Question PC *Occasionally* Does Not Turn On

[Whiteley]

Hey all,

I have recently begun having issues with my PC not powering on. The issue has been increasing exponentially for a few months now, and originally started as a random, no-boot when hitting the power button problem. Was initially worried that my motherboard or PSU was fried, but after a few hours, the PC started up and ran like normal. This has gradually increased from about a once-a-month issue, to a once a week issue, to now daily. Every time I shut my PC down, attempting to start it back up I am met with a blinking blue light on the motherboard. After a few tries, I can usually get the PC to boot after holding the Power Button for 30 seconds (Something about the PC being confused whether or not it powered on, but I am not sure of the merits of this solution or if it's causing any damage in the long run)?

- From doing some reading of other posts, some have said the blinking blue light is a PSU issue, but I am curious if this is the case, as when my PC does decide to turn on, it has absolutely no issues whatsoever and can generally be restarted with no issue until it has been off for over around 12 hours. Included below is my specs - the motherboard, PSU, and CPU are all quite old (7 years), and essentially the only components that haven't been replaced over the years with upgrades to my build. Would love to see if anyone has any ideas, as this is a strange one for me!

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5 Ghz
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070
Memory: Patriot 16GB(2x8GB) Viper III DDR3 1866MHz
PSU: SeaSonic G 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply
HDD/SSD:

• SanDisk - Ultra 1TB PCIe Gen 3 x4 NVMe Internal Solid State Drive
• Samsung 870 Evo 500 Gb
• Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM

Edit Update (9/20/22): I have bought a new PSU, part works fine but after hooking it up I still have the same problem. I don't think its a BIOS issue, as I don't even get to a point where a POST screen would show up in the first place (This being said I am by no means a BIOS expert, so if anyone has an idea let me know)
- At this point I am thinking it might be the mobo, but that blinking blue light makes me think it might be something I can fix. I'll be attempting to get on the support line with MSI for their motherboard section once their phone lines open for business, but if they are no help I would love to hear your all's other ideas!

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

Things can get old and start to break and acording to google PSU should be replace every 5 years because its degrade over time but do think you should really do some test like paper clip test on PSU to see if it turns on. If paper clip fails and PSU is not turning on then you know there something wrong with PSU also before all this do some test on the temps on CPU to make sure nothing is overheating

https://www.silverstonetek.com/downloads/QA/PSU/PSU-Paper Clip-EN.pdf

 

[Whiteley]

Things can get old and start to break and acording to google PSU should be replace every 5 years because its degrade over time but do think you should really do some test like paper clip test on PSU to see if it turns on. If paper clip fails and PSU is not turning on then you know there something wrong with PSU also before all this do some test on the temps on CPU to make sure nothing is overheating

https://www.silverstonetek.com/downloads/QA/PSU/PSU-Paper Clip-EN.pdf

Had to run out and buy some paper clips! PSU did indeed fail the Paper clip test. Since I am getting startups eventually, is this just an old PSU that takes some coaxing to work but when it does its ok? I will definitely be replacing it, just trying to figure out if its the mobo as well that might be giving issues.

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

Had to run out and buy some paper clips! PSU did indeed fail the Paper clip test. Since I am getting startups eventually, is this just an old PSU that takes some coaxing to work but when it does its ok? I will definitely be replacing it, just trying to figure out if its the mobo as well that might be giving issues.

Yeah i would get new PSU and test it out before buying new motherboard but if you have got the money you can replace both that way your under warrinty on PSU and motherboard but would not carry on with your computer trying to turn on and playing it because there could be risk of PSU failing and bang and take your parts with it. So think your PSU is on its way out and struggling to find power to start the comp

 

[Whiteley]

Yeah i would get new PSU and test it out before buying new motherboard but if you have got the money you can replace both that way your under warrinty on PSU and motherboard but would not carry on with your computer trying to turn on and playing it because there could be risk of PSU failing and bang and take your parts with it. So think your PSU is on its way out and struggling to find power to start the comp

Thanks for your help man!

 

[Whiteley]

Yeah i would get new PSU and test it out before buying new motherboard but if you have got the money you can replace both that way your under warrinty on PSU and motherboard but would not carry on with your computer trying to turn on and playing it because there could be risk of PSU failing and bang and take your parts with it. So think your PSU is on its way out and struggling to find power to start the comp

Got my new PSU in this morning (Thank goodness for Amazon Prime free overnight shipping). Ran the paperclip test (with a nifty tool EVGA included in the box designed for this) and everything checked out. I set everything up, made sure the connections were solid, but have the same issue still. No startup with a blinking blue light. I've scoured other posts and websites and no one seems to have a definitive answer on what the blue light might mean. Bad mobo?

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

Got my new PSU in this morning (Thank goodness for Amazon Prime free overnight shipping). Ran the paperclip test (with a nifty tool EVGA included in the box designed for this) and everything checked out. I set everything up, made sure the connections were solid, but have the same issue still. No startup with a blinking blue light. I've scoured other posts and websites and no one seems to have a definitive answer on what the blue light might mean. Bad mobo?

Make sure that you use your new PSU cables and make sure that everything is connected to motherboard correctly and that no wires are plugged in wrong places also try clearing cmos

 

[Whiteley]

Try clearing cmos

Tried clearing CMOS to no avail, however, I just realized I should try a replacement CMOS battery since the mobo is so old. Just popped it in and I'll let you know the verdict

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

Tried clearing CMOS to no avail, however, I just realized I should try a replacement CMOS battery since the mobo is so old. Just popped it in and I'll let you know the verdict

Is there anything shorting the motherboard any wires plugged in wrong places like fans and such. Also think you should try taking out motherboard and place it on safe carboard and test it out to rule out an short

 

[Whiteley]

Is there anything shorting the motherboard any wires plugged in wrong places like fans and such. Also think you should try taking out motherboard and place it on safe carboard and test it out to rule out an short

As far as I can tell there is nothing shorting it out, but I think you're right, that is the next step for me. I was trying to avoid taking the whole thing out but at this point I don't think there is anything else I can do. If I rule out that there is no short and everything else seems to be working fine would that abe a good indicator that the mobo needs to be replaced?

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

As far as I can tell there is nothing shorting it out, but I think you're right, that is the next step for me. I was trying to avoid taking the whole thing out but at this point I don't think there is anything else I can do. If I rule out that there is no short and everything else seems to be working fine would that abe a good indicator that the mobo needs to be replaced?

I think you only have to unscrew motherboared and place it on non conductive surface with wires attach because i been looking at some post about blue light and such.

 

[Whiteley]

I think you only have to unscrew motherboared and place it on non conductive surface with wires attach because i been looking at some post about blue light and such.

Noted, I'll let you know the verdict when I do, probably later tonight!

 

[Whiteley]

I think you only have to unscrew motherboared and place it on non conductive surface with wires attach because i been looking at some post about blue light and such.

Took everything out, with Mobo, PSU, CPU, and GPU hooked up it POSTs to BIOS no issue... turned right on the moment I jumped JFP1. Could it be an issue with the case connectors?

I just ordered a new mobo, CPU, and ram thinking it was toast

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

Took everything out, with Mobo, PSU, CPU, and GPU hooked up it POSTs to BIOS no issue... turned right on the moment I jumped JFP1. Could it be an issue with the case connectors?

I just ordered a new mobo, CPU, and ram thinking it was toast

If your motherboard is posting in bios out off case then suggest something could of shorten it in case make sure that nothing touching motherboard at back when placing it back. Also motherboard going into bios check ssd or hardrives wires or try to boot windows via bios

 

[Whiteley]

If your motherboard is posting in bios out off case then suggest something could of shorten it in case make sure that nothing touching motherboard at back when placing it back. Also motherboard going into bios check ssd or hardrives wires or try to boot windows via bios

Finally found it. It was my HDD that was causing it to not boot. Wildly enough, it’s not even the drive with my Windows installed. I have Windows installed on my Samsung 850 Evo (not my 1 TB NVME) and when I connected them one by one to test the HDD was the only one that caused my PC to not start via jumping. Was able to log into my account and everything, so it seems that was the culprit. I’m thinking I may stick with upgrading via the parts I just ordered, it’s probably about time anyways!

- follow-up, do you know of any way to recover data off a bricked HDD? I know there’s some programs out there that can usually recover data but if this one is causing the PC to not even boot I have a feeling it’s gone for good

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

Finally found it. It was my HDD that was causing it to not boot. Wildly enough, it’s not even the drive with my Windows installed. I have Windows installed on my Samsung 850 Evo (not my 1 TB NVME) and when I connected them one by one to test the HDD was the only one that caused my PC to not start via jumping. Was able to log into my account and everything, so it seems that was the culprit. I’m thinking I may stick with upgrading via the parts I just ordered, it’s probably about time anyways!

- follow-up, do you know of any way to recover data off a bricked HDD? I know there’s some programs out there that can usually recover data but if this one is causing the PC to not even boot I have a feeling it’s gone for good

I would suggest if there no inportant data on this hardrive is to remove it and never use again and buy brand new one. Also if your computer is running perfect and you dont want to feel like you wasted money then you can return the new things and get refund also thought if hardrives stop working that they will boot up into bios and such. In these cases you think its PSU issue and such. One thing what could happened that HHD was shorting your motherboard like you said. I do not like Hdd drives anymore because takes to much room and the wires and such.