- Aug 31, 2024
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Hi everyone
I ran into a pretty bad problem with my PC. I cannot even get it to POST anymore.
A few days ago i was just using it normally and all of the sudden, the PC cuts its own power and since then i cannot get to start again.
The system is bit old yes, but i took good care of it over the years, cleaned it on a regular basis,
never overclocked it and always paid attention that CPU and GPU temps don't exceed temps above 70°C.
It ran rock solid for over 8 years now. Also in all the years i'm using debian-based linux-distros the OS never crashed on me once, so you can probably understand as to why this is bit of a headscratcher to me.
The only sign of live i get from the PC right now is a, for cosmetic purposes only, red LED on the motherboard and that's about it.
Further down, in SECTION 3, i will describe my actual question, so feel free to skip the other ones if you don't need further context.
[SECTION 1, System-Specs]
CPU: i7 6700k
CPU-Cooling: Air-cooling (scythe mugen)
GPU: Geforce GTX 980ti
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus Ranger VIII
RAM: Corsair Vengance LPX 32 Gigs
PSU: Coolermaster V1200
[SECTION 2, Inspections/Troubleshoot]
After the crash i inspected the inside of the case thouroughly.
I couldn't find any:
- leaking caps
- leaking batteries
- corrosion
- moisture
- dislodged cables
- dirt/insects
I took a look a the powersupply (without dissambling it) and couldn't find anything
out of the ordinary. I saw the usual white goop around the heatsinks and copper-coils.
i poked it with some non conductive material to check if it was solid. It was indeed
solid, so i figure it is safe to assume that it is the usual epoxy/glue you find in all
psu. At the time of the crash, there was no suspicious smell of burnt electronics in
the air. I know this doesn't mean much, since for example, caps can fail without
smelling horribly burnt, but at the very least the psu didn't fail catastrophically.
Next i had suspected the power-on circuit/button (on the outside of the case) somehow became bad. I removed its
cables from the motherboard. Then i tried to turn it on, with the start button, which is
soldered right onto the motherboard. The motherboard has a onboard POST-code indicator, so
my hope was to get the motherboard at least in a state, where it shows me a code. It didn't.
Going from there i can report the following: The LEDs inside the motherboard
turn off for a few seconds, then nothing happens at all, then they come back on and nothing
else happens. The fans don't spin up and there is no onboard POST-Code at all.
[SECTION 3, Going forward]
My next hunch would be that maybe the cpu-fan-connector has corroded and/or the cpu-fan has gone bad.
I heard that some motherboards refuse to turn on if they don't get a response from
the cpu fan. Not sure about this, but i think it's a good place to start(?).
Now to test this theory, i need to clear a few questions/problems first.
If just the fan-motor has gone bad i don't see any problem of just removing
and replacing it, for testing purposes, with another fan. If the system boots i
will either get a proper replacement fan, if not available, i'll replace the
whole heatsink, since it's about time to replace the thermal grease anyway.
But if corrosion on the connector is the root cause, then i'm unsure on how
to go about this. The connector is in a really awkward spot. Yes i could
remove and reattach it multiple times, in the hopes of loosening some of
oxides and thus make the connector conduct properly again, but since this connector
is in such a awkward spot, there is no chance that i can assure that none of
the oxides get onto surrounding components.
It is therefore my concern, that i might "sprinkle" potentially conductive material upon
spots on the motherboard, where i really should not. Maybe i am overly cautious
here, but i lack the knowledge here to make a properly informed decision.
So if you could share your thoughts about this matter it would help a lot.
I also would love to hear you suggestions on how i should go further in the
process of troubleshooting this machine, because without any postcodes, i find
it really hard to get to the bottom of this. Maybe there is something else
i can do, to get to the bottom of this problem.
Thanks in advance
I ran into a pretty bad problem with my PC. I cannot even get it to POST anymore.
A few days ago i was just using it normally and all of the sudden, the PC cuts its own power and since then i cannot get to start again.
The system is bit old yes, but i took good care of it over the years, cleaned it on a regular basis,
never overclocked it and always paid attention that CPU and GPU temps don't exceed temps above 70°C.
It ran rock solid for over 8 years now. Also in all the years i'm using debian-based linux-distros the OS never crashed on me once, so you can probably understand as to why this is bit of a headscratcher to me.
The only sign of live i get from the PC right now is a, for cosmetic purposes only, red LED on the motherboard and that's about it.
Further down, in SECTION 3, i will describe my actual question, so feel free to skip the other ones if you don't need further context.
[SECTION 1, System-Specs]
CPU: i7 6700k
CPU-Cooling: Air-cooling (scythe mugen)
GPU: Geforce GTX 980ti
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus Ranger VIII
RAM: Corsair Vengance LPX 32 Gigs
PSU: Coolermaster V1200
[SECTION 2, Inspections/Troubleshoot]
After the crash i inspected the inside of the case thouroughly.
I couldn't find any:
- leaking caps
- leaking batteries
- corrosion
- moisture
- dislodged cables
- dirt/insects
I took a look a the powersupply (without dissambling it) and couldn't find anything
out of the ordinary. I saw the usual white goop around the heatsinks and copper-coils.
i poked it with some non conductive material to check if it was solid. It was indeed
solid, so i figure it is safe to assume that it is the usual epoxy/glue you find in all
psu. At the time of the crash, there was no suspicious smell of burnt electronics in
the air. I know this doesn't mean much, since for example, caps can fail without
smelling horribly burnt, but at the very least the psu didn't fail catastrophically.
Next i had suspected the power-on circuit/button (on the outside of the case) somehow became bad. I removed its
cables from the motherboard. Then i tried to turn it on, with the start button, which is
soldered right onto the motherboard. The motherboard has a onboard POST-code indicator, so
my hope was to get the motherboard at least in a state, where it shows me a code. It didn't.
Going from there i can report the following: The LEDs inside the motherboard
turn off for a few seconds, then nothing happens at all, then they come back on and nothing
else happens. The fans don't spin up and there is no onboard POST-Code at all.
[SECTION 3, Going forward]
My next hunch would be that maybe the cpu-fan-connector has corroded and/or the cpu-fan has gone bad.
I heard that some motherboards refuse to turn on if they don't get a response from
the cpu fan. Not sure about this, but i think it's a good place to start(?).
Now to test this theory, i need to clear a few questions/problems first.
If just the fan-motor has gone bad i don't see any problem of just removing
and replacing it, for testing purposes, with another fan. If the system boots i
will either get a proper replacement fan, if not available, i'll replace the
whole heatsink, since it's about time to replace the thermal grease anyway.
But if corrosion on the connector is the root cause, then i'm unsure on how
to go about this. The connector is in a really awkward spot. Yes i could
remove and reattach it multiple times, in the hopes of loosening some of
oxides and thus make the connector conduct properly again, but since this connector
is in such a awkward spot, there is no chance that i can assure that none of
the oxides get onto surrounding components.
It is therefore my concern, that i might "sprinkle" potentially conductive material upon
spots on the motherboard, where i really should not. Maybe i am overly cautious
here, but i lack the knowledge here to make a properly informed decision.
So if you could share your thoughts about this matter it would help a lot.
I also would love to hear you suggestions on how i should go further in the
process of troubleshooting this machine, because without any postcodes, i find
it really hard to get to the bottom of this. Maybe there is something else
i can do, to get to the bottom of this problem.
Thanks in advance
Last edited:
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