Is my PC dead?

[Hippogriff]

Hello everyone!

I am not sure whether this is the proper place, but you helped me a lot when I built my current PC nearly 5 years ago, so I thought about asking. My current build (see signature) has worked flawlessly for all these years, till last weekend.

I turned off the PC on Friday. When I tried to turn it on the next day, it did not show any sign of life. Not even a single bip or light. The only "different" thing I did on Friday, was to turn off also my UPC. Have done this many times in the past years, though.


I tried to change socket and cable, to no avail. I have tested the PSU with one of those 24-pins jumpers/switches and the fans/pump appear to work perfectly. I have tried to disconnect different stuff (GPU, RAM, etc...) from the motherboard or start the PC from the motherboard, but still nothing.

The only time I notice some sign of life from the motherboard is for a brief moment after starting the PSU with the jumper. As I plug the cable back into the motherboard, the audio card lights up for a brief moment. That is the most I managed to achieve.


Should I test the PSU with something more fancy to verify whether it can start the fans, but not the whole system? Or should I declare the PC dead?

Thanks!

 

[Zerileous]

It could be something as simple as a failed button. Did you try jumping the power leads on the motherboard for the front panel IO? Just unplug the power button and bridge the two pins (carefully) with a flat screwdriver.

Also, I assume you've bypassed the UPS at this point?

 

[Hippogriff]

It could be something as simple as a failed button. Did you try jumping the power leads on the motherboard for the front panel IO? Just unplug the power button and bridge the two pins (carefully) with a flat screwdriver.

Also, I assume you've bypassed the UPS at this point?

Yeah, I tried using both the bult-in power button on the motherboard and the screwdriver thing. No signs of life.

Results are the same whether it is plugged to the UPS or to a socket in the wall (as it is now).

 

[trents]

Yes, I would test the PSU more thoroughly. The test jumper plugs that come with many new PSUs these days will not tell the whole story. They only tell you if the PSU is not completely dead. Voltage may be in the normal range but the PSU is not able to provide the amperage under load. What you need to do is sway the PSU into a known good computer and see if it carries the load.

 

[don256us]

Sometimes when a PSU goes bad, you'll see the fans blip long enough for a few rotations but then that's it. I saw that you mentioned something similar with LED lights on the sound card which made me think of it. If you have another PSU, try that but I would use caution when plugging in a potentially bad PSU into another machine.

 

[DaveB]

It seems unlikely that an EVGA Supernova 1300G2 1,300W monster PSU could die so easily. I'd suspect it could be a motherboard issue.

 

[Hippogriff]

Unfortunately I don't have another machine to test the PSU in or another spare PSU. I was thinking about buying one of those testers that show voltage, if that can help to understand whether the PSU has some issues. To clarify, the lights on the audio card appear only when I plug the 24 pin cable in the motherboard, not when I try to start the system.

It is just that it was so sudden. One day everything was working fine (or, at least, it looked like everything was fine), the day after it is dead. I had been using the PC much more lately, so I wonder whether there was some lingering issue that struck only now due to the increased workload.

 

[DaveB]

It is just that it was so sudden. One day everything was working fine (or, at least, it looked like everything was fine), the day after it is dead. I had been using the PC much more lately, so I wonder whether there was some lingering issue that struck only now due to the increased workload.

Nothing you could do with that system could even begin to even slightly stress that PSU. I ran a very similar overclocked X99 setup a few years back off of a PSU with less than half of that wattage with zero issues.

 

[trents]

More than likely, it is not the PSU but it might be smart to pickup a cheap backup PSU just for occasions like this when you need to do troubleshooting through the process of elimination.

 

[Bill_Bright]

It seems unlikely that an EVGA Supernova 1300G2 1,300W monster PSU could die so easily. I'd suspect it could be a motherboard issue.

Until Man can create perfection 100% of the time, there will always be units that fail prematurely - even the best models from the most reputable makers. This is especially possible when products are dropped during shipping or otherwise mishandled. And, of course, even if attached through a good USP with AVR, if Mother Nature is determined, she can zap her way through anything.

So before thinking it could be the motherboard, CPU or something else, you need to verify you are supplying your components good, clean, stable power. That means swapping in a known good PSU. This is the only way to conclusively verify if your EVGA is good (or bad).

Understand to conclusively test a computer PSU, it must be done under a variety of loads and it must be done with an oscilloscope or dedicated power supply analyzer so you can test to ensure the voltages are within the allowed ±5% tolerances, but also for proper ripple suppression too. These are sophisticated and expensive pieces of test equipment that generally take a properly trained technician to safely operate and to interpret the results. This is why swapping in a known good spare PSU is the next best alternative (and often easier) for most users (even pros).

I personally think it is always nice to have a spare PSU on hand just for these purposes as I always want to verify good clean power when troubleshooting potential hardware issues. Plus they can be used to test drive motors and fans too.