I've had my homebuilt desktop for almost a year now, and have had a good series of problems that new builds are susceptible to, which I have been learning to fix along the way.
A few weeks ago however, I have had the oddest occurrence yet, and as the problem seems fairly specific, I figured I'd ask a forum rather than consult a general guide. Basically, I'd like to know what could have caused my problem.
The Problem:
I set my desktop to "Sleep", as I do from time-to-time, overnight. As it has Windows 7, the sleep is more specifically a "hybrid sleep", which is a quasi-hibernation as far as I can remember (I think it leaves a voltage through the RAM). Anyways, the next morning I go to my desktop to "wake it up" by using my mouse and keyboard, and after toiling for a bit, look to my tower to see no lights on. I figured the computer crashed or something (somehow), and tried to turn it on several times, then tried to reset, and so on.
I then checked the outlet: it works, power as normal. Moreover, my desktop is plugged into a high-wattage Belkin surge-protector, which still had the "protected" light on, and no indication of there being a surge. My monitor, which is also attached to the surge-protector, works just fine anyways. Yes, the power button is most certainly on, and I have messed with the external wiring and switches enough to rule the obvious things out.
As far as what I've done internally so far: I've opened the case and tried to power on the system using the motherboard's own button, nothing. I've checked all the power supply connections, and everything seems good, although I have not tried reseating them (I figured that a stationary computer in my own room that was working 8 hours ago would not spontaneously have a cord come loose because of the natural tendency towards disorder). I've attempted to clear the BIOS, nothing (although I have not tried removing the MoBo battery to reset).
My motherboard has had one issue that I can think of: it sporadically resets the bios upon moving it a fair distance (up/down stairs), leading to a no-post situation until I unplug the hard-drive, fix the bios, and replug the hard-drive; aside from this though, I haven't had any noteworthy issues, and the bios problem still doesn't affect my desktop's ability to power on (the fans and lights work). In the current situation, literally nothing turns on, I have never had my desktop do this since putting it together, and I've never had a single power supply issue thus far.
I have not tested too much as is probably apparent, but my logic behind doing so is that I'd rather not dive into troubleshooting everything for a few hours before asking about what I should look for, as it seems to me that not many things could have caused this, as accidental physical damage (at least visibly) seems to be impossible as, I mean, I literally played DotA 2, quit, set my computer to "sleep", and it did as indicated by the flashing light when this occurs, slept myself, woke up, and no power, the flashing light had ceased. My desktop had been in my room, and I did not leave.
One more detail that may be important: my room has been warmer than usual (around 75-80 degrees), and slightly humid (qualitatively), if that could lead to anything.
So, based upon this, what could it be / what should I look for or test?
Is it common for PSU's to just suddenly stop working, or for things to become reseated by gravity and entropy over the course of 8 hours?
Would my motherboard's history of BIOS issues be the culprit? Could it be a mobo battery failure?
Is light humidity / moderate heat likely to lead to something as significant as 'shorting' or 'frying' the computer? It displayed no signs of having any issue while I was actually running it in this environment (it had been like this for a few weeks as well), and the only thing that retains power while in "hybrid sleep" is the RAM voltage.
Thank you immensely to anyone who may know what could have happened here better than I.
Any suggestions on how to proceed are very much appreciated.
—Nicholas
A few weeks ago however, I have had the oddest occurrence yet, and as the problem seems fairly specific, I figured I'd ask a forum rather than consult a general guide. Basically, I'd like to know what could have caused my problem.
The Problem:
I set my desktop to "Sleep", as I do from time-to-time, overnight. As it has Windows 7, the sleep is more specifically a "hybrid sleep", which is a quasi-hibernation as far as I can remember (I think it leaves a voltage through the RAM). Anyways, the next morning I go to my desktop to "wake it up" by using my mouse and keyboard, and after toiling for a bit, look to my tower to see no lights on. I figured the computer crashed or something (somehow), and tried to turn it on several times, then tried to reset, and so on.
I then checked the outlet: it works, power as normal. Moreover, my desktop is plugged into a high-wattage Belkin surge-protector, which still had the "protected" light on, and no indication of there being a surge. My monitor, which is also attached to the surge-protector, works just fine anyways. Yes, the power button is most certainly on, and I have messed with the external wiring and switches enough to rule the obvious things out.
As far as what I've done internally so far: I've opened the case and tried to power on the system using the motherboard's own button, nothing. I've checked all the power supply connections, and everything seems good, although I have not tried reseating them (I figured that a stationary computer in my own room that was working 8 hours ago would not spontaneously have a cord come loose because of the natural tendency towards disorder). I've attempted to clear the BIOS, nothing (although I have not tried removing the MoBo battery to reset).
My motherboard has had one issue that I can think of: it sporadically resets the bios upon moving it a fair distance (up/down stairs), leading to a no-post situation until I unplug the hard-drive, fix the bios, and replug the hard-drive; aside from this though, I haven't had any noteworthy issues, and the bios problem still doesn't affect my desktop's ability to power on (the fans and lights work). In the current situation, literally nothing turns on, I have never had my desktop do this since putting it together, and I've never had a single power supply issue thus far.
I have not tested too much as is probably apparent, but my logic behind doing so is that I'd rather not dive into troubleshooting everything for a few hours before asking about what I should look for, as it seems to me that not many things could have caused this, as accidental physical damage (at least visibly) seems to be impossible as, I mean, I literally played DotA 2, quit, set my computer to "sleep", and it did as indicated by the flashing light when this occurs, slept myself, woke up, and no power, the flashing light had ceased. My desktop had been in my room, and I did not leave.
One more detail that may be important: my room has been warmer than usual (around 75-80 degrees), and slightly humid (qualitatively), if that could lead to anything.
So, based upon this, what could it be / what should I look for or test?
Is it common for PSU's to just suddenly stop working, or for things to become reseated by gravity and entropy over the course of 8 hours?
Would my motherboard's history of BIOS issues be the culprit? Could it be a mobo battery failure?
Is light humidity / moderate heat likely to lead to something as significant as 'shorting' or 'frying' the computer? It displayed no signs of having any issue while I was actually running it in this environment (it had been like this for a few weeks as well), and the only thing that retains power while in "hybrid sleep" is the RAM voltage.
Thank you immensely to anyone who may know what could have happened here better than I.
Any suggestions on how to proceed are very much appreciated.
—Nicholas
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram