Bad PS or..mobo

Symptom:

over the last year, occasionally, the Power button would click, the lights and fans within the case would click on, for <1 sec, then nothing. I stripped the leads out of the Power switch, thinking it maybe the switch. Still the same, but If I totally unplugged and let it sit a minute or two.. plug in, touch the leads, it may or may not boot, but repeating that process..I would get lucky and it would boot.

so, I havent turned it off for a few months. came home Friday, power had been down to the house for a while apparently, long enough to kill my UPS1500. System off.

So, I touch the leads.. I'll get lights and fan..for <1 minute..but not post, or boot, then dies. tried a few times, same thing.. fans and light would come on..but never even post, or boot

I'm feeling its either PS failure... or Mobo maybe ( 4 yo 680i board )

thoughts?

thank you

Sounds like a short. The only way to know if the if it is the mobo or psu is to test your system with a different psu or mobo. How old is the psu? make and model?

If it is the psu be careful that it does not fry anything else.

It might be time to upgrade to that SB you have been thinking about.

yep..your right...

they are about 4 years old..both... 1k BFG ( err..from memory ..), nvidia 680i

I guess I need to isolate PSU / mobo..

only negative of just upgrading..that means.. mobo, new ram, cpu, psu. can use existing hdd's, gpu, case I suppose..hmm..maybe thats the way to go!

Id remove the board and psu from the case.....yeah big PITA.....and test it that way.

Might also be RAM??

Money is on a short in the board or a loose connection somewhere.
I'll bet the hardware is actually just fine.

thanks for the responses folks..Ill let ya know what I find

First, try taking the board out of the case, and put it in a cardoard box (like we all do when testing new equipment) --- i once had a short on a motherboard to case due to a long lead from one of the soldered-on parts. in fear of screwing the connection up, i took some electrical tape and taped the area on the motherboard tray, as well as placing a strip of tape on the motherboard as well. Took care of that little short.
I've also run across a power supply of mine that disagreed with boot up initial spike load. If i used a 2x PCI-E card (one that requires 2 power connections) the machine would fakeboot over and over. Once i replaced that with a single connector card, it has worked. (i relegated it to another backup machine)