[SOLVED] Pc doesn't react to the power button

[Lootgvfr]

So the PC was working perfectly fine for years. Recently I had to leave for 2 months, disconnected all the cables from the PC case and took out the GPU and the system SSD. Yesterday I came back, reconnected everything, but now the PC doesn't react to the power button press. No proper cooler starts, no sounds, no LEDs light up. The only reaction is the 2 case coolers rotate for like 1cm after power press (only when PSU is enabled and connected so I guess this is something). I thought the issue was with the PSU which was 9 yrs old, replaced it with a new one but the issue remains.

My specs:

• Zalman Z5 case - 9 yrs old
• Chieftec Proton 850W - 1 day old
• GIGABYTE Z370P D3 motherboard - 4-5 yrs old
• Intel i5 8600K CPU with a Zalman CNPS10X Performa+ cooler - 4-5 yrs old
• Kingston HyperX Fury 8 GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM - 2 sticks 4-5 yrs old, 2 sticks 0.5 yr old
• RTX 3070 - 1.5 yrs old

What I tried already:

• Used different power cables and different outlets
• Rechecked PWR/RS button connections, tried to connect the reset button to the power button pins and vice versa, no change on either button
• Replaced the PSU
• Removed the CMOS battery for 1 hour, replaced with a new one and put it back in
• Tried the paper clip test with the PSU - it starts and keeps working until disconnected
• Tried shorting the power button pins on the mboard with a screwdriver - no reaction

I did check similar threads and from reading them seems like my motherboard died, but maybe I missed something still. Could the motherboard just die while disconnected for a couple months?
Thanks for any help.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Tried the paper clip test with the PSU - it starts and keeps working until disconnected
The paperclip test if flawed. It doesn't tell you the amount of power the PSU can effectively output towards any system. You're advised to induce any load on the PSU in order for the paperclip trick to work, with anything as simple as a dead HDD.

Chieftec Proton 850W - 1 day old
Might want to source a reliably built PSU with at least 650W of power at the entire system's disposal.

 

[Lootgvfr]

Thanks for the reply!

I tried the paperclip test with just my HDD connected, and both PSU and the HDD started properly.

Also tried starting PC the normal way with everything but the video card connected to reduce the load and the behavior was the same I described in the first post.

I don't have an easy way of getting a high quality PSU besides buying a new one, so hopefully there is something else I can do to determine if the issue is with the mboard or the PSU.

 

[geofelt]

The paper clip test is essentially useless.
It can confirm a truly dead psu, but can not confirm proper functioning of a good one.

It would seem that both the old and new psu was defective, or that the motherboard was defective.
That said, there is no reason that a motherboard should have deteriorated while in storage.

Take everything our of the case and attach only the minimal components.
cpu, cooler, ram and display connected via integrated graphics.
Double check all power connections.

Try to start the motherboard using the front panel pwr pins.

 

[Lootgvfr]

The paper clip test is essentially useless.
It can confirm a truly dead psu, but can not confirm proper functioning of a good one.

It would seem that both the old and new psu was defective, or that the motherboard was defective.
That said, there is no reason that a motherboard should have deteriorated while in storage.

Take everything our of the case and attach only the minimal components.
cpu, cooler, ram and display connected via integrated graphics.
Double check all power connections.

Try to start the motherboard using the front panel pwr pins.

OK, so after disconnecting everything but CPU, the motherboard and one plank of RAM, it booted, and then I reconnected everything else one by one and somehow now it works!

There was some weirdness with boot devices, but I managed to start the system from the reconnected SSD.

Guess the ultimate version of "have you tried turning it off and on again" helped, thanks!