Dead PC. Help!

aird · 27 Sep 2019 at 19:05

sideways14a said:
Well its pretty much the first thing you should look for in diagnosing a dead pc.
No hdd boot up lights, similar to how a normal boot sequence goes will tell you a lot.
No lights at all and no drive spinning up (if mech drive) = prob psu or drive taking the whole lot down.
Lights flashing as would be similar to normal boot but no pic could be duff video system, driver or similar - it also means the board, cpu and prob mem are ok as well.

I'm all ssd, so no drives spinning. But would dead drives also affect the usb connected keyboard and mouse?

aird · 30 Sep 2019 at 14:54

Me again folks!

So after plenty of where does that cable go etc I managed to install a new mobo. 970a-ds3p.

Again no gfx/usb output.

The mobo speakers i bought made a loud buzz, which according to gigabyte is a memory error but I took the ram out and reseated and no buzz. No post buzz either.

Tried an old gfx card but same output scenario.

I did test the psu with a multimeter and it was given out the correct readings but I'm not a professional with that so I was going by google/youtube videos.

Anyone got any suggestions or am I aswell giving up and going to a repair shop?

Randomface74 · 30 Sep 2019 at 14:56

I'm thinking it's new PC time.

aird · 30 Sep 2019 at 14:57

billysielu said:
I'm thinking it's new PC time.

Don't got planting those seeds in my head

aird · 30 Sep 2019 at 15:43

Going to try a different cpu and hope for the best.

Don't suppose you guys have any 8350 lying about that need a new home

Dave Burton · 30 Sep 2019 at 15:52

I know you've said you've tested with a multimeter, but it might still be the PSU at fault. Providing voltage is one thing, providing that voltage in a stable manner whilst under load is another, an aging PSU would likely not be able to deliver the current required to operate everything it needs, so unless you've done so already, and I missed that comment, I'd try a PSU before you go all out looking for a CPU.

ant1298 · 30 Sep 2019 at 15:53

Have you got a mate with a PC who can assist with his components? Like borrow a PSU...

aird · 30 Sep 2019 at 15:57

I can borrow a psu but it'll be older than the one that's in my system.

Jay85 · 30 Sep 2019 at 16:27

I had a similar issue and it did end up being a dead psu, drives would give read errors inconsistently and it would not boot into windows. The only difference here is, it would post but just hang on windows load screen as the drives would not read properly. Can you get into bios at all to read your psu voltages? I know ROG board can display the 12v, 5v and 3.3v and i used that to deduce which rail was packing in. New PSU fixed the issue of course.

aird · 30 Sep 2019 at 16:36

Jay85 said:
I had a similar issue and it did end up being a dead psu, drives would give read errors inconsistently and it would not boot into windows. The only difference here is, it would post but just hang on windows load screen as the drives would not read properly. Can you get into bios at all to read your psu voltages? I know ROG board can display the 12v, 5v and 3.3v and i used that to deduce which rail was packing in. New PSU fixed the issue of course.

Unfortunately not. I'm not getting any output from gfx and the board doesn't come with on board gfx. Trying to get a spare psu.

aird · 4 Oct 2019 at 17:04

Hi folks! Me again unfortunately.

So after trying and failing with a new mobo. I bought a new psu. The same one that was in my system but a new one.

So chucked it in today with my old mobo, since it didn't work with the new mobo I sent it back, installed only cpu, gfx (I don't have onboard gfx), 1 stick of ram and the bootable ssd. Powered it on and drum roll please... Nothing still. No monitor output or usb output.

Only things I've not tested are cpu (wouldn't know how) and ram. So I'm officially at a loss as to where to go from here.

Can mobos use older ram sticks? As I'm on 1600mhz would I be able to test it using older stick with older speeds?

So I'll probably send the psu back which is a shame as bequiet switched their orange and black cables to just black. Looked nice.

FlyingScotsman · 4 Oct 2019 at 17:28

aird said:
Hi folks! Me again unfortunately.

So after trying and failing with a new mobo. I bought a new psu. The same one that was in my system but a new one.

So chucked it in today with my old mobo, since it didn't work with the new mobo I sent it back, installed only cpu, gfx (I don't have onboard gfx), 1 stick of ram and the bootable ssd. Powered it on and drum roll please... Nothing still. No monitor output or usb output.

Only things I've not tested are cpu (wouldn't know how) and ram. So I'm officially at a loss as to where to go from here.

Can mobos use older ram sticks? As I'm on 1600mhz would I be able to test it using older stick with older speeds?

So I'll probably send the psu back which is a shame as bequiet switched their orange and black cables to just black. Looked nice.

Newer motherboard are on DDR4 and yours is DDR3.
You would probably need to buy new board/cpu and ram, if going new,either that or try and get a cheap 2nd CPU for your board if it's looking like the chip.

aird · 4 Oct 2019 at 17:35

FlyingScotsman said:
Newer motherboard are on DDR4 and yours is DDR3.
You would probably need to buy new board/cpu and ram, if going new,either that or try and get a cheap 2nd CPU for your board if it's looking like the chip.

I meant it was a new board but from my generation if that's make sense. A Gigabyte 970A-DS3P. So it was ddr3 compatible.

Might just try order a cpu and ram to test. Doing my head in :mad:

FlyingScotsman · 4 Oct 2019 at 17:40

aird said:
I meant it was a new board but from my generation if that's make sense. A Gigabyte 970A-DS3P. So it was ddr3 compatible.

Might just try order a cpu and ram to test. Doing my head in

Yeah I got that mate, you should be able to pick up an 8350 pretty cheap mate, would be my first stop I think, unlikely that both sticks have died at same time, unless PSU took them out.
Feel your pain, nothing worse than being without your pc, hope you get to the bottom of it Aird.

aird · 4 Oct 2019 at 17:44

FlyingScotsman said:
Yeah I got that mate, you should be able to pick up an 8350 pretty cheap mate, would be my first stop I think, unlikely that both sticks have died at same time, unless PSU took them out.
Feel your pain, nothing worse than being without your pc, hope you get to the bottom of it Aird.

Yeah, i hope so too. I mean the new football manager is out soon

Times like this I'm glad if failed my tech support hnd. Couldn't be doing this on a day to day basis

FlyingScotsman · 4 Oct 2019 at 17:55

aird said:
Yeah, i hope so too. I mean the new football manager is out soon

Times like this I'm glad if failed my tech support hnd. Couldn't be doing this on a day to day basis

sideways14a · 4 Oct 2019 at 18:36

I do this as a job, experience shortens the length of time you work on stuff and get it back in a working state quicker.
I see a lot of noob IT people come through with very little experience and it seems to frustrate them, but you cannot learn to do a complex job like this in 6 months.

FlyingScotsman · 5 Oct 2019 at 09:09

sideways14a said:
I do this as a job, experience shortens the length of time you work on stuff and get it back in a working state quicker.
I see a lot of noob IT people come through with very little experience and it seems to frustrate them, but you cannot learn to do a complex job like this in 6 months.

This is true for any occupation, experience is the best learning out there.

Nathkrul · 22 Oct 2019 at 16:08

have you tried the power on button? Ive had that fail once, you can verify it by disconnecting cable that goes to the motherboard from switch and shorting the two pins out with a flat bladed screwdriver, be carefull not to short out anything but them two pins tho.