excess electricity from the board / pc...

 

i had something similar: tldr chinese cheapo usb cable made my computer crash whenever i touched the case at a certain part... And it did that for a week after i removed the cheap chinese usb cable still.

 

And then it never happened again,  electricity is weird like that lol.

 

 

Well i would actually try what I suggested,  seems your best bet imo.

[ttkoshi]

1 minute ago, Biggy styles said:

Wow  sparks to finger tips , its very possible its earthing out with positive to ground/case on wires, ive never known hdmi cables to arc with cases tbh, do you have after market cooler? Maybe touching the case on back plate?

Yeah the spark was impressive (my apartment is VERY dry). And if by cooler you mean a CPU fan, then no, I just have a regular small fan on it that is no where near touching the case. I appreciate the suggestions, thank you!

[Biggy styles]

I once fried a mb in my old antec 900 case, the screws of the cooler touched the casing which is earthed

[ttkoshi]

3 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

i would turn the pc off, unplug it from power. then remove the cmos battery for 30 minutes. 

And while the battery is still removed press the front power button,  for *30 seconds* that should discharge the capacitors of the motherboard. 

Then put the battery back, but dont plug it in right away... wait a couple of hours and then plug it in and try to boot.

Thanks, I'll give this a try! I actually did disconnect the CMOS battery, but only for a few minutes, so I'll try your full sequence and hope/pray that it helps. Thank you again!!!

[Biggy styles]

3 minutes ago, ttkoshi said:

Yeah the spark was impressive (my apartment is VERY dry). And if by cooler you mean a CPU fan, then no, I just have a regular small fan on it that is no where near touching the case. I appreciate the suggestions, thank you!

Yeah meant cpu cooler bud, big spark probably big problem, check psu maybe?

[Mark Kaine]

29 minutes ago, ttkoshi said:

Thanks, I'll give this a try! I actually did disconnect the CMOS battery, but only for a few minutes, so I'll try your full sequence and hope/pray that it helps. Thank you again!!!

no problem,  and yeah trust me 30 minutes is better than a few,  and pressing the power button for 30 seconds really discharges the capacitors... waiting a couple of hours is just an idea, but i think it makes sense, i had other computers (such as a ps3) where that helped,  and it was *not* because of overheating (unlikely) 

Good luck! : )

[Biggy styles]

Cant see a 1.5v battery causing a big spark tbh man

Has to be a psu problem possible mb fry and maybe mem/ cpu
Can you get into bios?

[ttkoshi]

2 minutes ago, Biggy styles said:

Cant see a 1.5v battery causing a big spark tbh man

Has to be a psu problem possible mb fry and maybe mem/ cpu
Can you get into bios?

I checked all the voltages on the PSU with a multimeter, so it seems to be working (though something could have happened during the spark). And I can't get into the bios since there's no video output, so I don't know if I'm even making it to that point, or if there is only power going to the fans (and not the mobo). I also get no beeps or alerts upon boot, so I don't really know how to troubleshoot this. Thank you for your ideas!!!

[Biggy styles]

5 minutes ago, ttkoshi said:

I checked all the voltages on the PSU with a multimeter, so it seems to be working (though something could have happened during the spark). And I can't get into the bios since there's no video output, so I don't know if I'm even making it to that point, or if there is only power going to the fans (and not the mobo). I also get no beeps or alerts upon boot, so I don't really know how to troubleshoot this. Thank you for your ideas!!!

That sucks man, i think psus when failing can spike in power blowing other things (power surge socket), if you cant get into bios then motherboard probably proper fooooooked dude, should at least get boot bleeps so i reckon new psu and mother bard, evga psu from my experience the most realiable

[Mark Kaine]

20 minutes ago, Biggy styles said:

Cant see a 1.5v battery causing a big spark tbh man

Has to be a psu problem possible mb fry and maybe mem/ cpu
Can you get into bios?

we are trying to discharge the mobo, not some funny battery experiments... the battery is completely unrelated to the "spark" which was technically an ESD, ie. electro static discharge.

 

 

if OP is lucky nothing fried but we need to remove any "possible" excess charge that could still be there before being sure.

[ttkoshi]

2 minutes ago, Biggy styles said:

That sucks man, i think psus when failing can spike in power blowing other things (power surge socket), if you cant get into bios then motherboard probably proper fooooooked dude, should at least get boot bleeps so i reckon new psu and mother bard, evga psu from my experience the most realiable

Yeah that's my worry. I was looking for a replacement motherboard earlier, but couldn't find any that would work (it's an https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H170M-ITXDL/ so a mini-ITX mobo, and I couldn't find a similar one on Amazon (though I didn't google in depth)). 

[Biggy styles]

4 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

we are trying to discharge the mobo, not some funny battery experiments... the battery is completely unrelated to the "spark" which was technically an ESD, ie. electro static discharge.

 

 

if OP is lucky nothing fried but we need to remove any "possible" excess charge that could still be there before being sure.

How the fek does a mb be able to store enough charge to cause a proper decent burn ya face off spark? I know about capacitors!

[Biggy styles]

7 minutes ago, ttkoshi said:

Yeah that's my worry. I was looking for a replacement motherboard earlier, but couldn't find any that would work (it's an https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H170M-ITXDL/ so a mini-ITX mobo, and I couldn't find a similar one on Amazon (though I didn't google in depth)). 

Looks alright (without research)but tbh if upgrading mb and case (cant rec the cit sauron enough, can fit 8x120mms, mmmmmmm.
you should get a 4 memory channel motherboard, 4x4 gb better than 2 x 8

[Biggy styles]

6 minutes ago, Biggy styles said:

How the fek does a mb bhw infoe able to store enough charge to cause a proper decent burn ya face off spark? I know about capacitors!

Can you downlowd cpuz

[ttkoshi]

11 minutes ago, Biggy styles said:

Can you downlowd cpuz

Would this be something I have to run on the machine, since I'm not able to boot with it, or does it run off a thumb drive and scan without needing to boot fully? And I know there's options for upgrading, but sadly I'm a broke-ass PhD student trying to save this computer without having to replace everything. I just replaced the motherboard on my laptop that I use for research last week, so I'm hoping I can find a way to salvage the mobo on this computer, even if that means grabbing a multimeter and probing every component to find what burnt out and replacing it. I'll keep in mind the recommendations though, thank you!

[ttkoshi]

On 1/19/2022 at 11:03 PM, Mark Kaine said:

we are trying to discharge the mobo, not some funny battery experiments... the battery is completely unrelated to the "spark" which was technically an ESD, ie. electro static discharge.

 

 

if OP is lucky nothing fried but we need to remove any "possible" excess charge that could still be there before being sure.

So I tried this a few times, and sadly no result... I've tried a few more things but gotten no video response from the mobo. Thank you all for your help and tries though!