- Mar 16, 2009
- 2
- 0
- 18,510
This is a real mystery. I've had this pc in it's current state for over a year.
Intel 1155 core i5 on Asrock z75 pro3
No blue screens no reboots, I kept it powered on 24/7. It's always had this issue where if it powered off it wouldn't want to power back up again:
-Power off
-Press power switch
-Fans spin up briefly (1 second) and then powers off again
-Repeat 10-15 times, finally powers back on again and runs fine
I assumed the power supply was the culprit. I swapped out supplies for a known good but it didn't help the problem.
Later ordered a new power supply: Thermaltake Smart Series 700W (PS-SPD-0700NPCWUS-W), installed and the rig powered up after just a couple of presses as I recall.
Since then it's run fine for over a year, but I've only powered it down a couple of times, I've got it hooked up to an old but still working APC battery backup. Still even with the new oversize psu it had the same behavior of needing many power on presses to come up.
Finally the other day I forget and decide to shut down the computer trying to fix a homegroup situation... Mind you this pc has been through multiple reboots just fine, it's the shutdowns that cause the problem. After about 100+ tries with the power button I realize it's not coming back to life this time.
Tried all the normal troubleshooting measures: swapping ram, reseating ram, power connections, removing all other devices drawing power, removing every other thing connected to the motherboard except the power and memory, no dice.
Tried pulling the motherboard all the way out of the case - nope.
Tried using another known good power supply on motherboard, also out of case - nope.
Tried using the paperclip trick on the power supply and it comes on and stays on, and powers cdrom and hard drives.
So at that point I decided the motherboard was dead and power supply ok. Then I remember i have an old 1155 asus ( ASUS P8H61) in the closet and install the cpu in that one. Outside the case I connected up the power supply to the new motherboard and it powered on fine and stayed on. Happily I installed the working motherboard back into the case and plugged everything back in. Powered it on and it was booting up for about 12 seconds, then I heard a loud pop and saw a plume of smoke rising from the case. I couldn't find any obvious scorched areas on the motherboard at first but then noticed a bit of char on one of those little 3 prong rectangle components, ic voltage regulator?
So is my case killing these motherboards? It's a nice Fractal R5. I did find a post from someone who said a faulty fan controller in their Fractal case was frying stuff repeatedly. I don't have a fan controller in my simple case but I was using the fan header wired directly from psu to case fan.
As far as I can tell the standoffs are mounted correctly. I see no point where the case might be contacting the bottom of the board where it shouldn't be.
One last thing I noticed, when removing the old board, was that there was oxidation buildup where the motherboard screws contact the motherboard ground points. Crusty stuff like what you see spilling out of old batteries sometimes. Does this mean there is some current traveling around where it's not supposed to inside the case? I'm also wondering if there is something wrong with the house wiring. It is connect to an apc backup/surge but perhaps that's still not 'clean' enough?
I found a 50 dollar P8H61 1155 motherboard on ebay but I'd rather not sacrifice it to a beautiful yet cursed case if that is indeed the case.
Intel 1155 core i5 on Asrock z75 pro3
No blue screens no reboots, I kept it powered on 24/7. It's always had this issue where if it powered off it wouldn't want to power back up again:
-Power off
-Press power switch
-Fans spin up briefly (1 second) and then powers off again
-Repeat 10-15 times, finally powers back on again and runs fine
I assumed the power supply was the culprit. I swapped out supplies for a known good but it didn't help the problem.
Later ordered a new power supply: Thermaltake Smart Series 700W (PS-SPD-0700NPCWUS-W), installed and the rig powered up after just a couple of presses as I recall.
Since then it's run fine for over a year, but I've only powered it down a couple of times, I've got it hooked up to an old but still working APC battery backup. Still even with the new oversize psu it had the same behavior of needing many power on presses to come up.
Finally the other day I forget and decide to shut down the computer trying to fix a homegroup situation... Mind you this pc has been through multiple reboots just fine, it's the shutdowns that cause the problem. After about 100+ tries with the power button I realize it's not coming back to life this time.
Tried all the normal troubleshooting measures: swapping ram, reseating ram, power connections, removing all other devices drawing power, removing every other thing connected to the motherboard except the power and memory, no dice.
Tried pulling the motherboard all the way out of the case - nope.
Tried using another known good power supply on motherboard, also out of case - nope.
Tried using the paperclip trick on the power supply and it comes on and stays on, and powers cdrom and hard drives.
So at that point I decided the motherboard was dead and power supply ok. Then I remember i have an old 1155 asus ( ASUS P8H61) in the closet and install the cpu in that one. Outside the case I connected up the power supply to the new motherboard and it powered on fine and stayed on. Happily I installed the working motherboard back into the case and plugged everything back in. Powered it on and it was booting up for about 12 seconds, then I heard a loud pop and saw a plume of smoke rising from the case. I couldn't find any obvious scorched areas on the motherboard at first but then noticed a bit of char on one of those little 3 prong rectangle components, ic voltage regulator?
So is my case killing these motherboards? It's a nice Fractal R5. I did find a post from someone who said a faulty fan controller in their Fractal case was frying stuff repeatedly. I don't have a fan controller in my simple case but I was using the fan header wired directly from psu to case fan.
As far as I can tell the standoffs are mounted correctly. I see no point where the case might be contacting the bottom of the board where it shouldn't be.
One last thing I noticed, when removing the old board, was that there was oxidation buildup where the motherboard screws contact the motherboard ground points. Crusty stuff like what you see spilling out of old batteries sometimes. Does this mean there is some current traveling around where it's not supposed to inside the case? I'm also wondering if there is something wrong with the house wiring. It is connect to an apc backup/surge but perhaps that's still not 'clean' enough?
I found a 50 dollar P8H61 1155 motherboard on ebay but I'd rather not sacrifice it to a beautiful yet cursed case if that is indeed the case.
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