Computer Start = Null

September 5, 2012 4:59:39 PM

Here's a list of scenarios where my computer won't start. My initial reaction is either the power supply or the motherboard.
My motherboard is an MSI 870-G45.
• Everything plugged in as normal (initial run).
1. Press power button.
2. Fans and lights come on - no BIOS, no video output.
3. This has happened before so I just reseated my video card and gave it another go.
4. Press power button.
5. Nothing happens at all.

• Remove video card.
1. Power
2. Nothing

• Remove processor and video
1. Power
2. Nothing

• Remove all components besides motherboard, PSU, and fans
1. Power
2. Nothing

• Keep same setup
1. Manually jump mobo (motherboard) by shorting two power pins.
2. Fans and LED's turn on.

• Add in video card and CPU and RAM
1. Jump mobo
2. Fans and LED's turn on
3. No BIOS beeps
4. Nothing Happens

• Remove only RAM from previous setup
1. Jump mobo
2. 3 long BIOS beeps (code indicates missing RAM).

I am at a loss on this one. RAM is fine. Motherboard seems to be working (since it does give a BIOS code correctly). I thought that maybe it was just the power button for my case, but even manually jumping the machine had no effect. Could be my Video Card or Processor, but wouldn't there be some BIOS beep for that?
I'd like it to be my motherboard as that would be one of the cheaper fixes, but I'm not positive. I tried to move my video card from my PCIe x16 slot to my x4 slot, but the bastard wouldn't fit (physically in the case). I didn't feel like staying up much past 12am to test every scenario, so perhaps someone has an idea.

Thanks!

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C12Friedman

Graphics card Expert

Motherboard Master

September 5, 2012 5:11:46 PM

Outside of your case, you can breadboard your computer. Place the mobo on a nonconductive surface (wood table top works great). Plug in your motherboard speaker. Add processor with heatsink/fan, add ram and both power connectors - nothing else. Turn power on to the PSU and jump the motherboard power. What happens then?

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Phoenix5794

September 5, 2012 5:22:13 PM

I will definitely try the 'fool-proof' method when I get home. It's completely possible that there is some stray foreign object shorting my motherboard (there have been times in the past where I heard a screw rattling in there).
At the very least this gives me an excuse to clean up my case - haha.

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Phoenix5794

September 5, 2012 6:51:12 PM

C12Friedman said:

Outside of your case, you can breadboard your computer. Place the mobo on a nonconductive surface (wood table top works great). Plug in your motherboard speaker. Add processor with heatsink/fan, add ram and both power connectors - nothing else. Turn power on to the PSU and jump the motherboard power. What happens then?

By the way, I know it's too soon (and too uninformed) to tell, but what is your preliminary guess? My only attempt at an answer would be the video card or motherboard (please don't be video card).

The video card seemed to be an issue before as when I had no signal to my monitor I would shut the computer down and press it in better (not actually re-seating, just giving it a better seat since one of the screws fell loose). Now instead of not giving a video output, the motherboard seems to not let me power on my computer. I know the PSU works because I've tried it on another computer plus it turned on all of my fans when I jumped it (including CPU and GPU fans).
Although thinking back, when I did connect the PSU to my friend's computer, nothing was output through his video card. I tested this with my secondary PSU though which was also a control device on my computer during some of my testing.

Sorry if this is a bit of a jumbled question, but I'm trying to work through it myself before going down the whole road of testing each component separately.

Thanks again.