Question My PC only turns on for a second! ONLY PSU fans spin, & LED on my power button is responding.

[SmellyGoat11]

Please help! This is my only PC & basically my lifeline.

All cords seem to be connected to the motherboard & I just cleaned the sucker out with some canned air. Any advice? Thanks in advance!

 

[rgd1101]

full system spec? include make and model of the psu?
it is a working system that suddenly failed?

 

[SmellyGoat11]

full system spec? include make and model of the psu?
it is a working system that suddenly failed?

Ah shucks my bad, been a long time since I've posted here. Corsair CX500 psu, xbox r7800 series graphics card, Intel processor (can't tell much more than that by looking at the hardware), ASRock PCI Express 3 motherboard (also says ATI cross fire x). Sorry, it's been a good long time since I've done any PC work.

Went upstairs for a sandwich and came down to a dead PC. Working PC popped out on me!

 

[rgd1101]

So it was running and suddenly die? open it up and see if anything pop/burn?

 

[SmellyGoat11]

So it was running and suddenly die? open it up and see if anything pop/burn?

I've opened it up already to clean the guts & press the wires in to make sure they didn't get knocked loose or something. How would I check for burning? Nothing seems particularly out of the ordinary except the dust which I've since cleaned. Thanks for your time

 

[rgd1101]

if the intel cpu have igpu, test the system with the gpu out.
other than that test each components in a working system or replace each

 

[SmellyGoat11]

if the intel cpu have igpu, test the system with the gpu out.
other than that test each components in a working system or replace each

Dedicated GPU! Damn, looks like I'll have to test each component. I could simply replace the prime suspect (motherboard), but that sounds both costly & risky in my situation. Looks like I'll have to bring the tower into a shop for a diagnosis & replace the part myself. Thanks for all your help

 

[mdd1963]

SYstems just 'dropping dead' are often indicative of a failed PSU...

(New PSUs from EVGA are available for $55-$65 or so...; when swapping the PSU, use all newl modular cables with it, do not reuse ANY old modular power cables to GPU, mainboard, or hard drives, or even 24/8 pin etc., from one PSU to a new one, as pinout can vary at PSU side, leading to catastrophic results when connecting a new PSU)

 

[SmellyGoat11]

This would make the most sense to me considering that when I turn the PC on, only the PSU fan spins, and it does so erratically--- like it's constantly restarting itself. It eventually simply full-stops & I have to flip the switch on the back to get it working again. The only other thing that activates visually on my tower is the little blue LED light by the power button on the front (& the button itself). I'm inclined to believe that it's simply a failed PSU.