Pretty sure my motherboard is dead.....

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Someguy668

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Apr 26, 2014
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CPU: Intel Core i7 4770K @ 3.5GHZ
GPU: MSI Nvidia Geforce GTX 760 Twin Frozr 4GB DDR5 OC'D G-Series Edition
RAM: 8GB Kingston Hyper X Beast @ 2400mhz
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS5X Performa
PSU: Corsair CX750M (Modular)
MOBO: Asus Z87M-PRO
HDD 1: 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
HDD 2: 2 TB Seagate Barracuda
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case
Monitor: ASUS VG248QE 24"

As the title says. I was originally diagnosing a weird humming noise and my PC freezing/showing no display randomly. Monitor and cables all checked and tested fine. No weird temp spikes. Stress tested both CPU and GPU. Both fine and perform as normal. Memtest found nothing at all either.

Figures this was a hardware problem. Took the PC apart whilst taking ALL precautions against static. Put it back together in the case after testing PSU (shorting wire fan test. Works ok). Damn thing doesn't start up now. Checked ALL connections three times. Still no boot. Left it for a few days to settle itself down and sort itself out maybe? Tried booting again. Still nothing. Took apart again and re-assembled. Tried again. Still nothing.

Figured I needed to breadboard this machine. Took it apart for the third time. Only used motherboard, CPU & HSF and MOBO speaker. Tried shorting two power pins on MOBO. No boot or any sound from MOBO speaker. FUUUUUUUUU. Tried a confirmed working PSU. Same result.

Now I should mention green light on motherboard comes on so there is power somewhere. Worked through the checklist on here for this problem. Still nothing. Reset CMOS battery, triple checked connections and suspected faulty PSU. Still nothing :(

Only thing I can think of is a dead Motherboard. No fans spin, no beeps from speaker even when breadboarded. Am I right and has anyone else been through this like I have? Help much appreciated.
 
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That sounds like PSU.


I meant swapping the way the connector was attached to the motherboard.

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thx1138v2

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Jun 18, 2011
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You may be right about the mobo but I would try a couple of more things before replacing it.

I'm not sure bread boarding is a good idea any more. The mobo's usually require their ground connection to the case. I would take the bread boarded set up and mount it in the case ensuring that all mounting standoffs are tight in the case and the screws are tight in the standoffs. This also may have been the cause of the original humming - something loose vibrating. Things expand and contract when heated and cooled repeatedly and screws and/or standoffs could possibly work themselves loose.

Also try both polarities on the speaker. It shouldn't make any difference but it might.

And try another PSU if possible. The Corsair CX series PSU's were flaky at one time. If it's a newer model it might be OK but trying another PSU sure wouldn't hurt anything in a minimal configuration. I'm pretty sure the green light on the mobo just indicates it has some power but I'm not sure that is a valid indication of correct power on all pins.
 
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Someguy668

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Apr 26, 2014
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I will try this in the case to see if it makes a difference. The humming would get louder and quieter all the time whilst using the PC. It was more of a vibrating to be honest. It would go down in volume greatly after taking off the side panels but if you put your hand to the back, you could still feel it going up and down. I felt this was connected to the freezing and no display issues.

What do you mean by “both polarities”? Inserting the speaker the other way around by flipping it over? If so, done this already with no success.

Yes I’ve heard about the infamous problems with the CX series but honestly never had a problem in the 3 years-ish I’ve had it. I’ve already tried another working PSU. It wasn’t a 750W (rated 300W) and just a shitty bog standard Chinese generic one with no brand but it should have powered the motherboard and PSU at the very least. Green light came on MOBO when I tried this shit PSU too but no boot or beeps from speaker.
 
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Someguy668

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Apr 26, 2014
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Well it's been working fine for the past three years with no problems. As I said, I ran Memtest 5 times with no error or fault.
 
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thx1138v2

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Jun 18, 2011
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That sounds like PSU.


I meant swapping the way the connector was attached to the motherboard.


I'm guessing you meant the motherboard and the CPU. That sounds like the motherboard then.

Maybe it's time to replace both of them. The early CX's were so bad they had no protection circuits at all so it's possible the PSU going out damaged the mobo and/or CPU. This may be the first problem you encountered with the PSU but it can also be the last problem you will ever encounter with that PSU. That's the problem with cheap PSU's

Everything in the box depends on clean, stable power so don't cut corners when buying a PSU.
 
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Someguy668

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Apr 26, 2014
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I just remembered this thread and thought I'd update on what's happened since. So I got fed up and took it to a local PC repair guy. He looked it over and told me the motherboard was fine and he had simply reset the bios using a jumper pin. Mine also had one missing so he gave one to me for free.

He said it was most likely the faulty GPU to blame as he had tried it on his test benches and it was dead. An interesting thing about my motherboard is that the PC WILL NOT BOOT UNLESS IT HAS THIS STUPID FUCKING JUMPER PIN ON IT!!! HOW DUMB!!

So in short, motherboard is fine (Phew!), I have a dead GPU, a new Seasonic PSU and a shiny new GTX 1060! Thank you all for your help guys! Appreciated! :D

New specs:


CPU: Intel Core i7 4770K @ 3.5GHZ
GPU: ASUS GTX 1060 Dual 3GB OC
RAM: 8GB Kingston Hyper X Beast @ 2400mhz
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS5X Performa
PSU: Seasonic P660 660W 80+ Platinum
MOBO: Asus Z87M-PRO
HDD 1: 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
HDD 2: 2 TB Seagate Barracuda
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case
Monitor: ASUS VG248QE 24"
 
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