Completely Dead Four Month Old Gaming PC (for the second time in a month)

snakerensky

snakerensky

snakerensky

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I purchased the components for a reasonably high end gaming computer during the Autumn of last year and until a month ago had been having no problems at all with it. After an evening of online gaming I switched it off and also at the mains but the following day when I tried to switch it back on again it was completely lifeless.

I was advised by two IT chaps that it was in all likelihood the power supply so I set off to return that to Corsair (who have no presence in England so had to return it to Holland) and waited for the replacement to arrive. Upon arrival I popped it back in myself and powered it up again, or not as in this case as it was still as lifeless as before. Next option was the motherboard which I was able to return to amazon.co.uk who were very helpful and upon receipt of that I had the IT chap who originally built my PC completely rebuild the computer again with the new motherboard.

For a week everything was rosy, then this morning I again went to switch on the computer and again it was as lifeless as before. My IT friends are at a loss, the chap who built my computer suggests he rebuilds it again outside the case to see if there is anything shorting out but I don't want to do anything drastic as this just cost me £150 putting right the first time with his time and the very expensive return carriage of the power supply, would there be any ideas out there?

My Specification
Case: NZXT H440 Mid Tower
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97x Gaming-G1 Wifi-BK
Processor: Intel Core i7 4790K 4GHz Socket 1150 8MB
PSU: Corsair HX1000i
GPU: 2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX970 G1 Gaming running in SLI
Memory: Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel
Cooling: Corsair H105 top intake, 3 x Noctua 120mm front intake, 1 x 140mm rear exhaust
Drives: Samsung 840 EVO 1TB SSD boot drive & Seagate 3TB Constellation CS Hard Drive

I have done no overclocking as yet but hoped to at some stage.

Any ideas greatly appreciated, i'd rather not be without the PC for three weeks again.
 
How's your ventilation in the case? H440 can get toasty at the best of times. Made worse by SLi / crossfire setups.

Sorry, I see you've posted your cooling setup in the specs.
 
The power switch in the top corner of the motherboard flashes briefly when I flick the power switch on the power supply then dims and disappears immediately, this seems to be the only sign of life at all.
 
hi heres my 2p,s worth. just built my pc in the last week in a h440 case. when testing the water cooling loop i had a similar sort of thing . With it set up with out a my graphics card in . Was using a corsair 600 watt psu(brand new out the box a spare i have) that would run the water cooling loop fans and pump only and not run the mobo. I as well had the light come on and dim then nothing changed to my old psu and it worked first time . i would go test your PSU: Corsair HX1000i as it may be the problem.
 
Bonjour said:
Invest in a £6 PSU tester. Simple device that can save a lot of headache and money.
Click to expand...

+1

reset CMOS. Check the power / reset switch connections on the mobo.

Try pulling one of the GPU's. Or even booting on the Intel graphics to get into the bios.

Personally I would have the H105 pushing out of the case, considering you have 3 x 120mm intakes.
 
Locate and press your CMOS button and see if any joy.
Check if all the cables are seated correctly.
Try the ram out, try both sticks individually and in different slots.
Try take out the GPUS one at a time even try removing both and using Onboard.


Does your motherboard have on the little LED readout things on it? Is it spitting out an error code?
 
Qitarah said:
Locate and press your CMOS button and see if any joy.
Check if all the cables are seated correctly.
Try the ram out, try both sticks individually and in different slots.
Try take out the GPUS one at a time even try removing both and using Onboard.


Does your motherboard have on the little LED readout things on it? Is it spitting out an error code?
Click to expand...

I did reset the CMOS and removed both graphics cards in the hope that might get it up and running but still no joy, the same with the RAM.

I had my replacement HX1000i tested when it was put into this system after the fault the first time around and it was fine but I can certainly do that again.

Sadly there is no LED unfortunately on this motherboard so I can't help with any error codes, I am assuming that the motherboard is dead but could be wrong with that assumption, my next problem is finding out what is killing them (if indeed they are dead) as I will soon be popping a third one in there and don't want it to go the same way.

Thanks for all the advice so far, it's odd that the system worked fine for three or four months then failed twice in effectively a week.
 
I've just been reading another thread in the GPU section I think commenting on Corsair PSU's being so poor lately and going pop.

Do you have your PSU plugged directly into the wall or via a 4/6 way extension. If the latter try plugging it direct into the wall.

I picked up a cheapo PSU tester from that local electronic store beginning with M saves a lot of time.
 
Definatly sounds like one of two issues.

1.Something in the case shorting the system.You can check this yourself by rebuilding it outside the case,no need to send it away or get some IT guy to come round to help you.

2.Corsair PSU death strikes once again.It seems to be a reoccurring thread with people buying Axi range PSU's,having them die in a very short time span,then the replacement they are sent dying again even quicker.
 
I didn't try plugging the PSU directly into the wall but did try on another 4 way extension (this one not surge protected) and didn't get any different result, I can try directly into the wall though if that can make a difference.

The chap who built my machine originally and then again after the first failure thought it might be a shorting problem but can't understand why it is happening after it has been working for a week and not straight away. I will test the PSU again before it is rebuilt and maybe some spacers for the screws into the motherboard could solve the issue.
 
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Phage said:
Could also be a corrupt BIOS. I had exactly the same sympyoms but was able to recover by using the dual BIOS on the MoBo and reflashing.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18656993
Click to expand...

Even if the bios has somehow corrupted itself then surely that wouldn't effect any of the lights on the mobo?

When my psu died (in quite spectacular fashion I might add lol) when you switched the actual psu on the mobo lights would briefly come one before the surge protector did it's thing and tripped the main house fuse box. Mind you, that little incident did take out my psu, mobo, ram and gpu.

mick
 
sneakypenguin said:
Even if the bios has somehow corrupted itself then surely that wouldn't effect any of the lights on the mobo?

When my psu died (in quite spectacular fashion I might add lol) when you switched the actual psu on the mobo lights would briefly come one before the surge protector did it's thing and tripped the main house fuse box. Mind you, that little incident did take out my psu, mobo, ram and gpu.

mick
Click to expand...

When my BIOS corrupted the LED's and fans etc would twitch/flash when you hit the power then nothing at all, other than the glowing power button itself. The board would appear dead.
 
Phage said:
When my BIOS corrupted the LED's and fans etc would twitch/flash when you hit the power then nothing at all, other than the glowing power button itself. The board would appear dead.
Click to expand...

This is my what i'm thinking but now the problem is what might kill two identical motherboards in such a short space of time. The boards go through two weeks of testing before they even leave the factory so could it be something in my setup that's causing it?
 
Do you live somewhere nearby London maybe ?
I remember some Gigabyte motherboards have not been compatible with AXi Corsair series, and someone from Ocuk (or writing for OcUK reviews at least) confirmed this. So regardless what's going on with your PC now, it's worth to check rig in the future with another PSU brand, even with one graphic card config, if PSU is PEG-less :) BIOS chipses, unfortunately, are soldered - so there's no joy with simple replacing.
 
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