PC turns on but doesn't work anymore, happened overnight for no reason

[Vicaris]

Computer was working fine till today. I turn it on it gets stuck on the first screen, the mobo screen. Pressing any of the available buttons to enter setup or anything like that provides no result. I leave it like that for 20+ minutes, nothing happened.

I open it up, check for loose cables, gently press down on the RAM. I try it again, this time I don't even get any image. I live in a moist place and I've done this kind of thing in the past, never had problems with static and I touched metallic objects before touching the PC, so I suppose I was discharged, if this kind of thing works like that.

Anyway, so no image. The power supply is running. The keyboard doesn't turn on and the mouse keeps blinking. I tried connecting the monitor directly to the mobo through a VGA cable, no difference.

I bought and put together (almost) every part of this PC this year, it's been working fine, no hitches, until this happened for apparently no reason.

My specs:
CPU AMD A8 3870k
GPU Radeon HD 7750
Mobo ASRock A55M-HVS
RAM 1x 4gb DDR3 Kingston
Power Supply Corsair CX500
HD Western Digital 500gb Caviar Blue
& some Samsung HD I have since 2010 and that in the past had this problem where it couldn't be recognized by the PC. Windows is installed on the Western Digital HD, the good one, nothing essential is on this Samsung drive.

Any ideas on what to do?

 

[jay2577]

Unplug the samsung hard drive and try it.
If that doesn't work you can try clearing the cmos.

 

[Vicaris]

I don't know how to clear the cmos.

 

[jay2577]

1. remove the mains power lead going into the back of your computer.

2. remove the side panel so you can see the motherboard

3. remove the small battery which looks like a small coin from the motherboard

4. press the power button on your computer. it won't power on but this will clear any remaining power from the capacitors

5.replace the battery back into your motherboard

6. replace the mains power lead going into the back of your computer

7. turn your computer on.

Please try this and post back here to let me know if it has resolved your problem

 

[Vicaris]

It didn't work

 

[jay2577]

Try unplugging the dvd drive next and turning it on. I have known a faulty dvd drive to prevent windows from loading.
If not i will link you to a full checklist.

 

[Vicaris]

Try unplugging the dvd drive next and turning it on. I have known a faulty dvd drive to prevent windows from loading.
If not i will link you to a full checklist.

Didn't work. I bet something broke, that's how it goes for me. Probably the most expensive of hard to find part.

 

[jay2577]

This is a full checklist to try.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-1893016/post-system-boot-video-output-troubleshooting-checklist.html

I hope it goes okay

 

[Vicaris]

Okay, I went through that entire list, it couldn't help me. The useful stuff I couldn't test were the ones that used the mobo speaker, I don't have one and couldn't find one right now.

But I think I know what the problem is. On my RAM stick I found a weird gooey whitish thing. It had some small grains in it. I also found some of this on the 24-pin connector, specifically around the black belt at the tip. Let me post some pics to illustrate.

Here's the RAM

The gooey stuff was on the upper right corner part. I cleaned it up, but you can see some red marks in there.

The best picture I could find to compare was this one

I think mine definitely looks damaged.

Here's a picture of a CX500

See that belt at the end of the 24 pin cable, that's where I found some of the gooey stuff too, and a bit of it on the net that holds the cables together. Also, I can see some transparent glue, maybe silicone, underneath the belt on my cable.

Now, here's how my motherboard looks like.

This picture shows exactly the position it is on my case. The power supply sits on the top left. HDs and everything else on the right. The gooey stuff was on the right side of the RAM stick,at the bottom. It's the side facing away from every other component but the 24 pin cable was right next to my RAM, specifically the belt where I found some of it too.

I checked the rest of the PC for anything similar, couldn't find any. Motherboard, exterior of the CPU and GPU were all clean. Also could not find any damage anywhere else. I didn't remove my CPU, btw.

So I have three possible explanations for this.

1- I live very close to the sea, and as I said earlier it's a moist place. It could have been a buildup from sea mist. Maybe the little grains I found were salt. However, I can't find anything like that anywhere else on my computer and honestly, I've never seen anything like it anywhere. My case is always closed, though last month on particularly hot days while playing Skyrim I opened the case to let the hot air out. Yeah I know, i should have a fan, I just can't find a good one that's small enough.

2- Something in the ram just burst. Maybe it burst right where I found the goo, though the amount of goo I found seemed too much to have leaked from such small parts. Maybe this is glue from the sticker I left on the RAM stick. Doesn't really explain the grains.

3-The gooey stuff came from the PSU. I doubt it came from inside the PSU. The bottom is grated, but the RAM doesn't sit under it. The only other side of the CPU from where this could have leaked is completely sealed, it's the side from where all the cables come out.

I didn't open my PSU, not sure if I should do that unless I really know what I'm doing.

So, the only other way my PSU could have caused this is if some glue from the cable just spilled on my RAM, somehow. Maybe it got hot enough for the goo to melt and come in contact with the RAM, then damage the RAM.

Anyone ever seen something like this?