I assembled a new PC for myself not that long ago (roughly 6 months) and all was running fine until last night. As I was sitting at my PC I had a look a something on my phone for a few minutes tops, when I looked back up to use my PC it had frozen. I hit the reset button and didn't think too much of it; I carried on just using the internet and went into my living room to watch a bit of TV. When I came back, my PC was frozen again. I came to the conclusion that it must have been something I installed recently, which lead me to believe Games for Windows Live was the issue, as that's the only thing I'd recently installed (apart from Dead Rising 2, but I assumed GFWL had some service running in the background hanging my PC).
One thing to note above, I was not doing anything intensive on my computer at all. So I don't believe the issues I describe later on to be temperature related.
Anyway, I booted it up again a while later and started playing Dead Rising 2. All was fine for an hour or so perhaps, and yet again the screen froze. It probably stuck for about 5 seconds before hearing a click and my computer turning itself off completely. Initially, I couldn't turn it back on, however after a couple of minutes it began working again. As it booted I decided I'd go in BIOS and see if I could see any temperature readings that could be part of the issue (even though the components would have had a few minutes to cool by then). Before I got the chance to figure out where the menu option for this was in my BIOS, yet again my PC turned itself off with a click sound. Since then, I haven't been able to turn it on at all. Pressing the power button does nothing: no fans, no POST or whatever; absolutely zilch.
I initially assumed by PSU had just died for whatever reason, however if I remove the 24 pin motherboard connector and do the paperclip test, my PSU's fan starts (although it does look a little slow; I'm not certain how fast it's meant to spin), and the fans on my case start up, as well as the LED's.
I've since tried all sorts: different power cables, different wall sockets etc. and I'm quite convinced it's not the PSU. I've tried reseating my RAM, trying each stick individually, even trying it with no sticks so I'm guessing it's not RAM either. I've unplugged my SSD and blu-ray drive - still nothing. I don't have a spare graphics card to test out, but I've tried running it without one for the hell of it and still nothing. I wouldn't have thought any of these things would prevent a power on anyway; the least I would expect it would turn on but not do anything, but I gave them a shot at least.
I guess really this leaves me with two options: it's either my motherboard or CPU. I've had a fairly detailed look at my motherboard and I can't see any obvious problems such as it being shorted to the underside of the case or anything. My CPU was overclocked from 2.6 (?) GHz to 4.2, but I had very good cooling for it and it rarely ever went anywhere near 40 degrees, even under load, so I don't think I've overheated it and knackered it (even then, surely the safety would kick in and turn it off before it fried?).
So really I'm inclined to think it's my motherboard, however when the PSU's connected the manufacturer's logo still lights up, and so do the overclocking buttons on, so it's obviously taking in power (removing the 24 pin connector causes the lights to turn off after a few seconds).
I'm thoroughly confused, and the only way I think I can sort this without any help is to shed out money on the components I think might be dead!
Could anyone voice their thoughts on what the problem part is, or perhaps suggest further tests for me to conduct to pinpoint the exact problem?
I appreciate your help
One thing to note above, I was not doing anything intensive on my computer at all. So I don't believe the issues I describe later on to be temperature related.
Anyway, I booted it up again a while later and started playing Dead Rising 2. All was fine for an hour or so perhaps, and yet again the screen froze. It probably stuck for about 5 seconds before hearing a click and my computer turning itself off completely. Initially, I couldn't turn it back on, however after a couple of minutes it began working again. As it booted I decided I'd go in BIOS and see if I could see any temperature readings that could be part of the issue (even though the components would have had a few minutes to cool by then). Before I got the chance to figure out where the menu option for this was in my BIOS, yet again my PC turned itself off with a click sound. Since then, I haven't been able to turn it on at all. Pressing the power button does nothing: no fans, no POST or whatever; absolutely zilch.
I initially assumed by PSU had just died for whatever reason, however if I remove the 24 pin motherboard connector and do the paperclip test, my PSU's fan starts (although it does look a little slow; I'm not certain how fast it's meant to spin), and the fans on my case start up, as well as the LED's.
I've since tried all sorts: different power cables, different wall sockets etc. and I'm quite convinced it's not the PSU. I've tried reseating my RAM, trying each stick individually, even trying it with no sticks so I'm guessing it's not RAM either. I've unplugged my SSD and blu-ray drive - still nothing. I don't have a spare graphics card to test out, but I've tried running it without one for the hell of it and still nothing. I wouldn't have thought any of these things would prevent a power on anyway; the least I would expect it would turn on but not do anything, but I gave them a shot at least.
I guess really this leaves me with two options: it's either my motherboard or CPU. I've had a fairly detailed look at my motherboard and I can't see any obvious problems such as it being shorted to the underside of the case or anything. My CPU was overclocked from 2.6 (?) GHz to 4.2, but I had very good cooling for it and it rarely ever went anywhere near 40 degrees, even under load, so I don't think I've overheated it and knackered it (even then, surely the safety would kick in and turn it off before it fried?).
So really I'm inclined to think it's my motherboard, however when the PSU's connected the manufacturer's logo still lights up, and so do the overclocking buttons on, so it's obviously taking in power (removing the 24 pin connector causes the lights to turn off after a few seconds).
I'm thoroughly confused, and the only way I think I can sort this without any help is to shed out money on the components I think might be dead!
Could anyone voice their thoughts on what the problem part is, or perhaps suggest further tests for me to conduct to pinpoint the exact problem?
I appreciate your help