Question Insight? Motherboard damaged during power outage but not the PSU?

[fatherhelpme]

Forgive my ignorance. Any insight is appreciated.

A random power outage left my pc unusable.

Power went off / stuttered on, then off and finally on again. I saw my pc lights follow this. PC was on a surge protector.

I do music & paid someone to build this PC in 2012 - was running windows 7. It has been perfect for my needs & I’m desperate to resolve.

Components

MSI Z77A-G45 motherboard
LSP Ultra 750W ATX Power Supply
2 x 8gb Corsair vengeance ram

I hoped the PSU went bad and ordered an ARESGAME AGV Series Bronze 750w bronze psu

This PSU had a “tester” so I used it on my LSP and it worked fine. I replaced the CMOS battery or whatever that’s referred to as.

There’s no bulging or any capacitors that look bad as far as I can tell. I have read about 50 motherboard posts before asking for help. I’m definitely a n00b & trying to understand what’s going on.

I keep reading the on “switch” could need replacing? This can b damaged during an outage?

What should I do to remedy?

If I get the exact motherboard will I be able to go right back to how things were? Or is all that really embedded on the motherboard and not my hard drives (a spindle drive and an ssd)?

Will the information (music files, music programs, music sessions) still be available as they were?

Please advise. Kindly
Board

 

[CountMike]

Forgive my ignorance. Any insight is appreciated.

A random power outage left my pc unusable.

Power went off / stuttered on, then off and finally on again. I saw my pc lights follow this. PC was on a surge protector.

I do music & paid someone to build this PC in 2012 - was running windows 7. It has been perfect for my needs & I’m desperate to resolve.

Components

MSI Z77A-G45 motherboard
LSP Ultra 750W ATX Power Supply
2 x 8gb Corsair vengeance ram

I hoped the PSU went bad and ordered an ARESGAME AGV Series Bronze 750w bronze psu

This PSU had a “tester” so I used it on my LSP and it worked fine. I replaced the CMOS battery or whatever that’s referred to as.

There’s no bulging or any capacitors that look bad as far as I can tell. I have read about 50 motherboard posts before asking for help. I’m definitely a n00b & trying to understand what’s going on.

I keep reading the on “switch” could need replacing? This can b damaged during an outage?

What should I do to remedy?

If I get the exact motherboard will I be able to go right back to how things were? Or is all that really embedded on the motherboard and not my hard drives (a spindle drive and an ssd)?

Will the information (music files, music programs, music sessions) still be available as they were?

Please advise. Kindly
Board

Does it turn on at all, can you see BIOS screen or just Windows not booting,?

 

[Misgar]

For starters, Aresgame PSUs do not get very good reviews and are rated Tier F - Replace Immediately in this list.
https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

This test on a "Gold" rated Aresgame PSU was not very complementary and your PSU is an even lower "Bronze" rating.
https://www.tomshardware.com/review...r-supply-review-less-efficient-than-wed-hoped

It's possible your old PSU took the brunt of the overload and your mobo/cpu/ram/gpu/hdd are still OK, but I wouldn't count on it. Most cheap surge protectors are just junk.

Bulging capacitors on motherboards are usually a sign of old age (nothing else) and can be replaced if you're skilled with a soldering iron, but it's not a job for the novice. I've re-cappped a number of old mobos.

The ON/OFF switch on the back panel of an ATX PSU can die from over use and arcing of the metal contacts due to very high (normal) switch on currents. Replacing anything inside a mains PSU should be left to a skilled technician.

I recommend buying a new (or second hand) computer with at least Windows 10 installed on a fast SSD and then you can test your old hard disks to see if you can recover any music files from them.

With a new desktop PC, you just connect a SATA data cable between the new mobo and the old drive, plus a SATA power lead from the PSU to the disk. You may be lucky and find all the music files are still there.

You're unlikely to see any obvious signs of damage inside your computer, A dead mobo often looks exactly the same as a working board.

 

[fatherhelpme]

Does it turn on at all, can you see BIOS screen or just Windows not booting,?

It doesn’t cut on at all.

I’ve been reading a lot - I’m assuming since both PSU’s work but no power is passing through to the motherboard then the motherboard is the issue, correct?

The person who did my build/ install put an exhaust fan that has a light and this small fan plugs to a small cable to the original PSU - I plug that up when the 24pin and 8pin for cpu is not connected and it lights up and spins.

(The new PSU I bought did NOT have this small cable that plugs to the exhaust fan or an adapter)

Is it fair to say the motherboard is toast?

 

[fatherhelpme]

For starters, Aresgame PSUs do not get very good reviews and are rated Tier F - Replace Immediately in this list.
https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

This test on a "Gold" rated Aresgame PSU was not very complementary and your PSU is an even lower "Bronze" rating.
https://www.tomshardware.com/review...r-supply-review-less-efficient-than-wed-hoped

It's possible your old PSU took the brunt of the overload and your mobo/cpu/ram/gpu/hdd are still OK, but I wouldn't count on it. Most cheap surge protectors are just junk.

Bulging capacitors on motherboards are usually a sign of old age (nothing else) and can be replaced if you're skilled with a soldering iron, but it's not a job for the novice. I've re-cappped a number of old mobos.

The ON/OFF switch on the back panel of an ATX PSU can die from over use and arcing of the metal contacts due to very high (normal) switch on currents. Replacing anything inside a mains PSU should be left to a skilled technician.

I recommend buying a new (or second hand) computer with at least Windows 10 installed on a fast SSD and then you can test your old hard disks to see if you can recover any music files from them.

With a new desktop PC, you just connect a SATA data cable between the new mobo and the old drive, plus a SATA power lead from the PSU to the disk. You may be lucky and find all the music files are still there.

You're unlikely to see any obvious signs of damage inside your computer, A dead mobo often looks exactly the same as a working board.

Thank you for the thorough response.

To be clear, I meant on/off switch on my computer, not the PSU - I thought what I was reading on this forum, that sometimes the computer on/off switch can die due to power outage. That’s wrong?

Or i read it wrong and they actually meant the on/off on the psu gets damaged?

It really sucks reading the rest of your message but I will try to squire what’s necessary to test my drives

Thank you

🙁

 

[Misgar]

It's looking likely your motherboard has died and maybe some the other components too. Sorry. A good excuse for a newer machine.

The "on/off" switch on the front of most computers is a small low current momentary action (push to make switch). I term it an "on/standby" switch, because the motherboard is still energised, even when it's not running Windows, provided the ATX PSU is still connected to the AC mains.

Front panel switches can eventually stop working with age or physical abuse, but since they pass such a tiny current (probably less than a milliAmp) when actuated, they won't get damaged by high current arcs, which happens on the ATX on/off switch, each time you turn the PSU on.

The PSU mains switch can eventually wear out over time, especially if you use it hundreds of times each year. A friend of mine always turns off his ATX PSU at the back, each time he has shut down the computer. It's a "safety" precaution.

As a result, every time he switched the ATX PSU back on, high inrush currents slowly degraded the switch. After four years, the switch stopped working reliably and you could hear an audible "crack" each time the switch was operated. Sometimes the PSU worked, other times not.

He ended up buying a new PSU, but the only thing wrong with the old PSU was a $5 mains on/off switch. It was time for a new PSU anyway.