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If so, help me stop tearing my hair out.

My desktop was working fine up until two days ago. It restarted during a Windows update, as Windows updates are wont to make you do, but it never came back on. Hitting the power button resulted in the fans starting to spin and the LEDs coming on,, but only for half a second or so.

So, I did some research. The internet tells me this is usually a PSU problem. Made sense to me, my PSU was ancient and didn't get upgraded when I rebuilt the system. So I toddled on off and picked up a new PSU. Unfortunately, same problem with the new PSU.

So, next step was the motherboard. I happened to have a spare mobo, but after getting that all installed and set up, same problem.

It's not the RAM, as that works in my girlfriend's computer without issue.

Short of rebuilding the entire damn thing, I don't know what else to try.

you unplug all the drives and see if it can get into BIOS?

Boot from install disc and try system repair, or restore to before update

Grundz wrote:you unplug all the drives and see if it can get into BIOS?

I've unplugged everything but the CPU at this point.

loki old fart wrote:Boot from install disc and try system repair, or restore to before update

Can't do that if it won't even post, unfortunately.

I see the problem:



















































It's not a mac.

Sounds like you did everything right so far. If it's not posting at all, the windows update was probably just a coincidence.

You say you've removed everything...

1. You have at least 1 stick of ram in.
2. You've tried it with different ram, 1 stick, then the other, etc with everything else still disconnected?

You didn't accidentally disconnect the video card power or anything, right?

 Rented Tritium wrote:
Sounds like you did everything right so far. If it's not posting at all, the windows update was probably just a coincidence.

You say you've removed everything...

Everything.

1. You have at least 1 stick of ram in.
2. You've tried it with different ram, 1 stick, then the other, etc with everything else still disconnected?

Tried it with one stick of my original RAM, then tried it with a stick borrowed from the other PC in the house that's known good. Tried it in all available slots on both boards. Nothing.

You didn't accidentally disconnect the video card power or anything, right?

Nah, I've been trying to boot without the GPU installed for the past half hour, still nothing.

Man, that does not bode well for your motherboard.

 Rented Tritium wrote:
Man, that does not bode well for your motherboard.

Well, I've tried two different motherboards. I'm thinking it doesn't bode well for the CPU.

Pretty much it. If your GPU's working, your Motherboard's working, your RAM's working...

Luckily, you could probably pick up a new processor on the cheap to see if that's the problem.

What processor is it?

i5 3570K.

Time for an upgrade, then.

I5 should still be perfectly viable...unless busted of course. Try reseating it first...that'll mean replacing he thermal paste between it and the heat sink too. I've seen similar problems where the last set of paste simply glopped away over time and doing this fixed it.

So, CPU is the obvious guy here. The only other thing I could think of is a spacer on the case behind the motherboard grounding out against the board, causing it to not start. That's unlikely though, as you had this problem before you started getting into the case.

The odd thing here is that, generally, in my experience, if it's a cpu/mobo issue, fans will keep spinning and the power remains constant. It doesn't usually just turn off or anything weird like that..

You... you haven't tested your power switch, have you?

 rubiksnoob wrote:
I see the problem: It's not a mac.

Do you know what Apple's solution to all hardware problems is? If it's under warranty, mail the damned thing in and wait a week for a replacement (oh, yea, you've lost all your data btw) and if not, suck it and buy a new computer.

Have you checked the power supply? If it's dying it can cause the computer to shut off.

 LordofHats wrote:
Have you checked the power supply? If it's dying it can cause the computer to shut off.

I've tried two different power supplies.

I love 40k tech support.

 daedalus wrote:
I love 40k tech support.

he technically hasnt tried praying and rubbing sacred oil on it..... call your local admech representative

I've had issues like this multiple times and it's always been the motherboard. If that's not these, I'd tend to agree with the others; there's probably something wrong with your CPU. The question is, what would cause spontaneous CPU failure? It seems like you'd have noticed if something hit your desktop hard enough to knock the processor loose.

But if you've swapped motherboards, that means you've already had a chance to remove and reseat the processor, so that couldn't be it.... and since you've essentially rebuilt the system, I suppose we can rule out anything being improperly installed/attached. CPU could be burnt out. Have you tried unplugging the hard drive and trying to get into the BIOS like Grunz suggested? What happened?

 Owain wrote:
I've had issues like this multiple times and it's always been the motherboard. If that's not these, I'd tend to agree with the others; there's probably something wrong with your CPU. The question is, what would cause spontaneous CPU failure? It seems like you'd have noticed if something hit your desktop hard enough to knock the processor loose.

But if you've swapped motherboards, that means you've already had a chance to remove and reseat the processor, so that couldn't be it.... and since you've essentially rebuilt the system, I suppose we can rule out anything being improperly installed/attached. CPU could be burnt out. Have you tried unplugging the hard drive and trying to get into the BIOS like Grunz suggested? What happened?

Yeah, I've tried booting with nothing but the mobo, CPU, and a stick of RAM. Same thing happens as all the other configurations. This is true for both mobo's I've tried it with, and both PSUs, and all RAM.

Oh, that's not good... you've done everything right, but I don't know what else could be wrong with it. Omnissiah preserve you.

 Somedude593 wrote:

 daedalus wrote:
I love 40k tech support.

he technically hasnt tried praying and rubbing sacred oil on it..... call your local admech representative

Don't forget the scented candles!

Also going to say the obvious here, cause well it'll usually get overlooked anyway, but when you tried the PSUs have you tried different cables and different outlets or just the same cable and outlet? Worth a shot if you haven't and rather painless compared to the rest. Cause if it's not posting properly and it's shutting off, it sounds like a power issue. If it's not the PSU perhaps somewhere it isn't getting enough power or something. Cause at the very least it should be doing the beep code to give you a rough idea and you've even tried a different mother board.

For those keeping score at home, it was the CPU. Or, perhaps more accurately, a hellish combination of CPU and motherboard. The new CPU will work in the new motherboard; the old CPU will not work in the new motherboard, and the new CPU will not work in the old motherboard.

I am now in the delightful process of reinstalling Windows on one drive, and hoping like hell I won't have to do anything special to make it see the other two drives where everything but the system was kept.

 Seaward wrote:
For those keeping score at home, it was the CPU. Or, perhaps more accurately, a hellish combination of CPU and motherboard. The new CPU will work in the new motherboard; the old CPU will not work in the new motherboard, and the new CPU will not work in the old motherboard.

I am now in the delightful process of reinstalling Windows on one drive, and hoping like hell I won't have to do anything special to make it see the other two drives where everything but the system was kept.

It's not unusual that one component going bad takes out another. They are all interconnected. I've seen old eMachines back when I did computer repair 7 years ago that would have the PSU go out and take out the motherboard with them. Damnest thing, if it was going to happen, it did it at about the one year to year and a half ownership mark, almost as if designed. It happened with such frequency that I could call it before they told me what was wrong, simply by seeing the brand of the PC.

If they were standard partitions with nothing additional (like the Windows encryption or TrueCrypt) you'll probably be fine. Worst case, you'll need to assign them drive letters in the Disk Management utility.

 Seaward wrote:
For those keeping score at home, it was the CPU. Or, perhaps more accurately, a hellish combination of CPU and motherboard. The new CPU will work in the new motherboard; the old CPU will not work in the new motherboard, and the new CPU will not work in the old motherboard.

I am now in the delightful process of reinstalling Windows on one drive, and hoping like hell I won't have to do anything special to make it see the other two drives where everything but the system was kept.

Could be worse. I once had a malfunctioning PSU, and it wiped out the entire setup.