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So I am troubleshooting my lightning damaged PC

I

Ime

Diamond Member
When I turn on the PC, the fans turn on for 1-3 seconds, then stop. No lights, no beeps.

CPU/Mobo is i5-3570k CPU/ASRock Z77 Pro3

I have done the following:
-Clear CMOS with jumper
-remove/replace CMOS battery
-disconnect all drives and remove all cards (onboard video was enabled and in use when the lighting struck)
-reseat CPU and CPU fan/heatsink
-swapped power supply with known good one
-tried booting up with only 1 stick of RAM (tested with each stick of ram)

Every test results in the same thing, fans spin up for 1-3 seconds and then stop. No lights, no beeps.

So, what do you guys think? Am I looking at a fried CPU, motherboard, or both?
 
denis280 said:
The board for sure.for the rest it could, but very rare.
Click to expand...

So in your opinion the CPU is undamaged? Because right now I'm debating between buying a new LGA 1155 mobo and hoping the CPU is still working, and just getting a new cpu/mobo combo from Newegg.
 
It would be extremely rare to have a bad cpu, even after a surge. A new motherboard should solve your problem.
 
Ime said:
When I turn on the PC, the fans turn on for 1-3 seconds, then stop. No lights, no beeps.

CPU/Mobo is i5-3570k CPU/ASRock Z77 Pro3

I have done the following:
-Clear CMOS with jumper
-remove/replace CMOS battery
-disconnect all drives and remove all cards (onboard video was enabled and in use when the lighting struck)
-reseat CPU and CPU fan/heatsink
-swapped power supply with known good one
-tried booting up with only 1 stick of RAM (tested with each stick of ram)

Every test results in the same thing, fans spin up for 1-3 seconds and then stop. No lights, no beeps.

So, what do you guys think? Am I looking at a fried CPU, motherboard, or both?
Click to expand...

Lighting will hit the PSU first if it is a good unit it will not zap the board, try removing the battery over night.
Try swapping out the PSU, if no go then mainboard......
 
My first thought would have been to agree with PhIlLy ChEeSe - check the PSU first.

Then I saw the other thread, where you say you already tried another PSU.

The motherboard's most likely gone at this point.
 
Last edited:
Just wanted to post a follow-up. Turns out the only damage to the PC is the motherboard (which I replaced), and the Power LED light flickers and dies as the PC warms up.

Front panel USB 3.0 ports run just fine. Power and Reset buttons work just fine. Don't have a SSD/HDD to test the HDD activity light, yet.

All-in-all not bad. Since I built a new PC anyway this will now be a spare. It's still a decent PC all things considered (i5-3570k, GTX 670, 16GB RAM). Maybe I'll make a server out of it or something.

Thanks for the troubleshooting tips!
 
Last edited:
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