What's the most likely culprit.

Harithak47

Honorable
Apr 24, 2012
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10,510
So i took my rig apart to do some cable management and when I put it back together it is refusing to start.
I am at a loss.

My Specs:
CPU: i5 2500k
GFX: Evga GTX 460 1GB
Mobo: Asus Sabertooth p67 B3 mobo
2X2 Gigs DDR3 ram
320 7200 RPM GB Hard Drive

My mobo led is turning on but nothing else will.
I don't think its the power supply because I plugged in the power supply into another pc (I just plugged in the atx power connector) to simply see if it would start up, and the fan started and lit up no problem.

It's a much, much older PC so the other parts are not compatible for testing purposes.

I'm thinking its either the mobo, or graphics card. I also plugged in the graphics card when I had the power supply plugged into the much older rig, the card wouldn't spin up.

My mobo doesn't have any internal graphics so could a faulty graphics card cause the system to simply not start, or could it still be a power supply issue?

Im confident its not a cpu or ram issue, and the mobo LED is bright green so it is receiving standby power but I guess it could still be a mobo issue.

Also i plugged in a mobo speaker to hear for beep codes, and there are none so im not sure what that means.

I am at a loss, and extremely frustrated any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

suteck

Distinguished
My Specs:
CPU: i5 2500k
GFX: Evga GTX 460 1GB
Mobo: Asus Sabertooth p67 B3 mobo
2X2 Gigs DDR3 ram
320 7200 RPM GB Hard Drive


{I don't think its the power supply because I plugged in the power supply into another pc (I just plugged in the atx power connector) to simply see if it would start up, and the fan started and lit up no problem.
It's a much, much older PC so the other parts are not compatible for testing purposes.}

^ This statement will also include the psu - even though the old board appeared like it powered up the power requirements for even just the mobo alone are completely different. What you did is basically run a jumper wire from the black to green connector and see if the power supply will turn on. No real power delivery, just ON. Not a good psu tester.

{I'm thinking its either the mobo, or graphics card. I also plugged in the graphics card when I had the power supply plugged into the much older rig, the card wouldn't spin up.}

^ The graphics card requires 2-6 pin power connectors AND the pci-e lane to be power up. I'm not surprised it didn't come on.

{My mobo doesn't have any internal graphics so could a faulty graphics card cause the system to simply not start, or could it still be a power supply issue?}

^ I think it's the most likely culprit - especially since you have "bread bearded the rig so I'm fairly certain it's a component issue. Everything is plugged in and ram is seated fine."
Would be great if you have an older card and/or PSU lying around or could borrow a friends to test them? Hoping. Figured you would have already thought of that but I got to throw it out there. Best buy has a good return policy hint hint

Did you pull the ram out when you did the cleaning and cable management? If so did you try switching them into the other slots? Sounds stupid I know but on occasion with some of the older boards - I'm not calling your board old - when I would try different memory to test it and when I put the memory back it it wouldn't boot, until I changed the memory back into it's original position. won't hurt to try.

{Im confident its not a cpu}

^ Did you pull the cpu and/or HSF out of the socket during this operation? If not I can agree with you that it shouldn't be the problem. But if you did I would double check those seatings including the HSF power plug.

{mobo LED is bright green so it is receiving standby power but I guess it could still be a mobo issue.}

^ The little green light is really just telling you that some small amount of power is trickling through the psu - that you already determined.

{Also i plugged in a mobo speaker to hear for beep codes, and there are none so im not sure what that means.}

^ That usually means no cpu found or a missing mobo power connection. I know it's obvious and you mentioned checking them, probably checked them several times - but go ahead and disconnect each one at a time and blow the dust out of both ends and re-insert them.

Anything overclocked? Have you already taken out the cmos battery for a bios reset in case it's that? Make sure no jumpers got changed, moved or left off.