Please help me diagnose/fix my brother's PC

ldelporte

Distinguished
Mar 31, 2009
5
0
18,510
Well, my brother called me the other morning and told me his PC isn't working. The scenario went like this...

He usually leaves his computer on when he goes to bed and lets it go to sleep automatically. When he woke up the next morning, it seemed that his computer didn't go to sleep in the way it normally does.

It was completely quiet, but the lights on his ram (he has ram with lights) were blinking in unison. Normally, if the PC is experiencing a lot of RAM use, those lights flash in random changing patterns (seemingly according to what work the RAM is doing).

Also, the CPU fan was spinning.

He does know that when he moved the mouse, his PC wouldn't turn on. He knows his monitor is fine.

This is His Motherboard.
This is His RAM.
This is His CPU.
This is His PSU.
This is His GPU.

The power switch wouldn't make the PC do anything. It wouldn't cause the lights on the RAM to turn off or anything.

From here, I told him to try forcing it all the way off by unplugging the power supply and plugging it back in and seeing if that fixed it. It didn't.

Then I told him to remove the CMOS battery from his motherboard and replace it after a while (he waited 15 minutes). That didn't work.

However, now that he's done that, the RAM lights don't turn on and the CPU fan remains idle now. The only thing that happens now is that his case power light turns on for just a second. Beyond that, absolutely nothing.

What are some steps he could take to diagnose or fix his problem?

I suggested removing the GPU and seeing if it boots.
I also suggested using one stick of RAM at a time.

Anyways, if you have any ideas of what he can do, I'd appreciate the input. Thanks.
 

SuperDuper931

Distinguished
Apr 2, 2011
47
0
18,540
Try moving the RAM modules to different slots one at a time. I had burnt out a RAM slot on my old Motherboard which had caused my motherboard to blink a green light and refuse to boot. If that doesn't work, try new RAM.

Regardless, it is more than likely that your brothers motherboard died seeing as the power lights turn which almost entirely rules out the PSU. When did he purchase it? RMA it if you can.

The PSU could still be the problem. If it is going out, it might not be supplying enough power to the motherboard. Try removing all unnecessary internal components and booting. Another thing, this may not work at all, but try unplugging all external components and report back what it does when you try and boot the PC like that.