Comp Died Overnight

[Aldakoopa]

Hi all,

It's been about a year since I've been on here or even used my desktop because I've been doing some very extensive house repairs that turned out to be biting off more than I could chew (technically, I tore it down and rebuilt it ), so I've been very busy on my nights and weekends, but I finally got moved back in and got my desktop out of storage and set back up, and it was working fine for a week or two up until today. I last used it last night playing Skyrim and didn't have any problems whatsoever, but now it won't start at all. I've troubleshooted (is that even a word? lol) everything I could. PSU is currently running an older scrap comp I Frankenstein'd together to test it out without any trouble, but my mobo, or something on it, seems to be the culprit. I wasn't able to even get it to post at all. I have no way of testing the CPU or RAM in another computer, but is it possible to remove those from the mobo, plug in the mobo to the PSU and see if that is the only possible problem before I RMA it?

 

[Robert17]

Being in storage for a year it may have some corrosion issues depending on if it was or wasn't sealed in a plastic garbage bag or the like allowing for high humidity to condense on it, bugs get inside, etc.

Have you done a visual inspection? Even though it started, you've introduced some significant heat to an otherwise placid system and may have cracked some solder, popped a cap, loosened a connection. Lot's of physical things along those lines.

 

[Aldakoopa]

It wasn't sealed in anything, it was underneath of plastic though and hardly got any dust on it at all. I don't see any corrosion or broken solder except one piece that looks like it's just a sort of strap for a component, not an actual electrical connection, but it looks more like they got the solder to hot and burned the board a little bit, but I don't know what it looked like before either, so I don't really know. Here's pics of the component with the strap across it and the back of the mobo where the strap is soldered.

 

[kyij]

If it does nothing, than try a hard reset. Pull the power cabel, press the power button for 10 seconds, plug back in and try. You may also try this with removing the CMOS battery.

If that does not help, I would remove all of the ram. Assuming you have a connected speaker, listen for any beeps. If it beeps, that should just mean there is no ram. Then put ONE stick in and try. If nothing, swap and try the other stick.

I would start with this in the very least.

 

[Aldakoopa]

It did do nothing originally, I did a hard reset and it would only come on for a few seconds and then would do nothing again until another hard reset. I do not have any speaker, unfortunately.

 

[kyij]

Well you can still at least try to remove the ram, try to reset for a few min. Then put one stick in (when the computer is turned back off obviously).

 

[bob4933]

had this happen myself with my last mobo Hope you can sort it.

 

[Aldakoopa]

I'll try a little more with it tomorrow. Right now PSU's still in another comp I slapped together and stress tested. It did just fine, so I'm pretty sure it's not the PSU at all.

 

[Aldakoopa]

Well you can still at least try to remove the ram, try to reset for a few min. Then put one stick in (when the computer is turned back off obviously).

Ok, I got back on it tonight. I did what you said and removed the RAM, plugged in the mobo and CPU, and then I shorted the power button to turn it on as it's no longer in the case. It stayed on for a while, and I tried shorting the power button connection again to turn it off, and it didn't seem to work, but it went off a few seconds after I stopped shorting. Not sure if it was me or the mobo crapping out again, but anyway, then I reset, plugged in one stick of RAM, and turned it back on. It once again stayed on for a few seconds, then powered off. Then I reset and tried the other stick, and it did the same thing. Then I reset and tried with no RAM again, and once again it only stayed on for a couple of seconds before shutting off.

Anything else I should try?

had this happen myself with my last mobo Hope you can sort it.

Did you have the same problem with it only turning on for a couple of seconds and then powering off? Exactly what's happening with me right now? Just wanted to know because if it was your mobo then maybe it's likely mine too.




I'm just trying to get the problem absolutely pinpointed before I RMA the mobo. I hope you all understand.

 

[Aldakoopa]

Alright, I put in an RMA request with ASUS. I'll see how this goes and when I get the replacement I'll come back to this thread with the results.

 

[wingman99]

Were you able to try a different PSU?

 

[Aldakoopa]

No, I have no other PSU to test on this mobo right now, but my PSU is working fine in another rig I threw together out of my spare parts.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Do any caps look visibly bad?

 

[Aldakoopa]

No, everything looks fine on the board.

 

[Aldakoopa]

Got my mobo back today. They said they repaired it and the only thing that looked repaired was a couple of solder points on the USB 3.0 header. As soon as I hooked it back up it was doing basically the same thing. The only difference was I didn't have to drain the power from the mobo before I could get the PSU to start again. I left it alone for a while and tried it again and now it requires draining power again just like before. I don't know what do do next... but I have a couple of people I know willing to take a look for me. One owns a computer shop and the other is the manager of the local Staples Easy Tech. I'll take it to either of them... or both... just to see what they can figure out.

*sigh*

 

[wingman99]

Report back what you find out.

 

[Aldakoopa]

I left it unplugged all night, tried it again this morning and it stayed on, and after a minute the POST screen came up, I got into the BIOS and reset the time and everything. I don't have my GPU or drives hooked up yet as I was just testing it straight out of the box before I went through the hassle of installing it into the case again.

I'm so confused.

Unrelated but a similar problem I'm also facing is my car (2012 Sonic) has an issue nobody else has ever had that the dealer is currently trying to figure out without any luck so far all week. I'm just attracting these mysteries it seems.

 

[Aldakoopa]

Now it's doing the same thing again. Easy Tech Manager says it's either the Mobo or CPU... guess the only way to find out is buy another CPU or mobo. =/

 

[larrymoencurly]

It wasn't sealed in anything, it was underneath of plastic though and hardly got any dust on it at all. I don't see any corrosion or broken solder except one piece that looks like it's just a sort of strap for a component, not an actual electrical connection, but it looks more like they got the solder to hot and burned the board a little bit, but I don't know what it looked like before either, so I don't really know. Here's pics of the component with the strap across it and the back of the mobo where the strap is soldered.

Do you mean the whole computer was under plastic or just the motherboard? Plastic = static, and even a motherboard in a case can be damaged by static that reaches the ports on back.

It doesn't look like anything burned from that soldering. There's a bit too much solder, which won't hurt unless it's shorting something, and the flux wasn't cleaned off, but it's harmless. Why was the motherboard soldered?

I don't know how good Asus repair service is, and did they solder around the USB 3.0 header because they simply couldn't find anything wrong? Still, I'd test with a different PSU (without buying one).

 

[Aldakoopa]

The whole computer was under plastic inside the case. But it was working for 2 or 3 weeks before it randomly died.

The motherboard was soldered there from the factory. Your guess is as good as mine.

I have no idea about ASUS repair service either, seems to me like they got it out of there ASAP.

I had to get another PSU for a different computer anyway, so I'm going to test with that as soon as it arrives. In the meantime I hit up the classies here and hopefully I will be getting a better mobo as well. If that doesn't work then I'll keep buying parts to throw at it until it works. I only have a few more parts to try, and I hate to do that since I'm practically broke, but this has become my priority now so I'll bite the bullet and use it as a time to upgrade, test out everything and sell or reuse what's still good.

EDIT: Let me rephrase that. I can use the new PSU which I needed anyway for another project and mobo which would make an excellent upgrade to help determine what my problem is. If I can pinpoint it to my CPU or mobo or RAM or PSU, I can hopefully still RMA it since they're actually all still under warranty and get it solved. If it turns out it is still the mobo, I can try to RMA again, or say screw it and just go with my better mobo. I just don't really know what else I can do.