Hello there
I've been building gaming machines for over 10 years now. Had something strange happen to me this summer. I went away on holiday for about 2.5 weeks, and came back and my box wouldn't boot up at all (no power, no post, nothing). I do recall over the last 6 months or so some instances of fail-to-get-out-of-sleep-mode, needing a full re-boot, etc. Not all the time, but sometimes.
So then I crack open the box to start to poke around. Quick summary of my system when I did:
- ASUS P6TD Deluxe motherboard
- Intel i7 950 series CPU
- Corsair 280mm (ie dual-fan) watercooler
- 3x 4gb of RAM
- Corsair 850w power supply
- TITAN X Geforce video card
- 2x SATA hard drives
After checking all cables and unplugging / refitting them, nothing seemed to work. I then turned to the power supply because basically it would not power up at all (no fan, beep, nothing). I did the paper-clip test and nothing. I cracked it open (I know, but it was about 4 years old anyway, and I lost the warranty), and no capacitors seemed blown. There was a lot of dust in there, but hey. I could get the power light to come on the surface of the mother board. And I could also hear one single faint "click" within the PSU box, but that is all. When I cut power completely to the PSU the "click" re-sounded, but this time in reverse, as if it was switching off.
So I decided to order another PSU, this time an EVG model - the Supernova - also 850w. I plug it in and nothing. Nothing - except the same clicks. After much trouble shooting, which included:
- taking all graphics cards out
- all RAM except one card out
- disconnecting all SATA hard drives
- even a bench-test of the mobo with it sitting on a cardboard box
I still got nothing. A paper-clip test on this brand new PSU also results in nothing, no fan etc. So now I conclude that it must be something with my mobo / CPU etc. Since it has been about 5 years since I last bought these components, I felt it was time for an upgrade anyway. So I bought:
- MSI 970 Gaming mobo
- AMD 8-series CPU
- upgraded Corsair 280mm water cooler
- 3x 8 GB of RAM
I install all of these and hook up to the (also brand new) PSU and...NOTHING!
Now I'm at a loss.
Looking back at the series of events, I am left asking: Could the mobo / CPU have been fried in such a way that it returned the fire to my new PSU and fried it?? Can a new PSU be fried immediately by some built up surge, etc? As for the power source, I was originally (and always) hooked up through a surge protector. For all of the tests above, I tried with and without the surge protector, and I also tried another power outlet in the house. Any advice will be helpful. I'm now going to try to have that PSU replaced, but if they won't do it, I guess I'll order another one. But this is starting to get expensive...!
Cheers in advance.
I've been building gaming machines for over 10 years now. Had something strange happen to me this summer. I went away on holiday for about 2.5 weeks, and came back and my box wouldn't boot up at all (no power, no post, nothing). I do recall over the last 6 months or so some instances of fail-to-get-out-of-sleep-mode, needing a full re-boot, etc. Not all the time, but sometimes.
So then I crack open the box to start to poke around. Quick summary of my system when I did:
- ASUS P6TD Deluxe motherboard
- Intel i7 950 series CPU
- Corsair 280mm (ie dual-fan) watercooler
- 3x 4gb of RAM
- Corsair 850w power supply
- TITAN X Geforce video card
- 2x SATA hard drives
After checking all cables and unplugging / refitting them, nothing seemed to work. I then turned to the power supply because basically it would not power up at all (no fan, beep, nothing). I did the paper-clip test and nothing. I cracked it open (I know, but it was about 4 years old anyway, and I lost the warranty), and no capacitors seemed blown. There was a lot of dust in there, but hey. I could get the power light to come on the surface of the mother board. And I could also hear one single faint "click" within the PSU box, but that is all. When I cut power completely to the PSU the "click" re-sounded, but this time in reverse, as if it was switching off.
So I decided to order another PSU, this time an EVG model - the Supernova - also 850w. I plug it in and nothing. Nothing - except the same clicks. After much trouble shooting, which included:
- taking all graphics cards out
- all RAM except one card out
- disconnecting all SATA hard drives
- even a bench-test of the mobo with it sitting on a cardboard box
I still got nothing. A paper-clip test on this brand new PSU also results in nothing, no fan etc. So now I conclude that it must be something with my mobo / CPU etc. Since it has been about 5 years since I last bought these components, I felt it was time for an upgrade anyway. So I bought:
- MSI 970 Gaming mobo
- AMD 8-series CPU
- upgraded Corsair 280mm water cooler
- 3x 8 GB of RAM
I install all of these and hook up to the (also brand new) PSU and...NOTHING!
Now I'm at a loss.
Looking back at the series of events, I am left asking: Could the mobo / CPU have been fried in such a way that it returned the fire to my new PSU and fried it?? Can a new PSU be fried immediately by some built up surge, etc? As for the power source, I was originally (and always) hooked up through a surge protector. For all of the tests above, I tried with and without the surge protector, and I also tried another power outlet in the house. Any advice will be helpful. I'm now going to try to have that PSU replaced, but if they won't do it, I guess I'll order another one. But this is starting to get expensive...!
Cheers in advance.
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