My computer stopped working for no reason.

[Moss.]

I built it less than 2 years ago. Yesterday, I was watching some E3 videos, and shut it down when I went to bed.

Now, it does this:

[yt]_hgygdpgC9c[/yt]


It tries for less than 1 second, and gives up. Thenm naybe, it tries again 5 seconds later. And gives up after another second.

What the fuck is this shit? I just had to pay out my ass to get my broken phone replaced, and now my computer's dead, too?

[Roph]

Private video, can't see. Perhaps you meant to set it to be unlisted?

[Moss.]

Word.


So here's what I've tried so far.
I've unplugged damn near everything from the power supply (video card, hard drives, wifi card). I'm down to just the motherboard, and 1 stick of RAM. I've tried both sticks one at a time.
And I've tried resetting the CMOS, and removing the motherboard battery for a bit and reinstalling it.

Still nothing. Actually, it's worse. It used to try twice. Now it only tries once.


Things I've noticed/checked:
There are no shorts. My cable management is paramount.
Heat really shouldn't be the issue. I have SEVEN fans in this thing, and our apartment is always 70 degrees when we're home, and the computer isn't on when I'm not home.
Again, I wasn't doing anything intensive yesterday, just watching videos, and it was perfectly fine.

All fans work ..... except the CPU fan.



I'm probably going to have to take this to some computer repair store, because I've reached the end of what I can accomplish on my own.

The (possibly) good news is that my CPU has a 3 year warranty, and my power supply has a 7 year warranty. Everything was purchased on NewEgg, so the receipts are online, and I have all the instruction manuals. I'm hoping, praying, that if I need to get this thing serviced the only thing I'll be paying for is labor...

[Tezuka]

The CPU wouldn't cause a power failure, and from what you've said my money is on either the motherboard or power supply. Do you have an old power supply or anything of the sort to try it out? If it were the motherboard I would think you wouldn't even get as far as the check light blinking on the board.

[Moss.]

Unfortunately I don't. This was the first PC I built, and all my old computers were laptops. I read somewhere that there's some kind of device you can use to test power supplies... but I kind of want this fixed, now, so I might just skip that and go straight to the repair store (there actually is one around here, they still exist!).

[Roph]

Well CPU fan not spinning is worrisome. Connect the CPU fan to another fan header, does it spin?

It looks like your board has one of those LED number things at the top, what does it show? Always the same thing? Does it also have buttons (looks like you use one). Some of them have status buttons or something like that. A number from it or a beep code would be useful. Googling the name of your motherboard along with whatever code should narrow it down.

[Tezuka]

I was going to say, I just re-read the post and noticed you said your CPU fan weren't spinning.

[Roph]

If you tell us what board you have, we can look up stuff =o

Another thing to try if possible is using an alternate BIOS. It's very common for boards to come with multiple duplicate BIOSes nowadays, mine is a cheap bargain board but still has dualbios, and I can switch to one if the other is screwed. Maybe there's a little dip switch for that too.

[Moss.]

I googled my board (ga-z77x-ud5h) and it appears I'm not the only one having this issue. There's a lot of people with the exact same problem as me. ...maybe it's the motherboard?


I actually wasn't able to find anything about beep codes (online or in my manual), or how to get my motherboard to do them. It has an LED debug screen, but I don't think it has enough time to tell me anything. It has two spaces. The first is blank, and the second says

_
   |
|_|

[Moss.]

Took it to a shop, and the guy suggested it was the power supply. He also apologized because he wasn't able to test it, since the spare power supply that fits my motherboard connector was not working. He suggested I warranty the power supply and get a new one, and see if that fixes the problem. That way, I won't have to pay him for parts or diagnostics.

I think he's right. The motherboard doesn't get enough power to even properly display anything on the diagnostic LED. And the problem changed over the course of a few hours. First, it tried multiple times to boot up. Now, it only half tries, once. It seemed like the computer was receiving less and less power every time I tried to boot it up.

[Roph]

Shucks

Well, good luck mister.

[Moss.]

The RMA system for Corsair bothers me. The only applicable option is "PSU is faulty. Tried replacement PSU and problem was solved."
I feel bad lying about that part, but I just don't have a spare lying around to make sure. Seriously who does?


What if the PSU I send back actually works? What happens then?

[Roph]

If there's a box for comments, I guess say you took it to a professional or professionals who agreed the PSU is borked?

If you're able to get a refund instead, you may want to get an XFX PSU. They're actually SeaSonic (god tier) PSUs.

[Moss.]

They make me pay for return shipping. That's fucking lame.

[Jules]

...but I just don't have a spare lying around to make sure. Seriously who does?

My husband. Seriously, we have like 6 in varying degrees of wattage. I think he's scared one will die and we won't have a replacement. So every time we buy an upgrade, he keeps the old one.  lol

I hope that you get it sorted soon, sir!

[Fatih]

Damn, that's terrible. Hope for no more headaches!

[Moss.]

Corsair never sent me a replacement. All I got was a "in 1 business day we'll ship your replacement" email, and that was it. No further emails, no tracking number, nothing. I paid $50 for their "express replacement" service, but it never got charged to my card. Maybe that's why things came to a halt, but holy crap, send me an email if there's a problem, right? That's some terrible customer service.

I didn't send mine back yet, since they told me "you have 10 days **from the day your replacement is shipped** to return the faulty device." It never shipped, so I never returned it. I closed the ticket, and thanked them for being useless.



Kind of wondering what to do now. I was banking on that replacement part to really figure out what the problem was. Like, I was 90% sure it was the power supply ... but it might not be. So ... I guess I'll, what, order a new power supply, and if it doesn't fix the problem, return it? I wish I knew someone that would have a comparable PSU I could use, to test it. It sucks that computer repair stores around here are useless.

Should I get a PSU tester instead? (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5285991&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&utm_source=Linkshare&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=xIKL5)

God, what a mess.



Here's what I had: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012

Any suggestions for a replacement, if it comes to that? I've got, like, 4 HDs, 16gb ram, a GTX 660 Ti, GA-Z77X-UD5H, and an Intel i7 if you need to know how much power I'd need. Luckily PSUs are not ridiculously expensive, like the other parts that could fail.

[Roph]

I don't see the point in buying Corsair products. They seem to have got it into their heads now that they are "premium", and they have a right to over-price all of their products. For many of their products they are also not the manufacturer - they simply take an OEM design and put their logo on it. Many of their water coolers are rebranded Asetek parts. Antec sells the exact same thing for ~30% less. You can get similar performing fans / bearing tech from Arctic Cooling for 1/5th the price.

Anyway, XFX sells Seasonic (the ultimate top-dog PSU maker) units. This one should do you fine. "100W Less", but people always over-estimate the wattage they need, even with future headroom.

[strike]

>repair shop
>doesn't have more than one ATX test power supply.

whatthefuck.png

[Moss.]

I know, right? They had one, and it was broken, so he told me "we would have to order a new one to test it, and charge you for it." Nice of him to tell me that up front, but screw the people he works for, because that's a ridiculous policy.

[Moss.]

Got the new power supply, and now my computer starts.


Except really, it doesn't. Windows wouldn't boot, it would stop because it kept having to update windows, and it kept stopping at 32%.
So (since I have OSX installed on this, too) I booted up in Mountain Lion. I made it to the desktop, and then it SHUT DOWN. Just OFF.


So I removed all unnecessary HDs and the video card, and HEY! Now it's fine.


Hey Roph, you SURE I didn't need 650W?


___________________________________________________________

Update: I have re-inserted everything except the video card. Both OSs are up and running, and file structures and applications are still in place.

Going to plug the video card back in and see what happens.


___________________________________________________________

Windows started up. Then got slow, and choppy. Then it fucking shut off without warning...

So I guess it comes down to two things:
1.) The video card is done for (doubtful, since it worked for a bit).
2.) There's NOT ENOUGH FUCKING POWER IN THE PSU TO POWER MY SYSTEM


___________________________________________________________


Doing some research, and 550W really should be enough. Sorry Roph. Still, I'm fucking pissed that not one but TWO components of my computer seem to have failed overnight, simultaneously, and for NO GODDAMN REASON.


edit: But I just don't know. I mean, if the video card failed, would the computer's response really be to SHUT DOWN EVERYTHING? Wouldn't it just, like, black out the monitor but actually keep running the computer? Why does it completely shut itself down with no warning?

[Moss.]

Consolidated to one post.

tl;dr:

PSU made computer work, but not with video card.
When video card plugged in, computer work for bit then shut down without warning.

It still sounds like a power issue to me. If the video card was broken, it seems like it wouldn't work at all, or would just shut down the video part of it all (black out the screen), but instead, it shuts down the entire computer? Why? Seems like a power issue...


Any ideas? Past experiences? Advice?




edit: I submitted a support ticket to EVGA. Warranties are a good thing. Let's hope they're better at customer service than Corsair. (Seriously, I almost want a new case, because the one I have now is Corsair, and I want nothing to do with them anymore.)

[Roph]

My system draws more power than yours, and I'm on a 500W seasonic-built PSU.

Anyway, a dying video card can behave like that. My old Radeon 4670 more or less did that. Ran ok for a few minutes, then would stop.

It still works, but only if I underclock it heavily. As in it's supposed to run at 900Mhz, I run it at 150Mhz. It's definitely damaged.

If you have a spare GPU try putting it in, see what happens? If it's fine, you can tell EVGA that.

[PhoenixFire]

I've had the same thing happen GPUs as well; worked fine for about 5-10 minutes, then shut down, no warning. Troubleshooting got me to the same conclusion; tried new card, ran fine. Computers are strange ~ NEVER trust what logic would dictate: it's not always accurate.

[strike]

I've had the same thing happen GPUs as well; worked fine for about 5-10 minutes, then shut down, no warning. Troubleshooting got me to the same conclusion; tried new card, ran fine. Computers are strange ~ NEVER trust what logic would dictate: it's not always accurate.

bull. troubleshooting is logic.

Doing some research, and 550W really should be enough. Sorry Roph. Still, I'm fucking pissed that not one but TWO components of my computer seem to have failed overnight, simultaneously, and for NO GODDAMN REASON.


edit: But I just don't know. I mean, if the video card failed, would the computer's response really be to SHUT DOWN EVERYTHING? Wouldn't it just, like, black out the monitor but actually keep running the computer? Why does it completely shut itself down with no warning?

in all honesty every spring a lot of PSU's die due to power surges and brown outs. sometimes they take other components with them.

and the reason it shuts down is because if the card is faulty it may damage other components once it starts to crap out. so the computer shuts itself down. and the reason it works at first is likely due to load.