Shorted Motherboard - No boot

[deadjon]

Evening folks,

I know exactly why my PC wouldnt boot - I shorted the mobo with a loose screw that was running around in the case.

Now then, there appears to be no damage to the mobo, and it was only a minor short - but its still doing the same bloody thing

Press power button - lights blink and fans go for half a second and then clicks off.

Surely ive not fried the mobo with a loose screw...

Any suggestions?

 

[GhislainG]

There's no such thing as a minor short; a short can cause damage, even if you can't visually identify it. If your system was running fine before, then something (not necessarily the motherboard) has been damaged. You could remove all components that aren't absolutely required and hope that it powers up. If that doesn't help, you could test the motherboard outside of the case. If it still doesn't work, then get a replacement motherboard.

 

[deadjon]

I just installed this mobo today...frustrating cause I've build numerous PCs and this has never happened.

I'm guessing that loose screw has cost me £150 then. Gutted

 

[GhislainG]

At £150 I presume that it's brand new and under warranty.

 

[deadjon]

Seeing as I couldn't really bench test it, I had an ingenious plan.

I stuck the antistatic bag on the mobo tray and made sure it covered the entirity of the mobo seating area.

I chucked the mobo onto the bag and connected the 24 pin and the 8 pin connectors up.

It booted which means there's still something on the case that is shorting out the Mobo

 

[deadjon]

Fixed it - it would appear I was plugging the USB header into the Firewire header...

TROLOLOLOLOLOL

 

[GhislainG]

You're lucky you didn't plug anything in the USB port as something would have been damaged. All manuals include a warning about the IEEE 1394 connector.