Mobo gets no power, boots with a workaround .

[mattcrow]

OK guys, I've an interesting one.
Came back home after a weekend away, went to turn on the PC and it just wouldn't have it...
No life whatsoever... No LEDs, no fan activity, nothing...
Checked the continuities on the power button to header pins- yup button works.
First thought, psu is dead, tried to start it with a jumper, and it started up... checked all voltages- all good, plugged it into a second system, and it works like a dream...
Stripped the mobo to only cpu and ram, plugged in psu, still nothing...
OK mobo must be dead...
But then I thought OK... I'll try force the psu to start and see what happens... so I jumped PSU_ON pin from the back side of the connector, flipped the power switch on psu and voila! We have a lift off! UEFI shell and bios works!
Powered it back off, plugged in system ssd, powered back on, and hey we're golden, POST code on mobo A0- all good.
So I just need a little help before I tear out the mobo and start looking at it, did anyone ever have this happen, obviously some track between power pin header and power delivery circuitry must be gone... When I remove the jumper from 24 way connector, system instantly powers off. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

TL;DR
Mobo won't power on, if I jump PSU_ON pin on 24 way psu connector it will boot up, system will die as soon as jumper is removed.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Well it sounds like a faulty motherboard. Somehow the the part of the mobo designed to jump the pins has failed. The case switch is not directly connected to the psu pins so the computer can shutdown without the button pressed.

 

[link500x]

I've had the same problem with my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force). I've had to jump it that way twice so far. The extra weird part is, when it happens, it resets my BIOS settings - not to default settings, but old settings that aren't 100% stable. We both have pretty old boards now. I'm wondering if a dead/low CMOS battery could be causing it (in combination of not so great BIOS software).

At least we know its not limited to one brand (MSI and Gigabyte); which is a bit of a relief to me - before I saw this, I swore off buying Gigabyte again (although not the only issue I have with my board). I'm probably going to upgrade to a 9700k, and it seems Gigabyte makes the best current boards, according to what I've read so far.

If your board won't work after jumping it, and you don't plan on upgrading, my only suggestions are first try a new CMOS battery, or leave the paperclip in the connector (I'd recommend flipping the power switch on the PSU after shutting down the PC for the night).

 

[mattcrow]

Well it sounds like a faulty motherboard. Somehow the the part of the mobo designed to jump the pins has failed. The case switch is not directly connected to the psu pins so the computer can shutdown without the button pressed.

Yeah, I'm going to take a look at the board during the week, see what I can find, maybe re-solder a couple joints...
Feels like it could be a cold solder joint that took all this time to finally crap out...

I've had the same problem with my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force). I've had to jump it that way twice so far. The extra weird part is, when it happens, it resets my BIOS settings - not to default settings, but old settings that aren't 100% stable. We both have pretty old boards now. I'm wondering if a dead/low CMOS battery could be causing it (in combination of not so great BIOS software).

At least we know its not limited to one brand (MSI and Gigabyte); which is a bit of a relief to me - before I saw this, I swore off buying Gigabyte again (although not the only issue I have with my board). I'm probably going to upgrade to a 9700k, and it seems Gigabyte makes the best current boards, according to what I've read so far.

If your board won't work after jumping it, and you don't plan on upgrading, my only suggestions are first try a new CMOS battery, or leave the paperclip in the connector (I'd recommend flipping the power switch on the PSU after shutting down the PC for the night).

Yeah, for now I will have to add a permanent link and just operate the PC by clicking the PSU switch...
I will try to take a look at the board during the week.
My BIOS was reset too, but I actually did reset CMOS beforehand, so not sure here...
I already checked the battery voltage and it's 3.1V- after 6 years! Not sure what it is or should be under load though.
It is an old system, kind of hard to say goodbye to it, I've recently upgraded to rtx2080 too, and it was holding up really well up until now... I am thinking about an upgrade though. Probably will do it by the end of the year.
I'm actually seriously considering Ryzen 2700x, possibly will wait for the 3rd gen.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I would wait a few months for zen 2 and upgrade. In the mean time I would just buy a new cr2032 cmos battery. https://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Cr2032-Lithium-Battery-Ecr2032/dp/B00LG8IQII/ref=asc_df_B00LG8IQII/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309760520871&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3139683032545816921&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9006686&hvtargid=pla-571007507988&psc=1

 

[mattcrow]

Ha! I wish it was as simple as replacing the CMOS battery- already put in a brand new one. Thanks for advice though.
Since I already made up my mind on upgrading, I will definitely wait for 3rd gen Ryzen to come out first- it's looking very promising.
Relating to my problem, I will be taking out the mobo today and inspecting it tomorrow.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Ok. Post your findings here.