PC dead. any ideas?

slip · 02-02-2017, 12:10 PM

My PC just died. For a while it wouldn't start until you pushed the button on several times. Then it would start up whenever it felt like it
Need it for photoshop editing
Now completely dead.
Just replaced the power supply unit and still the same. Nothing runs, not even the motherboard green button.
Tried to bypass the case switch which didn't solve it.
I have been working on computers since '90's and this is the first one that stumps me

Any ideas?

**W.j.christy** · 02-02-2017, 12:21 PM - **1 Like**

I had the same issue some years back, I had to fix it with a freshly built new PC...

What are the specs on the PC (MOBO, ram, processor etc...)

Few things to try though no guarantees,

1. unseat and re-seat the CPU (you will probably need thermal grease to go between the fan and cpu as you have to remove the fan to do this)
2. Unseat and re-seat your ram
3. Verify that the new power supply is good by unplugging it from the mobo and peripherals and jumping the power wire as shown here

You Tube

(though unlikely you may have received a DOA new power supply)
4. remove all PCI cards or agp cards and try and start without them. If it does start, add them back one at a time until the issue occurs a again.

**marcusBMG** · 02-02-2017, 12:50 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by W.j.christy

2. Unseat and re-seat your ram

Take out each RAM stick one at a time and see if that makes a difference to booting. Complete boot failure usually caused by cpu fault/RAM fault/mobo fault/power fault. You can be a bit stymied if you don't have eg another cpu to try to see if that's the problem.
Overheating cpu? symptoms of that are typically that it start booting and then it stops as the thermostatic trip fires.

**W.j.christy** · 02-02-2017, 01:14 PM

Originally posted by marcusBMG

Take out each RAM stick one at a time and see if that makes a difference to booting. Complete boot failure usually caused by cpu fault/RAM fault/mobo fault/power fault. You can be a bit stymied if you don't have eg another cpu to try to see if that's the problem.
Overheating cpu? symptoms of that are typically that it start booting and then it stops as the thermostatic trip fires.

what he said^^^^

Charles1 · 02-02-2017, 01:16 PM

Staples has several Dell model laptops with Intel i5 processors. This will give you the capability to use many photography applications.
Be sure to get a model with 8GB of memory to insure proper operation of more demanding applications. I would suggest buying a laptop with a solid state drive (SSD). This will be a smaller capacity (128 GB or so), and purchase an external hard drive for backup (3 to 5 TB). The SSD drives are much more reliable and you will have ample storage externally.

Good luck,

Charles1:

a5m · 02-02-2017, 01:16 PM

My initial thought was that the motherboard may be dead because you said nothing runs. If it was a dead CPU then the case fans and power supply fan would still turn on and you'd get a beep(s) from the motherboard.

If you didn't change anything, and now all of a sudden it died and won't do anything my guess would be dead motherboard. I doubt it'd be any of the other components like CPU, memory or PSU.

photolady95 · 02-02-2017, 01:17 PM

Also, check mobo for blown caps.

**interested_observer** · 02-02-2017, 02:06 PM

I'm going to go for something simple - the front power button. I had an old dell (7 years) that the power supply went out on a couple of times. This last time it was the power button, but I was just so fed up with it that I decided to build a new one altogether (first time in 20 years for a build from scratch).

aremmes · 02-02-2017, 02:15 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by interested_observer

I'm going to go for something simple - the front power button.

He bypassed it already, still didn't work.

I second the dead motherboard prognosis, particularly the blown capacitor suggestion. It probably killed a voltage regulator. Time for an upgrade!

slip · 02-02-2017, 02:30 PM

Originally posted by Charles1

Staples has several Dell model laptops with Intel i5 processors. This will give you the capability to use many photography applications.
Be sure to get a model with 8GB of memory to insure proper operation of more demanding applications. I would suggest buying a laptop with a solid state drive (SSD). This will be a smaller capacity (128 GB or so), and purchase an external hard drive for backup (3 to 5 TB). The SSD drives are much more reliable and you will have ample storage externally.

Good luck,

Charles1:

The issue that I have is I already have 32GB of ram, 3 ssd hard drives and 2 7200 rpm hard drives. Not to mention a good graphics card
It is an Intel socket 1155 which only has 1 board to choose... I would have to drop 2 memory slots if I went that route.
Very hard to start over with this much in it so far

**cpk** · 02-02-2017, 02:32 PM

Check the hard drive. My SSD died a year ago, but I initially thought it was the mother board. I tripped over the fact that it was the SSD, replaced it with a loose hard drive I had, restored from a backup, and have been running since then with no problems.

Added: I just saw your last post. Check your boot SSD.

slip · 02-02-2017, 02:34 PM

Originally posted by cpk

Check the hard drive. My SSD died a year ago, but I initially thought it was the mother board. I tripped over the fact that it was the SSD, replaced it with a loose hard drive I had, restored from a backup, and have been running since then with no problems.

Did it have signs of life? I don't get a LED light on the MB

**marcusBMG** · 02-02-2017, 02:46 PM

Originally posted by slip

I don't get a LED light on the MB

Mmmm check your cabling. Looks bad!

Alternative to going through the ringmaroleof setting up a new PC would be to pick up identical mobo off eg ebay. Even if its a slightly different v. its likely to plug and play.

**Scorpio71GR** · 02-02-2017, 02:52 PM

There are few options. One thing you can try is to take the CMOS battery out and leave it for 24 hours and see if it will start when you put it back in. One really rare thing is if the CMOS battery is totally dead the motherboard may not start up at all. I've seen this ony a few times. One other to try is to see if you have a CMOS jumper to reset the BIOS. Usually you a 4 pin CMOS jumper where you move the jumper to 3 of the 4 pins to reset the CMOS. In my opinion either your BIOS is corrupt, you have a bad memory module, or your motherboard is totally dead. Motherboard failure is normally preceded by numerous annoyances and rarely just outright fail unless they received a major shock. This is my experience in almost 40 years of building computers.

**cpk** · 02-02-2017, 03:16 PM

Originally posted by slip

Did it have signs of life? I don't get a LED light on the MB

I can't remember. I literally tripped over the problem with the SSD after discussing motherboard replacement with a couple of shops and played around with the computer. I have may have gone into the BIOS and discovered the problem there. The SSD was totally dead.

---------- Post added 2017-02-02 at 05:34 PM ----------

Try switching another drive in as your boot drive and see if your system attempts to boot from it. You should at least get an error message if it's a drive issue.

02-02-2017, 12:10 PM	#1
slip Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: 2 hours north of toronto ontario canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,535	PC dead. any ideas? My PC just died. For a while it wouldn't start until you pushed the button on several times. Then it would start up whenever it felt like it Need it for photoshop editing Now completely dead. Just replaced the power supply unit and still the same. Nothing runs, not even the motherboard green button. Tried to bypass the case switch which didn't solve it. I have been working on computers since '90's and this is the first one that stumps me Any ideas?

02-02-2017, 01:16 PM	#5
Charles1 Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts Photos: Gallery Posts: 28	New Pc Staples has several Dell model laptops with Intel i5 processors. This will give you the capability to use many photography applications. Be sure to get a model with 8GB of memory to insure proper operation of more demanding applications. I would suggest buying a laptop with a solid state drive (SSD). This will be a smaller capacity (128 GB or so), and purchase an external hard drive for backup (3 to 5 TB). The SSD drives are much more reliable and you will have ample storage externally. Good luck, Charles1:

02-02-2017, 03:16 PM	#15
cpk Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Montreal Posts: 638	Originally posted by slip Did it have signs of life? I don't get a LED light on the MB I can't remember. I literally tripped over the problem with the SSD after discussing motherboard replacement with a couple of shops and played around with the computer. I have may have gone into the BIOS and discovered the problem there. The SSD was totally dead. ---------- Post added 2017-02-02 at 05:34 PM ---------- Try switching another drive in as your boot drive and see if your system attempts to boot from it. You should at least get an error message if it's a drive issue. Last edited by cpk; 02-02-2017 at 03:35 PM.

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02-02-2017, 12:50 PM - 1 Like	#3
marcusBMG Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: North Wales Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,868	Originally posted by W.j.christy 2. Unseat and re-seat your ram Take out each RAM stick one at a time and see if that makes a difference to booting. Complete boot failure usually caused by cpu fault/RAM fault/mobo fault/power fault. You can be a bit stymied if you don't have eg another cpu to try to see if that's the problem. Overheating cpu? symptoms of that are typically that it start booting and then it stops as the thermostatic trip fires.

02-02-2017, 01:14 PM	#4
W.j.christy Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2015 Location: Texas Photos: Albums Posts: 558	Originally posted by marcusBMG Take out each RAM stick one at a time and see if that makes a difference to booting. Complete boot failure usually caused by cpu fault/RAM fault/mobo fault/power fault. You can be a bit stymied if you don't have eg another cpu to try to see if that's the problem. Overheating cpu? symptoms of that are typically that it start booting and then it stops as the thermostatic trip fires. what he said^^^^

02-02-2017, 01:16 PM	#6
a5m Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 576	My initial thought was that the motherboard may be dead because you said nothing runs. If it was a dead CPU then the case fans and power supply fan would still turn on and you'd get a beep(s) from the motherboard. If you didn't change anything, and now all of a sudden it died and won't do anything my guess would be dead motherboard. I doubt it'd be any of the other components like CPU, memory or PSU.

02-02-2017, 01:17 PM	#7
photolady95 Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Cruising the forum watching his back Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,712	Also, check mobo for blown caps.

02-02-2017, 02:06 PM	#8
interested_observer Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Tumbleweed, Arizona Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,707	I'm going to go for something simple - the front power button. I had an old dell (7 years) that the power supply went out on a couple of times. This last time it was the power button, but I was just so fed up with it that I decided to build a new one altogether (first time in 20 years for a build from scratch).

02-02-2017, 02:15 PM - 1 Like	#9
aremmes Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Philadelphia Photos: Albums Posts: 217	Originally posted by interested_observer I'm going to go for something simple - the front power button. He bypassed it already, still didn't work. I second the dead motherboard prognosis, particularly the blown capacitor suggestion. It probably killed a voltage regulator. Time for an upgrade!

02-02-2017, 02:30 PM	#10
slip Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: 2 hours north of toronto ontario canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,535 Original Poster	Originally posted by Charles1 Staples has several Dell model laptops with Intel i5 processors. This will give you the capability to use many photography applications. Be sure to get a model with 8GB of memory to insure proper operation of more demanding applications. I would suggest buying a laptop with a solid state drive (SSD). This will be a smaller capacity (128 GB or so), and purchase an external hard drive for backup (3 to 5 TB). The SSD drives are much more reliable and you will have ample storage externally. Good luck, Charles1: The issue that I have is I already have 32GB of ram, 3 ssd hard drives and 2 7200 rpm hard drives. Not to mention a good graphics card It is an Intel socket 1155 which only has 1 board to choose... I would have to drop 2 memory slots if I went that route. Very hard to start over with this much in it so far

02-02-2017, 02:32 PM	#11
cpk Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Montreal Posts: 638	Check the hard drive. My SSD died a year ago, but I initially thought it was the mother board. I tripped over the fact that it was the SSD, replaced it with a loose hard drive I had, restored from a backup, and have been running since then with no problems. Added: I just saw your last post. Check your boot SSD.

02-02-2017, 02:34 PM	#12
slip Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: 2 hours north of toronto ontario canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,535 Original Poster	Originally posted by cpk Check the hard drive. My SSD died a year ago, but I initially thought it was the mother board. I tripped over the fact that it was the SSD, replaced it with a loose hard drive I had, restored from a backup, and have been running since then with no problems. Did it have signs of life? I don't get a LED light on the MB

02-02-2017, 02:46 PM	#13
marcusBMG Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: North Wales Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,868	Originally posted by slip I don't get a LED light on the MB Mmmm check your cabling. Looks bad! Alternative to going through the ringmaroleof setting up a new PC would be to pick up identical mobo off eg ebay. Even if its a slightly different v. its likely to plug and play.

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02-02-2017, 02:52 PM	#14
Scorpio71GR Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Michigan Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,005	There are few options. One thing you can try is to take the CMOS battery out and leave it for 24 hours and see if it will start when you put it back in. One really rare thing is if the CMOS battery is totally dead the motherboard may not start up at all. I've seen this ony a few times. One other to try is to see if you have a CMOS jumper to reset the BIOS. Usually you a 4 pin CMOS jumper where you move the jumper to 3 of the 4 pins to reset the CMOS. In my opinion either your BIOS is corrupt, you have a bad memory module, or your motherboard is totally dead. Motherboard failure is normally preceded by numerous annoyances and rarely just outright fail unless they received a major shock. This is my experience in almost 40 years of building computers.