Question Relatively old build won't power at all, no standby light at all!

[oofsamy]

So there's a lot that happened, this PC isn't mine, it's a friends' who has moved from UK to Dubai, so he gave me his PC to use. Though randomly when I was using the PC, I had a random blue screen, this was the first problem, the PC wouldn't boot at all and I spent the day diagnosing the problem to find out that unplugging one of the RAM sticks was the solution, which had reduced me from 16GB ram to 8GB. But after a while I was annoyed at the performance I was getting at 8GB so I decided to go find the RAM stick and plug it back in. This is where it all went wrong; when I went to take off the case cover, the fan that was attached to the cover came off (I doubt this was the reason for this problem), so I went and plugged in the second ram stick, I tried to boot and this happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKPmLBKTQNk. Almost as if the PC was turning on and off super rapidly, but this only happened once, after that, every singe time I have tried to boot since, it doesn't, the standby light isn't on, the fans don't spin, nothing. Have tried every single RAM arrangement, using only one ram stick, using the other, plugging in the fan into a different fan header, clearing CMOS by jumping the 2 pins (I don't have access to the battery), tried using a different power cable, different wall outlet, I really do not want to start unscrewing stuff because it's a valuable PC (to me, to others I doubt it).

Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Z77
CPU: Intel i7 3770k
GPU: MSI GTX 970
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX (16gb 2x8gb) 2400MHZ (if the specific ram model is needed I can get it)
PSU: Corsair TX850M (850W)

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'd be very surprised if this was anything other than the motherboard or the power supply, and I'd be more inclined to think it's the power supply since removing one stick of memory allowed it to run. This happens quite often when a power supply begins having problems or gets old and becomes unable to supply it's rated capacity anymore. But given the age of the system it could certainly be a motherboard issue.

If you are not willing to "unscrew" stuff, then you are going to have a very hard time figuring out what the problem is and I'd recommend you take it to a repair shop if that's the case because it's definitely not going to get figured out without removing some hardware, which is going to require "unscrewing stuff".

First thing you want to do is take a look at the capacitors and see if it looks like any of them are leaking or bulging, because that would probably be pretty common given the age of this board which is right around 11 years for this board. Five to seven years is typically the expectation for boards that see heavy or daily frequent usage, in general.

I'd first get your hands on a volt meter and test the power supply, as follows:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixcWCrYpw3Y

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac7YMUcMjbw




And if that checks out, then move on to bench testing the motherboard.

How To - Motherboard bench testing

Finding the problem through bench testing If you are here then it’s likely you have encountered a serious hardware issue and have been unable to resolve it using the standard no-POST troubleshooting procedures. If you have not yet attempted to resolve your issues using the no-POST...

forums.tomshardware.com

If none of this is something you feel comfortable doing, then your only other option is going to be taking it to a shop or builder and having them do the testing for you.

 

[oofsamy]

Hmm hopefully it's the power supply, my friend had given me a random PSU alongside the PC (keep in mind he knows nothing about computers, his dad built it). If it's the power supply then I can most likely just swap it out or just sell the pc without the PSU if it doesn't support the PC.

 

[cirdecus]

Be careful of getting an PSU wires in your GPU fans.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Hmm hopefully it's the power supply, my friend had given me a random PSU alongside the PC (keep in mind he knows nothing about computers, his dad built it). If it's the power supply then I can most likely just swap it out or just sell the pc without the PSU if it doesn't support the PC.

 

[oofsamy]

Hey it's been a long time but this rig has been sitting collecting dust and I really want to fix it, I have taken a look at the capacitiors doesn't look wrong at all, but I realised the 24 pin motherboard connector wasn't fully connected so now the standby LED turns on, turns out I actually have the Coolermaster 850W V2 plugged into the PC, I did the paperclip test and it didn't turn on at all, I tried shorting the power jumpers to turn it on incase the power button was the problem, that didn't work, i tried all the RAM configurations, both inserted in A and C, both inserted in B and D, one inserted in each A, B, C, D and same with the other, I tried clearing the CMOS, different power cable, so is it 100% a PSU problem it looks like? I'm going to do the paperclip test with a multimeter to test the voltages once my multimeter arrives but for now I don't know what else to try

 

[Darkbreeze]

If the PSU does not turn on at all using a paper clip, and you are 100% certain you are inserting it in the correct locations, then the PSU must be bad. But when you do it, make sure that it is not connected to ANYTHING, at all. None of the connectors should be plugged into anything when you do it AND it would be a good idea to unplug it from the wall, flip the PSU switch to the "0" (Off) position for about five minutes, then plug it back in, flip it back on and test, to make sure it's not in an automatically triggered off state while testing.

 

[oofsamy]

If the PSU does not turn on at all using a paper clip, and you are 100% certain you are inserting it in the correct locations, then the PSU must be bad. But when you do it, make sure that it is not connected to ANYTHING, at all. None of the connectors should be plugged into anything when you do it AND it would be a good idea to unplug it from the wall, flip the PSU switch to the "0" (Off) position for about five minutes, then plug it back in, flip it back on and test, to make sure it's not in an automatically triggered off state while testing.

Oh I need to stop talking to ChatGPT because it told me it can be plugged into everything, and besides, I'm pretty sure this PSU has a feature where the fan doesn't spin until the temperature starts increasing so that's going to be annoying but I will be getting a multimeter anytime soon.