Help! My computer is dead.

DJ_Evergreen

Hi all. I'm having trouble with my main PC. When I try to turn on the power it only turns on for about 5 seconds, and then it shuts off. No screen, no beeps, no nothing.

I've tried everything I can think of to restore it. I took it out of the case. Just PSU, the board, CPU, memory, and video card. Same result. I've even tried no video and taking out the ram/swapping it. Still same thing. Has anyone every heard of this and know what I can do???

The board is an ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe. Not even a year old. It should still be under warranty but before I take it in I want to know if it's something I can fix.

Thanks

Leonardo

Do any LED lights come on, if your motherboard has them? Do fans spin up?

1) This is probably a PSU failing/failed. I noticed you mentioned troubleshooting steps with several components but not the PSU. Do have access to another one to use for a test?

2) Could also be corrupted BIOS settings. Have you reset the BIOS?

Esso

The motherboard should function without the CPU.
In the sense that it will turn on the power supply once the power button is activated, and stay turned on.
It will also turn off the power, if the power button is activated for a longer period.
Press the power button for ~20 sec, and it should turn off.

Note, don't perform this test for more then a minute, because often the PSU doesn't like to work with to little load.

You could also try to disconnect the 110-230 V power cable, for a while, between testing.

Another thing when we are on the subject, when you turn the PSU off, you should wait 1-2 minutes before you turn the system back on.

The reason for this, is that inside the PSU there is a circuit to prevent the rush of power to the system when the power is turned on.
And this little circuit needs time to cool off.

Otherwise the PSU might go bad on you.
What happends is that when the PSU is turned on the outgoing current rush to the motherboard is too much, and the PSU turns off.

But this will also happends if something in the system is bad.


If you don't have access to an multimeter, you should get one.
The don't cost so much and it's an life time investment.
With the multimeter you could check that the PSU power rails are within the specification.

How To Test Your PSU's Voltage Rails With A Multimeter?

DJ_Evergreen

Hi all. Thanks for responding so quick, haven't had a chance to get online and look at your responses.

Well I took it in today and we've determined that the board is shot. We've tried another PSU, RAM, CPU, and it still doesn't help. So I guess I will be RMAing it soon. I will keep everyone posted on how it goes.