Power issue? Please help.

[Cocofly]

Hi everyone, hopefully someone can help me here.

Firstly I am by no means an expert on Pc’s, what happens inside the unit is a mystery to me.

Here’s my problem.

I haven’t been able to use my tower unit for 2 years having been overseas and only just able to return home. When I switch it on it lights up inside, one of the fans on the back was happily spinning but nothing else happened. My 2 monitors did nothing, mouse and keyboard didn’t light up. I’ve checked both monitors on a different system and they are both ok. My mouse works perfectly with my laptop but unsure about the keyboard.
I’ve unplugged everything set it all back up and still is seems as if the pc is not booting up. I didn’t hear any beeps or other noises, apart from the system whirring away after I switch it on.

Looking around on the internet I think it could be a power unit issue but I just don’t know. Any help someone could give me would be really appreciated.

Some of my specs are: Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache, - ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE, - 8GB HyperX FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB) - 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 770 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP, - CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET, - IIYAMA E2473HS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080, - COOLERMASTER CM690 III ADVANCED CASE. - 120GB HyperX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (up to 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW), - 1TB WD BLACK 3.5" WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm), - CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler.

[Bruce]

being stored for that amount of time, you’d be guessing vermin or oxidisation.
vermin as in bugs, geckos, cockroaches etc, laying eggs, eating cables, urinating - that sort of thing.
and oxidisation as in the GPU and RAM contacts with the motherboard.

the oxidisation is my first bet - remove the memory and graphics card and with a soft bristled brush, wipe their circuitry, and the motherboard slots they go into and wipe with your fingers the contact points on each component.
reinsert and see if that helps.

while the cover is off, blow out any dust buildup and check all the cables.
check for any bulging or leaking capacitors.

[Cocofly]

being stored for that amount of time, you’d be guessing vermin or oxidisation.
vermin as in bugs, geckos, cockroaches etc, laying eggs, eating cables, urinating - that sort of thing.
and oxidisation as in the GPU and RAM contacts with the motherboard.

the oxidisation is my first bet - remove the memory and graphics card and with a soft bristled brush, wipe their circuitry, and the motherboard slots they go into and wipe with your fingers the contact points on each component.
reinsert and see if that helps.

while the cover is off, blow out any dust buildup and check all the cables.
check for any bulging or leaking capacitors.

Thanks, I’ll try your suggestions. I should also tell you my pc is 7 years old.

[Cocofly]

being stored for that amount of time, you’d be guessing vermin or oxidisation.
vermin as in bugs, geckos, cockroaches etc, laying eggs, eating cables, urinating - that sort of thing.
and oxidisation as in the GPU and RAM contacts with the motherboard.

the oxidisation is my first bet - remove the memory and graphics card and with a soft bristled brush, wipe their circuitry, and the motherboard slots they go into and wipe with your fingers the contact points on each component.
reinsert and see if that helps.

while the cover is off, blow out any dust buildup and check all the cables.
check for any bulging or leaking capacitors.

I’ve done as you said, removed the memory and graphics card and cleaned everything. All cables appear to me to be connected properly and i can’t see any bulging or leaking capacitors.

Any further advice would be welcome.

[Bruce]

you don;t hear any beeps now during boot up… do you ever notice beeps when it was working?
one single beep is normal.
that mobo doesn’t have a speaker inbuilt I believe, so unless you see one of those small black circle plastic jobs (usually connected in the bootom right of the mobo to the header labelled SPKR), your PC won’t beep.

getting one of them connected will highlight the potential error based on the number of beeps.
no beeps (with a speaker connected) will indicate a hardware failure or the mobo isn’t getting power.

7 year old rig that’s been moth balled for 2 years - could be a number of things.
power supply, or memory or motherboard.
first surge of power after the long storage may have fried something.
may be critters nested and raised a family inside the power supply, who knows.

if you deem the rig worth it, may be time to take it to someone for some testing if you don;t have ready access to some other components for testing purposes, like a power supply for starters.

[Cocofly]

you don;t hear any beeps now during boot up… do you ever notice beeps when it was working?
one single beep is normal.
that mobo doesn’t have a speaker inbuilt I believe, so unless you see one of those small black circle plastic jobs (usually connected in the bootom right of the mobo to the header labelled SPKR), your PC won’t beep.

getting one of them connected will highlight the potential error based on the number of beeps.
no beeps (with a speaker connected) will indicate a hardware failure or the mobo isn’t getting power.

7 year old rig that’s been moth balled for 2 years - could be a number of things.
power supply, or memory or motherboard.
first surge of power after the long storage may have fried something.
may be critters nested and raised a family inside the power supply, who knows.

if you deem the rig worth it, may be time to take it to someone for some testing if you don;t have ready access to some other components for testing purposes, like a power supply for starters.

I have a Creative Sound Blaster Z 5.1 PCI-E Soundcard installed. After I cleaned everything I heard a kind of really soft beep, not the usual sharp beep I can remember hearing when starting up last time it worked.

[phillpower2]

I have a Creative Sound Blaster Z 5.1 PCI-E Soundcard installed.

Physically remove this from the MB along with the add on video card then connect just the one of your screens to the appropriate video port on the MB, reassemble, power up then post back and let us know if there was any change.

In addition to the above, the PC having not been used for a couple of years the CR2032 CMOS battery will need replacing, see attachment below;

[Cocofly]

Physically remove this from the MB along with the add on video card then connect just the one of your screens to the appropriate video port on the MB, reassemble, power up then post back and let us know if there was any change.

In addition to the above, the PC having not been used for a couple of years the CR2032 CMOS battery will need replacing, see attachment below;

When you say reassemble, do you mean put everything back (soundcard & video card) or just power?

With just the power back I get 2 soft beeps then the usual nothing.

[phillpower2]

Power cord, the side of the case and the keyboard, the side of the case is for safety reasons and the word reassemble only used to save me having to type this :LOL:

[Cocofly]

Power cord, the side of the case and the keyboard, the side of the case is for safety reasons and the word reassemble only used to save me having to type this :LOL:

Ok, 2 beeps no power to keyboard and nothing to monitor.

The only thing I can’t do as suggested is change the CMOS.

[phillpower2]

Depending on the brand of BIOS two beeps can either mean bad RAM or that an item of hardware has failed the power on self test (POST) the keyboard not working is a strong contender as causing POST to fail.

My mouse works perfectly with my laptop but unsure about the keyboard.

The wired PS/2 type keyboard are best when troubleshooting as the USB type will not work if the USB ports are not working for some reason.

Is the keyboard the USB type, battery powered, wireless etc.

You will need to swap in a new CMOS battery, some boards will not POST when the CMOS battery is dead and some will throw a boot device error, if not aware already, the CMOS battery is what powers the BIOS chips which in turn stores the hardware and boot order settings.

Can I ask that you do not quote every reply as we have to read the full post to make sure nothing gets missed, thanks.

[Cocofly]

It’s a USB keyboard.

I’ll order a new CMOS battery and try that. Do I need to get a specific one for my Asus board?

[phillpower2]

But does the Kb have batteries and/or a wireless receiver that plugs into a USB port.

[Cocofly]

It’s a full wired USB, no batteries or wireless receiver. CM Storm Devastator.

[phillpower2]

Good, that means that you can test it on your notebook, just plug it into a USB port on the notebook and see if you get a new hardware detected notification and can then open a document etc.

Just read up on the Kb, it says that you need to press the Scroll Lock button to get the backlight to come on, have you been doing this during your testing, this just to see if there is power getting to the USB port/s.