Replacement PSU seems bad, could motherboard have caused it

[daveydave400]

I was playing some video games on my ~2 year old computer and the lights in the room flickered and the computer was off. I started to smell a burnt electronics smell so I unplugged everything and opened up the case. Seemed like the smell was coming from the power supply so I went through the support process with the company and got a replacement.

I installed the replacement power supply, hit the power button, and got a short spin of the fans (no beeps) and then nothing. After that hitting the power button did nothing. I disconnected the power supply, did the paper clip test (shorting the green and black pins), and noticed the PSU fan would spin once then coast to a stop. I thought that was weird and was going to attempt to get another replacement until I read the PSU box and noticed "The HX650 is so efficient that the 140mm fan doesn't even spin at low loads, resulting in noiseless power delivery".

So I would like opinions on the next step I should take. I've listed the major parts below and I'm thinking it's either the motherboard or the video card, but am not entirely sure how to test either. I'm also not sure how easy it would be to get an exact replacement for those parts (since they are old in computer years), so I might have to buy new models for those.

Motherboard - ASUS Deluxe P6T V2:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/P6T_Deluxe_V2/

Power Supply - Corsair HX650

Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 4870

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[alexoiu]

Hi, connect a fan to the PSU molex and test again the PSU. It's not very relevant, but still. It might be though a board issue.

 

[scout_03]

do you have a surge powerbar to protect that system ? if not then the overvolt could have damage also the board .

 

[zdbc13]

Do you have a multi-meter to test the output voltages on the PSU? You can get one for about $12 at Radio Shack.

 

[daveydave400]

do you have a surge powerbar to protect that system ? if not then the overvolt could have damage also the board .

You mean between the wall outlet and the computer? Yes. The "overvolt" or rather the lights flickering I thought was from the computer, not the house.

Do you have a multi-meter to test the output voltages on the PSU? You can get one for about $12 at Radio Shack.

I'm home for the holidays and the computer is actually my sister's computer. I don't have my usual set of tools, but I'll see what my dad has.

If I assume the power supply is good (or I find out by hooking up a fan and using a multimeter), do you guys know of an easy way to determine if I should replace the motherboard or the video card or both? I don't think it could be any other part in the system, could it, especially since I'm not getting any system beeps?

 

[scout_03]

then i would look carefully on the board before putting new parts on if there is some sign of burn or bubled capacitor or resistor specialy around the power section of her ,the graphic card could be test on another system .

 

[daveydave400]

I found the bad part! I initially didn't see any bubbled caps or burnt areas. So first I unplugged the video card and turned the system on and got 1 long beep and 3 short which for my motherboard means GPU problem, as expected. This tells me the motherboard is good. I know it was probably dumb to turn the system on again with out knowing, but I had already done it before when I assumed nothing was broken. I took a closer look at the video card and noticed some deformation on two of the small chips and then noticed a large burnt spot to the side of one of the heat sinks.

Now to find a good replacement for the video card. Anyone know if I can get a ATI Radeon HD 4870, otherwise I'll just have to find a new model.

Thanks everyone.

 

[zdbc13]

Some on eBay but unlikely to find otherwise. I loved that card...

 

[daveydave400]

Best answer selected by daveydave400.