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I built my own desktop computer about a year and a half ago and it's been working fine. Recently I went out of town for about ten days and left my surge protector turned off. When I returned, the computer would no longer turn on. No fans start up, no lights come on, no POST, no beep codes, there's no indication that anything is happening. It seems really strange that it would just stop working completely while shut off.

I have tried a lot of troubleshooting and I'm just totally stuck. Here's what I've done:

  • reseated all connections and cables
  • tested the PSU using this guy: PSU is working
  • tested CMOS battery: it is giving 3V
  • unplugged all peripherals, devices and RAM, everything except for CPU and CPU fan: still nothing
  • removed the power button headers on the case and manually shorted the pins to see if that cable was the problem: still nothing
  • RMA'd the motherboard: still nothing
  • RMA'd the CPU: still nothing

There's not even a light coming on on the motherboard to indicate that it's getting any power, but I'm not sure if the board has such a light anyway.

I am totally out of ideas. Having replaced the motherboard and CPU would seem to indicate that those aren't the problem. I wonder if perhaps the power isn't getting to the board somehow even though the PSU is working?

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

In case it's relevant, here are the main hardware components:

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  • Make sure the "clear CMOS" jumper is not in the clear position. If possible, test with another PSU just in case there's something subtly wrong with it.
    – David Schwartz
    Commented Jun 28, 2017 at 17:11
  • @DavidSchwartz Ah, should have mentioned that. I checked the clear CMOS jumper already and it's in the correct position.
    – MTS
    Commented Jun 28, 2017 at 17:16
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    Does that PSU Tester generate fake demand too? A fuse (can) work at a very low demand, only to fail again at higher, depending on it's composition.
    – djsmiley2kStaysInside
    Commented Jun 28, 2017 at 17:53
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    I have had a PSU that seemed to generate the right voltages but would fail as soon as the load ramped up. The symptom I saw for that was the cooling fans would all "twitch" right as the power was turned on, but no other power signs.
    – techturtle
    Commented Jun 28, 2017 at 17:56
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    You wouldn't. The wonders of cheap tools eh? :)
    – djsmiley2kStaysInside
    Commented Jun 28, 2017 at 18:01

1 Answer 1

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It was the PSU in the end. I finally got hold of a spare one to test with and it booted up fine. Stupid cheap-ass PSU tester isn't worth crap, apparently.

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