Question Computer won’t turn on

[Robjmass1994]

Hey there, last night I was trying to get my disk drive to be discovered after a move so I went into the case to unplug then replug the cables in. I put everything back, turned it on, and now it won’t boot past the BIOS screen. I can’t even do anything on the BIOS. If I turn the system off, then hit the power button again nothing happens. It only turns back on if I turn the psu off, unplug it, put everything back then press power. I tried resetting the CMOS but that didn’t work.

ASROCK B250m-HDV
EVGA 1060 6GB
I5-7500
Corsair 600w PSU
16 GB Ripjaw RAM
1TB Hitachi 7200 rpm

 

[ConanLock]

When you unplugged the cables, did you unplug the power button, power light and HDD light etc ones. These are the ones that come from the front of you case, and all plug in together on the motherboard. If you did, you might have plugged them in the wrong ways. I'd suggest looking at the manual for your motherboard and case if this is the problem, so that you know how to plug them in properly

 

[Robjmass1994]

The only cables on the inside that I touched were the ones plugged into the disk drive. I didn’t touch the ones on the MB

 

[ConanLock]

Ah ok. How many sticks of RAM do you have? And have you tried turning the PC on without the disk drive plugged in?

 

[Robjmass1994]

2 8GB sticks of RAM
Haven’t tried without the disk drive.
Trying now

 

[Robjmass1994]

No change with disk drive unplugged

 

[ConanLock]

Try each RAM stick one at a time in each RAM slot on your motherboard. If still to no avail, put them back in, and make sure the RAM is set up correctly in the BIOS. It may seem odd, but RAM can cause problems when you least expect it.

 

[Robjmass1994]

I’ll give that a shot but I can’t do anything in the BIOS. It loads to the BIOS screen but doesn’t recognize any inputs

 

[Robjmass1994]

Neither stick worked better than the other. Both just boot to BIOS then I have no control except to turn it off. Then it still won’t power back on until I unplug it then replug it

 

[ConanLock]

Ok, do you have access to a spare PSU capable of testing the system, or know someone who has one you can borrow? You might want to try that out.
Alternatively, by visually inspecting the motherboard, do any of the capacitors look bad? (The capacitors are the cylindrical things). You are looking for slanted ones, leaks or crusty bits, or ones that are building on top (they should the perfectly flat, so if there is a little "hill" on top of them, it is probably, not definitely, bad).

 

[Robjmass1994]

Don’t have/know where I can get a spare PSU to test. No capacitors look blown. Also, can boot into BIOS menu but it takes a while

 

[Robjmass1994]

Also, when I save and exit the BIOS screen, the tower immediately turns off

 

[ConanLock]

If you can find some similar options in the BIOS, look for where you can load defaults. Load these, save and exit (then turn the PC back on) and see if it helps.

 

[Robjmass1994]

Doesn’t resetting the CMOS restore defaults?

 

[ConanLock]

Yes but it would be interesting to see what happens when you do it from a point where the pc is already on.
Also just to confirm, the only change you made was to the disk drive. You didn't take the CPU out right? The next thing I'd suggest is to take the HDD/SSD out, as well as the disk drive. Also, take one of the sticks of RAM out and the GPU, just plug the monitor straight into the motherboard. Then, clear the CMOS, then turn it on.

 

[Robjmass1994]

Well, that seemed to do it. I’m in windows now!

 

[ConanLock]

That's great! Was it taking the stuff out, loading defaults or both?

 

[Robjmass1994]

I believe it was loading defaults. Although now it stay on BIOS until boot drive is manually selected, but that’s probably just a setting to change in the BIOS right?

 

[ConanLock]

Yes most likely just a setting changed. You can go back and set the boot sequence again if you want now.

 

[Robjmass1994]

Thank you for all your help! I was so worried that I’d accidentally discharged static on something expensive and important when I was jiggling the disk drive wires. Drive still isn’t being recognized but I’m not gonna screw with it again 😂

 

[ConanLock]

Ok that's cool, happy to help. If you ever want to give the disk drive another go, I can try to help out a bit more.

 

[Robjmass1994]

I think it might be a dead drive. It happened last time I moved from my dorm as well. The carts they give us to move everything shake like hell and when I got home for Christmas break, the laser wouldn’t read so I replaced it with this cannibalized one from an old pc. This is the first time I’ve tried to use the drive since I moved back for the summer so I’m guessing it’s the same issue.