Diagnosing Broken PC

[LemonLemon]

I just finished putting together my new computer, pressed the power button it turned on for a split second then off. I wasn't able to power back on again. I tested the power supply which is fine.I noticed when I put the 24 pin connector in it will sometimes turn on for a split second. I have a feeling my motherboard is broken but I want to make sure.

[emosun]

assemble it outside the case , usually the power supply shuts off immediately when it's being shorted somewhere

 

[LemonLemon]

2 minutes ago, emosun said:

assemble it outside the case , usually the power supply shuts off immediately when it's being shorted somewhere

 

When I assembled everything outside the case it still does not turn on 

[Special Agent 星雨]

18 minutes ago, LemonLemon said:

When I assembled everything outside the case it still does not turn on 

Try reseating your RAM **STICKS** (you can't move ram slots around LMAO)! I recently helped a friend upgrade his computer and we were both bummed as to why it shut off 2-3 seconds after pressing the power button.

[LemonLemon]

39 minutes ago, Special Agent 星雨 said:

Try reseating your RAM **STICKS** (you can't move ram slots around LMAO)! I recently helped a friend upgrade his computer and we were both bummed as to why it shut off 2-3 seconds after pressing the power button.

I tried resetting my RAM, any other ideas?

[Special Agent 星雨]

1 minute ago, LemonLemon said:

I tried resetting my RAM, any other ideas?

Assuming you have more than one stick of RAM, try both RAM sticks individually. That is, try pulling RAM stick #2 out, try booting. Then put stick #2 back in and stick #1 out and try booting. This is to eliminate possible RAM failure.

[Special Agent 星雨]

If doing the above with the RAM sticks results in nothing, then I would just reseat the CPU.

[LemonLemon]

5 minutes ago, Special Agent 星雨 said:

Assuming you have more than one stick of RAM, try both RAM sticks individually. That is, try pulling RAM stick #2 out, try booting. Then put stick #2 back in and stick #1 out and try booting. This is to eliminate possible RAM failure.

I tried this and it still doesn't boot. Also it doesn't even power on for half a second second anymore.

[asand1]

Remove EVERYTHING. Then install the CPU and 1 RAM stick. If it boots then try one more RAM, then the next, untill all RAM is in. Then install the GPU, then the HDD/SSD one at a time. Continue adding until you find the problem.

[emosun]

do you have the cpu's extra power connector connected?

[Khamul]

I had exactly the same problem with an asus z97a some time ago. Had to change it on Amazon.

[Oxydoreduction]

Sounds like symptoms of a dead PSU or a dead board, do you have any other motherboard at hand to test the PSU?

[LemonLemon]

8 hours ago, Oxydoreduction said:

Sounds like symptoms of a dead PSU or a dead board, do you have any other motherboard at hand to test the PSU?

I have already tested the psu 

[LemonLemon]

13 hours ago, emosun said:

do you have the cpu's extra power connector connected?

Yes

[Khamul]

Again, board 100%.

[LemonLemon]

On 7/7/2017 at 3:22 PM, Khamul said:

Again, board 100%.

I took my board back got a different one, tested outside of the case and it worked. Now that it's in the case is doesn't do anything. I have no idea what to do now.

[Khamul]

1 hour ago, LemonLemon said:

I took my board back got a different one, tested outside of the case and it worked. Now that it's in the case is doesn't do anything. I have no idea what to do now.

You tested it with the same power supply and everything on it?

[mariushm]

may be a stupid question but i hope there are spacers between the motherboard and the case panel? Some cases don't have them pre-installed.

 

 

 

[asand1]

Instal it in the case but leave the power and reset buttons disconnected. Use a screwdriver to jump the power terminals on the mobo header. If it runs, the switches are borked. 

[LemonLemon]

10 hours ago, mariushm said:

may be a stupid question but i hope there are spacers between the motherboard and the case panel? Some cases don't have them pre-installed.

 

 

 

Was not a stupid question I didn't realize when I took the dead board out, I took out the spacers. So I put the new board in without spacers. 

[LemonLemon]

Now the video card spins but does has no signal on my monitor 

[mariushm]

When you put the new board in without spacers, you may have damaged some chips or some traces by causing short circuits on the back with the metal plate. Such defects may not stop the motherboard from turning on and making some leds light up, but some connectors or some stuff (for example onboard network chip) may be permanently damaged.

 

You can test computers on cardboard or on wood desk or other materials because cardboard (paper) and wood are by their nature electrical insulators. The metal of the case however is not, so electricity can flow between various points on the back of the motherboard.

 

Also, you always have to be careful to put spacers ONLY where the motherboard has holes. Cases often have more holes for spacers in order to support various shapes of motherboards (like itx, matx, atx, extended atx) ... for some motherboard shapes you don't need all spacers. If you put a spacer that's not needed, on some motherboards that metal of the spacer can cause short circuit between metal points / traces / contacts / whatever you want to call it, and that can damage the motherboard. Usually motherboard designers are careful not to put traces or contacts under places where there are usually spacers on other motherboard format footprints but there's no guarantee, you have to be careful.

 

As for your video card... try placing in in the other pci-e slot, just in case you may have damaged the slot? Try the video card in another PC if you can?

 

Have you connected the cable from the monitor to the video card, or to the connectors on the motherboard?

Only the ones on the video card will work because the processor doesn't have integrated graphics.

Also, is you monitor configured on the input you're using (DisplayPort, or HDMI , or DVI for example)? Sometimes when the monitor loses signal, it will switch between input connectors trying to find a signal and on some monitors, they remain stuck on a particular input so even if you turn on the pc, the monitor will not detect that signal and keep showing up that message. In this case, simply turning monitor off and on will force the monitor to scan inputs for signal.

 

I hope you're not using VGA with your monitor. Modern video cards don't output analogue signal so cheap DVI->VGA adapters or cables with DVI on one end and VGA on the other. I assume it's not the case here, since you had signal before.

So figure out if the video card got damaged (easiest would be to try it in another computer) or if the motherboard got damaged.