Help! New computer won't boot :(

nicktay2605

nicktay2605

nicktay2605

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Joined
22 Mar 2007
Posts
3,875
Hi guys, I'm having loads of problems with a new PC I built. Everything was working ok for a few months after build but then it wouldn't boot one day. I RMA'd the motherboard thinking that was the problem after performing the paperclip test on the PSU. However, they found nothing wrong with the mobo so I RMA'd the PSU and this was confirmed as faulty.

I've now received the new PSU and the PC still won't boot. I've taken the PSU and motherboard out of the case and tried connecting them together outside of the case. When I do this I get a green led on the motherboard light up, so it does seem to be getting power, but the CPU fan doesn't spin up. Could it be that the faulty PSU damaged the CPU? I can't see any evidence of damage on the CPU but I can't think what else would be causing it to fail to boot. I've also tried a different motherboard just to rule out the possibility that the motherboard is actually faulty.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'm running out of patience with this now!
 
1. It's a Corsair CX430W PSU. The other parts in the PC are:

Intel Core i3 4330
4GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz ram
Asus H81-M motherboard
64GB Kingston SSD
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13

2. Yes I've rechecked the cabling several times over and had the motherboard and PSU out of the case on their own

3. Sorry for being stupid, what do you mean set to 220-230?

4. The system doesn't start at all and there aren't any sort of beeps on the motherboard, just a green led that lights up

5. No, the same thing happened with the other motherboard. The other motherboard was brand new too, I bought it for another PC I was building at the time

6. Yeah I've tried it with two power cables and on a couple of different plug sockets.

Would a PC boot or show any activity at all if the cpu or ram were fried? I'm thinking that maybe the faulty PSU could have damaged some of the other components. Surely I can't have been sent another faulty PSU? This one has literally just come out of the box.
 
I haven't tried clearing the CMOS/Bios memory yet, I'll give that a go, thanks. Does anyone know if a PC would boot/show any signs of life with bad RAM installed or no RAM in there at all? I don't have any spare RAM to test unfortunately. Also, would a PC boot/show signs of life with a damaged CPU installed? I've swapped the Arctic CPU cooler for the stock cooler and neither seems to make a difference.
 
So I've just tried the PSU on another motherboard outside of the case (just the 8-pin and 24-pin connectors plugged into the motherboard and the CPU, CPU fan and RAM installed) and nothing. The PSU fan doesn't spin up, and neither does the CPU fan. Does this suggest that the replacement PSU they've sent me is DOA? Is the next step to take apart my main PC and try the PSU from that (which obviously I know 100% is functional) in both the motherboards?

Would a damaged CPU stop the PC from POST'ing? At this stage I can only think that it's a DOA PSU or the CPU was fried when the original PSU malfunctioned.
 
The PSU fan isn't spinning, and yes I've tried it in different mains sockets, even in different rooms lol. I've heard that the paper clip test isn't overly reliable, I tried it on the faulty PSU I sent back and that PSU passed the test, but was still confirmed as faulty when it was RMA'd. Would a lack of paste stop the PSU fan and CPU fan from at least spinning? I'd have thought the PC would boot but quickly shut down due to overheating?

Would a faulty CPU have any noticeable signs of damage? It's impossible to test the CPU because I don't have another Haswell processor. I guess the next step is, like you say, to buy a PSU tester.
 
Argh, that's what I was afraid you'd say lol :(

Thanks for all the help Nix, I'll buy a multimeter or power supply tester so I can find out for sure and then look into RMA'ing it (again!)
 
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