System stopped cold - PSU or MOBO?

mdaskalos

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I was gaming last night, with no issues, maybe a frame stutter or two, when everything quietly went dead - no smoke, no smells, no CPU, GPU or case fans. Just the blue power light the case front panel. I felt the components, nothing felt particularly hot.

Upon attempting to restart, all that operates is the case power light, and power button. No POST, no fans, no indications on the monitors. If I hold the power button for five seconds, the light will go out.

I have no spare PSU on hand with which to rest.
 
Further , everything in the case is of 2014-2017 vintage except for a new Samsung EVO 970 .m2 NVMe SSD.

Motherboard is Gigabyte 170 chipset Gaming Series 7, LGA 1151. PSU is an OCZ that I haven’t yet checked the model of.
 
Yeah, sounds like the power supply shit the bed. Double check that all the connections from the PSU are secure but I think you may just need a new one. Especially considering it's a ~5 year old OCZ power supply. Those weren't the best built units back then and 5+ years out of one is actually pretty good.
 
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Thank you for the reply.

It has been some years since I visited this forum. As I recall, it had a sticky on power supply quality evaluations. I can’t seem to find it now. Was that thread too cumbersome to maintain?

The PSU is (or was) an OCZ GXS 600, btw.
 
What's your budget and what components do you currently have?
 
It could be the GPU.
My friend was gaming and his machine just shut off and then wouldn't power back on. His GPU just happened to fail and any PC you plug that GPU into won't power on.
I would pull the GPU and just see if it starts posting.
 
have it tested at a repair center if possible. OCZ,some models,had bad ripple problems. there is a site that does mostly psu reviews just can't remember site name.
just remembered: Jonny guru.
 
It could be the GPU.
My friend was gaming and his machine just shut off and then wouldn't power back on. His GPU just happened to fail and any PC you plug that GPU into won't power on.
I would pull the GPU and just see if it starts posting.

I thought that you had a low likelihood of being right, but I had an old video card to pop in, and things are running now. Thanks.



have it tested at a repair center if possible. OCZ,some models,had bad ripple problems. there is a site that does mostly psu reviews just can't remember site name.
just remembered: Jonny guru.

If only....recently moved to a town of 5-6000 residents. No such place here.
 
I had a card that would trip the psu every time you tried to use it. It sparked though and it was clearly the problem. Once tripped, the PSU wouldn't turn the system on again (or try to) until it was unplugged/switched off at the back. I feel like motherboards don't fail in this fashion as much as they used to, but I've come across some dells that consistently had bad PSUs and motherboards. why am I telling you this no one cares.
 
Instead of randomly guessing and throwing money in the wind why don't you actually diagnose your power supply?

Jumper the green wire to ground. Check voltage with multimeter. You do have a multimeter right?

https://www.silverstonetek.com/downloads/QA/PSU/PSU-Paper Clip-EN.pdf

It's a 5-7 year old OCZ power supply. Those weren't really that great even when brand new. Nevermind the fact that most everything he has tried so far points to a dead PSU, a fresh new power supply wouldn't be a bad upgrade/investment at all and definitely not a waste of money.
 
It's a 5-7 year old OCZ power supply. Those weren't really that great even when brand new. Nevermind the fact that most everything he has tried so far points to a dead PSU, a fresh new power supply wouldn't be a bad upgrade/investment at all and definitely not a waste of money.
We can "point to" or we can "know" and apparently OP swapped a GPU which fixed the issue. Not the power supply which would have tested OK.
 
We can "point to" or we can "know" and apparently OP swapped a GPU which fixed the issue. Not the power supply which would have tested OK.

Reading comprehension fail on my part. I could've sworn OP said he tried a different GPU and it didn't work. Maybe I was thinking of another thread.
 
Glad OP got the rig running again. If the PS is starting to degrade and the power needs of the MB+ original GPU were near the max output of the PS, possible the degradation reached the point that the PS can no longer supply enough output.

OP - I wouldn't trash that original GPU until you can do further testing. It is possible the real culprit is the PS and the replacement GPU uses enough less power to let things work. Might watch the ads and pick up a decent and slightly larger PS when one goes on sale.
 
I had a card that would trip the psu every time you tried to use it. It sparked though and it was clearly the problem. Once tripped, the PSU wouldn't turn the system on again (or try to) until it was unplugged/switched off at the back. I feel like motherboards don't fail in this fashion as much as they used to, but I've come across some dells that consistently had bad PSUs and motherboards. why am I telling you this no one cares.

No, hearing people’s operational experience is a good thing. Im gathering from this that video cards are a more common cause of the set of failure symptoms I had (albeit without your sparks), than what one might think.

Glad OP got the rig running again. If the PS is starting to degrade and the power needs of the MB+ original GPU were near the max output of the PS, possible the degradation reached the point that the PS can no longer supply enough output.

OP - I wouldn't trash that original GPU until you can do further testing. It is possible the real culprit is the PS and the replacement GPU uses enough less power to let things work. Might watch the ads and pick up a decent and slightly larger PS when one goes on sale.

Good point. Although since the system won’t POST when that vid card goes back in (when the card’s power draw should be low), that is a good indicator it is the card. But, it also doesn’t eliminate the possibility that the PSU may be struggling at higher loads, because it is at fairly low load during startup. (Or is it? Is there a lot of inrush current like when starting an electric motor?) If the PSU was struggling to provide sufficient voltage at high loads, that could increase amp draw by the affected components, and result in their subsequent overheating and failure. So, it could be that a PSU issue caused a card issue.
 
No power is most usually PSU or motherboard. However, any short on the 12v rail will trip any good PSUs over-current protection. In this case, it seems your GPU was shorting something. What GPU was it? Any sign of burn marks on it? If you have a multimeter you can test the 6/8 pin connector for short between 12v and ground pins.
 
... What GPU was it? Any sign of burn marks on it? If you have a multimeter you can test the 6/8 pin connector for short between 12v and ground pins.

An EVGA 970GTX.

Haven’t pulled the cover/fan shroud off to see in it, yet. No discoloration on the bottom, but I would think that would be unlikely.

I have a multimeter; a short is easy to read, and an open circuit equally so, but what Ohm range is indicative of the circuit being (potentially) still in working order?
 
An EVGA 970GTX.

Haven’t pulled the cover/fan shroud off to see in it, yet. No discoloration on the bottom, but I would think that would be unlikely.

I have a multimeter; a short is easy to read, and an open circuit equally so, but what Ohm range is indicative of the circuit being (potentially) still in working order?
funny, the card I had a short on was also an EVGA GTX 970.
 
That GTX-970 ,if good, still has enough value to warrant more testing when you get a different MB/PS to test on. But your testing so far does seem to point at the GPU.

Might be worth checking the warranty status on that card. Some of the EVGA cards, if registered, had really long warranty periods.
 
That GTX-970 ,if good, still has enough value to warrant more testing when you get a different MB/PS to test on. But your testing so far does seem to point at the GPU.

Might be worth checking the warranty status on that card. Some of the EVGA cards, if registered, had really long warranty periods.

Well, the serial number on the card certainly is easily accessible these days!

I gotta ask: are you really a dead parrot, or just Pinin’ away for the Fjords?
 
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