Question What to do my motherboard doesn't get power with GPU. Turns on without GPU

[hasanuzzaman015]

My build:

i7-9700k

gigabyte aorus z390 master

zotac rtx 2060

cooler master 650W 80 plus gold

My pc has been running absolutely fine for 3.5 years. But after updating my gpu driver recently the pc got completely frozen. Even power or reset button wasn't working. I had to unplug and re-plug to restart the computer. It ran fine for a couple of hours. When I left to do something else for around half an hour,after coming back I though my pc was in sleep mode as usual. But when I pressed power button I just heard a click sound from psu and pc didn't even post. No fans were spinning. The ram rgb lit up after a while and nothing else happened. Upon further pressing power button nothing else happened. When I turned off and on psu switch and pressed power button again, I heard the same click and the same thing happened. When I took out the GPU the pc started normally. None of my friends own a desktop so I can't check with another gpu or system.

I took my pc to a local repair shop and they checked with a low power gpu (didn't need pcie power cable), the pc again turned on fine. They didn't have a power supply suitable for checking my GPU so I brought it back home.

Now I want to take my gpu or psu to the shop I bought it from. It's not possible to take the whole pc due to some issues. Sadly gpu warranty period is over but PSU still has warranty left. So if the gpu is actually dead I'll have to get another one. But I'm unsure which one is causing the problem and which one to take.

Please help me figure out what to do at this point.

I saved up for years to build my pc. If I end up replacing the gpu, I'll have to settle for a gtx1650 or rx6400 since gpu prices has increased in my area and my budget decreased. So I kinda hope the psu is causing the problem. It really breaks my heart when I think about the whole ordeal. I wish better pc parts were available at similar price or same parts at a cheaper price after a few years but that is not the case.

 

[rgd1101]

test the psu

 

[Misgar]

If the problem started after you updated the graphics driver, it might be worth "rolling back" the driver to an earlier version, or completely uninstalling the driver and starting over. As a last resort you could try reinstalling the OS on a spare drive.

I'm not impressed with your local repair shop if they don't have a spare PSU to try in your computer. The click noises from the PSU don't sound good. The implication is the PSU cannot cope with the power demands from system, e.g. short circuit somewhere, or faulty PSU?

Unless you can test individual components in another system, you won't know it's your graphics card or PSU that's at fault.

 

[hasanuzzaman015]

If the problem started after you updated the graphics driver, it might be worth "rolling back" the driver to an earlier version, or completely uninstalling the driver and starting over. As a last resort you could try reinstalling the OS on a spare drive.

I'm not impressed with your local repair shop if they don't have a spare PSU to try in your computer. The click noises from the PSU don't sound good. The implication is the PSU cannot cope with the power demands from system, e.g. short circuit somewhere, or faulty PSU?

Unless you can test individual components in another system, you won't know it's your graphics card or PSU that's at fault.

I've decided to check the GPU first by taking it to a better shop. Is there any hope of fixing the GPU if it is indeed short circuited?

 

[Misgar]

Repairing GPUs requires skill, new parts, a hot air work station and preferably the circuit diagram. However, GPUs tend to be a lot more reliable than PSUs, unless you've been overclocking the GPU.

With any luck, the problem is the PSU. It's three and a half years old so it may have reached the end of its life. PSUs are best left to trained repair technicians, because they operate at high voltages. You won't get an electric shock working on a GPU, but a PSU can be lethal if you remove the cover.

The best you can attempt is to substitute known working parts in turn for your PSU, GPU and motherboard, until the system returns to life. A good repair shop should be able to identify the culprit in 30 minutes.

I'm assuming the motherboard BIOS is set to start up first from the plug in PCIe GPU card and not from the built in graphics chipset in the CPU. If you've reset the BIOS the graphics boot order may have changed.

 

[hasanuzzaman015]

Repairing GPUs requires skill, new parts, a hot air work station and preferably the circuit diagram. However, GPUs tend to be a lot more reliable than PSUs, unless you've been overclocking the GPU.

With any luck, the problem is the PSU. It's three and a half years old so it may have reached the end of its life. PSUs are best left to trained repair technicians, because they operate at high voltages. You won't get an electric shock working on a GPU, but a PSU can be lethal if you remove the cover.

The best you can attempt is to substitute known working parts in turn for your PSU, GPU and motherboard, until the system returns to life. A good repair shop should be able to identify the culprit in 30 minutes.

I'm assuming the motherboard BIOS is set to start up first from the plug in PCIe GPU card and not from the built in graphics chipset in the CPU. If you've reset the BIOS the graphics boot order may have changed.

I haven't overclocked my GPU. I really hope the PSU is the culprit. When I took my pc to the local shop they took out the cmos battery so I'm guessing that reset the bios?

 

[Misgar]

Yes, removing the CMOS battery usually resets the BIOS. You'll need a working GPU to get into the BIOS. Best bet is to take the computer to a good repair shop and let them sort it out.

New graphics card prices are coming down and an old second hand GT630 graphics card should be much cheaper as a result. Virtually any PCIe GPU card should be sufficient to wake up the computer and tweak the BIOS.