MB? CPU? Power Supply?

[Matt L]

Got a Soyo SY-K7VME MB that has been working fine for a couple of years. The other day turned the system on and - nothing.

I pulled everything and still no power. I even tried a different PS and still nothing, so I think I ruled out the ps. One thing I have found is that the rest of the system will power up, case fan, DVD, HDs, lights, IF I unplug the 4 pin 12v cpu power supply. Of course the system wont boot and no cpu fan, but everything else.

So, any insight as to what to check, or replace? Bad MB or CPU?

 

[Yellowbeard]

Absolute sudden death like that, if it is not the PSU, I would suspect the MOBO. Do you have a friend or a local puter shop that could post the memory and CPU for you?

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

Could be a thousand things...as you probably already know...

What i would do is this.

1) take apart the system, remove the motherboard from the case, remove the PSU etc.
2) set the motherboard on something, non-conducting and try to boot the system...
a) you should get some beeps indicating no ram, no vid etc.
b) add in ram and repeat
c) add in video and hook up the monitor...repeat.
3) at this point you should be getting power to the MB and beeps and your CPU Fan should be running.
a) if you don't get beeps and the fan doesn't come on in any of the tests, you either have a bad PSU or Mobo. since you tested a diffent PSU, it's likely MB failure.
4) If you get sound and fans, but it still doesn't boot, you could have a RAM failure...but you should get a series of beeps indicating no ram...I would play with the ram, shift slots take one out...that kind of thing just to make sure that it's not RAM.
5) If you get through all of this and with the vid card in it boots, put the rest of your cards in and test some more.
NOTE: I have had several instances where a short in the MB led to boot issues. In those cases I could boot out of the box, but when everything is in place it wouldn't boot.

After all of this you might be able to establish if your PSU, or mobo is the culprit. I would guess that it's your Mobo...that's been my experience.