[SOLVED] PC suddenly shuts off. Would turn on briefly then off completely. Motherboard problem?

[RD3N]

Hey guys,

Last night when I was gaming on my PC it suddenly turned off. When I tried to power it back on, the motherboard, CPU, PSU, and GPU fans and lights go on for literally a second or two then shuts off completely. No display.

My rig:
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming
CPU: Intel i7 4770K OC’d 4.5 ghz
Cooler: Corsair H100i
GPU: Zotac GTX 980 Ti
PSU: EVGA G3 750


Things I’ve tried:

1. Unplug power cable, hold power button for 30 sec, connect and power cycle
2. Reset and replace CMOS battery
3. Swap out the RAM slots. Try to run with 0 RAM then 1 RAM only
4. Made sure no loose screws or any screws lying around
5. Took out my whole motherboard out of the case and placed it on wooden surface
6. Isolated the PSU on its own and ran test to a paperclip. Tested it again on way older PC and the PSU works normally
7. On the wooden desk, jumpstarted the Motherboard with only PSU, CPU, and RAM connected leads to the same result, no difference
8. Have tried many different wall sockets and connected with/without surge protector
9. I checked all the capacitors and they look normal. No bulging/corrosion...
10. Cleaned all the dust as much as I possibly could and also replaced the CPU thermal paste

I am totally lost at what to do to fix this problem as it has never happened to me before. I’m inclined to think something has gone wrong with the motherboard but I am unsure.

The only possible thing I could add more is that when I found my motherboard earlier, one corner was physically touching the metal case. Not sure if it matters in this case because I haven’t had that part reconfigured since nearly 7 yrs ago.

Please help.

 

[xenthia]

Hey guys,

Last night when I was gaming on my PC it suddenly turned off. When I tried to power it back on, the motherboard, CPU, PSU, and GPU fans and lights go on for literally a second or two then shuts off completely. No display.

My rig:
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming
CPU: Intel i7 4770K OC’d 4.5 ghz
Cooler: Corsair H100i
GPU: Zotac GTX 980 Ti
PSU: EVGA G3 750


Things I’ve tried:

1. Unplug power cable, hold power button for 30 sec, connect and power cycle
2. Reset and replace CMOS battery
3. Swap out the RAM slots. Try to run with 0 RAM then 1 RAM only
4. Made sure no loose screws or any screws lying around
5. Took out my whole motherboard out of the case and placed it on wooden surface
6. Isolated the PSU on its own and ran test to a paperclip. Tested it again on way older PC and the PSU works normally
7. On the wooden desk, jumpstarted the Motherboard with only PSU, CPU, and RAM connected leads to the same result, no difference
8. Have tried many different wall sockets and connected with/without surge protector
9. I checked all the capacitors and they look normal. No bulging/corrosion...
10. Cleaned all the dust as much as I possibly could and also replaced the CPU thermal paste

I am totally lost at what to do to fix this problem as it has never happened to me before. I’m inclined to think something has gone wrong with the motherboard but I am unsure.

The only possible thing I could add more is that when I found my motherboard earlier, one corner was physically touching the metal case. Not sure if it matters in this case because I haven’t had that part reconfigured since nearly 7 yrs ago.

Please help.

Hi there have you also tried taking out other peripherals? Like taking out the graphics card or some other devices in the pci express slot.

If you have a multimeter, have you tried taking out the PSU and do a voltage test. Be very careful to not receive an electric shock from your PSU unit during the test we are talking about high currents here. Have you done a voltage test?

Try replacing the CPU if you have another one handy. See if that helps. ( I doubt that it will but give it a shot anyways).

Try stripping it down to almost the very bare minimum and see if that works if not then try changing and using other parts to figure out the faulty component. Like step by step change every single component.

 

[RD3N]

Hi there have you also tried taking out other peripherals? Like taking out the graphics card or some other devices in the pci express slot.

If you have a multimeter, have you tried taking out the PSU and do a voltage test. Be very careful to not receive an electric shock from your PSU unit during the test we are talking about high currents here. Have you done a voltage test?

Try replacing the CPU if you have another one handy. See if that helps. ( I doubt that it will but give it a shot anyways).

Try stripping it down to almost the very bare minimum and see if that works if not then try changing and using other parts to figure out the faulty component. Like step by step change every single component.

Hi Xenthia thanks for the reply. I’ve stripped my PC to bare minimum and isolated it outside of the case. My recent findings now led me to believe something is wrong with the CPU because with just the PSU, motherboard, RAM and GPU, the fans and lights finally managed to keep turned on.

I don’t have a multimeter with me but if I do how will it help in this particular case?

Does this mean I have no other option but to replace my CPU?

 

[xenthia]

Hi Xenthia thanks for the reply. I’ve stripped my PC to bare minimum and isolated it outside of the case. My recent findings now led me to believe something is wrong with the CPU because with just the PSU, motherboard, RAM and GPU, the fans and lights finally managed to keep turned on.

I don’t have a multimeter with me but if I do how will it help in this particular case?

Does this mean I have no other option but to replace my CPU?

Hi there again, if there is no CPU in the socket and the motherboard stays on it is probably safe to assume that it is the CPU that is faulty after all, Intel CPUs specially if not delidded or overclocked the wrong way have a long life span.

So if you are using a very heavy cooling system on your motherboard it might have caused the motherboard to bend a bit, or if you have placed it in place with extreme forces, so instead of blaming the CPU in the first place I would first make sure that the CPU socket is healthy and ok and nothing is damaged there and or the the CPU cooling system hasn't done something nasty.

This, you can probably do using a simple eye examination on the surface but to be really sure it needs some special CPU socket testing devices that you probably don't have. So I suggest that you take your motherboard to a repair shop or its service center nearby they can check that for you in like 5 to 10 minutes. And also tell them about your cooling system and that it might have bent it a little bit or not.

So no, you probably don't have to replace your CPU. While you might actually have to, I would personally first make sure that the motherboard is ok before buying a new CPU to find out that the motherboard was damaged in the first place.

The purpose of testing the voltage of the PSU is to make sure that it's unstable voltage doesn't cause the protective circuits of the motherboard to activate. Again be careful with the PSU the currents are high and can kill you.

Cheers. Hope this solves your problem.