PC just shut down, won't turn back on

Joey Sun

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May 8, 2013
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As title. My PC generally runs pretty cool, so I have no idea why it would decide to die on me.

May have accidentally left it running the whole night, so possibly PSU? But the motherboard still has a green light on.

Nothing else seems to be wrong -- I have a surge protected power strip heading into my computer.

Was in the middle of playing a game of Planetary Annihilation when it died.

Previous issues: Sometimes when I woke the computer up from sleep, the monitor wouldn't turn on.

Update 1: Tested my RAM. Doesn't seem to be it, the computer still doesn't respond.

Update 2: Unsure whether or not it may be CPU failure. The computer will not turn on, period. Processor failure seems to be more along the lines of the computer turning on but not booting up. Likewise for a BIOS failure. Never touched the BIOS, plus immediate opening of the case on shutdown proved the BIOS was at ambient.

Update 3: Tried the "connect pin 16 to 17" thing. Got the fan spinning. Starting to think at least one thing's fried in the motherboard at a crucial spot.

Specs:

AMD FX 4350
ASUS M5A97 R2.0
NVidia GTX 1060
AMD Radeon HD 7850
16 GB RAM (PNY)
XFX XTR 550 PSU
 
Solution


Haha. Yeah, a dying mobo seems to respond to a reset of CMOS. It did for me, at least. But eventually, it will just stop working. So look into getting a new mobo. :)

maz89

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Dec 26, 2010
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When something similar to this happened to me, it was my motherboard.

Remove the CMOS battery for a few seconds, put it back in and turn on your rig. See if that makes a difference.

Remove graphics card and connect your monitor to your integrated graphics to see if it POSTS. (Or try whichever graphics card you weren't using when your computer died, seeing that you have two.)

Run your rig on a spare power supply just to rule this out.
 
Since it supports flashback get the latest bios

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/HelpDesk_Download/

Extract it rename the file as M5A97R20.CAP and save it to a USB portable device’s root directory.

Press the BIOS Flashback button for three seconds until a flashing light appears, which
indicates that the BIOS Flashback function is enabled.

Wait until the light goes out, indicating that the BIOS updating process is complete
 

Joey Sun

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May 8, 2013
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Maz, you wizard, technogenius, glorious bastard.

It was the CMOS.

Edit: Not fully the CMOS, it seems. It starts sometimes now when I do that, just not all the time. It seems to be a good tourniquet of a fix, but I'm looking at just buying a new motherboard (and doing a minor upgrade with it.)
 

maz89

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Dec 26, 2010
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18,960


Haha. Yeah, a dying mobo seems to respond to a reset of CMOS. It did for me, at least. But eventually, it will just stop working. So look into getting a new mobo. :)
 
Solution