Strange powering on failure EDIT: It's not my power supply!

[i_hate_flying]

Hello,

I built this current computer in January and it was acting fine until today when I smelt something burning. I shut it off immediately and inspected everything. After taking the cooling fan off, I noticed that a large dust bunny had gotten caught in the thermal paste between the processor and the heat sink. The HSF was screwed tightly to the mobo so the dust couldn't get very far, but it still scared the hell out of me and discoloured the white thermal paste at the perimeter.

Anyway, I cleaned it and put everything back together and now I have a strange problem. When I power on the computer, it stays on for about 1-3 seconds before it immediately powers off. Sometimes it powers off after half a second. I'm not sure what I did wrong, I didn't even disconnect the PSU when I inspected the computer. Perhaps I screwed the HSF back on too tightly?? I really don't know how to approach this problem. Can anyone please help me?

EDIT: This problem occurred a couple times before, but it resolved on its own.

 

[i_hate_flying]

I've looked at all the wires and the mobo and I can't see anything other than a little burnt dust that became a dark colour. The PSU looks fine and the fan on it spins up (like the other four fans) until the power immediately cuts out.

I had this problem a couple of times before, and it resolved on its own. It never persisted for more than a few tries either.

EDIT: I just tried it again after playing with the wires and this time it was on for about four or five seconds.

 

[i_hate_flying]

Now the blasted was working for about five minutes before I heard a strange sound. It was a bit like a fan, but distinct. That went on for about 8 seconds before I started hearing a clicking noise. When the clicking noise started, a slight smell of burning plastic began. What now??

 

[i_hate_flying]

Seriously? I know you're the one with the most experience in these matters around here, but I really would have thought it'd be a problem with the mobo.

Could dust be (or have been) the problem for the PSU? I live in a very dusty place right now, moving in about 8 weeks...

I'm trying to read the manual for my OCZ GXS700, but it's written in very poor english. Don't know if these things come with warranties?

EDIT: Now the thing will run for around 20-30 seconds, but then will shut off. No strange sounds or smells.

 

[ethel]

It could be a wire getting caught in one of your fans?

 

[valis]

most likely that piece of dust had nothing to do with it. you've probably got blow caps on the motherboard or in the cpu itself. you've fried a component somewhere, now yhou just have to troubleshoot where.

 

[valis]

Seriously? I know you're the one with the most experience in these matters around here, but I really would have thought it'd be a problem with the mobo.

Could dust be (or have been) the problem for the PSU? I live in a very dusty place right now, moving in about 8 weeks...

I'm trying to read the manual for my OCZ GXS700, but it's written in very poor english. Don't know if these things come with warranties?

EDIT: Now the thing will run for around 20-30 seconds, but then will shut off. No strange sounds or smells.

hey i know, how about INSTEAD of taking our advice you just sit there and keep trying to turn it on and turn it on again when it goes and keep doing that over and over again until you set your house on fire and then you'll have other things to worry about?

why do they even ask questions in here... jesus...

Valis

 

[i_hate_flying]

The mobo boots up to the point where I get FF on the LED, then windows starts loading, and the thing shuts off at pretty much the same point. Either right before I get the Windows loading screen or during.

I'm beginning to feel like building my own was a bad idea and I don't want to feel like that.

 

[valis]

The mobo boots up to the point where I get FF on the LED, then windows starts loading, and the thing shuts off at pretty much the same point. Either right before I get the Windows loading screen or during.

I'm beginning to feel like building my own was a bad idea and I don't want to feel like that.

it's BROKEN. STOP IT.

start swapping out components, change power supplies, see if that works, run your power supply on another motherboard, OPEN the thing up look for popped caps, see where any strange smells are coming from, ISOLATE the problem, sitting there and powering it off and on isn't going to get you anything but more burned plastic.

 

[i_hate_flying]

hey i know, how about INSTEAD of taking our advice you just sit there and keep trying to turn it on and turn it on again when it goes and keep doing that over and over again until you set your house on fire and then you'll have other things to worry about?

why do they even ask questions in here... jesus...

Valis

No need to get bent out of shape or feel obliged to give me a piece of your mind, Valis. If I didn't want help, I wouldn't ask. And if I didn't want the thing to work again, I wouldn't be fiddling around with wires etc and turning it on again.

I beginning to lean towards thinking it's a PSU problem as mpilchfamily said.

 

[i_hate_flying]

it's BROKEN. STOP IT.

start swapping out components, change power supplies, see if that works, run your power supply on another motherboard, OPEN the thing up look for popped caps, see where any strange smells are coming from, ISOLATE the problem, sitting there and powering it off and on isn't going to get you anything but more burned plastic.

As I said before, there is not burnt plastic anywhere to be found. It is open sitting on my desk and I'm having a look at it right now. I have no other parts to test on it or to swap out, no PSU, no mobo, just a laptop.

 

[valis]

it's BROKEN. STOP IT.

start swapping out components, change power supplies, see if that works, run your power supply on another motherboard, OPEN the thing up look for popped caps, see where any strange smells are coming from, ISOLATE the problem, sitting there and powering it off and on isn't going to get you anything but more burned plastic.

As I said before, there is not burnt plastic anywhere to be found. It is open sitting on my desk and I'm having a look at it right now. I have no other parts to test on it or to swap out, no PSU, no mobo, just a laptop.

if you're UNSURE that it's the psu, you can run to the store and get a relatively cheap one and try that out, that'd definately be easier than trying a whole new motherboard, but get down there and look over the mobo CAREFULLY with a flashlight, make sure nothing looks odd. also, be sure to look inside all the connectors and pins, make sure none of the pins are blackened.

Valis

 

[i_hate_flying]

mpilchfamily, I'm not sure I'm doing this right. I only have one paperclip so I cut it in half and put one half into the green wire and the other half into one of the black wires on the 24 pin connector. Nothing happens when I turn on the power. Should I put one end of the paperclip into the green wire and the other end into a black so that it's a continuous circuit??

 

[Grimmy]

This should help on turn on the PSU (note 24/20 pin):

Tutorials | Turn on PSU without motherboard - the 'paperclip trick'

 

[i_hate_flying]

Hi Grimmy, what a freaking disaster of a week this has been for my computer. My computer was barely running for 24 hours after I put in the new bios chip. It was running really well, too. What a damn shame. I will check that tutorial out now. You don't think that this problem and my bios problem could have anything to do with each other, do you? I would really be surprised, it must just be a terrible coincidence.

 

[i_hate_flying]

I have the power supply running two hard drives, a DVD writer, three fans, and a fluorescent light with no problems. Oh, and I almost didn't notice but I also have PWR3, the auxiliary power for graphics still connected. It's been running for several minutes with no problems. So I'm assuming this is a mobo problem now? I will connect the other mobo power connectors one at a time to see where the problem lies...

Comments?

 

[Grimmy]

It's really hard to say if it is your PSU vs installing the bios chip.

Usually when a PSU blows, it will leave a distinct smell of perhaps ozone. You should be able to smell it even with the PSU off.

The other thing, with the paper clip trick, you can also test the 12v rail with a multimeter to be sure its at 11.8-12.02 volts.

Pretty hard to TS a system without extra parts. The MB may have experience a power spike or surge that may have done something you can't tell. Basically its discribed as an upset chipset since it didn't totally fail.

Seems you have allot of testing to figure out what the cause is.

 

[i_hate_flying]

If I leave the main connector unplugged and plug everything else in except the little 4-pin connector that says 24 on it (that plugs in right next to the large connector), the PSU will never shut off. If I then plug in the 4-pin 24 connector, but not the large main connector, the computer makes such a terrible noise that I have to shut it off for fear of my safety.

If I then plug in the large main connector, the computer will shut off about when Windows is loading. If I leave everything connected except the 12V rails that say CPU 1 and CPU 2 on them, the power supply will stay on.

I'm not really sure what this means, but I'm assuming that something dreadful happened to the mobo (which was the burning smell) and now there's a short circuit somewhere that will not allow me to use my computer.

Any ideas?

 

[lance525]

I don't disagree with any of the diagnoses here, I would suggest you also take a close look at all the capacitors as well. They can fail, especially if anything else experienced a short or overheat. The top of the capacitor may look like it exploded.

I had a similar situation with the booting and then sudden shutdown. Someone here at Tom's suggested checking capacitors as they apparently store power to help boot up. But I'm not an electrician....

 

[valis]

Hi Grimmy, what a freaking disaster of a week this has been for my computer. My computer was barely running for 24 hours after I put in the new bios chip. It was running really well, too. What a damn shame. I will check that tutorial out now. You don't think that this problem and my bios problem could have anything to do with each other, do you? I would really be surprised, it must just be a terrible coincidence.

NEW BIOS CHIP?!?

that wasn't in your original post. what would possess you to do that? no wait... nm...

 

[i_hate_flying]

Yeah, I'm not an electrician either and, although I've taken a few courses in university-level physics a long time ago, I don't know how to check capacitors.

Valis, what would a new bios chip have to do with it? I flashed my bios more than a week ago and it went wrong. Computer was completely dead. LED on mobo read -- and that's it. Order two new bios chips, one with evga's latest bios, P27, for the 680i, and another with the P24 bios that I was trying to flash from. Everything worked fine, better than before, for 24 hours until today when I started smelling the burning and the computer shut off exactly when I reached to do it. Tell me how this could possibly have contributed to my current problem?

I find that if I ask questions and include too much information, no one wants to help me. So this time I kept it short and I've actually gotten responses.

EDIT: I was not even OCing since the new bios, everything was default.

 

[i_hate_flying]

I wonder, could it possibly be that the CPU is getting overheated? The thermal paste covering the CPU and the bottom of the HSF is getting a bit dry and thin now that I've removed the HSF and resinstalled it several times now. It's such a pain that I'm leaving the HSF off completely when I'm testing it now. Without it, could the CPU actually overheat in a matter of 30 seconds?

I don't have any more thermal paste to apply to try out, unfortunately. I can try to order some more, but it might take a week to get it here. It's a thought. I seem to have a lot of bad luck with these things.

I know Valis thinks I'm an idiot, but I really want my computer to work again. I _really_ don't have the time to spend fixing it.

 

[evongugg]

I had a motherboard go out on me and it had a distinct smel of plastic or something...
I think you should try replacing the motherboard.
Let us know if it work or not.

 

[Grimmy]

I wonder, could it possibly be that the CPU is getting overheated? The thermal paste covering the CPU and the bottom of the HSF is getting a bit dry and thin now that I've removed the HSF and resinstalled it several times now. It's such a pain that I'm leaving the HSF off completely when I'm testing it now. Without it, could the CPU actually overheat in a matter of 30 seconds?

I don't have any more thermal paste to apply to try out, unfortunately. I can try to order some more, but it might take a week to get it here. It's a thought. I seem to have a lot of bad luck with these things.

I know Valis thinks I'm an idiot, but I really want my computer to work again. I _really_ don't have the time to spend fixing it.

8O

Yes, you don't turn on the PC without the HSF!!

It will reach high temps easy without it. You should redo the thermal paste, install the HSF.

 

[realibrad]

yes, if you dont have the heatsf, its like running an engine with out oil. it will run for a little bit. also if you dont have anymore paste, then the hsf is pretty much usless. the paste trans. the heat from the cpu to the hs. its very possible that you have ruined the cpu for good. get some paste and try it. good luck.