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 Computer dead after transporting it

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TSkadajawi
post Apr 18 2014, 12:17 AM, updated 10y ago

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Hello there,
I needed to transport my computer 1000 km by foot, bus, subway and car, so I removed the CPU cooler, hard drives, sound- and TV card. The rest I've packed into my suitcase. When I put everything back together nothing happened though, the computer would not start at all. No fan started turning, no reaction. I have removed everything not absolutely necessary, including front USB ports, hard drives etc., still, nothing.

I started the (disconnected from the motherboard) power supply by shorting out the green and black cable, and it starts. Hard drives (when connected to the power supply) start spinning, fans spin, etc. Plug the power supply back into the motherboard, press the power button and it does start. And turns itself off after maybe 5 seconds. And turns itself on again after 1-2 seconds. And off. And on... it completely ignores the power button on the case though (can be disconnected from the board), and the power button on the motherboard. If I switch off the power supply itself, and turn it back on within a second, it continues. But if it is off for a longer time, the computer is completely dead again. BIOS reset doesn't make a difference either.

2 weeks ago I had to move the computer from Malaysia to Europe, so it traveled 10000 km as checked luggage (also with the cooler and drives removed), when I put it together it didn't want to start either, but after the trick shorting out the power supply it worked fine.

Any idea what the hell is wrong? I've got an Intel i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Extreme4, Seasonic SS-350ET, Xigmatek Gaia, 2x8 GB RAM, ...
WebWalker
post Apr 18 2014, 01:32 AM

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Maybe your 350W PSU is dying or provide not sufficient power.

Get yourself a better brand PSU from CoolerMaster, Corsair, Silverstone and etc ...
TSkadajawi
post Apr 18 2014, 04:09 AM

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Actually Seasonic is pretty much the best brand of power supply there is, ahead of CoolerMaster, Corsair, Silverstone (who all just rebadge, the best ones of them may be rebadged Seasonic ones). But yes, maybe it's dying, mine is about 10 years old now. 350W should be enough though, cause I've measured less than 200W power consumption at full load, overclocked to 4.5 GHz.

I did manage to "fix" the problem, apparently I didn't insert the RAM properly at some point. It still has the startup problems, but otherwise the computer works. Thank god.

Though if anyone has an idea about the startup problem...

This post has been edited by kadajawi: Apr 18 2014, 04:31 AM
SUSmarumaru
post Apr 18 2014, 09:53 AM

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dafuq 10 years old

just change the PSU lar

all those movement might have shaken the capacitor, the soldering gets brittle after such long usage and heat and moving it around just made it worse i think.

either u open it up and resolder everything or just get a new one.
joefbi
post Apr 18 2014, 06:17 PM

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1st, check the CPU cooler, make sure it's installed properly attached to the board

any beep sound?
WebWalker
post Apr 18 2014, 06:46 PM

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A scientific way to tell whether the PSU is working no, you can use a digital multimeter to test it.

If you don't want to buy a new PSU (which you are assuming it is working), you can always borrow someon PSU to test it on you pc.

If in end, you still have your own assumption on this and that, and just can't get it fixed. You can always send it to a pc repair shop and let the pro to check it for you.

This post has been edited by WebWalker: Apr 18 2014, 06:48 PM
imbibug
post Apr 19 2014, 02:30 PM

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QUOTE(kadajawi @ Apr 18 2014, 04:09 AM)
Actually Seasonic is pretty much the best brand of power supply there is, ahead of CoolerMaster, Corsair, Silverstone (who all just rebadge, the best ones of them may be rebadged Seasonic ones). But yes, maybe it's dying, mine is about 10 years old now. 350W should be enough though, cause I've measured less than 200W power consumption at full load, overclocked to 4.5 GHz.

I did manage to "fix" the problem, apparently I didn't insert the RAM properly at some point. It still has the startup problems, but otherwise the computer works. Thank god.

Though if anyone has an idea about the startup problem...
*
Even if you don't think that the psu is the cause of the problem, don't you think its prudent to swap it out for a new one considering that its already 10yrs.
alexgoh2
post Apr 19 2014, 09:40 PM

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are you sure that your source power supply is 240 V 50 Hz ?

even some are 240V but may be 60 Hz


TSkadajawi
post Apr 20 2014, 12:56 AM

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QUOTE(imbibug @ Apr 19 2014, 02:30 PM)
Even if you don't think that the psu is the cause of the problem, don't you think its prudent to swap it out for a new one considering that its already 10yrs.
*
If you drive a Mercedes, do you think after 10 years it's time to swap it for a new car, say, a Vios or Myvi? tongue.gif I trust Sea Sonic. I might upgrade before I install a graphics card, but at the moment it is doing absolutely fine. It's nowhere near full load. I'm also not sure what to swap it for. Sea Sonic's newer power supplies are rather expensive. They still produce the one I'm using right now, but I'm not sure if it makes too much sense buying the same PSU again. And newer 350W PSUs from Sea Sonic are now in the RM 300+ range, which to be honest is a bit much.

It's 240 V 50 Hz here.

The computer is running perfectly fine now, the only problem is the starting problem. I'll test another power supply once I get the chance to, but wouldn't be surprised if the ASRock board is the culprit. It felt really cheap, as in it bends badly. Nowhere near as stable as the Abit board I used before.
WebWalker
post Apr 20 2014, 04:23 AM

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QUOTE(kadajawi @ Apr 20 2014, 12:56 AM)

The computer is running perfectly fine now, the only problem is the starting problem. I'll test another power supply once I get the chance to, but wouldn't be surprised if the ASRock board is the culprit. It felt really cheap, as in it bends badly. Nowhere near as stable as the Abit board I used before.
*
Don't mind that I ask, how can you say your pc is running fine when it fail to startup (turn off by itself) as stated in your first post?

imbibug
post Apr 20 2014, 03:15 PM

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QUOTE(kadajawi @ Apr 20 2014, 12:56 AM)
If you drive a Mercedes, do you think after 10 years it's time to swap it for a new car, say, a Vios or Myvi? tongue.gif I trust Sea Sonic. I might upgrade before I install a graphics card, but at the moment it is doing absolutely fine. It's nowhere near full load. I'm also not sure what to swap it for. Sea Sonic's newer power supplies are rather expensive. They still produce the one I'm using right now, but I'm not sure if it makes too much sense buying the same PSU again. And newer 350W PSUs from Sea Sonic are now in the RM 300+ range, which to be honest is a bit much.

It's 240 V 50 Hz here.

The computer is running perfectly fine now, the only problem is the starting problem. I'll test another power supply once I get the chance to, but wouldn't be surprised if the ASRock board is the culprit. It felt really cheap, as in it bends badly. Nowhere near as stable as the Abit board I used before.
*
Swapping it to a Vios/Myvi are your words not mine. And you place too much trust on just the brand name. The insides of oem and entry level model Seasonics can be quite mediocre and 10yrs would be pushing it.

The Asrock z77 extreme4 is well known for its thin flimsy pcb.
TSkadajawi
post Apr 21 2014, 04:20 AM

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QUOTE(WebWalker @ Apr 20 2014, 04:23 AM)
Don't mind that I ask, how can you say your pc is running fine when it fail to startup (turn off by itself) as stated in your first post?
*
There are 2 problems, really. One is the computer fails to start at all when there was a power outage. That isn't fixed yet, I'll try another PSU as soon as I get one in my hands that has enough power for my computer (which might take a while though). The second problem was the memory not sitting inside the slot properly, thus causing the auto shutdown/turn on cycle. That is fixed, I'm posting here with that computer now.

@imbibug: The SS-350ET is technically identical (except for the cables) to the S12-II series, and both have been reviewed to be extraordinarily good and stable, and able to withstand high loads for a long time. Newer entry level Sea Sonics may not be as good, I don't know. But I'm happy with my old one, and it works so well that I'm not keen on replacing it. It has been incredibly stable (except for the aforementioned problem, but that might be due to the mainboard. I have less faith in it than in the PSU).

 

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