Computer not turning on?

D123D · 9 Nov 2016 at 12:42

So before I went to bed last night my computer was working fine.

I wake up this morning and attempt to turn it on - nothing.

I tried the motherboard power switch and that doesn't work either.

I have literally no way of diagnosing the problem and I have no idea how it came to be.

The only thing I could think of is that the PSU is dead. It's almost 6+ years old, as I reused the one from my last rig.

However, its a fairy decent PSU

http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00000788

Any ideas on how I go about diagnosing this?

snips86x · 9 Nov 2016 at 12:45

Try the paper clip test to see if the PSU powers on. If not, get a new unit.

Semple · 9 Nov 2016 at 12:46

Assume you've tried a different lead, and connected to a different socket to rule out either of those?

Apart from doing a visual inspection/re-inserting the main connections, not much you can do to troubleshoot without a second PSU.

Do you have a friend/family member who can lend you a spare PSU to test? Or even taking your PSU round to test on another machine. Once you've ruled those out, you'll know if the PSU is the faulty part, or if something else in the system is faulty.

D123D · 9 Nov 2016 at 13:43

snips86x said:
Try the paper clip test to see if the PSU powers on. If not, get a new unit.

Okay so I did that and something turned on! Sounded like the hard drive was spinning. I assume the PSU is working then.

Any idea where I go from here?

I have a feeling it might be the motherboard. Usually if there is a booting problem it displays an error code on the motherboard - nothing this time.