Computer help

Broke EF

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I have no idea if any of you guys know anything about computers, but is worth a shot :)

I built a computer for a friend of mine a few years back. I cant remember all the specs, but nothing too crazy. Anyway last week she tells me that its messed up so I had her bring it by. It was turning itself off and on repeatedly, while never getting to the post screen or really doing anything. Press the power button, fans spin up, lights on, and then off, and repeat.

Eventually I got into windows, and was able to kind of look over a couple things in the bios and in windows. Then I turned it off and tried coming back on again with the same result. Let me just list what I did, and what happened.

Disconnected the panel power button: no change, left off
Disconnected the panel reset button: no change, reinstalled both
Disconnected the main 24pin and jumped it on: powered up and stayed on, but of course no post, reinstalled
Unplugged the video card power: no change, left off
Took out video card: no change, reinstalled
Took out one stick of memory: no change, left out
Took out other stick of memory: no change, reinstalled (also tried swapping them)
Disconnected 8 pin CPU power, powered up and stayed on, no post.

Once I put the 8 pin CPU power back on it started right up. I then checked some voltage in windows using a program and it all looked fine. The power supply is way overkill for the system since it was from a past build. Its a 1200 watt corsair unit.

Anyway I did a bunch of updates, and turned it off and on multiple times with no problems. Then once everything was updated I tried to turn it off and on again and the problem was back.

I am pretty sure at this point that its the MB or the CPU, but I would like to verify which before throwing parts at it. She does not have the money to really do anything, let alone essentially build a new system. So what can I do to narrow down the problem further? Lets assume I don't have interchangeable parts laying around (because IF my stuff is, I don't want to tear my machines down), what can I test out?

I will try and get you guys a parts list of whats in there ASAP. It may have to wait until I am back home in front of the machine though.


Thanks,
Sean
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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sounds like you did the basic troubleshooting

I had a similar issue and it ended up being a faulty power supply. It passed all the tests but when hooked up to the motherboard, sometimes it would boot normal, sometimes it would do that exact thing: on/off on/off before post, then eventually post and worked ok.


Cheapest route would be to just buy a 500w PSU for 30-40$ or see if another one makes a difference if you have one laying around. No need to get another 1200w. Or check warranty on the PSU, but that is where I would start.
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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Yeah, I am still not 100% convinced its not the power supply. I should buy one to have around for things like this because my computers are all nicely cable managed. Maybe I will order one up, and if it works great, if not I will have a spare in my inventory.

Sean

I keep a spare one of these around. IMO it sounds like a PSU or MB. Only true way to test the PSU is with a load tester.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/479133/masterwatt-lite-500-watt-80-plus-atx-power-supply
 

nytebyte

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Sounds like a power supply issue, but could also be the MB. It's unlikely to be the CPU, unless there is some kind of cooling issue. Check to be sure the heat sink is seated correctly on the CPU.

I've seen it go both ways. The fact that you got it to boot once might make me lean toward the power supply. Easy enough to test if you've got a spare.
 

Broke EF

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So we think its the PSU?! I will get my hands on one today and see whats up. I think I am going to run to micro center after work and grab the one posted above for troubleshooting. If that ends up being it I will order her up a new one for tomorrow. I will follow up with whatever I find out.

Sean
 

Broke EF

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As everyone said, power supply, not easily repairable as most are switching. Did you happen to measure the voltage under load with a meter?

I did not, but I could. I thought about just probing the wires for voltage, but then though it probably needs a load to be worthwhile. My initial thought was that one of the rails is not putting out enough juice.

I ended up ordering a 500 watt EVGA from Amazon, which should be here today. I can temp that in pretty easy, so I should know if that is my problem pretty quickly. Then I can order up a replacement and start taking this one out.

Fingers crossed its the PSU :)


Sean
 

Broke EF

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So put the new PSU on, and she fired right up! I let it sit in Windows for a bit and checked for any updates then turned it off. Hit the power button and it cycled a few times before firing up. I then updated the BIOS and have restarted it a handful of times. It never starts on the first go, but its also not consistent how many times it will cycle before it actually starts. It has started every time though, which is kind of an improvement?

Not sure where to go next as far as testing.


Sean
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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Anyway to validate that without just changing it out?

Sean
Motherboard manufacturer may have some tools to test it. Or it may be built into the bios.

Unplug as many devices as you can and see if it makes a difference now with a new psu. Basically restart your troubleshooting. May have a couple bad parts. Any power issues at their house lately? Surges/brownout maybe?
 

Gamble

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Its possible the PSU fucked up another component when it was failing. Gateway used to have those issues where the PSU failed and made the MB shit the bed

Also now that you have a new PSU run it in a minimum parts config. Pull all but 1 memory dimm and see what happens.
 

Broke EF

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Do we still think that the power supply is at fault at all? The behavior seems to be the same with the new power supply. I am wondering if I should just order a new MB and stick with the old power supply? Assuming I will end up with a MB, anybody have any suggestions? The current board is an MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MSI MS-7998) which is no longer available.

Thanks for all of the help guys,
Sean
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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Do we still think that the power supply is at fault at all? The behavior seems to be the same with the new power supply. I am wondering if I should just order a new MB and stick with the old power supply? Assuming I will end up with a MB, anybody have any suggestions? The current board is an MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MSI MS-7998) which is no longer available.

Thanks for all of the help guys,
Sean
Could be multiple failures. I wouldn't count the psu as ok just yet
 

Spectragod

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Could be multiple failures. I wouldn't count the psu as ok just yet



^^^this^^^, power supply could have compromised other components, only way to test it to go back through what you have done and try to isolate components that plug in, past that, it’s board level repair time, if it’s a multi layer board it will be an issue.

If it’s just a trace that’s bad, or a bad component, that’s easy. But you will need a meter at that point, I like my old analog Simpson for that stuff.
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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How old is "a few years"? 3? 5? More?

If it's 3 years or newer, go ahead and focus on the MB which it sounds like it could be. If it's older than that, I'd just do a new build with modern parts.

i actually just dealt with this yesterday.... a friend had a pc I built for her and she got a new monitor for xmas...that has hdmi only (wtf is that shit btw...)

So it was either add a graphics card to a 10 year old pc running a core 2 duo..

or upgrade everything for 150$ more then what a graphics card would cost... So this weekend ill be rebuilding her pc with a new MB, CPU, RAM and SSD for $250.
 
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