Selfhosted @lemmy.world Dave @lemmy.nz 2d ago

My server won't turn on 🫤

I decided to clean out my CPU fan as it was clogged, when I assembled everything again it won't turn on 🙁

It's an old desktop PC. There are no lights glowing on the motherboard at all, though there is none specifically labelled "power". Just CPU, RAM, BOOT. None of these light up, not even a flash when it starts.

I have reseated the RAM, CPU, power cables. Removed the GPU to check.

The cord leading in to the PSU works but I don't have a way to test the PSU itself or the out cables, but I have reseated them at each end.

This PC was working fine before. But with no lights on the motherboard I suspect either the mobo or PSU?

Mobo is asrock x570 PSU is silverstone 650w strider gold S series

Any help appreciated!

Edit: I made a new post asking for hardware recommendations.

60 comments

If you had the thing apart I'd go and reset every connector, ram stick, and card before you decide it's broken
I'm leaning toward a short somewhere, since you said the PSU starts up with the paperclip but not when plugged in to the board.
- I bought a multimeter and tested the PSU, and it all seems fine. So pretty sure it's the motherboard or CPU.
  
  I'm using it as an excuse to do an upgrade, so will probably get a new mobo/CPU/RAM.
Does the power supply work
- Yip. Have tested the PSU with a multimeter and it's fine. Narrowed it down to the CPU or motherboard. I decided I'll just do a bit of an upgrade and get a new CPU, motherboard, RAM.
Did you use compressed air to clean out the fans?

It's possible to fry circuitry if you artificially rotate the fans too fast, as this generates an electric field more powerful than the fans and their attached components are rated for.

Probably rare to cause damage with modern computers but an old PC might be more susceptible to this type of damage.
- I joked the dust was what was keeping the PC running when this happened to me. But your explanation makes more sense. Dang
- Not compressed air from an air compressor, just the canned stuff. I don't think I spun any fans too fast. Plus the PC is only 5 years old.
  
  Compressed air can spin the fans fast enough to cause damage unfortunately.
You haven't followed the proper tech troubleshooting ritual:

Yell at it

Ask nicely

Blood sacrifice

Lament

Instigate violence (hit it)

Completely disassemble and rebuild it

It inexplicably works fine

( ◡̀_◡́)
- Is the PSU switch on
- Well I got up to step 6, not sure how to get to the next step...
  
  Addendum to step 7: if it doesn't work fine, go back to step 1.
Is the power switch on the PSU flipped on? Are the front panel wires seated in the right places on the motherboard?

Those are the two that get me when reassembling. I used to have an asrock 320m that had absolutely no grip on the front panel wires and it was easy to unseat one when blowing air into the case.
- I've flipped the PSU switch both positions, doesn't really work either way.
  
  I've reseated the case power switch cable but it didn't help. I also tried shorting with a screwdriver in case it was the switch, but nothing 🙁
  
  You mentioned a buzzing in another reply. That sounds like a grounding issue to me. Any chance you blew something under the board that is causing a short? At this point it would be wise to do a full tear down.
  
  I'm almost at my train stop, so one final question before disappearing for the day: when resocketing the CPU did you put it in correctly and was there damage when you removed it initially?
Have you tried turning it off and on ag- oh.

In all seriousness, maybe a blown capacitor of any kind? You describe the PC working fine 'before.' When was 'before?'
- There is no obvious damage on the motherboard, capacitors look fine.
  
  "Before" was immediately before I turned it off and opened it up to clean out the dust. It was being actively used as a server.
Have you tries unpluging it and plugging it in?
Did you maybe unseat the tiny power switch/activity led front panel cables?
- I've tried just directly shorting the power switch on the mobo to rule out issues with the case switch, but that didn't help.
  
  Well, reading this and the rest of this thread, I can't think of anything else. Since you ruled out pretty much everything else, I would now put my money on one of the parts shorted during cleaning.. anecdotally I've heard parts dying by shorting them with your fingers, but it never happened to me, so that would be pretty unlucky.
  
  Last time I did a cleaning of a particularly dusty system, a dustbunny flew in the PCI-e port without us noticing (it was dark and circumstances were not ideal). With the GPU Re-inserted, that was enough for the system to behave similarly to yours, but you re-seated everything so... That would eliminate this as a possibility.
  
  You could share a photo of the current situation, a top down of the mobo? Eliminate chances you are missing something by secondary means(as opposed to just text)?
Did you flip a power switch on the PSU at some point, perhaps? (Done that one a few times myself...)
- I've tried in both positions.
  
  Might sound weird but I can hear a quiet buzzing in the off position (O) and silence in the on position (1). But I don't have another to check what's normal.
  
  It's generally the reverse thing that happen you can hear the buzzing when on and not when off.. 😁
  
  Mind trying another power socket just to eliminate potential environment problems?
It's an old desktop PC

One (or more) of the electrolytic capacitors in your PSU has died.

Remove the power cord, wait for 2 hours, open the PSU and look carefully for the candidate(s) with the domed head. Healthy ones are perfectly flat on the head.

Order a new one and replace it.
- I did a paperclip test, PSU seems fine.
  
  What did you do?
  
  What did you expect?
  
  What did you observe?
One thing that was only mentioned briefly by someone else is the physical button turning on the computer.

Similar to the paperclip test figure out where the power button goes into the mainboardw and bridge that with a short cable. Is possible that by moving the case the old button lost a cable.

This is just one more thing to test though, it's really trial and error as you know :)
- One of the first things I tested 🙂. I'm almost ready to give up, buy a new mobo/CPU/RAM and then auction the old stuff off online for someone else to work out what does or doesn't work 😆
  
  How does everyone have spare parts to try, it seems almost every generation you have a new CPU socket and new RAM type so you can't use the old stuff!
  
  I'll probably be asking for hardware recommendations soon haha
  
  it seems almost every generation you have a new CPU socket and new RAM type
  
  I bought AMD, and I keep old computers around. Here's my progression so far:
  
  AM3 CPU as my desktop PC
  
  AM3+ CPU as SO's desktop PC
  
  AM4 CPU to replace 1 (OG Ryzen), 1 becomes NAS
  
  AM4 CPU to replace 2 (Ryzen 5000), 2 is hot spare
  
  AM4 CPU upgrade (Ryzen 5000) to replace 3, also got mobo to replace NAS
  
  So, if I needed to, I could:
  
  downgrade to AM3+ CPU, using DDR3 RAM from either build (or both)
  
  upgrade my or SO's computer to AM5 and reuse desktop for NAS
  
  For extra parts, I have:
  
  1 PSU
  
  1 GPU - GTX 960; GTX 750 Ti is in NAS
  
  2 CPU/mobo combos for AM3 and AM3+
  
  2 computer cases - one is trash though, I'll throw it out soon
  
  various cables and whatnot
  
  If I was doing this solo, I'd still have my old mobo and CPU, so I could at least downgrade to that.
If you got another psu then that would probably be the simplest way to verify if its the psu or not.
- I don't. No other desktop in the house, no spare parts 🙁
  
  It's dangerous and you can blew it if you don't know what are you doing but by shorting two specific pins, it's possible to turn on the PSU and see it it's working or not
  
  Did you use a vacuum on the fans and let them spin during the clean?
  
  I pulled a psu out of my rig over the weekend. I was just going to chuck it on Trademe for $1. Let me know if you need it, though shipping might take a few days.
Sounds like a PSU problem. Swap the power cord. If that doesn't work buy a PSU tester.
Another thing nobody mentioned is tension on CPU's cooler. It may be either not enough or too much.

If that's the case, some contacts may not connect properly to the CPU, and it won't be turning on.
test psu perhaps? if its a standard atx psu, then you can try this

https://www.wikihow.com/Check-a-Power-Supply
Could it be something like the power cord between your PSU and your motherboard isn't entirely plugged in? Even could be the metal connectors inside the pins could be dislodged? I know how much force you sometimes need to unplug/replug those

60 comments