- Jan 31, 2019
- 10
- 1
- 10,515
Hi
So I have a desktop that works fine. A couple months back I went out of town for a week, and I left the pc unplugged all that time. When I come back, it doesn't boot. The motherboard has lighting LEDs that are on, and a power LED that's always lit when it's got power, and that's on. But nothing else in the case shows signs of life. USB devices don't seem to have power. I push the power button and absolutely nothing happens. No beep, no fans, no change to the LEDs, nothing. After spending some time reseating cables and RAM sticks, I give up and take it to a repair guy, who fixes it and returns it, saying he thinks the problem may have been a short caused by a loose screw in the back of the case or something. It starts working totally fine again.
Well, he was wrong. Recently I went out of town again for another week, and when I get back the exact same thing happens: won't boot, no fans, no beep, LEDs are on. I can't get in touch with the same repair guy. Who cares, because evidently the screw was not the real problem. But, since he did in fact get it working before, there must be some issue that can be solved without replacing any parts. So. My questions are: do I gotta completely rebuild this whole thing? What did this repair guy do that got it running again, and can I do that?
Reading forum posts for people with similar issues suggests either a PSU or motherboard hardware fault. Sure, maybe, but since I already fixed this issue once without replacing either, it's unlikely. Plus, there's no obvious way the hardware could be damaged while it's sitting unplugged.
I already tried:
- searching through this forum.
- removing all peripherals and the GPU while I'm testing it
- reseating every cable coming out of the PSU
- reseating the mobo power cables
- reseating the RAM, and trying to boot with only one ram stick inserted, for each stick
- removing mobo battery, waiting 30 min, trying again
- trying different power outlets
- holding down power button for >30 seconds while unplugged (idk somebody on this forum suggested it)
things I have not tried:
- replacing mobo battery. i'm gonna do that next but i need to buy one first
- trying to boot by shorting the power pins - can't find instructions on how to do that on my exact mobo model, don't want to do it wrong and break something
- messing with the cpu at all
Would be super grateful for any help or advice!
specs:
motherboard: Asus Z370-A
PSU: EVGA 550 G3
CPU: i5 8400
GPU: RX 5700 XT
So I have a desktop that works fine. A couple months back I went out of town for a week, and I left the pc unplugged all that time. When I come back, it doesn't boot. The motherboard has lighting LEDs that are on, and a power LED that's always lit when it's got power, and that's on. But nothing else in the case shows signs of life. USB devices don't seem to have power. I push the power button and absolutely nothing happens. No beep, no fans, no change to the LEDs, nothing. After spending some time reseating cables and RAM sticks, I give up and take it to a repair guy, who fixes it and returns it, saying he thinks the problem may have been a short caused by a loose screw in the back of the case or something. It starts working totally fine again.
Well, he was wrong. Recently I went out of town again for another week, and when I get back the exact same thing happens: won't boot, no fans, no beep, LEDs are on. I can't get in touch with the same repair guy. Who cares, because evidently the screw was not the real problem. But, since he did in fact get it working before, there must be some issue that can be solved without replacing any parts. So. My questions are: do I gotta completely rebuild this whole thing? What did this repair guy do that got it running again, and can I do that?
Reading forum posts for people with similar issues suggests either a PSU or motherboard hardware fault. Sure, maybe, but since I already fixed this issue once without replacing either, it's unlikely. Plus, there's no obvious way the hardware could be damaged while it's sitting unplugged.
I already tried:
- searching through this forum.
- removing all peripherals and the GPU while I'm testing it
- reseating every cable coming out of the PSU
- reseating the mobo power cables
- reseating the RAM, and trying to boot with only one ram stick inserted, for each stick
- removing mobo battery, waiting 30 min, trying again
- trying different power outlets
- holding down power button for >30 seconds while unplugged (idk somebody on this forum suggested it)
things I have not tried:
- replacing mobo battery. i'm gonna do that next but i need to buy one first
- trying to boot by shorting the power pins - can't find instructions on how to do that on my exact mobo model, don't want to do it wrong and break something
- messing with the cpu at all
Would be super grateful for any help or advice!
specs:
motherboard: Asus Z370-A
PSU: EVGA 550 G3
CPU: i5 8400
GPU: RX 5700 XT
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