Inquiry: My decade-old PC won't start?
Inquiry: My decade-old PC won't start?
Hello.
A few weeks back, my cherished decade-old PC stopped working 😥.
When I press the power button, the graphics card cooler starts spinning, but I hear no POST beep and see no display on the monitor.
The CPU warms up slightly, but it could overheat if left running for more than a few minutes without a cooler, so I kept the cooler on it (no fan).
There is no chip overheating - I checked all of them
, I also looked through an inexpensive thermal camera.
Not a single LED lights up.
Power supply
I checked the power on all pins. Everything is fine except the negative 12V rail, which is at 11.18V (still within its 10% margin).
At least the main board responds to the power button. I can start the computer, and if I hold the power button for 4 seconds, it also turns off the
power supply
PC.
The pin 8 (PowerGood) is +4.1V - I’m not sure if this is its proper value...
BIOS/CMOS
Attempting to clear CMOS, still nothing. The secondary BIOS won't activate.
I heard there’s a method to force the backup BIOS chip to activate. Something like holding the reset and power buttons for 10 seconds while turning on the power supply.
Any suggestions? Any tips?
Please assist a distressed person....
The system is (was):
GA-990FXA-UD3 (rev. 3.0) DualBios
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-...rt-dl-bios
AMD FX-8350 4GHz
32GB RAM
Power Supply: Antec 750W
All capacitors are fine. None appear swollen.
__
I attempted to force the backup BIOS to activate:
Holding the reset and power buttons for 10 seconds while powering on the supply.
Holding the power button for 10 seconds.
Holding the power button while turning on the power supply and then immediately shutting it down.
What’s the
model
of Antec? Antec is the brand, 750W is the wattage.
I would suspect the motherboard has failed, but if it’s a lower quality Antec, it might be the power supply at fault.
However, all voltages are present. I measured them individually.
If it’s not the power supply, then get another motherboard for testing.
That’s not how it operates. You’re measuring with no load on it. Those power supply testers can only confirm basic functionality. The cheapest junk can meet the +12V ATX specification without anything running on it. There’s a valid reason proper load testers cost in the thousands while you can find a power supply tester or a multimeter for $15.
We still don’t know if your power supply is functioning or even what your power supply is. Without this information, there’s nowhere else to go.
I measured the clock on pin 6 on the BIOS chip. It reads 0V. It appears the clock generator is malfunctioning.
P.S.: after the first motherboard failed, I purchased a used one (quite pricey). It failed 1 year later in the exact same manner.
So, I am somewhat hesitant to reuse the power supply. Could it have damaged the motherboard?