PC Will Not Start
PC Will Not Start
Hi all, this was a strange issue. Just before Christmas, the PC would shut down and wouldn’t boot again. The power LED lights up and the fans spin for less than a second before stopping again. The power switch becomes unresponsive until I unplugged it, waited 30 seconds, then plugged it back in, which resulted in less than a second of activity. A power supply tester from Amazon showed everything was normal. I replaced the processor and motherboard. Tried moving RAM sticks around, removed the graphics card and booted with integrated graphics. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I’m running out of ideas and can’t afford to keep replacing parts until it works.
The small testers are useful for a fast power verification, yet they do not apply any stress to the power supply. I have observed several ways to introduce load such as old hard drives and car headlamps.
List all current components in full detail. Which CPU or Mobo did you change?
Components include
Intel I7-13700k
MSI Pro Z790-P WIFI
TUF Gaming RTX 4080
G.Skill DDR5 32Gb (2x16)
TUF Gaming Power Supply (1,000W)
Two M.2 drives and two HDDs
Be Quiet! Pure Loop 360mm
The processor was swapped individually; the old motherboard was an ASRock Sonic Z790.
I recommend taking the system to a tabletop setup. Inspect your case backplate for any tiny metal fragments from threaded components. Verify that all standoffs for the motherboard are correctly positioned or check for any missing ones that might short circuits elsewhere. Arrange everything as simply as possible—just CPU, a single RAM stick, no drives, no graphics card or other peripherals—and test if it boots into BIOS. I’d even attempt without an AIO. It would help to use an air cooler compatible with any Intel model for testing, but the main focus should be on observing the splash screen and performing a quick power-down to avoid damage. (Note: Reset CMOS before starting this process if you can.)
Check your motherboard socket carefully, ensuring no bends are present. Inspect all cables thoroughly, confirming that connectors remain securely plugged in. You can also test the front panel pins by shorting them to see if the system responds.
The BIOS version provided at launch matches this CPU, so it should be compatible.
This setup seems like a great project—just get it running!