PC Won't turn on, but Mobo and GPU LEDs are on

[Spazegamer]

System Specs:

CPU: Intel - Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor

GPU: GTX 1070 Strix 6GB

RAM: G.Skill - Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Motherboard: Asus - Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

PSU: SeaSonic - 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (Original PSU)

OS: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit

 

So I have a strange problem here, my PC won't turn on even though there are lights on the motherboard and GPU that would be there if it was normally working. I opened it up, and literally all I did was switch the RAM sticks and then the PC booted up normally and worked perfectly fine, until I turned it off again, when the problem continued.

 

At first I thought the PSU was dead, but the next day it booted up fine when I hit the power button, and worked again when I turned it off. Normal function resumed for about 2 days until last night, when the problem happened again; I didn't mess with the internals of the computer at all during that 2 day period. It didn't fix itself like last time (or it hasn't yet). 

 

To find out if it was the PSU, I took another PSU that I knew worked from another computer and installed it into mine, and the problem persists(same wattage on the new one). I tried switching the RAM again. Nothing (except those LEDs on the mobo and GPU which are still there.)

 

So, does anybody have any idea what could be wrong? It is a 3 year old PC so maybe it just croaked? I have no clue at this point. 

[ElSeniorTaco]

Well since you had success with ram, lets try going deeper in that direction.

I'm assuming all you have done is try swapping the ram sticks. ( in terms of playing with ram)

Can you remove all the ram sticks but one, and try getting it to boot.

If it doesn't boot can you rotate that ram stick into the different slots, trying to boot the computer in each slot.

if that doesn't work, try another stick of ram, same method.

Let me know if you get any results from this

 

[Spazegamer]

9 minutes ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

Well since you had success with ram, lets try going deeper in that direction.

I'm assuming all you have done is try swapping the ram sticks. ( in terms of playing with ram)

Can you remove all the ram sticks but one, and try getting it to boot.

If it doesn't boot can you rotate that ram stick into the different slots, trying to boot the computer in each slot.

if that doesn't work, try another stick of ram, same method.

Let me know if you get any results from this

 

Nothing. I tried every possible arrangement of sticks(I only have 2) in each of the RAM slots, together, and by themselves. I don't have any other RAM to test, so it might be a fault with RAM still.

[ElSeniorTaco]

possibly, or something else, hopefully its not a dead board

your going to need to pull everything off the board, just leave one stick of ram, and integrated video (if you have it.. apparently you have hdmi output)

make sure you disconnect harddrives, cd drives, usb devices, The works

You just want the cpu, power to the board, and 1 stick of ram if possible

make sure you pull the power aswell from the harddrives and cddrives, gpu etc

 

[Spazegamer]

1 hour ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

possibly, or something else, hopefully its not a dead board

your going to need to pull everything off the board, just leave one stick of ram, and integrated video (if you have it.. apparently you have hdmi output)

make sure you disconnect harddrives, cd drives, usb devices, The works

You just want the cpu, power to the board, and 1 stick of ram if possible

make sure you pull the power aswell from the harddrives and cddrives, gpu etc

 

And this will work if I leave it connected to the case with the case power button hookups left in the board?

Also, if this results in nothing happening, it means the board is dead right?

[ElSeniorTaco]

ya leave the button hook ups , that should be fine, mainly you just want to get the computer in a state where it has the minimum needed to pass POST, you can leave a keyboard, but everything else usb should go

you can leave the monitor hooked up

and you dont actually have to pull anything out of the case, just disconnect the wires for anything that is additional

so like the harddrive power and data cable, 

the gpu and its power cables (if you can)

the cddrive power and data cables

you can leave the power for the motherboard and the cpu power connector on the motherboard (obviously you will need these)

the fans can stay in(obvious as well)

 

basically just disconnect wires for the hdd/sdd, cddrives, mouse and anything else usb except the keyboard

and remove all but one stick of ram and the gpu, (and if you have addon pci cards, pull them out too, but i doubt you do)

of course, when you pull the gpu, you will need to plug the monitor into like the hdmi or DP port on the motherboard

 

You are looking to see if it will start up now that you pulled most of the extra stuff out

[ElSeniorTaco]

This will start us in a direction of a hardware diagnosis, but also keep in mind that you could have a dead psu for example, and it might not start up still, but your board in that case could be fine

 

Doing a hardware diagnosis is a bit hit and miss, its a lot of educated guesses, gut feelings, intuition, beer, and trial and error, with a side helping of trying absolutely everything lol

 

Your goal is to narrow down the problem to just one part.

[Spazegamer]

20 minutes ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

This will start us in a direction of a hardware diagnosis, but also keep in mind that you could have a dead psu for example, and it might not start up still, but your board in that case could be fine

 

Doing a hardware diagnosis is a bit hit and miss, its a lot of educated guesses, gut feelings, intuition, beer, and trial and error, with a side helping of trying absolutely everything lol

 

Your goal is to narrow down the problem to just one part.

Okay, interesting results. I removed power from all the drives, disconnected them from the motherboard, removed the GPU completely, and 1 stick of RAM was removed. 

 

The PC went to BIOS and actually started up. So from here I assume I just add parts 1 by 1 until it stops working. Thank you so much for your help so far. I'm so glad it's not the mobo or CPU.

[ElSeniorTaco]

 

Quote

The PC went to BIOS and actually started up. So from here I assume I just add parts 1 by 1 until it stops working. Thank you so much for your help so far. I'm so glad it's not the mobo or CPU

Your in the right direction  

I'll leave it to you to try and decide what to do from here, see if good ol beer and gut feeling kicks in lol

 

Sounds like you might be able to try and figure it out on your own

But if you run into something odd or got questions  or get stuck/need direction, don't be afraid to ask , I'm still around (hopefully, if i dont fall asleep)

Just keep in mind, the more thorough you are, the easier its going to be for you to identify the issue

 

Keep us updated, I am curious to see what you learn/find out 

 

[Spazegamer]

47 minutes ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

 

Your in the right direction  

I'll leave it to you to try and decide what to do from here, see if good ol beer and gut feeling kicks in lol

 

Sounds like you might be able to try and figure it out on your own

But if you run into something odd or got questions  or get stuck/need direction, don't be afraid to ask , I'm still around (hopefully, if i dont fall asleep)

Just keep in mind, the more thorough you are, the easier its going to be for you to identify the issue

 

Keep us updated, I am curious to see what you learn/find out 

 

Problem solved, here's what happened. 

 

So I went through the process of trying out each part individually. 2nd ram stick worked, GPU worked, then I got to the drives. 

 

I connected the power and sata cable to the boot drive SSD, and the PC refused to turn on. I was dismayed by the thought of it being the boot drive, since that would mean re-installing a lot of stuff. So I skipped that one and tried the 2nd SSD, and the PC still wouldn't boot up. I was relieved that it wasn't the drives.

 

It was the cable that gave power to the drives. I assume the cable eventually degraded from being crammed up in my mess of terrible cable management. Luckily I had another SATA power cable laying around and I hooked it up to all my drives and it powered up and is working great right now! With some more cable ties I hope this doesn't happen again.

 

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction

[ElSeniorTaco]

I actually didn't expect it to be a power connector at all, that was like farthest thing in my mind lol

But clearly you were thorough nice! 

???