pc randomly stopped working | Linus Tech Tips | Page 1

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 4:43 PM

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I got out of bed today and went to turn on my pc when it didn’t post and neither the keyboard nor the mouse were turning on. Then when I tried to power it off it didn’t turn off so I turned off the psu. Then whenever i tried to turn it on it just turned on and off no post no nothing all the fans spun and lights turned on but other than that nothing happened

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 4:44 PM

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grave heron I got out of bed today and went to turn on my pc when it didn’t post and neither...

Need more details. What are your full system specs?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 4:45 PM

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cpu ryzen 5 4600g

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gpu Gtx 1650

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psu Corsair 450 cv

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ram Mancer Dantalion white 3200 mhz 8gb ddr4

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Mobo maxsun mATX MS challenger A520M

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also I tried switching the psu still the same problem

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and I reseated the ram

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 4:54 PM

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Start with basics first, clear your CMOS

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and then do a bare minimum setup for starting

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single stick of RAM, no graphics card

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Just mobo, cpu, ram and psu

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you can also approach this from the direction of RAM trouble shoot first

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 4:56 PM

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hm

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ok

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one sec

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 4:56 PM

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hollow helm you can also approach this from the direction of RAM trouble shoot first

which is one stick of RAM, test each stick and dimmslot individually

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 4:57 PM

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I did that

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 4:57 PM

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in that case do the other thing I mentioned

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:00 PM

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I cleared cmos nothing happened

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do I need to take out the gpu?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:00 PM

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Yes you do

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You need to set it up to be the bare minimum for boot

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:05 PM

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I did it it didn’t do anything

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does that mean it’s either my cpu mobo ram or psu?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:06 PM

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Well you already tried a different PSU so it's down to the base system

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You have two sticks of RAM correct?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:06 PM

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no

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one

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:06 PM

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Try removing it

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See if it boots with no RAM installed

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:06 PM

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would that work?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:06 PM

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It would turn on

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But it can't get into BIOS or anything

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I just want to see if it stops bootlooping if there's no RAM

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:08 PM

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nope same thing

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:08 PM

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Yeah so that basically brings us to either mobo or CPU

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:08 PM

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this isn’t the first time my pc has broken btw

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the other time my mobo died because of grounding

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:09 PM

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And most likely culprit is the mobo

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:09 PM

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and I replaced it

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like 2 months ago

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:09 PM

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Did you ever figure out the grounding issue?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:09 PM

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yes

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an electrician came to fix it

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and my pc case was shocking me before it was fixed

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:10 PM

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Honestly in your situation, I would try a new motherboard

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:11 PM

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grave heron and my pc case was shocking me before it was fixed

That would imply that some internal component was making contact with the case

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:11 PM

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It was the psu

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the bottom was shocking me with no grounding

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:11 PM

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Did you replace it?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:12 PM

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no because when the grounding was fixed the psu stopped shocking me

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:12 PM

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That's not...

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Bro

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:12 PM

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I did end up buying a new one tho

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the Corsair one is the new one

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then I switched out for the old one

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:13 PM

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Well you should've not done that

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:13 PM

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y

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How was I supposed to check the psu then

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:13 PM

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If the PSU you had earlier was actually faulty, you shouldn't have used it again

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:14 PM

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grave heron How was I supposed to check the psu then

By going out to a hardware store, buying a new PSU and returning it if it didn't solve your issue.

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Either that or by borrowing from another system.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:14 PM

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but why would the psu be faulty if the problem stopped after the grounding was fixed

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:14 PM

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No don't you understand

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:15 PM

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also I went to another outlet in my house and that one had proper grounding and the psu wasn’t shocking me

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:15 PM

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The fact that the computer was shocking you in the first place wasn't normal

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the grounding is there to protect you from getting shocked IF a component is running current into the computer case itself which would happen if something was shorting with the computer case itself

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The fact you didn't get shocked meant that the ground was protecting you, but what ever shocked you in the first place was still faulty inside the computer itself.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:16 PM

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also I didn’t know that the grounding was broken so I bought a Corsair psu and that shocked me so i figured out it was the grounding

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are both psus broken then

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:17 PM

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Nah, something is making contact with the case itself

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So either there's an extra stand off or an exposed wire inside the computer.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:18 PM

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is that why my mobo broke for the second time?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:18 PM

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I would say yes

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Because there was still a short inside the case even if you didn't get shocked.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:18 PM

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Wdym extra standoff

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:19 PM

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The thing you install the motherboard onto?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:19 PM

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there are 2 that aren’t being used

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under the mobo

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:19 PM

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See that's the issue

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You should've removed them

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That's the reason it's shorting and shocking you

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:19 PM

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but it isn’t anymore tho

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:19 PM

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and that's the reason why your motherboard broke again

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:20 PM

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bruh

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:20 PM

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Well you still installed the motherboard on top of two extra standoffs that shorted it

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If you short the motherboard, it won't matter if you remove them afterwards since the damage is already done

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bruh

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:22 PM

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grave heron but it isn’t anymore tho

The reason it's not shocking you anymore is because the computer is now grounded

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I already explained this to you

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Here's exactly what you need to do:

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Buy yourself a new motherboard.
Double check that there are no extra standoffs under the motherboard.
Reassemble the system and try again.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:23 PM

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alr thanks

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but do the standoffs have electrical current going through them?

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I thought they were there to support the motherboard

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:25 PM

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They're conductive

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And there's electricity going through the motherboard traces.

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You shorted the traces, that's what shocked you and killed the motherboard originally.

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You fixed the grounding, but the short was still there.

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Standoffs are only meant to be under the screw holes, since those areas have no traces.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:26 PM

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why aren’t there instructions to remove the extra ones

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also there is a second pc that has like 4 extra standoffs and it’s still working so should I remove those?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:27 PM

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grave heron also there is a second pc that has like 4 extra standoffs and it’s still working...

Are they under the mobo?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:27 PM

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no

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:27 PM

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grave heron no

Then there's no need

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:27 PM

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grave heron why aren’t there instructions to remove the extra ones

Because frankly it's common sense.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:27 PM

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wait the ones in my pc aren’t under the mobo

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they are below it

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as in

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I have a mATX motherboard and it came with atx format

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so there are 2 extra ones

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if I had an atx motherboard

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:28 PM

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Remove the motherboard and double check the stand off placement

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ATX standard can have stand offs in different places than mATX

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That's why it's important to always double check and remove extra stand offs

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:29 PM

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All 6 standoffs are in

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for my mobo

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:29 PM

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grave heron under the mobo

Also you literally said the stand offs are under the mobo here.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:30 PM

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yeah I didn’t mean under the mobo I meant lower than the mobo

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sorry

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:30 PM

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Well the fact that your PC shocked you means that there's a short inside the computer regardless.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:30 PM

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also when you said extra I thought you meant more standoffs than the ones I had

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so is there an exposed wire?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:32 PM

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grave heron also when you said extra I thought you meant more standoffs than the ones I had

Any stand off that is configured incorrectly is an extra stand off. You only want them to be placed under the screw holes of the mobo itself.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:32 PM

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hold on now I’m confused

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:32 PM

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grave heron so is there an exposed wire?

Either that or the stand offs are configured incorrectly.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:33 PM

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This is what it looks like

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:33 PM

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Your point?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:34 PM

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bottom half from behind

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Top half from behind

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are they configured correctly?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:35 PM

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I would pull the motherboard out to double check.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:36 PM

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do I need to re tighten them or something

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:36 PM

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Basically any metal on metal contact behind the mobo would cause a short.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:36 PM

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hold on lemme take it off

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:37 PM

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You want to double check that you have stand offs in these locations.

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If there's any extra standoff under the motherboard or anything else metallic, it must be removed.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:39 PM

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do rusty screws make a difference?

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there is a little rust on top of mine

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:41 PM

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In this situation? Not really.

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It's just kinda gross.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:41 PM

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I live next to the ocean so there is no stopping it

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This is what it looks like

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I don’t see any extra standoffs

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:42 PM

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Neither do I

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Now that the mobo is out of the system, set it up again

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Try booting it outside the case with a screw driver

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:43 PM

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ok

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do I put all parts back?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:44 PM

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Did you try booting it outside the case already?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:44 PM

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no

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:44 PM

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Also bare minimum.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:45 PM

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should I put in all parts or just the psu and cpu and mobo

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ok

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does that mean ram too or just this

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:45 PM

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Try with the ram first.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:46 PM

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where do I put the screwdriver again

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:46 PM

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Use the screwdriver to cross the powerbutton pins on the motherboard

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:47 PM

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Do I hold them

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or just touch

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:47 PM

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Might have to hold

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:48 PM

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looks like the same thing happens

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:48 PM

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the contact isn't as good with the screwdriver

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:48 PM

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grave heron looks like the same thing happens

Well that's all there is to it then

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:48 PM

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I hold it for a bit then stop the fans keep spinning for a bit then it stops

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:48 PM

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The motherboard is dead.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:49 PM

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but why though I don’t want to buy a new one and it breaks in 2 months

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:49 PM

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I would have to fall back to the computer case itself.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:49 PM

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I replaced the case too btw

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I used to have a small one and now I have a bigger one

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:50 PM

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But was this the computer case that shocked you?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:50 PM

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no

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the other one

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but the psu was the source of the shocking because I tested it alone and when I touched the bottom I got shocked

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but when the grounding was fixed it didn’t

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:51 PM

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So that means the short was inside the old PSU.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:51 PM

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and the new one also was shocking before the grounding was fixed

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I never tested the old one alone tho

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*new

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:51 PM

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It shouldn't have done that though.

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That's not normal, even on an ungrounded outlet.

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The PSU shoudln't shock you.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:52 PM

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so both are broken?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:52 PM

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It honestly seems like that's the case :I

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:52 PM

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how do I even test it though

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unground my outlet?

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lol

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:53 PM

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Nah

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:53 PM

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so I should just get a new psu and hope it isn’t broken

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and a mobo

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:54 PM

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I actually think you should buy only a PSU first, is there a place near by you could visit?

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:55 PM

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no where I live the best is online

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:55 PM

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Hmm... Well shoot.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:55 PM

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but why only a psu

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:55 PM

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Well I said that since I would've wanted to rule out PSU being the culprit behind all of this.

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But if there's no place nearby, you're better off buying both a new mobo and psu.

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And get a good quality PSU.

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No cheapo Corsair units.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:56 PM

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I thought Corsair is quality

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:56 PM

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You can't just look at a brand.

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Because proper brands also make terrible PSUs.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:57 PM

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I looked at the one I got and people said it was good

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they said it was “best budget psu”

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:58 PM

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grave heron I looked at the one I got and people said it was good

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It's a Tier D unit.

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So no, it definitely is not a good unit.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 5:58 PM

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dang

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well if i was making an igpu build should I use it?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 5:59 PM

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I still would recommend against it

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Here, let me give you the link

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https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

Cultists Network

Juular

PSU Tier List rev. 17.0g - Cultists Network

PSU Tier List will help you to choose the best PSU out of hundreds of models on the market. From budget to the highest end Power Supplies.

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This thing has all the units listed on tier basis

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Good units are ranked in A or B tier

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C tier is passable, but everything below that is basically e waste

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 6:00 PM

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but I am building an igpu build and I was planning to use the old one

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 6:00 PM

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grave heron but I am building an igpu build and I was planning to use the old one

And as I stated before, if you know the unit to be faulty you should never use it.

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My typical recommendation for a good unit on a budget is Seasonic B12

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Get a good PSU, a new motherboard and rebuild the system with those.

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If you really want to you can also try the old mobo with the new PSU to see if that actually solves your issue. If that's the case, you can return the new mobo.

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Not much else to it.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 6:06 PM

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alr

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I will try that I guess

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 6:07 PM

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Yeah, for now I'll say this thread is solved.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 9:30 PM

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I just thought of something, is it possible that reseating my cpu could fix the problem?

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 9:33 PM

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You can try, but I wouldn't do it before replacing the PSU.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 9:35 PM

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also I find it hard to believe that 2 psus would be faulty in a row and break my motherboard

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am I just that unlucky?

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I normally don’t like doing the exact same thing to fix a problem twice after it doesn’t work the first time

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 9:36 PM

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Well you cheaped out on the PSU, which makes it all the more likely that it was faulty to begin with.

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I've used ungrounded PSUs before and I can confirm that they don't just shock you out of nowhere.

grave heron Sep 30, 2023, 9:39 PM

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but on the tier list it said “only for igpu builds”

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does that mean that if I didn’t have a gpu it wouldn’t break or if it does break I won’t lose a gpu

hollow helm Sep 30, 2023, 9:41 PM

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Look. I don't want to go back and forth with you about this, you know what my recommendation is and you know what I've said so far.

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If you want to do something that I don't recommend, I can't stop you.

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But I shouldn't have to deal with this.

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 10:52 AM

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hollow helm Honestly in your situation, I would try a new motherboard

i would ask him to get his psu checked.. his psu may supply spikes o f power,leading to mobo failure

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oh he used the old psu again

hollow helm Oct 1, 2023, 10:53 AM

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stoic rover i would ask him to get his psu checked.. his psu may supply spikes o f power,lea...

Thanks for the input but we've already reached a conclusion to get another PSU as well.

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 10:53 AM

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never use the old psu's
that's dangerous too

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 10:53 AM

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hollow helm Thanks for the input but we've already reached a conclusion to get another PSU a...

ah

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ok

hollow helm Oct 1, 2023, 10:53 AM

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stoic rover never use the old psu's that's dangerous too

Which I've also told them

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 10:53 AM

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just begun reading

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lol

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 10:54 AM

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hollow helm Which I've also told them

ok.. any further developments

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is the mobo dead due the psu?

hollow helm Oct 1, 2023, 10:54 AM

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if you have nothing to add, don't ping me

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 10:55 AM

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grave heron but on the tier list it said “only for igpu builds”

in the sense it has no power headroom, may not handle dedicated gpu's
get one with larger powerlimits

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ah really sorry

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 11:22 AM

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stoic rover in the sense it has no power headroom, may not handle dedicated gpu's get one wi...

can I still use it with an igpu?

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 11:23 AM

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grave heron can I still use it with an igpu?

is ur mobo an amd?

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or intel

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 11:23 AM

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AMD

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 11:23 AM

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it shud run

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unplug ur gpu

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 11:23 AM

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also the psu is 450 watts and that’s more than I need

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 11:23 AM

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but may not be stable

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 11:23 AM

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it doesn’t

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the mobo is dead

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 11:23 AM

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grave heron also the psu is 450 watts and that’s more than I need

which one is it

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 11:24 AM

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both are 450

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the new one is Corsair cv 450

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 11:24 AM

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what gpu u running again

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 11:24 AM

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Gtx 1650

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 11:25 AM

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mobo?

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 11:25 AM

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Mobo maxsun mATX MS challenger A520M

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but I already tried with only the mobo, psu, and cpu the same problem happened

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it turns on for a bit then turns off

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no display none of the peripherals turn on

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 11:27 AM

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ur mobo has powersurge and such protection

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not ur mobo, unless those componenets are damaged

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hoping this system of the mobo isn't damaged

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or shorted out

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 11:29 AM

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idk

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my mobo is def dead, but I need to know what caused it to die

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someone told me the psu is faulty so I’m going with that right now

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it has happened twice in a row now tho

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 11:31 AM

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yeah i think mobo dead and

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psu u need to check

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 11:32 AM

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Might just buy a new one

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It was shocking me

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Before grounding was fixed

hollow helm Oct 1, 2023, 12:18 PM

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stoic rover psu u need to check

I'm going to repeat what I've said earlier in a nutshell since seemingly there's some confusion.

The usual tests have been done and motherboard appears to be the main culprit as to why the system isn't working which is why it's being replaced.
The PSU is also being replaced since it was shocking OP earlier, even if the ground in an outlet is bad the PSU shouldn't be able to shock you. This would imply that both units had internal issues.

Conclusion:
Replace the PSU as well as the motherboard. Since the PSU appears to be faulty I recommend against trying to use it again as it may damage the components further.

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 12:26 PM

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but with the new psu how would I know if it is defective or not if my outlet is grounded now and not letting it shock me?

hollow helm Oct 1, 2023, 12:29 PM

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grave heron but with the new psu how would I know if it is defective or not if my outlet is ...

You would use hwinfo to check the voltage readings, if the readings are off it means that the unit is defective. PSU issues have a habit of presenting themselves as inconsistent issues with the system itself such as weird instability, random errors with seemingly no logic even after diagnosing driver issues, sudden shutdowns... Etc. Etc.

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Let's just say that if you buy a good quality unit, the likely hood that it's defective out of the box is very slim. In your case it does honestly seem like you just had bad luck.

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 12:42 PM

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hollow helm I'm going to repeat what I've said earlier in a nutshell since seemingly there's...

yep got it👍

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 12:56 PM

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I’m looking at a psu it’s the Corsair CX 550 F

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on the tier list it’s high and it looks good so ima get that one

stoic rover Oct 1, 2023, 1:08 PM

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actually before u do that, you might wanna check power leaking to the case

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mobo and psu i think ded

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both i suppose

hollow helm Oct 1, 2023, 1:20 PM

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grave heron I’m looking at a psu it’s the Corsair CX 550 F

Tier B, sounds good

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 2:51 PM

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stoic rover actually before u do that, you might wanna check power leaking to the case

wdym

hollow helm Oct 1, 2023, 3:08 PM

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grave heron wdym

Idek. We've already tracked down the souce of the short to be the PSU which is now getting replaced along with the broken motherboard. Apparently they missed the part where we already ruled out the computer case shorting with components. Or maybe they just didn't feel like reading the thread.

grave heron Oct 1, 2023, 6:20 PM

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hmmm

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after reseating the cpu then turning on the psu then it immediately turned on, kept spinning then I turned it off and now when I turn it on it doesn’t seem to respond to the screwdriver touching both power pins anymore

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it just randomly spins a bit and keeps doing that

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did I break my cpu by reseating it 😭

hollow helm Oct 1, 2023, 6:23 PM

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You honestly shouldn't have even done that, especially when I've explicitly told you not to use that PSU since it's faulty.

#pc randomly stopped working