Question Did a bad PSU kill my processor?

[ArbitraryRenaissance]

Way back in early July, I got all the components I needed to build my computer, and from that point forward, it has just been a continuous string of things going wrong after things going wrong. I've had to make a total of (counts) five returns now due to defective or fried components, and I need to know if I need to make that six.

Here's the short version of it: I got a Ryzen 7 3700x and put it in a computer that was hooked up to a refurbished Corsair PSU which turned out to be defective. Once I discovered that the PSU was bad, I replaced it with a shiny new Seasonic PSU. But when I hooked THAT PSU up, the computer still wasn't working, so I figured that the bad PSU damaged the motherboard. So I replaced the motherboard with a new one — the TUF x570 WiFi. At this point, I wasn't exactly confident that the computer was going to boot, so I just breadboarded it to see if the BIOS would give me anything. I installed the CPU and its cooler and plugged it into the PSU to see if the debug LED's would light up at all. They didn't. All I got was fan spin. (However, I got fan spin from just about everywhere! The chipset fan, CPU cooler fans, and the PSU fan all started spinning when I started up the computer.)

What seems to be most likely to me is that there is a PC building God who wants me to suffer, and He decided to destroy my CPU. But I'd like to hear a second or third opinion. I haven't done anything stupid like plug the cables into the wrong spot or take out the CMOS battery and forget to put it back in. I've been quite diligent to make sure I've been building this whole thing properly. Would a terminated CPU be a sound explanation here? And if so, is it possible that the PC building God has fried other components that were hooked up (either indirectly or directly) to the bad PSU as well?

 

[boju]

Did you install a video card?

List complete specs

 

[ArbitraryRenaissance]

There were unexpected failures before I even got the opportunity to install the video card. I did plug in a video card and hooked it up to humor myself afterwards, but as expected, it didn't change anything and the computer still failed to boot.

Here are my full specs. (The prices are all post-tax and shipping, which is why there's a slight markup on some items.) https://pcpartpicker.com/list/K84s6s

 

[boju]

A graphics card is needed for video because your cpu isn't an apu model (ie 2200g/2400g/3600g) with an igpu so those motherboard video ports won't work.

Did you plug the cpu 8pin eps cord to both psu and motherboard? And plugged the cpu fan cable to cpu_fan header on the motherboard?

And ram placed in the two grey slots?

 

[ArbitraryRenaissance]

I said I was breadboarding. I didn't even bother to install RAM at first because I wanted the motherboard to tell me through beeps and LEDs tht it needed RAM, because it's supposed to do that. And it didn't do that, so I knew something was wrong before installing RAM in the first place. As for the video card, like I said, I was breadboarding. I didn't even have a monitor hooked up because I was trying to get the motherboard to yell at me, which it wasn't doing.

But yes, I did do all of those things. I've been here about five times now; I know to make sure I have everything connected properly. That includes the RAM, which I installed a stick of to see if it would change anything. It didn't.

 

[boju]

Do you have a debug speaker connected to the motherboard to hear beep codes?

 

[ArbitraryRenaissance]

Yes.

 

[boju]

View steps here to try.

"No POST", "system won't boot", and "no video output" troubleshooting checklist

"No POST", "system won't boot", and "no video output" troubleshooting checklist This checklist is a compilation of troubleshooting ideas from many forum members. It's very important to actually perform every step in the checklist if you want to effectively troubleshoot your problem. 1.Did you...

forums.tomshardware.com

What happened to the refurb Corsair psu? How did you determine it was faulty?

 

[ArbitraryRenaissance]

It failed the paperclip test. It also caused one of the chips on a previous motherboard to start smoking. It also fried two flash drives that I used to try installing a new BIOS on said motherboard to the point where they were completely unusable. I filed an RMA and got a refund for it.

 

[boju]

Was the cpu replaced as well? That could have received a hit as well. Anything connected to the mainboard really. Just don't really know.

 

[ArbitraryRenaissance]

No. I still have that CPU. I made this post because I wanted a second opinion on whether or not it was probably dead.

 

[ArbitraryRenaissance]

But I've already filed an RMA. I'll get it replaced as soon as I can.

 

[boju]

Probably, following what has been tried and said. Shouldn't be this hard.

 

[mdd1963]

When you swapped PSU at some point, ....did you use the all of the PSU's modular cables with the new PSU (GOOD!), or, did you connect old modular cables to the new one thinking they were wired the same pin for pin at the PSU connection points? (BAD!)

 

[ArbitraryRenaissance]

I used all of the new modular cables. The old ones were all returned.

I'm going to bring other important components (RAM, GPU, and SSD) into a computer store for testing to see if any of them are defective now as well. The PSU has already destroyed nearly $800 worth of components and forced me to make three returns, so I need to know if it simply destroyed everything it touched.