Muck

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2007
21
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18,510
I'm posting in this in the MB section because I believe that's what my problem is, but really not sure. Sorry for the long explanation, but I want to explain everything that happened in case this clues anyone in to what may have happened and what may be the faulty hardware.

I was closing World of Warcraft and the game appeared to freeze. Instead of closing the program, it just froze and wouldn't allow me to alt tab, alt control delete, or do anything else to close the program. This has happened before and I've usually just held the power button down to shut it off, then rebooted. This has also happened where it would just take quite a while for it to close and if I left it, it would close on it's own (like a few minutes). I was going to bed anyway, so I just decided to try to let it try to close on it's own and shut off the monitor.

When I came back to the computer the next day, I turned the monitor on and it was on the same frozen game screen. So at that point, I held the power button down to shut it off. Then I tried to turn it back on, and it won't do it. No power, no fans, no lights.

My first reaction was that the switch was acting up. I have had issues where it would take a few presses to turn on before, so I just kept trying it. Since then, I have done the following to try to eliminate possibilities:

Switched power cord with monitor, monitor powers on fine so it's not that.

Unplugged the PSU and started it with a paper clip. It powers on and the fan goes on as normal when I did this.

Removed the video card and tried to power up.

Tried to bypass the power switch by jumping the MB with a screwdriver.

Inspected the MB for leaking capacitors. Saw nothing.

Checked for shorts between MB and case and did find a screw in the case. Took that out, didn't help.

Tried 2 different harddrives.

Removed the battery on the MB for 30 minutes.


I don't have a second computer or parts to swap in, so I think I've done all I could do in trying to find the culprit here.


So, since the PSU did run when I used the paperclip, and it didn't turn on when I tried bypassing the power switch on the case.. my best guess would be the MB? Am I right for thinking that? I hate to just start replacing parts wildly hoping to guess right here.

Thanks for any help on this!
 

Muck

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Mar 29, 2007
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18,510
Well, the PSU is older and probably under what is needed for the rig, so I'm replacing that anyway. Hopefully that is it.

I don't have MB speakers, and I did not hear any sound. Nothing happens when I hit the power button. No beeps, no half second of power, absolutely nothing.
 

starams5

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Jan 4, 2009
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19,010
If you don't have a motherboard speaker you won't hear any beeps. In your case it could be either, PSU or motherboard. Hopefully the new PSU will solve your problem, if not you know where to look next. Good luck!