Question Have Power Supplies/System Boards Changed in the past Six Years?

[James Board]

I recently purchased a power supply and installed it in my 6-year old PC with an Intel i-7 6700k CPU. It doesn't work. No light, no fans, no sign of anything. I assume the power supply is simply broken, but before I RMA it, I need to ask if something changed in the past 6 years (since I last built a PC) that would cause new power supplies like the one I purchased to not work with older system boards (from 2016). Is there some kind of incompatibility issue? Or should I just return it?

 

[--SID--]

Brand and model of the PSU and motherboard?

 

[Eximo]

Not really. ATX spec changes mildly over time, and ATX 3.0 offers a new 16-pin PCIe power connector. But any ATX 2.23 PSU or higher should be 100% compatible with Skylake. Older ATX 2.0 PSUs might have trouble with sleep states.

Did you mistake a PCIe 8-pin for the 8-pin EPS power connector? That is about the only thing that I can think of that can go wrong during installation. Some PSUs with modular cabling might also allow for jamming the cables in backwards.

Will the PSU power on its own? You can force start it by shorting the standby 5V+ to ground.

What is the motherboard and PSU?

 

[James Board]

Not really. ATX spec changes mildly over time, and ATX 3.0 offers a new 16-pin PCIe power connector. But any ATX 2.23 PSU or higher should be 100% compatible with Skylake. Older ATX 2.0 PSUs might have trouble with sleep states.

Did you mistake a PCIe 8-pin for the 8-pin EPS power connector? That is about the only thing that I can think of that can go wrong during installation. Some PSUs with modular cabling might also allow for jamming the cables in backwards.

Will the PSU power on its own? You can force start it by shorting the standby 5V+ to ground.

What is the motherboard and PSU?

Thank you for your reply.

The system board is GA-Z170M-D3H. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170M-D3H-rev-10#ov

The Power Supply is: EVGA 700 BQ, 80+ Bronze 700W, Semi Modular, 5 Year Warranty, Power Supply 110-BQ-0700-V1. https://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=110-BQ-0700-V1

The Power Supply is semi-modular. So, it has three permanent cables for the 20-pin system board connector, for the GPU, and the 8-pin system board connector. I don't know what the difference between the PCIe 8-pin and 8-pin EPS, but I assumed if I used the permanent power supply cables, I should be okay. I used only one modular power cable and that was for the SATA hard drive.

I did not try the PSU on it's own. I'm not really sure how to do that. Shorting out the standby 5V+ to ground sounds sketchy to me.

 

[Eximo]

I don't know what the difference between the PCIe 8-pin and 8-pin EPS, but I assumed if I used the permanent power supply cables, I should be okay.

The connectors are differently keyed and the EPS connector has 4 12V wires and 4 grounds, the PCIe 8-pin only has 3 and up to 5 grounds. Your assumption was good.

I did not try the PSU on it's own. I'm not really sure how to do that. Shorting out the standby 5V+ to ground sounds sketchy to me.

Shorting the Standby 5V+ to ground is what the power switch does on the computer. This kicks off a POST and with a load will get it stay on. To power it up manually you have to keep a connection between Standby 5V+ and ground. You could then plug fans or something into it to see if it works. if you don't have a voltmeter.

That PSU and motherboard should have no issues together.

Here is a detailed guide for the 'paperclip' test by your friends at Corsair:
https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025085372-How-to-Test-a-power-supply-unit

This will really only test if the PSU can turn on, to test the voltages you need a voltmeter, and a proper test involves a load with known working computer hardware. (PSU testers are a specialty item and are more expensive than the average power supply)

 

[--SID--]

Try to reset the BIOS of the motherboard.

What's the brand and model of the old PSU?

 

[James Board]

Try to reset the BIOS of the motherboard.

What's the brand and model of the old PSU?

Thanks for your response. I'd rather not reset the BIOS unless there's a really good reason to do so: I'm not smart enough to fix whatever problems that can cause.

The old PSU was a small form factor Silvertone SST SX-500-LG. It actually still works and I reassembled the PC with that PSU. https://www.silverstonetek.com.tw/downloads/Manual/power/EN-SX500-LG-Manual.pdf

 

[--SID--]

Did you replace the Sata power cable for the one that came with the EVGA PSU?

 

[James Board]

Did you replace the Sata power cable for the one that came with the EVGA PSU?

That's interesting that you said that. When I installed the EVGA PSU, I used the SATA cable from the EVGA PSU. Nothing worked. Then I reinstalled the old PSU, and the machine posted,but did not boot. I forgot to connect the SATA drive. So, I used the EVGA SATA cable with the old PSU, and then the machine did not even power on. The only thing that changed was I connected the EVGA SATA cable. So, I used the SATA cable from the OLD PSU instead, and the machine booted fine.

So, apparently the SATA cable from the OLD PSU and the SATA cbale from the EVGA PSU are different. Is that right?

 

[--SID--]

apparently the SATA cable from the OLD PSU and the SATA cbale from the EVGA PSU are different. Is that right?

Yes, on the PSU side the cables are pinned out different. Only use the cables that came with the PSU.

 

[geofelt]

A really stupid question...
Did you turn on the power switch on the new psu?

I notice that your new psu is ATX and the old is sfx.
Does your case have such a mounting option?

On occasion, we get defective products and have to return them.

 

[James Board]

A really stupid question...
Did you turn on the power switch on the new psu?

I notice that your new psu is ATX and the old is sfx.
Does your case have such a mounting option?

On occasion, we get defective products and have to return them.

I did turn on the power switch.

Yes, the new power supply is larger. I'm switching to a larger case and that's why I need a new power supply. The new and larger case does not have mounting options for the SFX form factor power supply.

 

[--SID--]

The new and larger case does not have mounting options for the SFX form factor power supply.

Didn't your Silverstone SFX come with an ATX to SFX adapter plate?

 

[James Board]

Didn't your Silverstone SFX come with an ATX to SFX adapter plate?

Possibly. That was six years ago. I'm not sure I can find it if I tried. Even so, the cables are too short for this case.