Elson Posted September 25, 2021 Share Posted September 25, 2021 (edited) A few weeks ago a transformer blew in my area and the power went out in my neighborhood. The power came back up a few minutes later and everything was okay, but when I turned on my DAW PC the next day (it was off during the power outage), it wouldn't turn on. I thought it was peculiar since it's plugged into a Surge Protector - two of them, in fact (both a power strip and a specific Surge Protector that plugs into a wall socket). I recently opened up my PC to take a look. No visible damage or smell. No funny-looking capacitors. I removed and disconnected the PSU, a Kingwin 650W and did the "paper clip test" by shorting out two wires in the Motherboard plug with a bent paper clip and it turned on, the fan was spinning. But I theorized that incidentally or coincidentally, the PSU may have gone bad, yet had enough power to turn on by itself but not the whole computer. I borrowed my dad's PC and temporarily transplanted the PSU (It's a generic brand 450 or 500W), plugged it in the motherboard and CPU sockets, and turned on my computer. MY COMPUTER TURNED ON! I didn't have any drives or the monitor plugged in, I just wanted to see if it was the PSU or Motherboard at fault (I have an ASRock Socket 2011 board, which is still pretty expensive on the used/NOS market). But I heard the CPU fan spin and the power LED on the case lit up - which didn't happen before. So I assumed my Kingwin PSU may have gone bad. I ordered a 700W Seasonic fanless PSU off of Newegg and it arrived today. I installed it, plugged all the modular cables in (Motherboard, CPU, SATA), checked, double-, triple- and quadruple- checked if all the cables were firmly placed in their sockets, and...the computer still didn't turn on. I even tried turning it on with only the Motherboard and CPU sockets plugged in...still nothing (Yes, I had the switch next to the power cable on the PSU turned on). I had researched about computers not powering on due to dead CMOS batteries, and my CMOS battery was the same one that came with my motherboard when I bought it in 2012, so I figured it needed replacement. So I bought a brand new CR-2032. Still nothing. I'm at my wit's end. It may be possible that I had bad luck and bought a bad PSU but what are the chances? I've had over 20 years' experience building my own systems so I'm no noob when it comes to PCs. I have no idea what to do now. I could check the PSU's voltages but I don't have a digital multimeter handy. Halp... Edited September 25, 2021 by Elson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Stoner Posted September 25, 2021 Share Posted September 25, 2021 I recently (last month) built a new desktop for a client. All new parts. It wouldn't power on and as it turned out the new power supply was defective. First new one I've come across but it happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elson Posted September 25, 2021 Author Share Posted September 25, 2021 5 minutes ago, Jack Stoner said: I recently (last month) built a new desktop for a client. All new parts. It wouldn't power on and as it turned out the new power supply was defective. First new one I've come across but it happened. How did you confirm that the new PSU was bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Stoner Posted September 25, 2021 Share Posted September 25, 2021 I tried the "paper clip" jumper and it wouldn't power up. Then used a known good power supply and it powered on and worked. The defective power supply was returned and replaced with a new one that worked properly. Replacing with a known good is the only sure way. The "power supply testers" only check for the presence of voltages but do not test under load. The power on with the jumper will tell if it will power on but again does not tell you if all the voltages are there. Reason I say only real way is to use a known good supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elson Posted September 25, 2021 Author Share Posted September 25, 2021 (edited) Wow, check this out. I passed by my DAW PC's tower case which had been sitting on top of my dining room table, and out of frustration, hit the power button. Guess what? IT POWERED ON!!!!! ??? I turned it off, turned it on again...still powered on, LED lights and everything! Then I moved it back to my studio, plugged all the cables in and... IT TURNED ON! EVERYTHING BOOTED UP! I had to reset my computer's date/time and go over my CMOS settings (most were on auto anyway)...but...my DAW computer is working again!!!!! All files intact! In fact, I'm typing on it right now! Dunno what happened, but it works now! Edited September 25, 2021 by Elson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurre Posted September 25, 2021 Share Posted September 25, 2021 Probably the mechanics of the pc's power on button. It happens sometimes because of oxidation or bad quality. Replace with a new one if it happens again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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