[SOLVED] At my wits end: system fans start and stop, but no post or bios. Help please!

[ultimafishingfun]

This is driving me spare; advice requested please! I have the following system:

Asus z97-p mobo
I5 4690 3.5ghz
8gb ddr3 hyper-x beast
970gtx
850 evo ssd
550w corsair psu

As the title says, last week i came to restart my pc after being off all night, and it refuses to do so. The fans and leds come on briefly, but it never gets to the beeps or bios booting.

I have done the following:

• disconnected all but the motherboard / cpu / cpu fan, no change on start
• reseated all the cables, ram etc
• taken it to a computer store, where in the process of looking at it they snapped off the prongs on the cool master fan and possibly bent the cpu socket pins ( BCS in Kingswood Uk folks, avoid them)... but they said the motherboard was gone
• purchased a second hand asus z97p from ebay, swapped cpu and ram over and ... same issue, hnngh!
• took an old 500w, 4 pin psu and tried to boot the cpu and mobo only from it. Same issue still
• removed cmos battery on both boards. No change...
• tried to start it with 0, 1 and both ddr3 sticks in. No change...

As far as i can tell then, there are only a few possibilities left?

Its the i5 cpu? But i have no way of testing this sadly
Ive bought a second, equally duff motherboard?
Possibly the case itself is shorting it out? I cant see how, but its yhe only thing left consistent after the cooler cpu and ram.

How do i fix this mess please?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Get a reliable PSU and try again. You are probably not going to be able to start that system with only a 4 pin EPS connector. I believe the Z97 boards REQUIRE a 4+4 pin EPS connector to POST.

 

[ultimafishingfun]

Get a reliable PSU and try again. You are probably not going to be able to start that system with only a 4 pin EPS connector. I believe the Z97 boards REQUIRE a 4+4 pin EPS connector to POST.

Thats tomorrows plan when the shops are open again... the guide here suggested a 4pin may work, so i gave it a go. I really, really hope I can find a store that allows me to return a psu if thats nog the issue though..

 

[Darkbreeze]

Do you have access to a volt meter? If so, you can at least test the basic functional response of your CX unit. If not, you can usually find them pretty cheap at building centers or hardware stores.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac7YMUcMjbw

 

[ultimafishingfun]

Thank you for that advice, but sadly i dont have such a meter: would putting fans on it generate enough load to indicate if that was the fault with the psu?
Calling around repair shops im just hearing it wont be that, but also huge test charges and a week further wait, so im fed up as you can imagine....

 

[Darkbreeze]

 

[ultimafishingfun]

Thank you again for more advice; ive since taken the whole system to a more reputable dealer for testing, as i wanted to be sure of my claims, and they state the second board was also broken, but that my psu was fine.

They also tested the ddr3 memory and that came back fine too; the only thing i didnt get an answer on was the cpu, as they didnt have a haswell socket board or a cpu spare that would fit mine.

Ive since appealed for a refund on the replacement board on ebay but i suspect it will be difficult; i asked for the prior board to be tested at the same ( all i want is a working computer again!) but the seller is asking about the checks on the invoice on that, as if it was damage id done to the board he sold. Fortunately that board is easily identifiable from mine (older revison, stickers mine does not have) but sigh...

Right now im thinking its best just to abandon the old system and second hand parts, and pay the established company security premium (ive my eye on a budget ryzen bundle)... But that requires getting my money back first.

And staying sane in the meantime...

 

[Darkbreeze]

I understand that, and I'd appeal to Ebay themselves, not the seller, with the results from the testing done by the repair facility. Ebay is supposedly highly in favor of buyers when it comes to who is to blame, so hopefully they can do some arm twisting on the seller.

 

[ultimafishingfun]

I understand that, and I'd appeal to Ebay themselves, not the seller, with the results from the testing done by the repair facility. Ebay is supposedly highly in favor of buyers when it comes to who is to blame, so hopefully they can do some arm twisting on the seller.

I just thought Id update you on the (i hope!) Finale to this...

Seller attempted to persuade me it was the psu again, before pressuring me to sell the board on to someone else; I refused (i wouldnt rip someone else off as the board clearly didnt work) and stated i'd request ebay intervene when the 8 days were up if he didnt refund it.

He accepted the refund, i took shots of the board before i packaged it up... it would have been nice to have just been paranoid, but I got home today to what were photos of someone who had clearly kicked the beejebus out of the box, he'd asked ebay to intrvene himself, but within minutes they'd awarded me a full refund.y

The "best" part was that he then messaged me after ebay said no, hoping i couldnt see he'd appealed to ebay, and tried to claim he'd just refunded me and had the cheek to then ask for positive feedback!

Tomorrow i should be getting a budget Ryzen 5 bundle from Novatech, with a hard lesson learned about trying to buy motherboards from randos on ebay...! Thanks for the support here in the meantime.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nice. See, that's why I said that. No reason to not get what you've paid for AND you are right, I RARELY suggest that anybody buy used hardware on Ebay UNLESS it is from a VERY reputable seller with VERY MANY, like thousands, of prior sales, and has at least like a 98% feedback positive score. Otherwise, it is too risky. Glad it worked out for you on that part at least man.