Question Experienced desktop officer (me) managed to break his own PC and can't fix it ??

Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
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TLDR: old pc which had no changes apart from a few parts removed then replaced stuck on no post with red vga light on msi h270 Pro carbon.

TLDR Specs:
msi h270 carbon pro
Core i5 7600k
Corsair vengeance lpx 16gb (2x8)
Corsair 850w psu
Other specs aren't that important as troubleshooted without other stuff in

Look, I'm embarrassed about this but I'm honestly stumped here, had the worst couple of days of my pc related life. Got an entire new build to make for myself, something I have done many times before, took some parts out of old rig to pop them into new rig. Only the new rig didn't work (suspect slightly bent lga pins for what it's worth) and then, when I go to pop the old bits back in my pc and power up it's developed an issue, blank black screen vga light on motherboard and cpu fan stops spinning along with psu after a few seconds.

Bare in mind before I go on all these components worked fine together before simply removing them and putting them back in.

So troubleshooting steps so far:

(Note: vga light on this board indicates gpu fail or not detect)

-Tried another 2 gpu's across both pcie slots, same error
-Tried another psu, same error
-Tried various combos of above to eliminate randomness, same error
-tried remove cmos and wait an hour and holding power for 30 to clear residual power, same error
after above tried the motherboard connecters for onboard graphics, same error
-tried various connectors to ensure not hdmi drivers issues
-removed all power except that of motherboard and cpu. Removed any gpu, tried onboard graphics connecotor, same error
-also then took out both ram sticks, got dram led warning on motherboard, reinserted
-Removed any extra hard drives so just the boot drive connected (256 gb ssd, sata)
-double checked case for anything loose or wiring causing issues, cables aren't tidy but they aren't causing issues as far as I can see
- motherboard has no q-flash option

And that's it I'm out of ideas now the only theories I have left are:

A) the board just happened to develop a fault during this process, perhaps due to age and removing reinserted cards constantly.
B) Maybe during this whole process I managed to damage the board with static, though while I was working on carpet it's fairly unlikely as I know what I'm doing.
C) maybe my new rig was okay but the new psu I bought killed the new rig then the old rig? Though I only hooked the new psu to old during testing (new psu was factor sealed Corsair 1000w gold standard).
D) The PC gods hate me and don't want me to have a pc anymore.

Me: pc enthusiast for like 25 years, worked in it for 13 years and 6 years as a desktop engineer, and I'm gutted I can't figure this out!
 

Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
14
1
1,515
Aw and one additional, the only thing I have noticed is if I plug the monitor into the onboard display port the monitor screen stays blank black and never sleeps as if no signal, plugged into gpu it acts as if its trying to receive a signal and then sleeps as if it didn't get one.
Have also tried multiple connection types across multiple monitors.
 
Bare in mind before I go on all these components worked fine together before simply removing them and putting them back in.
Well, the problem here is that is not exactly true. You removed working components, then put them in new build and tried to start it which did not work, and then put them in old build and that did not work too. So the quick conclusion would be that new build damaged some of the old components. However since you did not bring the whole story this can be only pure guess. Unfortunately details matter (like what you removed from old build, what was new components, how new build failed).
As for the four theories you listed, all of them are of course possible (idk anything about gods tho).
 

Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
14
1
1,515
Well, the problem here is that is not exactly true. You removed working components, then put them in new build and tried to start it which did not work, and then put them in old build and that did not work too. So the quick conclusion would be that new build damaged some of the old components. However since you did not bring the whole story this can be only pure guess. Unfortunately details matter (like what you removed from old build, what was new components, how new build failed).
As for the four theories you listed, all of them are of course possible (idk anything about gods tho).

Thanks for the response, I didn't include the entire story as didn't want to wall of text crit everyone but as for your questions:

Components removed from old build we're never actually installed in new build they were put to one side and never inserted (old m2 old sata 2.5 old 3tb drive, old gtx 1070 was removed, stored in a box, then returned to old machine. None of then actually made it into the new build (sorry I realise this wasn't entirely clear).

At one point during the new build failing I hooked up my old corsair gold 850 watt psu to new build to test, then I also hooked up the new psu to the old build, that's the only cross over point and as I say new build I believe was either my own error or bent lga pins.

For what it's worth the new build failing was with only new parts, mb was stuck on cpu red led even with nothing else but power to mb and cpu and ram inserted, I noticed the bent leds later in testing which is likely cause.

Also, old build failing with none of the removed parts reinserted, tried to post with just boot drive, motherboard ,cpu and power using onboard graphics (so nothing that was removed and reinserted) and same issue, also tried with this same but with a totally new graphics card from my new build (this last was in the last hour or so) and same issue.

Tried 3 different displays and multiple connection methods, hdmi display port and dvi.
 
At one point during the new build failing I hooked up my old corsair gold 850 watt psu to new build to test
Ok, thanks for clarification, we have a more clear picture of situation now. So the only thing that were in both builds were PSUs. Just in case I'll ask if you did not mixed PSU cables from both units?
Now the VGA debug LED should not stop the system from booting. Even if you had CPU without iGPU or it was non-functioning (have you actually ever used it before to know it works?) the system should boot just fine without display. There is a trick to confirm it - spam the key that enters BIOS at start then wait a minute then press F10 then enter, if system reboots at this point you know it booted to BIOS just fine. However this:
blank black screen vga light on motherboard and cpu fan stops spinning along with psu after a few seconds
suggests the system powers down (does it though? what about other fans? mobo lights?) which would suggest either PSU or mobo problem. Note that PSU fan stopping could be just a passive cooling bit CPU fan shouldn't ever stop on working system (unless you set it this way and override all alarms).
 
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Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
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Modular PSUs - correct?

Did you use PSU cables other than the PSU cables that came with any given PSU?

Nope Just those provided in both psu's, nice idea though. Honestly I used to help people trouble shoot problems as my day job and I'm well aware the most common point of failure is between the chair and the keyboard ;)

I just cabt figure out what or how I might have screwed up to cause this. Or whether I'm just horrifically unlucky in terms of an actual component malfunction as a co-incidence (which we all know can certainly happen, but its usually the person's fault somewhere).
 

Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
14
1
1,515
Ok, thanks for clarification, we have a more clear picture of situation now. So the only thing that were in both builds were PSUs. Just in case I'll ask if you did not mixed PSU cables from both units?
Now the VGA debug LED should not stop the system from booting. Even if you had CPU without iGPU or it was non-functioning (have you actually ever used it before to know it works?) the system should boot just fine without display. There is a trick to confirm it - spam the key that enters BIOS at start then wait a minute then press F10 then enter, if system reboots at this point you know it booted to BIOS just fine. However this:

suggests the system powers down (does it though? what about other fans? mobo lights?) which would suggest either PSU or mobo problem. Note that PSU fan stopping could be just a passive cooling bit CPU fan shouldn't ever stop on working system (unless you set it this way and override all alarms).

Yeah def didn't mix modular cables, I'm 100% on that one. It depends what you mean by booting tbh, when I hit the power button this happens:

Pc powers on and any fans currently connected to gpu cpu and case Spin up, a few seconds pass, let's say between 3 and 8, and in that time the psu fan will spin down, the cpu fan will spin down BUT the gpu fans and case fans continue to spin, pc power light remains on and motherboard remains lit (as in vga red light on, general led lighting on motherboard, red led on ram gpu to show its recognised on board.

The PC then sits like that for aslong as you will leave it. I'm going to try to bios test you mentioned now.
 

Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
14
1
1,515
Please make high resolution photo of cpu socket - from multiple angles - and show here.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Ah sorry might not have been clear in the text, the lga bent pin issue was with my new build, I'm now returning that motherboard because if the pins. The main issue is the old pc which now fails to boot when nothing much seemed to have changed.

Also for the boot menu, I have tried 5 times to hit del/f10 and enter but failed, tried keyboard in other USB ports and nothing. I notice that the keyboard while it stays lit up only works for a few seconds before it stops (as in, the num lock light stays lit but if you press num lock it doesn't go off and on same for caps lock) the keyboard only recognises caps lock off and on for around 3 or 4 seconds on power on.
 
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Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
14
1
1,515
This is a pic of the system we are trying to fix (my old system) with the vga light on. Currently unplugged most of the case fans during testing and I'm aware wiring is a mess and it needs a dust. Also the ssd boot drive is loose as have been unplugging and replacing during testing.

In this pc the pc has been switched on for around 15 seconds and will remain in this state (psu fan not spinning, cpu fan not spinning but gpu and case fans spinning) indefinatly, one oress of power and the whole thing immediately switches off.
View: https://imgur.com/a/CKt5fYS
 

Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
14
1
1,515
Can you try it again without any drives connected (just in case Windows messes up with going into BIOS)?

Good idea but no dice, even disconnected any sata cables from motherboard and same.

Aw also on query from before nope never one used onboard graphics with this rig, so while it may work no idea if it did.

Also I reset the cmos at one point (and have even replaced the battery (2032) just incase, so while it may have defaulted back to onboard graphics I'm testing each step with a dvi to dvi cable in a basic monitor from both gpu and onboard
 

Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
14
1
1,515
Hmm on the pic not sure if you can see but the motherboard red lights anything it can see and use, so ram has red lights next to it as does gpu, if I move the gpu down into the next pcie slot though it has a white light next to it and fans don't spin up. This might be nothing to do with issue though.
 
So early steps of POST work (since the board recognizes lack of RAM for example) but it never completes it. It does not seem to be caused by PSU, there are no clues pointing towards it, plus you tested 2 units with same results. So it leaves us with either motherboard or CPU failure. None of which would have anything to do with parts swap you made (unless it was static electricity).
 

Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
14
1
1,515
So early steps of POST work (since the board recognizes lack of RAM for example) but it never completes it. It does not seem to be caused by PSU, there are no clues pointing towards it, plus you tested 2 units with same results. So it leaves us with either motherboard or CPU failure. None of which would have anything to do with parts swap you made (unless it was static electricity).

Yep that's exactly the conclusion I had come to, it's just such flipping horrible luck. I order an entire new build, take some parts out of old machine then put them to one side, test build new setup and it seems to have a motherboard or cpu issue and after some testing find bent pins on new board.

I sigh, put the stuff back in my old pc, and low and behold it seems to have an issue with either mitherboard or cpu....I'm doing with (D) the pc gods had it in for me :(

When the New motherboard is replaced in a week or so I'm taking no chances, no carpet, proper earth wrist strap attached to a psu plugged in and switched off. I'm horribly afraid I have screwed 2 pcs with static and not realised it even though its never happened to me before in years of building.
 

Sadarak

Commendable
Sep 23, 2020
14
1
1,515
Yeah, since you are going to build new PC anyway there is not much sense in trying to revive old one beyond that point, unless you have nearby repair shop that can determine if it's CPU or mobo failure for cheap.

I'm honestly tempted to do this for no other reason then curiosity.