Help: Pc not posting and fan headers not working. Tried almost everything

limulus

Reputable
Oct 1, 2014
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4,510
Hello,
I tried replacing the cpu heatsink's thermal paste the other day. The first time I tried to boot up after that, the fans and hd started spinning for a second, then stopped, then started again etc. I held down the powered button untill it stopped altogether and reconnected the power supply cables to the motherboard. Since then the pc refuses to display anything and also all chassis fan headers do not work (but cpu fan header does) when I power it up. What I've tried so far:

-Dissassembling and reassembling everything.
-Removing components one by one (ram sticks, gpu) and trying to power up without each one. Behaviour stays the same.
- Reseting CMOS
- Removing and reseating the cpu.
- Leaving the motherboard outside the case and trying to power up from there.

Also I've checked the motherboard's backplate and the cpu for broken or shorted pins/spikes and everything seems to be fine, apart for some solder spikes in the motherboard that seem to be slightly bent, but I think they where like that from before the problems started. Also note that I was stupid enough to handle the board with fingers covered in thermal paste, but cleaned everything afterwards.

What I haven't tried:
- Putting in another Graphics card. The cpu does not have an integrated gpu so i cant really tell whether it's the graphics card's fault, but the fact that the fan headers also don't work points me away from it being the source of the problem.
- The case lacks a motherboard speaker, so I cant know if and how it might beep.

Specs:
Intel Xeon 1231 @ 3.4 GHz
2x 4GB RAM @ 1600 MHz by Mushkin
1TB Seagate Barracuda Hdd
Asus H97M-PLUS Motherboard

Running out of ideas here, please help!
 
I'm dumb, I have an older core2 box with this little speaker and I had forgotten about it. Connected it and powered up, and I get no beep at all. In the list you provided only IBM had a desription for no beeps. I found nothing for asus boards. (http://support.asus.com/pcassistant/pdf/BeepTable_en-us.pdf)

Also I forgot to mention that my graphics card is a GTX 960 in the specs
 
Huh, didn't know that... After a quick search I found that my motherboard uses AMI type bios, but there is no description for no beeps.
When the motherboard is powered up, the hard drive spins up, the cpu and graphics card fans start spinning, but the two case fan headers are dead and nothing is displayed on the monitor. Where does that leave me?