My computer won't turn on or post

[SickBeast]

All of a sudden my computer won't post. I've tried isolating it by removing everything except the cpu, gpu, and a stick of ram but it still will not post.

My specs:

Msi 770-g45
Phenom ii x4 905e
12gb ram
60gb ocz vertex 2
1tb Hitachi hdd
Gtx 460

My thoughts are that it's the motherboard.

If any of you have some ideas on how to revive this computer I would appreciate it very much.

Also, how long does an rma with Msi take?

I tried clearing the cmos and pulling the battery but it didn't help.

 

[Jman13]

Was it overclocked before? Have you cleared the CMOS? Power supply on?

 

[SickBeast]

It was overclocked but nothing drastic. I cleared the cmos. The psu powers on. My psu is an ocz 1000w elitexstream btw.

 

[Jeffg010]

Everyone one of my PCs that ever died was because of the mother board. It sure sounds like it to me what happen to you.

 

[SickBeast]

Thanks guys. That's what I thought as well.

 

[DSF]

Have any friends with test parts? Or maybe a second computer you could at least pull a PSU out of, if not a motherboard?

Have you tried booting it with the basics outside the case on a non-conductive surface? (Unlikely that you developed a short in the case out of nowhere, but it doesn't hurt to run through the list of possible problems before you start mailing stuff in.)

Have you tried shorting the power pins with a screwdriver instead of using the case switch?

 

[SickBeast]

no, I don't have friends with parts I could use other than someone 1 hour away, but even then I don't think he would like me borrowing his psu.

shorting things with a screwdriver makes me nervous.

my motherboard seems to power up ok. all 4 leds come on and the fans spin up. it jyst won't post.

 

[ch33zw1z]

edit: I forgot, minimum config. Unplug anything not needed to POST, disk drives, cdroms, etc..

If you pull the RAM, do you get a POST error? Write down what it is if you do

Then pull the VGA, does the POST error change?

If you don't get a POST error from 1 of these two things, reseat the CPU and heatsink.

Still no POST, pull it all out of the case onto a piece of cardboard and try again. Still no POST? 99% likely mobo...

 

[DSF]

shorting things with a screwdriver makes me nervous.

When you get right down to it, that's all your case switch does - make a momentary contact between the two power switch pins on the motherboard. A small flathead screwdriver will do it for you without a problem.

 

[ch33zw1z]

When you get right down to it, that's all your case switch does - make a momentary contact between the two power switch pins on the motherboard. A small flathead screwdriver will do it for you without a problem.

Yep, I have a test box that is powered up this way. No case switch, just use a small flathead.

 

[mindless1]

Were there ever any beep codes?

Check the battery voltage

Pull the memory, try it w/o to see if you get beeps, and put a different memory module in.

If you have a local mom 'n pop computer shop, you might be able to get an old PCI video card for $5, maybe even a free one fished out of their dumpster, though they're usually analog output. Goodwill is another possible cheap local option.

 

[jpeyton]

Try booting it outside the case. You can short the power pins with a set of jumpers; if you have an old IDE hard drive or optical drive, that should have a set of jumpers you can borrow. If you've developed a short inside your case, this would be the best way to find out.

Make sure the clear CMOS jumper on the motherboard is in the default position.

Since it's an MSI motherboard, check the MOSFETs and capacitors. Overclock.net has a bunch of threads about motherboard power phases and motherboard failures; MSI tops the lists with poor engineering and higher failure rates on their AM3 motherboards:

http://www.overclock.net/t/946407/amd-motherboard-vrm-information-list

It looks like the 770-G45 has a basic 4+1 phase count with no heatsinks (bad) and no VRM protection (bad again). It's not recommended for overclocked CPUs, and is known for high VRM failure rates.

http://www.overclock.net/t/943109/about-vrms-mosfets-motherboard-safety-with-125w-tdp-processors

 

[SickBeast]

thanks for your input everyone. I think my motherboard is dead. I will try your suggestions when I can. hopefully an rma won't take too long.

 

[raf051888]

Do you have a motherboard speaker? If the PC powers on and doesn't post it is possible its the CPU. I would try attaching a motherboard speaker, removing all the RAM to see if it beeps. If it does not then the PC is not passing the CPU check.

 

[VirtualLarry]

MSI boards have weak VRM sections. I woudn't recommend them.

 

[Mackcro]

Hi Sickbeast,

It sounds like the issue may be linked with your power supply or motherboard. On more than one occasion have I come across this issue where the motherboard seems to power on OK, with all LED's etc, but that there was a short within the PSU which lead to it not delivering enough juice to power all components.

Did anything strange occur shortly before this happened? ie. a storm, power outage etc... To try the obvious, maybe plug your workstation into another wall unit/power bar. Power supplies tend to fail more often than the motherboard itself.

 

[Ausm]

It was overclocked but nothing drastic. I cleared the cmos. The psu powers on. My psu is an ocz 1000w elitexstream btw.

Wow huge ass power supply for that rig...but anywho This may sound weird but I have ran into this before, bypass the surge protector and plug the PS directly into the socket and see if you have any juice.

Then try another PS after that:

If that doesn't work then pull the Ram,video card and finally the CPU t see if you at least get a beep code.