[SOLVED] Brain transplant required

Jun 13, 2020
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Hi, my PC is a few years old now. Recently noticed it randomly turning off when it was left and went to sleep. Now it won't output anything to a screen at all. PSU and MB fans are all running fine when I turn it on. I've got lights on the board for the power and PCIe channels. I've tried attaching a speaker but I don't get any POST beeps.

Spec:

Windows 10
Core i3 6100
ASUS Prime H270M Plus Motherboard (not sure of the BIOS version but should be up to date)
ASUS STRIX GTX-960 DC2OC 4G
HyperX Fury 16GB (2x8) DDR4 2666 Memory
bequiet! System Power8 500W PSU
Samsung 850 Evo SSD boot drive
WD Blue 1TB main drive

Trouble shooting steps so far and results:
Cables all checked and fitted fine.
Replaced the PSU no change
Tried removing the graphics card and connecting to the board directly, also tried another (known good monitor)
Tried clearing CMOS but no joy

Pretty sure the above indicates the mobo or processor is toast, but would appreciate if you have any additonal ideas for making sure. I don't have a spare mobo or processor, so probably going to replace both at once.

I'm considering replacing the mobo and processor with a Ryzen 5 3600 (or 3600X) and a B450 mobo. If I did would my current graphics card and memory work? Any other thoughts or options I should consider please?
 
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By "turning off by itself" do you mean literally shutting down, no power to anything? Or do you mean, nothing on the screen, but still running?

Have you tried any of this with ALL the drives disconnected, to see if you are able to get an onscreen display and BIOS etc. work, without a drive installed?

Yes, your current graphics card and memory should work with a newer Ryzen configuration.
 
Jun 13, 2020
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Hi @Darkbreeze yes it was literally shutting itself down. I don't recall it ever happeing whilst I was using it though, just when I was away from it and it went to sleep. Now it is not doing anything at all I turn it on but get no output to the screen. I'll edit the original post to be clearer.
 
I'd bet your power supply is not compatible with the C6 and C7 sleep states, known as "Haswell low power", but in truth present on all 4th Gen and newer Intel Core-i platforms. Is that System power 8 the new PSU or the old one? What are the exact model numbers of BOTH power supplies?

Also, you don't have to put the @User-name to trigger a reply. Anybody who has responded to a thread will get a notification anytime somebody responds to that thread.
 
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Jun 13, 2020
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Thanks for the info on the @MENTION.
The System power 8 PSU is the old one and has worked fine for 3+ years. The other was coolermaster and had been working for a good 8 months prior to the System 8 (I had a previous issue 3 years ago with the processor giving up and the first thing I tried was replacing the PSU). So both have worked fine for some time.

For ref though the model numbers are:

System power 8 - S8-500W
Coolermaster RS-700-ASAA-A1
 
One is somewhere between 8 and 13 years old, and can't be Haswell compliant (Cooler master Real power M700) and the other is group regulated and can't be Haswell compliant, plus it's a 3 year warranty unit and is two years past it's expected lifespan according to the manufacturer. You have to consider, not only does it matter how long YOU have had the unit in service, but how long since it was manufactured and sat on a shelf with it's capacitors degrading as well. And that's without factoring in the fact that neither of these units are particularly good quality and both are group regulated.

The first solution I'd recommend would be to get a better, not group regulated power supply, that is decent quality. That will be tough right now, because power supplies are out of stock everywhere for anything decent due to Covid 19 shutting down shipments from China.

Secondly, you can TRY disabling C6 and C7 low power states in the BIOS, to see if that helps while you are away and the computer goes to sleep.

 
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Jun 13, 2020
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I'll have to try looking for a new power supply then I guess. I can't get anything on screen at all, so I can't access the BIOS at all, unless I'm missing something? Any recommendations on what I should be looking for in a PSU? In particular how can I tell it is not group regulated? When i bought them I thought both were reasonable quality, so I'm clearly no judge of that! Also I assume that a new PSU would be compatible with both AMD and Intel - is that right?
 
I got your back on that.

 
Jun 13, 2020
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Looking around for a Seasonic PSU based on your thread. I was looking at:

Seasonic Core Gold GM 500 500W Semi Modular 80+ Gold PSU/Power Supply

Couldn't find anything on it in terms of reviews, but do you think it will be okay? Get the impression that it is a newer model, but don't know if that is good or not. But with a 7 year warranty I guess they are at least prepared to put their money where their mouth is!

Happy to copy this into your main PSU thread if that would be better (or helpful)
 
There are no reviews of those yet, so it's impossible to say. That's the WHOLE problem right now, is that there are only either (mostly) unknown or known mediocre/poor quality units available right at the moment for the most part.

They are budget Seasonic units, per the companies own words, so I wouldn't expect them to be terrific. I would also not expect them to be horrific either, however, Seasonic has been known recently to farm some of their manufacturing out to a lower tiered 3rd party Chinese manufacturer on some budget platforms for XFX and others than have not been very good, so without a review I wouldn't offer my own recommendation for them.

Probably better off with this, which we know is halfway decent and is semi-modular as well.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£79.99 @ Currys PC World)
Total: £79.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-14 21:27 BST+0100
 
Jun 13, 2020
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Thanks for the steer. Currys weren't much use, in stock somewhere, but not for delivery, just collect in store - and no stores near me have any stock :mad:. Still got one from somewhere else that wasn't too much more. Will wait for it to arrive and see what happens...
 
Yeah, I don't think that's accurate K. They are lower quality builder type units, much like the CX series from Corsair I would think. Without a review, impossible to say, but certainly not Focus or Focus plus.

I sent an e-mail to Seasonic about Core series, including possible replacement with Focus series, and Seasonic rep had this to say:
The main purpose of the CORE series is for system builders where fewer connectors and lesser performance are needed and the price point more important.

The FOCUS is our most popular series and a great performance power supply and will continue to be an important part of our power supply offering for the foreseeable future.
While i also asked about the availability of the Core series location wise, i didn't get answer to that.

Though, the new Core series are part of the TUF Gaming Alliance and it looks like it's a special edition PSU, made in conjunction with Asus.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...d-psu-discussion-thread.3212332/post-21144723


However, for a GTX 960 that really only needs a 450w unit, it's probably ok if you have to resort to one.

This would be a better choice I think.

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/evg...r, LLC&utm_medium=webgains&refsource=webgains
 
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Jun 13, 2020
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Okay, so I’ve got the new PSU, plugged it in and powered up. No change in symptoms. 😭

I’ve got power lights on the board, and the lights at the end of the PCIe slots are pulsing, as they were before. When I push the on button the cpu fan starts nicely. I don’t get any POST beeps. I’m getting no output to the monitor.

So unless I’m missing something I guess it is mono or cpu? So recommendations please for a replacement that will work with the RAM and graphics card I already have please. Preferably something that will allow me to update the graphics card in 6months or so.
Thanks
 
No point going 3600X unless you're planning to OC it.
That's not true. There is a point. Not everybody wants or is able to overclock, and the 3600x offers higher clocks and some small bump in performance over the 3600, for a small premium. I've seen THOUSANDS of people spend far more on upgrades like faster RAM for smaller gains than you'd see between these two processors.