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Question Computer fans spin for a second then nothing

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AspectSaber

AspectSaber

Commendable
Oct 2, 2021
82
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1,545
So I recently upgraded my office computer's power supply, and now when I put all of the cables back, the computer fans (CPU, GPU, and exhaust fan) spin for a second when I hit the power button, but stop and nothing happens. However the power supply light is on. Pressing the power button again does nothing, until I unplug the power cord and put it back, which just makes the fans spin for a second. I've been stuck with this for a month and I'm getting real tired. Things I have done was completely replacing the CMOS battery, changing the RAM slot, and testing the power supplies with the paperclip thing and they both work (old and new). I have completely taken apart the computer but can't find the problem. The power supply is a 400 watt which should easily power the i3 7100 and gt 1030 in it. Please help.
 
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Your old psu was likely considerably better quality than the new one. The TR2 line is well known for its 'cheapness' in build and design, no matter which of the 3 actual factories they come from (2 in China and 1 in Taiwan I believe). Last I heard they had @ 20% failure rate, everything from DOA to Dead in Minutes. There's very few 'brand name' psus that are worse, well I can't actually think of any atm...
 
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Karadjgne said:
Your old psu was likely considerably better quality than the new one. The TR2 line is well known for its 'cheapness' in build and design, no matter which of the 3 actual factories they come from (2 in China and 1 in Taiwan I believe). Last I heard they had @ 20% failure rate, everything from DOA to Dead in Minutes. There's very few 'brand name' psus that are worse, well I can't actually think of any atm...
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Ok but is there a fix to my computer?
 
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DSzymborski said:
Were any adapters used? HP PSUs usually use proprietary connectors.

Does the old one work? For what purpose was the upgrade made?
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The old power supply was incredibly loud, and also Nvidia recommend atleast 300 watts for the 1030, so just to be safe I upgraded the power supply. I also bought it because I might upgrade to a gtx 1650 in the future for this computer. There are no adapters. This HP computer is fairly standard it only needs a 24 pin with the 4 pin cpu connector.
 
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AspectSaber said:
The old power supply was incredibly loud, and also Nvidia recommend atleast 300 watts for the 1030, so just to be safe I upgraded the power supply. I also bought it because I might upgrade to a gtx 1650 in the future for this computer. There are no adapters. This HP computer is fairly standard it only needs a 24 pin with the 4 pin cpu connector.
Click to expand...

And does the old one work?

And did you test the PC with the GPU fully removed?
 
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DSzymborski said:
And does the old one work?

And did you test the PC with the GPU fully removed?
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Yes I have tested it without the GPU. The old one works I think based on the paperclip test and the green LED which turns on when you plug it in. I heard on another post that it could be a short circuit with some screw or loose connection or dust but I completely took apart this thing and nothing works.
 
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No, did you fire up the PC with the old one? That it passes the paper clip test doesn't help diagnose your PC's current problems. The idea is to isolate things with known good parts.

Are you outside the return window on the PSU? It would be a good opportunity to return it, if so; as mentioned above, the TR2 is an extremely junky PSU and probably worse than the HP one.
 
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DSzymborski said:
No, did you fire up the PC with the old one? That it passes the paper clip test doesn't help diagnose your PC's current problems. The idea is to isolate things with known good parts.

Are you outside the return window on the PSU? It would be a good opportunity to return it, if so; as mentioned above, the TR2 is an extremely junky PSU and probably worse than the HP one.
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Well after I plugged in the old one to try it does not work the same problem happens with the new power supply. I forgot to mention it's the 430 watt continous power smart white one if that changes anything about the quality.
 
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AspectSaber said:
Well after I plugged in the old one to try it does not work the same problem happens with the new power supply. I forgot to mention it's the 430 watt continous power smart white one if that changes anything about the quality.
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It doesn't change anything.

Unfortunately, if the old PSU doesn't work, then the next thing to do is take everything out of the case and try to breadboard it with the old PSU and no GPU installed (make sure it's fully removed, not just not connected to the monitor).

If still nothing, then either the motherboard or CPU has likely given up the ghost (whether caused by the junk PSU will be unknown, though it should never be used again under any circumstances), most likely the motherboard. Then you'll have to evaluate what you're willing to invest, if anything, to revive this system.
 
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DSzymborski said:
It doesn't change anything.

Unfortunately, if the old PSU doesn't work, then the next thing to do is take everything out of the case and try to breadboard it with the old PSU and no GPU installed (make sure it's fully removed, not just not connected to the monitor).

If still nothing, then either the motherboard or CPU has likely given up the ghost (whether caused by the junk PSU will be unknown, though it should never be used again under any circumstances), most likely the motherboard. Then you'll have to evaluate what you're willing to invest, if anything, to revive this system.
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Yeah I completely removed the GPU and still no luck. I don't think it was the PSU because we used it on another prebuilt system and it worked flawlessly. I think during the installation I messed something up and damaged the motherboard.
 
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AspectSaber said:
Yeah I completely removed the GPU and still no luck. I don't think it was the PSU because we used it on another prebuilt system and it worked flawlessly. I think during the installation I messed something up and damaged the motherboard.
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That's not a diagnostic technique. A junky PSU can cause damage in one event or over a long period, it can be intermittent or constant. All this test did was risk the other system too. The PSU is garbage-tier, it should be returned if it can be, sent to a recycling center if not.

The motherboard is far more likely to break than the CPU, so that would be the suspect if you breadboarded.
 
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DSzymborski said:
It doesn't change anything.

Unfortunately, if the old PSU doesn't work, then the next thing to do is take everything out of the case and try to breadboard it with the old PSU and no GPU installed (make sure it's fully removed, not just not connected to the monitor).

If still nothing, then either the motherboard or CPU has likely given up the ghost (whether caused by the junk PSU will be unknown, though it should never be used again under any circumstances), most likely the motherboard. Then you'll have to evaluate what you're willing to invest, if anything, to revive this system.
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Wait I tried something and replaced the cmos with the other one in the pack and the fans spun for slightly longer but still nothing happened. Does this mean something or not?
 
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The pc not powering up like that is generally a hardware issue. Not as in broken, but as in you replaced the psu and knocked something lose, issue.

Before throwing in the towel, go over everything, make sure that not only are all the connectors fully seated, but also that each individual pin is all the way connected. Make sure the cpu fan header is seated, reseat the ram, test with 1 stick then the other, reseat the cpu (old paste isn't an issue here until it works again).

Only after you exhaust all possibilities and still no joy would I consider the mobo toast, at which point I'd rma the psu with explicit explanation that the reason for return was damage to the motherboard resulting in catastrophic failure and permanent loss.

It'd not be beyond reasonable request to ask to have the motherboard replaced
 
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Karadjgne said:
The pc not powering up like that is generally a hardware issue. Not as in broken, but as in you replaced the psu and knocked something lose, issue.

Before throwing in the towel, go over everything, make sure that not only are all the connectors fully seated, but also that each individual pin is all the way connected. Make sure the cpu fan header is seated, reseat the ram, test with 1 stick then the other, reseat the cpu (old paste isn't an issue here until it works again).

Only after you exhaust all possibilities and still no joy would I consider the mobo toast, at which point I'd rma the psu with explicit explanation that the reason for return was damage to the motherboard resulting in catastrophic failure and permanent loss.

It'd not be beyond reasonable request to ask to have the motherboard replaced
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I technically rebuilt the whole system. Replacing the mobo would not be smart as it is going for like $100 on ebay which is probably more than the PC itself.
 
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AspectSaber said:
I technically rebuilt the whole system. Replacing the mobo would not be smart as it is going for like $100 on ebay which is probably more than the PC itself.
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Then it's definitely worth returning that TR2 and getting your money back. The gpu is good enough to keep and put into another budget pc, if necessary and you might get a few $$ for that i3, but the mobo being proprietary, that's a bummer. I'd say get a different mobo, but that doesn't always work with prebuilts and cases, they like their proprietaryness.
 
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Nobody mentioned this, so try it - it's free!

On many mobos IF the CPU_FAN header does NOT get a valid speed signal from its fan at boot time, it may refuse to allow the machine to boot up. Of course, that means it must TRY briefly to boot and will turn on the fans etc., but THEN it checks for a fan speed signal there. Check carefully that there is a good fan plugged into the CPU_FAN headerr AND that it it making good connections. As a brief test, you can swap some other fan in your case to the CPU_FAN header and try. If things boot up, you know the original fan on that header has a problem.
 
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Karadjgne said:
Before throwing in the towel, go over everything, make sure that not only are all the connectors fully seated, but also that each individual pin is all the way connected. Make sure the cpu fan header is seated, reseat the ram, test with 1 stick then the other, reseat the cpu (old paste isn't an issue here until it works again).
Click to expand...
Mentioned 😉
(but as usual, you did a much better job at explanation)
 
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Paperdoc said:
Nobody mentioned this, so try it - it's free!

On many mobos IF the CPU_FAN header does NOT get a valid speed signal from its fan at boot time, it may refuse to allow the machine to boot up. Of course, that means it must TRY briefly to boot and will turn on the fans etc., but THEN it checks for a fan speed signal there. Check carefully that there is a good fan plugged into the CPU_FAN headerr AND that it it making good connections. As a brief test, you can swap some other fan in your case to the CPU_FAN header and try. If things boot up, you know the original fan on that header has a problem.
Click to expand...
Sorry it has been a while, I did not see the notifications until today. I tried this with another fan but it did not work.
 
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