[SOLVED] System not starting, PSU OK

[CristianCG]

I have a problem with a 9 year old system which i built and used for 3D graphics for a few years. Now it's being used by my wife.

The other day, in the evening i shut the pc off. The next morning the power button didn't do a thing. I tested the power supply with a power supply tester and all voltages look normal. I took apart everything except the CPU, cleaned the dust and reseated everything. It is still not doing anything. The motherboard has a power button directly on it so it eliminates the case button faulty.

I noticed that when i didn't have the ram and GPU installed when i was plugging the 24pin connector, the fans would start to spin and the LED's on the fan would light up shortly. I don't know if this is relevant for anything. When i have the GPU and RAM installed it doesn't do that.

System specs:
Intel 2600K
ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3
Corsair Vengeance LP 4 x 4Gb 1600mhz DDR3
nVidia GeForce GTX680
Corsair CX750M
120Gb Sandisk SSD
Cooler Master HAF 932


At this point, the mobo is not Fatal1ty anymore, but probably more like Faulty, lol. Is there a way i can be sure it is the motherboard? So i don't just run out to buy a replacement for nothing. It's old gen hardware, so i don't have components to swap out and test.

The system did this before. A few years ago, it would not start. I started to swap out things and in the end it started and ran with it's day 1 components . So i'm thinking it could be acting up again, but i don't know what can be triggering it and how to get it back to normal. Any ideas?

 

[Darkbreeze]

You're not going to find any replacement motherboards for that system unless you're willing to shell out for a new old stock board off Ebay, which will be ridiculously expensive, or roll the dice on a used board. Neither of those are very good options.

I'd agree, if the PSU is good, passes all tests on a volt meter, then it's PROBABLY not the PSU. I'd still generally like to swap a known good unit of sufficient capacity in there just to make sure, but I'm with you on it likely being the motherboard if the PSU is good and the motherboard doesn't fire up normally. I would however recommend that you at least TRY to power on the system with no graphics card installed. HAVE the RAM installed, but remove the graphics card and connect the monitor cable to the motherboard video output. It might simply be a bad graphics card.

If it's not the graphics card, and the motherboard IS faulty, I'd recommend you simply cut bait and build with new budget components because for the price of any decent motherboard that isn't a 50-50 chance of dying next Tuesday because it's just as old as the one you have now, you could probably add a few bucks to that and end up with something a lot more capable and with a lot more life (And warranty) in it.

Your region might substantially change some of that, because I know hardware is difficult to come by in some cases in upper Europe.

 

[CristianCG]

Thank you for the reply. Yes, i am looking at a new mobo, with a ryzen 3700x and 16gb of ram. About 300$ locally. I guess i will go for that if i can't get it working again. I've seen a lot of Z68 motherboards close to where i live, but i agree it could die fast. And used is about 100$ for a 10 year motherboard. Not worh it.

I tried a stupid thing. I shorted the green wire to the black one, on the back of the 24-pin connector to see what would happen if it gets power. But only a few fans spin at very low rpm, other than that, it looks dead. I will try another PSU. I only have a Corsair AX1500i on my Threadripper 2990WX build. That is going to be a lot of fun to take out, or at least the cables.

 

[Darkbreeze]

For testing the power supply.

 

[CristianCG]

Tried with another PSU, tested RAM, CPU and GPU on other PC and all are working.

Motherboard is dead. I measured with a multimeter and it seems that the chipset is shorted. So i guess it's time for a new motherboard, CPU and RAM. I found a Ryzen 9 3900x with 32Gb of RAM and X570 board for a good price. I will go for that.

Thank you.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, it's always a drag when hardware takes a dirt nap, but at least you know, AND you are going to have a MUCH more capable system now. Good luck to you Cristian.

 

[CristianCG]

Yes, it's for my wife, she'll enjoy it. I'm still on the 2990WX and wanting to go for the 3990X or 3995WX. But it's going to be a while until that happens.

 

[Darkbreeze]

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