PC boot fail

[Fajita Jim]

I built a PC for my brother a few months back and it has worked flawlessly until last night. He called me and described the following:

-He booted it up and it froze up during boot with the yellow DRAM indicator light lit on the motherboard. He tried to hold the power button down to turn it off but instead all the fans spun up to full speed, so he hit the rocker switch in the back to turn it off.

-Upon turning it on again, it won't boot. Fans won't even spin. Decorative LEDs on the motherboard light up when power is connected (PC doesn't have to be turned on, this is normal.)

The motherboard model is ASUS TUF GAMING X670E.

I'm going to pick it up here in just a bit to look at it. I'm guessing:

-Check the connectors (don't think this is the issue but best first step)
-Reseat RAM
-Reset CMOS
-BIOS Flashback (this board doesn't even need a CPU seated to flash the BIOS)

Anything else I should consider?

[󠀡󠀡]

RMA

[Electric Cupcake]

Do you have a PSU tester or backup unit?

[Fajita Jim]

No I do not. I have a PSU in my PC but it's not coming out.

[_I_]

use the jumper to reset bios
turn it on and wait to see if it fixes itself

[Fajita Jim]

Opprinnelig skrevet av _I_:

use the jumper to reset bios
turn it on and wait to see if it fixes itself

I'll use the jumper to clear CMOS. If that doesn't work I'll flash the BIOS using the Flashback port.

[Set-115689]

Unplug any extra usb devices. Windows update stuff messing stuff up.

Cpu model?

Try 1 ram stick then the other. Bad ram slot, ram stick, dual channel no longer works, etc...

Can strip pc down to minimum parts.

Diagnostic light might be misleading.

Unplug the pc, press power button for a few seconds to discharge stuff and wait a while.

Unlikely but a dead hdd can cause no boot.

Power supply make a click when you try to turn it on?

[Fajita Jim]

Guys here was the problem: kink/short in the power cord.

Don't laugh, I've been stressing. He dropped $3K on this PC in April and I'm the one that built it.

[kingjames488]

ok, but will it post?

like what does it actually do?

Opprinnelig skrevet av Set-115689:

Unplug any extra usb devices.

also lol ya, def unplug everything and try it... I swear I had a weird bug for a while where my MOBO would try to boot off the internal memory on my mouse or some nonsense O.o

[Fajita Jim]

Opprinnelig skrevet av kingjames488:

ok, but will it post?

Once I put a new power cord on it, it's purring like a kitten.

[kingjames488]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Fajita Jim:

Opprinnelig skrevet av kingjames488:

ok, but will it post?

Once I put a new power cord on it, it's purring like a kitten.

was it just a loose cable? I've done that before and thought my MOBO died lmao... unplugged it all and plugged it back in again and it worked. >.>

[Fajita Jim]

Opprinnelig skrevet av kingjames488:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Fajita Jim:

Once I put a new power cord on it, it's purring like a kitten.

was it just a loose cable? I've done that before and thought my MOBO died lmao... unplugged it all and plugged it back in again and it worked. >.>

It was a kink in the cable near the power plug that became a short. I can plug the power cable up to an outlet tester and wiggle it around, and see the power short out.

[Fajita Jim]

Also:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Fajita Jim:

-Check the connectors (don't think this is the issue but best first step)

saved sooo much trouble.

[kingjames488]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Fajita Jim:

Opprinnelig skrevet av kingjames488:

was it just a loose cable? I've done that before and thought my MOBO died lmao... unplugged it all and plugged it back in again and it worked. >.>

It was a kink in the cable near the power plug that became a short. I can plug the power cable up to an outlet tester and wiggle it around, and see the power short out.

damn, that's not good...

sounds like you've got it figured out anyways :D

[Fajita Jim]

Opprinnelig skrevet av kingjames488:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Fajita Jim:

It was a kink in the cable near the power plug that became a short. I can plug the power cable up to an outlet tester and wiggle it around, and see the power short out.

damn, that's not good...

sounds like you've got it figured out anyways :D

Got my weekend back. I just replaced the power cable, booted with each stick of RAM (DDR5 16x2) individually, then booted both together. There's nothing wrong with this PC, he's just going to have to pull his desk out from the wall more so it doesn't squish the cable against the plug.

[smokerob79]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Fajita Jim:

Opprinnelig skrevet av kingjames488:

damn, that's not good...

sounds like you've got it figured out anyways :D

Got my weekend back. I just replaced the power cable, booted with each stick of RAM (DDR5 16x2) individually, then booted both together. There's nothing wrong with this PC, he's just going to have to pull his desk out from the wall more so it doesn't squish the cable against the plug.

its been a issue more then a few times over the last 25 year of me screwing with PC's.....it sucks more when its one you built and they are turning it on for the first time.......had one guy shove his new PC in his old computer desk and break off the top 4 USB ports off the motherboard first boot.....but the power cord happens a LOT......