Dead motherboard? PSU passes paper clip test

[TVwazhere]

Replaced a fan and the thermal paste on my computer today, and when I plugged it back it it won't turn on. Parts are in my signature. The PSU passes the paper clip test, psu fan spun up as well as the fans that were connected to the case fan controller. 

 

My motherboard has a dedicated power button which is nice. It has an LED in it that always lights up when there is power to the motherboard, and it's not lit, as the kids would say. 

 

I did not unplug any cables except the fan header and pump header. I've tried unplugging various things but not everything. Removed CMOS battery for 5+ minutes, used the CMOS reset button and still nothing. I have not moved memory or uninstalled the CPU, and this is my only system in my house so I can't plug other components into it or vice versa. While doing the thermal paste application I was often moving around the house wearing socks on hardwood floors gathering supplies and I'm not sure how many times I touched the metal on my PC case...

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. This comes at the worst time to, as I was just telling my friend how easy it will be to build her computer and not break anything..... 

[Syntaxvgm]

sounds like you did, but to double check, make sure you pull the power supply from the wall and from the motherboard (both 24 pin and EPS, that's important) and wait a few moments, hook it all up, and try again. 

[shadowbyte]

so thanks to the light, we know the mobo isn't getting power, hence no POST

I assume you've already double checked the PSU connections on both the mobo and PSU, if it's modular, to make sure that no cables are even slightly loose? It happened to me once, and was driving me insane until I plugged one of the modular connectors just a bit further in.

If you can spare the time, I'd suggest removing the mobo from the case and just testing it outside the case, on a cardboard box or something to remove all variables.

[TVwazhere]

10 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

sounds like you did, but to double check, make sure you pull the power supply from the wall and from the motherboard (both 24 pin and EPS, that's important) and wait a few moments, hook it all up, and try again. 

I just re did that with the 24pin, 8 pin disconnected and PSU unplugged from the wall again just to triple check (technically I didn't do the 8pin yet) and no luck

9 minutes ago, shadowbyte said:

so thanks to the light, we know the mobo isn't getting power, hence no POST

I assume you've already double checked the PSU connections on both the mobo and PSU, if it's modular, to make sure that no cables are even slightly loose? It happened to me once, and was driving me insane until I plugged one of the modular connectors just a bit further in.

If you can spare the time, I'd suggest removing the mobo from the case and just testing it outside the case, on a cardboard box or something to remove all variables.

Yep, it's semi modular, though the only power cables on it go to the GPU which shouldn't affect the power to the motherboard I wouldn't think. I've also tried this with the GPU completely unplugged as well. 

[kalnick]

If you have another psu you can try that with the motherboard. Its possible you may have grounded the board has well. Unplug the pump and fan cables see if the board get power

[Syntaxvgm]

4 minutes ago, kalnick said:

If you have another psu you can try that with the motherboard. Its possible you may have grounded the board has well. Unplug the pump and fan cables see if the board get power

That would be the best course of action. I really wish more people kept spare parts. 

Alternatively he could try that PSU in a different PC 

[TVwazhere]

Welp, I'm not sure what did it, but it turned back on! Of course because I reset my bios I have to go back and set all that up again which I totally forgot how to go but I'll figure that out later. 

 

I'll just chalk it up to the good vibes of the LTT community healed my PC.

[TVwazhere]

Just now, Syntaxvgm said:

That would be the best course of action. I really wish more people kept spare parts. 

Alternatively he could try that PSU in a different PC 

I used to have an older PSU but I gave it to a friend because she needed it. Also this is my first and only PC so I dont have much else to go on sadly. 

[Syntaxvgm]

7 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

I used to have an older PSU but I gave it to a friend because she needed it. Also this is my first and only PC so I dont have much else to go on sadly. 

that's a very common situation. Makes it hard to test stuff