PC no longer booting (no output to screen).

Arzhur

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Last week I bought a new Vega 64. When it arrived I realised that I didn't have enough space in my case for it. One of my unused HDD slots was in the way, so I decided to get rid of it to make space for the new card.

I began by taking everything out of the case. However, before modding the case, I wanted to make sure that the new GPU worked. Therefore I powered my system on while it was out of the case. I kept my old GPU in, just incase something got damaged (I would much rather damage an old 6950 than a new Vega 64). However, the system wouldn't boot. The fans and lights (apart from the mouse and keyboard backlights) would turn on, but nothing would appear on the screen.

After reseating the CPU (2500k) and RAM (4x4GB Corsair RAM) and removing my WIFI and sound cards, I managed to get the BIOS screen. However, Windows 7, installed on my SSD, wouldn't boot (I didn't even get the logo). I had Ubuntu 16.04 installed on another drive and I managed boot it. I finally managed to get Windows to boot by selecting it in GRUB (oddly it didn't work the first few times, but then it did). Now that I could boot Windows, I installed my new card and everything was great. Now it was time to make space in the case.

Once the case was stripped bare, I went into a separate room (to avoid metal dust getting anywhere near the bare components) and cut the part of the HDD slot that was in the way of the GPU with a hack saw. This was a much quicker and cheaper option than going through the process of buying a new case. Once this was done, I cleaned the case of dust and rebuilt it. I used my old GPU, instead of the Vega 64, incase there were any problems. When I went to turn it on, it would only power the fans and not output to my monitor again.

Now when I press the power button, the fans turn on for a few seconds. Then they turn off and back on automatically and stay on (this cycle would also happen when everything was out of the case, but then it would start booting). I went through the same process as last time, but it didn't work this time. I also tried disconnecting all of my drives as well as removing all of the RAM, to no avail. I've reset the BIOS and replaced the battery, but that didn't help either. Finally, I have an old VGA monitor, so I connected it directly via the motherboard (Asus P8Z77-V LX), with no success.

I don't hear error code beeps from the motherboard. Tomorrow I will bring my PSU into college, where on of the technicians will test it to see of it's the problem. In the meanwhile, do you have any other ideas on how to troubleshoot this? When I was moving the motherboard, I left my heatsink attached. It's quite heavy, so in retrospect this could have caused some damage. The specs on my system should be on my signature (except for the new Vega 64).

TLDR; My desktop won't boot. The fans turn on, but I don't get any output to my monitor, no matter which GPU I use, or how many components I remove. Any help in troubleshooting would be great.
 
If you remove the motherboard holding it by the heatsink it shouldn't cause any damage.
Which PSU model is that?
Make sure to connect disks on the same SATA ports they were before removing the board.
It could be related to static buildup on the motherboard or a loose component or cable.
Check that RAM modules are seated, 24-pin and 8-pin PSU power cables are properly connected.
When you remove the CMOS battery the BIOS is reset, so make sure the BIOS settings are edited as they were and that the right boot disk is selected.
While the power cord is disconnected, press and hold the power button for 20 seconds.
Connect power cord and power on.
 

Arzhur

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Thank you for your answer. I'm not at home, so I can check your solutions yet.

My PSU is an XFX Core Edition 750W (bought in 2011).

I did make sure to put the drives back in the correct SATA ports.

I have removed the motherboard from the case several times, so that should be fine. I can check for any other loose cables.

I have checked the RAM as well as reattached the 8-pin and 24-pin connectors several times.

I can't see anything, including the BIOS, so I can't change the settings in it. Before, when the screen did work, but couldn't boot Windows, I did select the correct drive in the BIOS.

I'll try holding the power button for 20s, while the cord is disconnected.
 

Arzhur

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I have some news. I managed to get the system to boot. I tried keeping the power button pressed for 20s, but it didn't help. Then I took everything out of the case again and I finally got the BIOS screen. I still had the strange issue with Windows and it would take a few tries to boot. Also, instead of using the power button, I connected the two power pins on my motherboard with a screw driver.

Without the HDD with Ubuntu I got a grub rescue terminal. To really make sure that I was using the correct SATA port, I changed it. On the 3rd port (out of 6), the system wouldn't boot anymore. I tried going back to the original SATA port and totally removing the drive, but it didn't help. I really have no idea why it's not working anymore.
 

Arzhur

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Yes, I was going to try fixing the boot loader, but I'm back to not getting anything on the screen again.