Pc is dead. Boots for a second and then shuts down

Joost

Built my pc about 4 months ago. Though the psu is like 2 years old

Asus maximus Vii hero
Intel 4790k
Corsair vengeance 1600 2x8 + 2x4
Gtx 970
Antec cp 850 psu

It was all running fine until this morning. Randomly rebooted and showed an error upon booting about a power surge. Then I managed to log in and use it for about 20 minutes before it shut down and since then it powers up for a second and then shuts down. After that it won't turn on again until I reset the psu power switch or press the clear cmos button.

Right now I've got it plugged straight into the wall socket with 1 stick of ram and no gpu but it's still not working. If anyone has any ideas that would be much appreciated. :poly122:

throttlekitty

The obvious one would be to replace the PSU (or borrow one from a friend for testing). Do you get any beeps, or it just quietly shuts off? Do you smell anything inside the PSU?

Testing in another electric socket can be helpful just to be sure. Might want to try removing the video card and booting as a quick test; or even removing anything that you don't need to boot with.

wirrexx

take out all recent USB port you've used and boot it!

ghaztehschmexeh

Does the psu stay running if you turn it on without being connected to anything? (you can achieve this with a paperclip, google it)

Joost

Thanks for the advice guys,

I've taken out all the non essentials, aside from taking the motherboard out of the case.
I did smell a very vague burnt plastic smell at the time but I might have imagined it.

I'll try a different socket.

I got a PSU Tester from a friend, so I'm hoping that it's just the PSU that's broken and not my new expensive motherboard and/or cpu/ram :poly122::'(

Mark Dygert

"Uncle Owen, I think this power supply has a bad capacitor? Look!"

Bad caps are pretty common. They're cheap and weak and often they fail and you don't know it. They are often the little cylinder tower parts you see sticking up off the surface. there are usually quite a few of them and if one fails that componant might can keep going putting more strain on the others but then they fail or overload tripping a sensor and the whole thing shuts down to preserve what you have. Prior to load sensors you typically had a fire and lost your house, heh.


Bad caps can be hard to track down without a multimeter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimeter

But sometimes you can't tell without testing them. Other times they burst and it's pretty clear.


Since power supplies get pretty hot and heat is usually what causes capacitors to weaken and fail, I would start there, crack it open and see if you see any busted caps. That doesn't mean they are fine, but the damage may be internal.

Caps are pretty easy to fix and they're cheap but you do need to have some idea of what you're doing. Still if you're interested in playing doctor, it's best to practice on the dead, heh.

Some people are plug-n-play people and would rather cough up a huge chunk of dough to replace an entire component instead of fix the one inexpensive piece that failed. To each their own but I've repaired caps for pennies and salvaged expensive monitors, mainboards and power supplies.

It's like changing the oil filter in your car, it's probably scary and complex the first time you do it but if you do it on your own you save a ton of money and find out it's not that difficult and it opens the door for more independence. They want you to be scared to crack the case so you buy an whole new PC, or a whole new PSU.

Anyway, I bet that smell was a cap (or two) that blew and now there is too much power flowing through the others. Check for any visible signs of cap leakage, it might help you narrow down the bad component. Good luck!

Count Vertsalot

That can be really dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.

Joost

Yeah I wouldn't really feel comfortable opening up a PSU. I tested it last night with a psu tester and it's definitely dead.

I've ordered this one, which I think is a pretty good choice? [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FG9FWF8/ref=gno_cart_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE"]Corsair CP-9020054-UK RM Series RM650 80 Plus Gold 650W ATX/EPS Fully Modular Power Supply Unit: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories[/ame] hopefully that will fix it.

Do you guys think it's worth getting a UPS as well? Not really worried about losing work but it might be safer for my pc?
Right now I've got a European power strip (with surge protection) connected to my UK wall socket through an adapter. Not sure if that's very safe. Might just buy some new power cables to switch everything over.

edit: Just got some surge protectors and UK power cables. Don't think I need a UPS.

Joost

So I got my new psu but I've run into a bit of a problem. I can't connect the 24 pin cable fully. I spent about 4 hours trying to get it to fit. I can't see any bent pins on the mobo and I managed to connect the psu to an old motherboard. What should I do? Return the psu and get a different one? Or keep trying?

Ashaman73

This is your motherboard (or atleast similar to yours ) ?

On the right side is the 24-pin conector for the psu ? Why can't you connect it ?

Although check the layout of the pins (square and rounded holes), if you have a cable which could be take apart (20+4?), check if you have connected them in the right order.

Here are the connectors.

The one on the left side, you can see that it are two connectors 4+20 which are plugged together

Joost

I've got the right connector, it just won't go in all the way. I've got it all running right now but the clip on the 24 pin hasn't latched on. It's pretty hard to get it out again so I don't think it would ever fall out. I think I'm just going to leave it like this.

throttlekitty

I'd almost think you have it in backwards, but that would be a feat. I've only ever had it happen with old IDE power connectors, but the pins inside can be crooked or loose, making them difficult to properly socket.

EarthQuake

A UPS/battery backup is definitely worth it. Not only to protect again power surges, but to protect against data loss, the biggest cause being sudden power failures. You can set up a UPS to safely power down your system if you lose power to your house for instance.

axxic3

I would check the pins again just to make sure none are bent. I would get a small backup they are awesome and not always expensive like apc. Cyberpower has a Model # SE425G I've been using for years and every time the power goes out (4 times since I've had it) it's there long enough to save everything and properly power down.

Joost

Thanks guys, I'll look into getting a UPS. I think it's just a faulty connector on the cable. It's definitely in the correct orientation as there's only a 1mm gap and my pc is running fine now. Can't see any bent pins either. I contacted corsair and they're sending a replacement cable so hopefully that will work.