Is my PSU dead?

[Ravenas]

Ok I was messing around with my PC today and now when everything is plugged back up perfectly it won't turn back on. I've tried different graphics card. Taking ram out ect ect...

What's unusal is when I press the power button I get a surge of power (led lights turn on, fans kick in, ect) however it instantly turns off after a second or less. Just a surge of power...

It's an Antec PSU as well..

Any thoughts?

 

[Reefer86]

it may well be a short, so your psu is turning off to protect itself, you got your board on risers etc

 

[Ravenas]

it may well be a short, so your psu is turning off to protect itself, you got your board on risers etc

Yea it has worked perfectly as long as I've owned it. My mobo is sitting on risers.

 

[AphexDreamer]

Sounds like a bad PSU IMO but short sounds plausible as well.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Messing around; as in? What were the changes you have done?

To agree with Aphexdreamer, attempt a bare boot outside of the case just to test.

 

[Ravenas]

Hmm... Well I have the PCI-8 connector that connects to 2 prongs (calling them prongs for lack of a better word... they are the connectors you plug your case fans into). Anyhow, one of the wires came loose. I noticed this when I was plugging things back in. At that point I touched the metal of that prong. The power was actually plugged in at that point . However, I'm still kinda wondering if it's that wire that's shorting or if it's the PSU...

 

[Ravenas]

Even after removing that wire from the PSU, it still does the same thing...

 

[Ravenas]

Ok here's the deal... I plugged another power supply up to it and the computer wouldn't even boot.

So...I plugged my regular power supply back up... I had two cards instearted into my PCIx16 slots. I only gave both power and there was no SLI bridge connected. The computer booted up, but no screen came up. Additionally, the processor fan wasn't running. Furthermore, when I looked at the two cards, they had red lights on each of them (I assumed this was because the SLI bridge wasn't connected)....

 

[Lazzer408]

Plug in just the motherboard with ALL devices removed (including add-on cards) and does it power up? Leave the cpu and ram installed ofcorse.

 

[JrRacinFan]

My take is that was a short and had taken the motherboard. Remove the battery and disconnect psu from the board. Let it sit for about 24 hours time.

 

[Ravenas]

Plug in just the motherboard with ALL devices removed (including add-on cards) and does it power up? Leave the cpu and ram installed ofcorse.

No boot. The computer won't even boot anymore.

 

[Nailezs]

motherbaord then dude. really the only other thing that would cause no boot like you are describing is a bad PSU or similiar PSU issue, and since u have swapped out the PSU with the same result, only thing left is the MB being dead as a door nail.
haha, nail...nailezs..sorry thought that was funny..

 

[Ravenas]

My take is that was a short and had taken the motherboard. Remove the battery and disconnect psu from the board. Let it sit for about 24 hours time.

I'll try that. I think it's about time for a damn upgrade anyway. Those new DX11 ATI cards look tasty. NOM NOM NOM.

 

[Lazzer408]

Lets define some things.

Boot = Opperating system loads with success.
Post = Power on self test. The first thing you see on the screen after you turn on the PC. Generally displays detected components like cpu, ram, hdds, optical drives, ect, or a company logo.
Power = When pressing the power button, the fans spin-up and lights come on.

Are you say you have no power? Or do you have power and no post/video? Or is the OS not loading?

motherbaord then dude. really the only other thing that would cause no boot like you are describing is a bad PSU or similiar PSU issue, and since u have swapped out the PSU with the same result, only thing left is the MB being dead as a door nail.
haha, nail...nailezs..sorry thought that was funny..

Incorrect. A defective CPU can cause a no-power, no-post situation.

 

[Ravenas]

motherbaord then dude. really the only other thing that would cause no boot like you are describing is a bad PSU or similiar PSU issue, and since u have swapped out the PSU with the same result, only thing left is the MB being dead as a door nail.
haha, nail...nailezs..sorry thought that was funny..

Seems like it... PSU or the MOBO.

 

[Nailezs]

Lets define some things.

Boot = Opperating system loads with success.
Post = Power on self test. The first thing you see on the screen after you turn on the PC. Generally displays detected components like cpu, ram, hdds, optical drives, ect, or a company logo.
Power = When pressing the power button, the fans spin-up and lights come on.

Are you say you have no power? Or do you have power and no post/video? Or is the OS not loading?

ok, we were using the wrong nomenclature on the "boot" as it should have been "post"...but by context, we knew what he meant i think.

but just to clarify...raven your computer will not POST is that correct?

 

[Nailezs]

Incorrect. A defective CPU can cause a no-power, no-post situation.

ah, thank you for the correction. much appreciated (i learned something )

 

[twicksisted]

I think your motherboard is toast... hapened to me two weeks ago same thing, same symptoms.

Anyways what i did was check the power supply first by jumpstarting it to see if it runs... unplug it from everything in the pc (except mains power of course)... then on the 24 pin connector lead you need to short the following pins to jumpstart it and see if it runs normally without shutting down (green with any black):

you need to use a paperclip or other metal object to short the green wire with any of the black wires.... this will turn the psu on... it after doing that it also only go's on for a second and then off, its busted... if not its more than likely your motherboard /cpu im afriad (i doubt its the cpu or power supply personally with those symptoms)

above is an idea of how to bend a paperclip of other metal object to go in the plastic casing where the 2 wires you want to short are

 

[Lazzer408]

Ok here's the deal... I plugged another power supply up to it and the computer wouldn't even boot.

So...I plugged my regular power supply back up... I had two cards instearted into my PCIx16 slots. I only gave both power and there was no SLI bridge connected. The computer booted up, but no screen came up. Additionally, the processor fan wasn't running. Furthermore, when I looked at the two cards, they had red lights on each of them (I assumed this was because the SLI bridge wasn't connected)....

This post indicated the board did signal the psu to turn-on so at least some functions of the motherboard are working. Further steps need to be taken. Like getting power back to the videocard or using a known good videocard (or even a pci video card) to see if he has system post.

 

[Lazzer408]

Some power supplies can be damaged turning them on, twicksisted suggestion, if there is no load on it. At least connect an old hard drive.

He was already able to power-up the supply using the motherboard.

Geeze, where did you guys learn your diagnostic steps?

 

[twicksisted]

Some power supplies can be damaged turning them on, twicksisted suggested, if there is no load on it. At least connect an old hard drive.

good point... unplug the 8pin and 24pin connectors from the mobo and do as above, this will keep a load on the psu from all other components but just take the mothwerboard out of the equation... if it runs fuine its proof the mobo is borked

 

[twicksisted]

Geeze, where did you guys learn your diagnostic steps?

lol youre gonna eat your words soon mate
I had this exact issue like 2 weeks ago and my mobo was fried

It turns on for a split second, fans ecerything, then dies...

 

[Nailezs]

Some power supplies can be damaged turning them on, twicksisted suggestion, if there is no load on it. At least connect an old hard drive.

He was already able to power-up the supply using the motherboard.

Geeze, where did you guys learn your diagnostic steps?

myeh...Nailezs learned by doing stuff hisself, screwing it up, and starting over lol

 

[Lazzer408]

good point... unplug the 8pin and 24pin connectors from the mobo and do as above, this will keep a load on the psu from all other components but just take the mothwerboard out of the equation... if it runs fuine its proof the mobo is borked

He stated in post #8 that it powered up off his old supply but he had no post/video. Note his gfx cards were not plugged in at the time.

Here's some causes:

No power: (check in this order)
-short circuit (psu in protection)
-overload (psu in protection)
-incorrectly inserted connector causing the short (psu in protection)
-defective psu
-defective cpu
-defective motherboard

No post/video: (check in this order)
-defective memory (try known good ram)
-defective peripheral (remove all peripherals and try onboard or known good video card)
-defective cpu (try known good cpu)
-defective psu (poor regulation or missing voltage rail)
-defective motherboard

Take steps in any order you want but at least try and eliminate the causes one at a time.

 

[Lazzer408]

lol youre gonna eat your words soon mate
I had this exact issue like 2 weeks ago and my mobo was fried

It turns on for a split second, fans ecerything, then dies...

Perhapse you are right. But taking unprofessional pot shots at problems isn't proper diagnostics. You could be right most of the time but with proper diagnostics you'll be right every time.