New computer won't even try to post, no fans, no activity.

[Michael Foos]

I recently built a new computer, this is the most expensive computer I have ever built so I was really excited about putting it together. With the original motherboard the system never hit post. I RMA'd the board, a new one came and it still wouldn't post.... I brought the computer in to a local computer store, they told me I put it together fine and that it should work, that in their opinion I had another bad motherboard. So I returned the board, and got store credit from newegg. I ordered the ASUS replacement board and it finally worked. After a month of back and forth and RMA'd I finally had a working computer. For one week it was the fastest computer I ever had.

I went afk, I wasn't in a game or anything, just regular windows 7, when I came back the computer was off, and I have since never been able to turn it back on. Nothing happens when I hit the power button. The fans don't move, it doesn't try to post, nothing. I then bought a second power supply outright thinking the 750 watts just wasn't enough..... I bought the new 1000 watt PSU, and still the same. The computer doesn't even try to boot, fans don't spin at all. I'm at my wits end and I am broke. I have spent about 400 dollars just trying to get it to work. This is not counting the original 1200+ I spent on all the parts. Not sure really what to do anymore... anybody have any ideas as to why the heck this thing won't even try to boot?

Motherboard

Original - MSI Z87-G45 Gaming LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Pro Gaming with Killer Networking & Sound Blaster Intel Motherboard

Replacement - ASUS Z87-A LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU - Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I74770K

Power supply original - CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready

Power supply replacement - EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G1 120-G1-1000-VR 1000W ATX12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Power Supply Intel 4th Gen CPU Compatible 5 Year Warranty

Graphics card - EVGA SuperClocked w/ ACX Cooling 02G-P4-2774-KR GeForce GTX 770 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card

Ram - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

 

[zeph_yr]

Those are two excellent power supplies so I really doubt those are causing the problem. This is going to sound dumb, but try taking the computer to a different part of your house or a completely different house. Depending on where you live, you might be getting dirty power.

The other possibility is that the original power supply really was bad and destroyed some other components when it died. I highly doubt that considering Corsair makes great power supplies, and new parts are tough to overload.

 

[Alec Mowat]

You may have grounded the motherboard somehow, that would cause the motherboard to do nothing when you power it on.

Otherwise; you may have put the switch in the wrong pins. Try powering the motherboard on, breadboard style, with a screw driver.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

I feel this is something simple.

 

[Michael Foos]

You may have grounded the motherboard somehow, that would cause the motherboard to do nothing when you power it on.

Otherwise; you may have put the switch in the wrong pins. Try powering the motherboard on, breadboard style, with a screw driver.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

I feel this is something simple.

Unlikely, I used the ground screws as I always do. Also, if the computer had been improperly grounded I seriously doubt it would have worked for a week. At firsts, with the first two motherboards I thought the case may somehow be defective, and may be grounding the boards but when the third board worked without a problem for a week I disregarded that theory.

I like the dirty power theory, the only problem with that is my old computer worked for 8 months in the same outlet. My old computer isn't nearly as powerful but it's a quad core Athlon 9950, 4 gigs of GSkill ram, Geforce 430, and a Sound blaster audigoy plugged in to the PCI slots. I think it had a 550 watt psu. It ran without any issues, it's still running in the living room. But this computer does need more power.... Maybe that's why? I mean three boards, I have no doubt this new board is now fried because I can't get it to do anything.... but I just wish I knew why. I wish I could get it working. I'm at a point where I am leaning towards selling all my parts for whatever I can get for them because I cannot make this computer work in this environment. I am beyond frustrated.

Can anyone list the possibilities as to why a computer wouldn't even try to boot? So I can troubleshoot them all?

 

[Alec Mowat]

You could try an APC UPS and see if that helps. It's a bit expensive ($50) for simple troubleshooting though.

 

[zeph_yr]

Do you still have that 550 watt power supply around? You could unplug the graphics card and try running your new computer with it, just to see if you can get it to post.

 

[zmn668]

Are you using a CPU cooler that requires a backplate? I learned this lesson the hard way several years back with an AMD system I was building. Went through 2 motherboards only to find that the backplate was causing a short. Can't explain how it worked for a week though unless you lucked out briefly the third time in that it did not immediately short but could have been so close that it was on the verge of touching and vibration eventually caused it to make contact. I feel your pain and it was an expensive lesson to learn way back then. I would at least check it out if you are indeed using a backplate.

 

[Michael Foos]

Thank you everyone this thread was extremely helpful too me! I learned to breadboard, I had never done it before. It's amazingly simple! Now it didn't fix the problem which was a bummer but it was still good to learn. Anyway, as it turns out it wasn't anything I did. The board just died. It was just a cheap motherboard, apparently the third one I had gotten! I RMA's it to Asus, the new one came, my other techy friend watched me put it together, and agreed everything is correct. I'd built a lot of computers in my life, both for me and for work. This was the first one I have ever had issues with. It works great now. I did do some things differently, I have the computer plugged in to a grounded outlet, and I also have it plugged in to a new surge protector. I'm hoping it was the electrical outlet that killed it. Anyway it's working now.....

Problem was dead motherboard.