Computer died overnight 😭

[Dr. Danger]

I keep it always ON, always clean, and i have huge knowledge but still this is too much for me to diagnose.. i tried everything i could, computer doesnt turn on with gpu, only spins fans for half a second, without gpu it turns on, fans spin, but it doesnt even turn off on the power button no matter how long i press it, so my guess is that it just freezes, tried with removing memory sticks one by one... motherboard is not old at all, its even still under warranty... power supply is chieftec 450w (using it for maybe 5 years or 4, before that it was unused even although its made in 2009.. tried putting other gpu, that doesnt require 6pin connector... it also did same as if it had no graphics card inside... not displaying on screen anything, although i never checked if that old gpu works, my main gpu is msi oc gtx 660 2gb... i bought it second hand (user never opened it) when i bought it i changed thermal paste, cleaned everything (it was so dirty) and since then i never had ANY issues with that gpu... temps go around 72-75c in games like gta 5... recently, about a month ago i changed processor, upgraded from amd 740 to amd 860k, and bought lc power heatsink to prevent overheating... so far it worked well... any idea what else i should try to do? I have cockroaches in my house (smaller ones, brown) and they often invade my power supply... can a psu be partially fried? How to check for signs?

[Autumn_]

What'd I'd do is grab a buzzer/speaker, plug it into the motherboard, and listen for a beep code.
Then use the beep code to narrow down problems from there.
I have a few laying around, so not an issue for me to just grab one and plug it in; though they are cheap.

Do you smell any burning near the PSU?
Is anything on the Motherboard damaged? (Burns, caps popped, etc?)

[Talby]

> chieftec 450w

I suspect this is the culprit, in reality the power capability is ~300W continuous at best since they are rated at peak power. Get a replacement and hope the other parts are ok, and at a minimum get a 1000J or higher surge protector and maybe some roach traps if there are any dead ones that are burned up in the old PSU (maybe they caused it??)

Might be good to give it a paper clip test[www.blogtechtips.com] just to confirm it's dead.

[DeadPhoenix]

That what happens when you pair it with a cheap PSU. Never gimp on the PSU.

[Red™]

Stop cheaping out PSU. When people will learn this? it’s literally the worst mistake you can make. In my opinion, it’s bigger than bending a CPU pin, because at least that’s fixable with time and patience.

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

psu is dying.

buy/use a quality brand like seasonic focus

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Cheap PSU and keeping it always on - not a great combination. There is very little point to keep modern PC on all the time.

[Autumn_]

Why has everyone jumpped the gun by saying it's PSU?
I mean, sure, it probably is, but that's what process of elimination is designed to find out.
Why spend the money / time buying a new PSU, only to find that it could just be the CPU that died?
Start with the cheap options, like I mentioned, speaker/beeper, see what the issue is from that, then move from there.
Plus a speaker costs what, a quid, where as a new (good) PSU can set you back like 60 quid.

[Cathulhu]

Considering it's an 11 years old PSU and not a very strong at that, makes it a rather fair assumption.
Especially with his cockroach infestation, which do like to crawl into warm places.
https://kotaku.com/console-repairmen-explain-why-cockroaches-love-ps4s-1794393470

[hawkeye]

So, if it is always on, why are you trying to turn it on? How and why was it powered off?

First, leaving it on 24/7 could have shortened the lifespan of a component, especially if the old low quality ones. Second, never clean electronic components frequently. There is too great a risk of breaking a fragile part or generating static electricity. It is usual practice in professional IT to ban all cleaning of systems. If it isn't broken don't try to fix it, leave it alone.

The power button doesn't necessarily turn the power off completely. I could be wrong but I think what it does is configured in windows. Also quite often the button isn't connected to the mobo correctly, so it doesn't do anything. Not sure though. You always have to turn off the psu to turn the power off and then leave it for a few seconds for power to drain.

If it's a cheap Chinese psu then that's the first thing to check. But if it doesn't work because you were doing something to it then that's the first thing to check.

[Ad Hominem]

Does your motherboard have a post code readout or troubleshooting lights? That's a feature that I cannot live without now that I've had it a while. I won't buy a board without it. Old PSU seems like the likely culprit but it's probably worth it to have a mobo speaker around just for general purposes, and it might save you some money just in case it isn't the PSU. It would be a real bummer to go out and buy a new power supply just to realize your old one is fine. Been there, done that.

Originally posted by hawkeye:

Second, never clean electronic components frequently. There is too great a risk of breaking a fragile part or generating static electricity. It is usual practice in professional IT to ban all cleaning of systems. If it isn't broken don't try to fix it, leave it alone.

I don't think it's a bad idea to hit the heat sinks with compressed air every once in a while, maybe once a year or more depending on if you have pets or smoke/live with a smoker. Pull any filters and wipe them down maybe once a month when they look gunky. I agree to your point though that I wouldn't do a lot of 'hands on' work very often.

[Washell]

Originally posted by Ad Hominem:

Originally posted by hawkeye:

Second, never clean electronic components frequently. There is too great a risk of breaking a fragile part or generating static electricity. It is usual practice in professional IT to ban all cleaning of systems. If it isn't broken don't try to fix it, leave it alone.

I don't think it's a bad idea to hit the heat sinks with compressed air every once in a while, maybe once a year or more depending on if you have pets or smoke/live with a smoker. Pull any filters and wipe them down maybe once a month when they look gunky. I agree to your point though that I wouldn't do a lot of 'hands on' work very often.

Parts should be cleaned when the thermal sensors show cooling is being (significantly) impeded. Not on a schedule. Filters can be cleaned as often as you wish.

[Autumn_]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

Considering it's an 11 years old PSU and not a very strong at that, makes it a rather fair assumption.
Especially with his cockroach infestation, which do like to crawl into warm places.
https://kotaku.com/console-repairmen-explain-why-cockroaches-love-ps4s-1794393470

Like I said, it probably is the issue, but why jump the gun? See if you're getting any errors with speaker first.

[_I_]

^ why its best to set the ps4/xbox/pc to shut down/off instead of sleep

[L37]

Originally posted by Dr. Danger:

...computer doesnt turn on with gpu, only spins fans for half a second, without gpu it turns on, fans spin, but it doesnt even turn off on the power button no matter how long i press it...

This tells me that there is probably a short on those videocard. Pretty easy to check if you have basic multimeter.
If there is, it could have damaged either motherboard or PSU when it happened. First thing will be turning on PSU (if it turns on without videocard its fine, no need to use paperclip) and checking voltages. If that's fine - try to find known good videocard and test things with it. If it does not work - most likely something died on the motherboard.
Might also try using another known good PSU if you can find one, just do not buy one for no reason - yours is, most likely, fine.

And DO NOT try your videocard in another PC without verifying if it has short circuit, as it kill those PC too. And do not try it multiple times in yours either - can do more damage.
Can try removing hatsink from videocard and looking carefully at power-related things, might be something physically burnt there...

[Dr. Danger]

Tried 3 different working gpus with 2 working power supplies at 400w and all works except my gpu, borrowed neighbours pc and all gpus except mine works in his pc... while gtx 660 is either burned or just needs better psu to start pc.. anyways, it seems my motherboard is broken or cpu... pc died while it was idle, overnight... i just woke up to a turned off broken pc... also in my power supply i found fried bugs and also it seems very damaged psu board on that part where was bug, totally melted solders...