PC has died - I think

[Tony]

How do you know if you dont try ??

As piroska mentioned its often the case, if its not the PSU then more than likely the motherboard.

One way to tell (or test) remove the Memory completely, press the power button it should beep/ squeal complaining of no Memory.

Seen many (hundreds) of problems relating to a bad power supply, not till you actully confirm its not, you can throw out perfectly good hardware. ( All techs know this) hence usually the 1st point to test

OK, I've removed the memory and powered on and it is exactly the same - no beeps, nothing.

[piroska]

I'll jiggle the memory and other connectors etc, but I suspect the mb has died, in which case I think I'll follow psycik's advice and send the whole unit to the great PC graveyard in the sky.

OK, I've removed the memory and powered on and it is exactly the same - no beeps, nothing.

Thats crazy.....you don't chuck it just for a PSU.

And having done this for years...and Wainuitech is still doing this, believe us when we say PSU is most common, regardless of it trying to start and all that.

Hell PSU fails can even boot the thing and not the drive so that you can get no o/s errors!!! Drives suck the most power.....being a 12v thing...

And my motherboard is now 12 years old. It will die son, so I'll need to replace board, CPU and RAM...as I won't find one old enough and if I did, whats the point....
I sure won't toss the entire machine. I'll just buy a mb/ram/cpu kit.

But bet ya it's the PSU anyway

[paulw]

This is the paper clip test. I've used it a couple of times in the past.
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/smart...-power-supply/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyVkWznvDHQ

Will at least see if the PSU powers up.

[Tony]

OK, this may be a strange question, but how much of the power supply do I have to connect to be able to prove what we need to know? The 4-pin ATX from another PC will reach to the dodgy one without removing it from the case, but the 24-pin connector won't. Do I need both of them to get a basic POST?

[Tony]

This is the paper clip test. I've used it a couple of times in the past.
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/smart...-power-supply/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyVkWznvDHQ

Will at least see if the PSU powers up.

The PSU definitely powers up. The PSU fan spins, the CPU and case fans spin and the HDD feels like it is working.

[Tony]

OK, I managed to get the 2 PCs in to a position where I could connect both the 4-pin and 24-pin connectors. I removed the memory and powered up. The result was exactly the same as before - spinning fans but nothing else. If I understand WT, no memory should have prompted all sorts of beeps - which didn't happen.

[Tony]

I very nervously connected the PSU from the dead PC to the working PC. I powered on and it booted up no trouble, so I am satisfied that my problem is not with the PSU.

[wainuitech]

Basically how you changed PSu is how to test ( If you had a actual Spare its the same).

Being the age of the motherboard -- Are the Caps leaking ?? Sometimes if they are and if you're handy enough ( or feel like trying) you can replace them.

Other wise something may have blown on the board.

One other thing to look at -- Look at ALL the USB ports, make sure none have broken Tabs and the pins inside are not bent over and shorting. Other ways to test the board ( easy way) remove from case and assemble on a bench. Had several times something in the case causes a short and wont allow to boot, but out side the case worked fine.

[Tony]

Basically how you changed PSu is how to test ( If you had a actual Spare its the same).

Being the age of the motherboard -- Are the Caps leaking ?? Sometimes if they are and if you're handy enough ( or feel like trying) you can replace them.

Other wise something may have blown on the board.

One other thing to look at -- Look at ALL the USB ports, make sure none have broken Tabs and the pins inside are not bent over and shorting. Other ways to test the board ( easy way) remove from case and assemble on a bench. Had several times something in the case causes a short and wont allow to boot, but out side the case worked fine.

I would be HIGHLY surprised if it was a USB connection problem as the box just sits in a corner and hasn't been moved in months, so there would be nothing to cause that sort of connector damage. One of the first things I looked for obviously iffy caps, but couldn't see anything.
I'm leaning more and more towards the idea of scrapping the PC, saving what bits I can for spares. I have the rebuilt meltdown machine that I can use for backups etc, although I will have to reorganise how I do them.

[wainuitech]

Basically you eliminate anything that can cause a PC not to boot. Once all eliminated if the motherboard is all that's left then its Blown. It happens