Hi everyone. Yesterday morning my PC was working fine. I didn't actually do anything on it so I turned it off before leaving for work. When I came home, I switched it on and went to get something to eat. When I came back, my PC was on but there was only a black screen on display. I restarted and the same thing happened - no bios, no beeps, only a black screen (to be clear, when my monitor is off it's pure black, when I turned my PC on is was showing a black screen but slightly lighter than when there's nothing on at all).
I thought it might be the graphics card so I tried my onboard graphics and it worked. That was too easy, obviously. I took out my graphics card and restarted and it was back to the black screen. So I tried an HDMI cable instead of DVI and the same thing happened. Tried my RAM next, taking each stick out one by one and testing - still nothing. Disconnected all my hard drives, still nothing.
At this point I thought it must be my PSU (3 years old) or my motherboard (1.8 years old) so I tried my sister's PSU on my PC and hey presto, it worked. I left it for about 30 minutes and it was still on and working. Problem solved, it's my PSU. But later on I remembered that it had worked once before then stopped again after I took out my graphics card. So I decided to try my PSU on my sister's PC and it worked with no issues. Tried her PSU on my PC again and it was back to the black screen. Back to the drawing board.
After some googling, it seems like it must be my motherboard that's short circuited though I'm not sure why now. I've had my motherboard in for months and it hasn't given me any problems. I didn't hear any noises, smell anything or see any smoke to indicate it short circuited but I wasn't in the room after I turned my PC on yesterday so I don't know.
I seem to remember having issues with getting some of my standoffs screwed in and I think I had to leave 1 out because it just wouldn't go in. Could this be the cause of the short circuit, if that's what happened? If so, am I going to have to get a new case as well? I remember trying multiple standoffs and none of them would go in.
I thought it might be the graphics card so I tried my onboard graphics and it worked. That was too easy, obviously. I took out my graphics card and restarted and it was back to the black screen. So I tried an HDMI cable instead of DVI and the same thing happened. Tried my RAM next, taking each stick out one by one and testing - still nothing. Disconnected all my hard drives, still nothing.
At this point I thought it must be my PSU (3 years old) or my motherboard (1.8 years old) so I tried my sister's PSU on my PC and hey presto, it worked. I left it for about 30 minutes and it was still on and working. Problem solved, it's my PSU. But later on I remembered that it had worked once before then stopped again after I took out my graphics card. So I decided to try my PSU on my sister's PC and it worked with no issues. Tried her PSU on my PC again and it was back to the black screen. Back to the drawing board.
After some googling, it seems like it must be my motherboard that's short circuited though I'm not sure why now. I've had my motherboard in for months and it hasn't given me any problems. I didn't hear any noises, smell anything or see any smoke to indicate it short circuited but I wasn't in the room after I turned my PC on yesterday so I don't know.
I seem to remember having issues with getting some of my standoffs screwed in and I think I had to leave 1 out because it just wouldn't go in. Could this be the cause of the short circuit, if that's what happened? If so, am I going to have to get a new case as well? I remember trying multiple standoffs and none of them would go in.