Question PSU Troubleshooting

[oeakoo]

Hey guys, I'm quite the PC noob so any help would be appreciated.

A little background on my build. Has been running smoothly for years.

But in late 2021, had a mishap with the PC after my cat jumped on my case. The computer refused to boot before giving me blue screen. It would be stuck in constant boot loops or just would not boot.

Anyways, being the broke Uni student that I am- I purchased a PSU off marketplace second hand and installed it. PC began to run just fine again.

Fast forward to early 2022. I moved all my stuff down to a new city. My partner at the time took my PC with him on the plane.

Tried booting her up, would not boot. Purchased a new case and ram.

Spent a whole night taking my old build into the new case as a PC noob with many many youtube tutorials and google searches. I was able to build my computer that night as a beginner with no issues... or so I thought haha

Month passes of me playing PC- no issues. Played Overwatch one night with a friend and then shut my pc down. Decided to move set up around on desk as my case was on desk. Moved PC only a few inches. Refused to boot.

Figured it could have been a simple seating issue. However, PC has been reseated by myself and a friend who is PC savy with absolutely no boot. However, I would get a red light flashing on MB here and there which I believe to be a component issue? Please, school me if I am wrong. I am quite the noob still.

I start streaming again and mention the issues with my PC to chat. I find the time to look at my PC after it being untouched. I plugged in the PSU cable and randomly, it decided to boot!

The MB & Ram lit up. The fans were spinning. My PC was running! However, after 5 seconds it shuts off. I immediately cut the power at the PSU switch as I didn't want a possible boot loop (as mentioned the issues above).

Now this is key, I booted it in the kitchen on the dining room table.. I smelt a light burning smell. However, I thought to myself- nah, no way that's my PC. Because my roomie was cooking food by the stove, I brushed it off as that just couldn't be... or so I thought.

I hit up a friend on discord and did the following:

"Hmm indeed. Try turning off the power on the back of the psu, the on/off click. Then hold the power button for around 5-10 seconds. Take 1 ram stick out, turn on the psu power again and then power on pc. See if that does something "

PSU was in off position on switch and I went to seat RAM. My motherboard lit up.. the corner of it where the RAM slots are... I thought at first how is power getting to it... is it the LEDS? But no, I think I have sparked it 0-0

I now have it popped away where I refuse to touch it as I do not want to break it with my noob hands.

It has to be a hardware issue right? The PSU? The PSU cable? The Motherboard? Yikes, I feel like the whole thing at this point to be honest.

I just find it so weird that prior to reseating RAM today, PSU was in 'O' position but I saw my motherboard flash? The lights tried to come on for a split second only on the left side. Now it could have been another spark as well.

Any help would be appreciated. Should I just replace it altogether?



PARTS LIST:

AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with Wraith Stealth
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2x8GB) 3000MHz CL15 DDR4 White
ASRock B450M Steel Legend Motherboard
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 980 4GB WINDFORCE 3X
Cooler Master MWE 650 White 230V V2
NZXT H510 Mid Tower Case Matte White/Black

 

[Aeacus]

Cooler Master MWE 650 White 230V V2

Low quality PSU, at best, only good enough to power office PC, without dedicated GPU. That is, IF PSU is brand new.

I purchased a PSU off marketplace second hand

Terrible idea, since you have 0 knowledge what kind of abuse the PSU has seen. And since PSU powers everything, it is the most important component inside the PC. Hence why never cheap out on PSU and never-ever buy used PSU, regardless how good it is brand new.

Should I just replace it altogether?

Depends on how much money you have and what is toast inside the PC.

But overall you have 2 options:
1. You need 2nd, compatible PC, where to test out each and every component individually, to see what survived and what died.
Easiest is to bring the PC to PC repair shop and pay them to diagnose the PC.
2. Buy new CPU-MoBo-RAM combo and new PSU as well. If lucky, your GPU survived and you can re-use it. If not, buy new GPU too. PC case, case fans, SSD and HDD usually survive it and you can re-use them.

At minimum, you need new PSU + whatever component PSU fried (you can consider everything that was connected to PSU to be dead).