- Mar 30, 2014
- 9
- 0
- 4,520
Hey there!
So I have this problem with my desktop pc losing power most of the times when I come in contact with my motherboard's I/O connectors on the rear of my computer. When I say "most of the times" I mean 9 out of 10 times it will cause a power loss, but that one random time it will work fine.
It usually happens when I plug in/unplug a USB device of any type, although it's not limited to USB devices only - happened also when I unplugged my ethernet cable, plugged in speakers, etc. It can even occur when I just touch something back there for example just touching USB port with just the very surface of my thumb drive before i actually push it into the port. Even when I pull my keyboard or mouse on the desk a bit closer to myself (carefully of course
) the resulting minimal movement of the wires is enough to cause power loss/reset.
The power loss can be instantaneous (computer restarts momentarily) or it can be longer (computer stays off). The latter case is actually a bit more complicated - often times when I plug in a device that causes an outage (for example, a USB mouse), the power seems to be lost for good, the power LEDs on my graphics card are out (I don't have any on my motherboard). Thing is, I noticed that when that is the case the computer actually tries to re-supply the power after some time interval, but always fails. I noticed that because my USB powered speakers made small static noise once every 5 seconds similar to what you hear when you have your speaker volume up and then plug them into the wall. Sometimes a very dim and short flash of the GPU power LEDs accompanied the noise. Ultimately 5 seconds after I remove whatever device caused it, the power comes back on and I'm good to turn my computer back on.
I haven't had any BSODs, the front panel is working well (4 USBs, audio & mic), the computer is still really not that old (~1.5 to 2 years). Is it reasonable to suspect there might be some shorts in the case or somewhere on the motherboard? Other people have suggested that it might be a damaged motherboard circuit trace or there is a nearby power connector that has a loose socket for the electrical pin or maybe motherboard shield grounding tabs are touching a motherboard circuit.
So after a period of unsuccessful inspections I set it up so that I don't have to touch anything back there. It's been about a year since then and I haven't encountered any issues at all. But now I want to clean my pc up and install some minor upgrades. I figured it's as good as time as any to try and solve this issue once and for all.
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
The parts in question are:
Asrock Z87 EXTREME3 motherboard
Corsair RM 850W 80+ gold power supply
Fractal Design Define R4 case
Also just in case the rest of the parts are:
Intel i5-4670K processor, 1x ASUS R9 290 graphics, 1x standard SSD, 1x standard HDD, 2x 4GB AData 1.5V RAM sticks
So I have this problem with my desktop pc losing power most of the times when I come in contact with my motherboard's I/O connectors on the rear of my computer. When I say "most of the times" I mean 9 out of 10 times it will cause a power loss, but that one random time it will work fine.
It usually happens when I plug in/unplug a USB device of any type, although it's not limited to USB devices only - happened also when I unplugged my ethernet cable, plugged in speakers, etc. It can even occur when I just touch something back there for example just touching USB port with just the very surface of my thumb drive before i actually push it into the port. Even when I pull my keyboard or mouse on the desk a bit closer to myself (carefully of course
) the resulting minimal movement of the wires is enough to cause power loss/reset. The power loss can be instantaneous (computer restarts momentarily) or it can be longer (computer stays off). The latter case is actually a bit more complicated - often times when I plug in a device that causes an outage (for example, a USB mouse), the power seems to be lost for good, the power LEDs on my graphics card are out (I don't have any on my motherboard). Thing is, I noticed that when that is the case the computer actually tries to re-supply the power after some time interval, but always fails. I noticed that because my USB powered speakers made small static noise once every 5 seconds similar to what you hear when you have your speaker volume up and then plug them into the wall. Sometimes a very dim and short flash of the GPU power LEDs accompanied the noise. Ultimately 5 seconds after I remove whatever device caused it, the power comes back on and I'm good to turn my computer back on.
I haven't had any BSODs, the front panel is working well (4 USBs, audio & mic), the computer is still really not that old (~1.5 to 2 years). Is it reasonable to suspect there might be some shorts in the case or somewhere on the motherboard? Other people have suggested that it might be a damaged motherboard circuit trace or there is a nearby power connector that has a loose socket for the electrical pin or maybe motherboard shield grounding tabs are touching a motherboard circuit.
So after a period of unsuccessful inspections I set it up so that I don't have to touch anything back there. It's been about a year since then and I haven't encountered any issues at all. But now I want to clean my pc up and install some minor upgrades. I figured it's as good as time as any to try and solve this issue once and for all.
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
The parts in question are:
Asrock Z87 EXTREME3 motherboard
Corsair RM 850W 80+ gold power supply
Fractal Design Define R4 case
Also just in case the rest of the parts are:
Intel i5-4670K processor, 1x ASUS R9 290 graphics, 1x standard SSD, 1x standard HDD, 2x 4GB AData 1.5V RAM sticks
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