Question Can bent pins prevent the motherboard from powering up ?

[MoeSkeetToe]

I received a mobo with bent pins on amazon, Asus Strix Z790-H, and it worked fine for years. Recently, it shut off and wouldn't power on. I thought the PSU died so I swapped a new PSU and found no luck. I've swapped ram and tried shortening the header pins to ensure it wasn't a broken power button on the case. The mobo wouldn't power on, and there would not even be a single fan spin. From my understanding, if bent pins were the issue, it would prevent it from POST screen, not from it actually powering on.

I sent it for an RMA and they blamed the bent pins. I complained that they're too focused on the bent pins and ignoring the issue I actually outlined. They charged me $50 to fix the bent pins and now they're saying they stress tested it and it magically works. Are they trying to pull a quick one and pretend that the bent pins prevented the mobo from powering on? I was under the assumption that faulty ram, cpu, or pins would still show power and fans would spin even if for a second. In my case, the motherboard literally showed no signs of powering on yet aside from the static RGB that just remained on the entire time.

EDIT:
PSU: Corsair RM1000x
CPU: i9-13900k
GPU: 3080 FE
Disk Drives: 850 Evo 500gb, 970 Evo 1TB, 980 Evo 1TB, Sandisk ultra 4tb
Peripherals: Logitech mouse, Logitech powerplay mousepad, custom keyboard, microphone, headset

I don't have pictures as I sent the mobo to Asus a while ago. The reason I'm asking now was because it seemed they were going to possibly just straighten the pins and send it back without testing it. This is my 6th pc I've built so I can confidently say I didn't accidentally damage the board.

Backstory: This PC was built in mid-2023 with mostly brand-new parts. Everything is brand new except for the disk drives and the case. I saw the bent pin but tried it anyway and ran a stress test on it and everything ran fine, for two years actually. One day, the PC randomly shut off, which usually means PSU or temps most of the time. My temps were fine as I never overclock, my CPU has a slight undervolt.

When attempting to turn the PC on, it wouldn't turn on which would most likely rule out a temp issue, as at least it would reboot if it were. The RGB on the mobo remained on but there was no signs of powering on, not even fans spinning. I thought the PSU died, so I unplugged all the power cables and put in a known working PSU with their own cables, I did not mix-n-match the different PSU cables.

The power button still didn't show any signs of life. To rule out that it was a faulty case, I unplugged the header and shorted the two pins with a screwdriver to try to start it without the power button. So far, it seems like I ruled out faulty PSU, faulty case header, and CPU temps.

I did not have a different CPU to try, but you don't need a CPU to see any fans spin when trying to power it on. I tried different RAM sticks just in case, but RAM is also unrelated to the mobo powering on. At this point, it seemed like it was a VRM-related issue or something with the mobo.

I just find it odd that the PC shutting down mid-use after 2+ years and refusing to turn on was because of bent pins from early 2023.


To clarify again since it seems to be ambiguous, I'm not talking about POST screen, that's obvious. My PC will not power on at all; there are no indicators that a signal is being sent to the VRMs to power on. The RGB on the board remains on, but it's in a dead state as if there's no PSU connected at all. Pressing the power button doesn't do anything. If it were a CPU issue, you would still see fans spin for a little. I have no fans spinning, no sound, no indication that it's powering up, even after I swapped PSUs and their respective cables.

The best way I can explain it is imagine if your power went out. Your PC shut off and when you press the power button, nothing happens. That's what my mobo is doing even with a working PSU installed.

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

List of all connected peripherals.

= = = =

This:

"I've swapped ram and tried shortening the header pins to ensure it wasn't a broken power button on the case."

What exactly did you do?

Are you able to take some photographs? If so, do so and post the photographs here via imgur.

(www.imgur.com > green "New post" icon.)

= = = =

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer.

Any error codes, warnings, or informational events being captured just before or at the time of the shut-offs?

 

[Lutfij]

Depending on which pin/pins were bent, you could have a grounding issue or even power going down the wrong pad on the processor(burnt processor) so yeah, they are right to focus on the bent pins.

In all fairness, you should've returned the board as soon as you caught sight of the issue(after purchase) or went ahead with an RMA asap. There are multiple cases where users damaged the board on accident and then claimed for warranty, which is actually void if it's user inflicted damage.

To add, you should include info my colleague above has asked for, they are relevant to the situation.

 

[SkyNetRising]

From my understanding, if bent pins were the issue, it would prevent it from POST screen, not from it actually powering on.

No. Your assumption is wrong. Bent pins can cause all kinds of different problems.

Are they trying to pull a quick one and pretend that the bent pins prevented the mobo from powering on?
I was under the assumption that faulty ram, cpu, or pins would still show power and fans would spin even if for a second.

Are you a technician capable of properly diagnosing the issue?
It sounds like you're trying to weasel out of paying for services provided.

 

[MoeSkeetToe]

No. Your assumption is wrong. Bent pins can cause all kinds of different problems.

Are you a technician capable of properly diagnosing the issue?
It sounds like you're trying to weasel out of paying for services provided.

Your assumption is also wrong. I already paid for the services. It's clear I'm asking if bent pins were affecting the power cycle, hence the post title. Being hostile is unnecessary.

 

[USAFRet]

Can bent pins prevent mobo from powering up?

Absolutely.
This, an old motherboard of mine:

Bent motherboard pins
Before - No boot

After - boot success

to fix:

 

[MoeSkeetToe]

Depending on which pin/pins were bent, you could have a grounding issue or even power going down the wrong pad on the processor(burnt processor) so yeah, they are right to focus on the bent pins.

In all fairness, you should've returned the board as soon as you caught sight of the issue(after purchase) or went ahead with an RMA asap. There are multiple cases where users damaged the board on accident and then claimed for warranty, which is actually void if it's user inflicted damage.

To add, you should include info my colleague above has asked for, they are relevant to the situation.

PSU: Corsair RM1000x
CPU: i9-13900k
GPU: 3080 FE
Disk Drives: 850 Evo 500gb, 970 Evo 1TB, 980 Evo 1TB, Sandisk ultra 4tb
Peripherals: Logitech mouse, Logitech powerplay mousepad, custom keyboard, microphone, headset

I don't have pictures as I sent the mobo to Asus a while ago. The reason I'm asking now was because it seemed they were going to possibly just straighten the pins and send it back without testing it. This is my 6th pc I've built so I can confidently say I didn't accidentally damage the board.

Backstory: This PC was built in mid-2023 with mostly brand-new parts. Everything is brand new except for the disk drives and the case. I saw the bent pin but tried it anyway and ran a stress test on it and everything ran fine, for two years actually. One day, the PC randomly shut off, which usually means PSU or temps most of the time. My temps were fine as I never overclock, my CPU has a slight undervolt.

When attempting to turn the PC on, it wouldn't turn on which would most likely rule out a temp issue, as at least it would reboot if it were. The RGB on the mobo remained on but there was no signs of powering on, not even fans spinning. I thought the PSU died, so I unplugged all the power cables and put in a known working PSU with their own cables, I did not mix-n-match the different PSU cables.

The power button still didn't show any signs of life. To rule out that it was a faulty case, I unplugged the header and shorted the two pins with a screwdriver to try to start it without the power button. So far, it seems like I ruled out faulty PSU, faulty case header, and CPU temps.

I did not have a different CPU to try, but you don't need a CPU to see any fans spin when trying to power it on. I tried different RAM sticks just in case, but RAM is also unrelated to the mobo powering on. At this point, it seemed like it was a VRM-related issue or something with the mobo.

I just find it odd that the PC shutting down mid-use after 2+ years and refusing to turn on was because of bent pins from early 2023.


To clarify again since it seems to be ambiguous, I'm not talking about POST screen, that's obvious. My PC will not power on at all; there are no indicators that a signal is being sent to the VRMs to power on. The RGB on the board remains on, but it's in a dead state as if there's no PSU connected at all. Pressing the power button doesn't do anything. If it were a CPU issue, you would still see fans spin for a little. I have no fans spinning, no sound, no indication that it's powering up, even after I swapped PSUs and their respective cables.

 

[MoeSkeetToe]

Absolutely.
This, an old motherboard of mine:

Bent motherboard pins
Before - No boot

After - boot success

to fix:

What do you mean by booting? Do you mean POST screen or actually powering on? My motherboard wouldn't power cycle when attempting to turn on the PC. Also, was this an issue that occured during usage? My issue occurred after I've been using it for 2+ years, not on a recent build.

 

[USAFRet]

What do you mean by booting? Do you mean POST screen or actually powering on? My motherboard wouldn't power cycle when attempting to turn on the PC. Also, was this an issue that occured during usage? My issue occurred after I've been using it for 2+ years, not on a recent build.

Would not actually complete a POST.
This was on first power on.

Your case is different, in that it used to work, and now does not.

Has any other hardware changed?

 

[MoeSkeetToe]

Would not actually complete a POST.
This was on first power on.

Your case is different, in that it used to work, and now does not.

Has any other hardware changed?

No hardware was changed. Imagine if your PSU died. Your pc would randomly shut off during gaming and wouldn't power back on. That's basically what happened except I swapped the PSU with a known working PSU and it turned out to not be PSU related. That's why I'm asking, because it's such an odd case I've never dealt with yet. All hardware changes were for troubleshooting after the issue occurred. For those 2+ years, I've never changed anything and I've never moved the PC so there's no damage from me dropping it or from it shifting around in a U-Haul.

 

[MoeSkeetToe]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

List of all connected peripherals.

= = = =

This:

"I've swapped ram and tried shortening the header pins to ensure it wasn't a broken power button on the case."

What exactly did you do?

Are you able to take some photographs? If so, do so and post the photographs here via imgur.

(www.imgur.com > green "New post" icon.)

= = = =

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer.

Any error codes, warnings, or informational events being captured just before or at the time of the shut-offs?

I replied to the other person with a more in-depth description

 

[SkyNetRising]

It's clear I'm asking if bent pins were affecting the power cycle, hence the post title.

You had a problem.
The problem was fixed.
What are you still unhappy about?

Do you think they gave you insufficient report about fixes, that were done?
Or do you think, they are intentionally lying and maliciously deceiving you?

And only evidence, you're basing your suspicions on, is your personal (anecdotal/unqualified) understanding of,
how bent pins damage can present itself in a system.

BTW - did you send your cpu also? For testing purposes?
Even if they fixed the board, your cpu still might be damaged/deteriorated.