Motherboard has power but won't power on at all?


  1. dice1998
    Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       New #1

    Motherboard has power but PC won't power on at all?


    Hey guys, I just recently built a rig and thus began my first steps into overclocking (i never overclocked my previous rig).

    So about 2 hours ago, I was benchmarking grand theft auto IV when my GPU suddenly ramped up to max fan speed and I lost picture on the screen. My gpu is an EVGA Geforce GTX 670 FTW.

    So I rebooted the pc and it gave me the message as follows: "Please power down and connect PCI-E cables into this card" (or something like that). So I checked to see if there were any loose cables and there weren't! I even went as far as using some spare molex to PCI-E adaptors and still the message popped up. I tried a different PCI slot and still the message popped up.

    Here's where it gets interesting:
    So I decided to plug it back into it's original PCI slot and give it another shot. Plugged everything back in and made sure everything was snug. I flipped the switch on my PSU from "0" to "1" and the little LED light showing there was power to the board lit up like normal.

    I press the power button.

    Nothing! The case fans power up for less than half a second then nothing. My CPU fans don't even move at all! Loose cable maybe? I checked and there wasn't anything loose!

    So I contact a friend of mine (who referred me here) and went though some test to see if it was something minor. I tested the power supply using the paperclip trick and the fan came on. I took out the GPU and plugged my monitor into the iGPU. Same issue. So now i'm stumped and have no idea what to try next.

    I also checked for shorts (a loose screw maybe) and didn't see anything.
    I tried clearing the CMOS and switching to the secondary BIOS but i recieved the same issue.

    So here I am..I'm stumped and I really would marry the person who could help me with finding a solution to my gremlin!


    My PC specs:
    Intel Core i5 3570k (Costa Rica Batch)
    Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler
    Gigabyte GAZ77X-UD3H motherboard
    EVGA Geforce GTX 670 FTW
    8GB G Skill Ripjaws DDR3
    Corsair Nova SATA II SSD
    Ultra X4 600W Power Supply

    Just as a reminder from the TL;DR story: My motherboard receives power but when I press the power button (including the one on the motherboard itself), the fans spool up for less than half a second then stop. I'm not sure if that would count as a "It won't POST" situation or not.

    Right now, I'm testing the PC components on my old rig to see if they work on that one.
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  3. Alsisgevat
    Posts : 1,438
    64bit Windows 10
       New #2

    Firstly welcome to Seven Forums.

    Even though you did the paperclip trick,and the psu made your fans run,doesn't mean the psu is "working" For example,I have a separate psu that burnt something on it years ago, it works fine for powering up a pump,or running 2 fans, but anything more then that will show it has power,but wont turn on. Chances are good that you fried something in the psu,and it still gives enough power to show you its there,but wont boot anything up.

    A second scenario would be that the motherboards pci slot has been damages,however,ii you remove the gpu it should start up fin,if it doesn't,then we are back at the faulty psu.

    If you can,put the gpu in another rig with another psu,motherboard and so on,if it starts up then its not the gpu, do this with the motherboard too,but don't use any gpu,just use another psu,if it starts up,you need another psu, if it doesn't then your gonna have to look allot closer on the motherboard.

    I would suggest swapping the psu first,then test the rest. If it's the psu then at least it's an easy fix. Please report back after the test so we can take it from there.

    But the bad news is it sounds allot like a motherboard problem,more specific like the voltage regulator got fried, it happened to me once before,same symptoms of it being switched on for a second then never again, I hope it's in your case just the psu, but chances are better that it's the regulator on the motherboard
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  4. nostaw5
    Posts : 124
    Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       New #3

    you say it powers on for half a second? I would try this once it powers off again. flip the psu switch back to off for 30 seconds. then switch it on and try again.

    this happens to me sometimes.
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  6. dice1998
    Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    Sorry about never posting back in here.

    I discovered the issue was my own stupidity where I forgot to use the spacers supplied to me and thus there was a short through the motherboard touching the metal case.


    Stupid me. Apologies to everyone who posted in here trying to help me.
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  7. Dwarf
    Posts : 9,582
    Windows 8.1 Pro RTM x64
       New #5

    Good to see that you have managed to resolve the issue (even if the cause was self-inflicted and no doubt embarrassing).

    You will need to keep an eye on your system to ensure that no damage has been sustained through the inadvertent shorting of the motherboard.

    I've marked this as Solved, but if they reoccur we will need to look at other options.
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  8. billdacat
    Posts : 5
    W7 64 premium
       New #6

    dice1998 said:
    Sorry about never posting back in here.

    I discovered the issue was my own stupidity where I forgot to use the spacers supplied to me and thus there was a short through the motherboard touching the metal case.


    Stupid me. Apologies to everyone who posted in here trying to help me.
    You just gave me an idea...I have a system that won't POST. I had moved the MB into this stupid "HP Slim-line" case; I am thinking now that I must of lost a spacer under the MB in the process.
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  10. LewisHolcombe
    Posts : 62
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit OEM
       New #7

    Take all the wires out from the motherboard from the psu then plug them back in.
    Only use you boot drive this once.
    Use the onboard graphics.
    Unplug the optical drive.
    If this is a new card it may be you system psu cannot handle it.
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