this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2024
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My server won't turn on 🫀 (lemmy.nz)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Dave@lemmy.nz to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
69 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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

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.

Edit 2: I managed to get a light on the motherboard, going to buy some more thermal paste and keep tinkering to see if I can get it started!

Edit 3: I never got that light to go again. In the end the comments on the other post convinced me that I had all that I needed for what I wanted (no upgrade needed), so I changed tack to seeing how to fix it. I had suspicions about the power connection still, so I bought a cheap PSU and tested it, no change. Then I bought a new motherboard (also a pretty cheap one, the cheapest that had what I needed and was also in a local store) and in the end that was the issue. Everything is up and running again now! Thanks for all the help everyone, you can now settle your bets.

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[–] brownmustardminion@lemmy.ml 21 points 6 days ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Marleyinoc@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago

I joked the dust was what was keeping the PC running when this happened to me. But your explanation makes more sense. Dang

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] brownmustardminion@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Compressed air can spin the fans fast enough to cause damage unfortunately.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 6 days ago

Probably not this one. I was a little disappointed with how little airflow this can gives me. In any case, I don't think I spun any CPU fans around much at all.

[–] ShankShill@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 5 days ago

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.

[–] runiq@feddit.org 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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?'

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 6 days ago

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.

[–] DragonsInARoom@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

Have you tries unpluging it and plugging it in?

[–] Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Did you maybe unseat the tiny power switch/activity led front panel cables?

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

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)?

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Sure thing, here's a photo:

top down photo of motherboard

It's sitting inside the case but not installed, no cables connected, Edit: ~~RAM is out.~~ RAM is right there in the photo πŸ˜… . I left CPU in because I don't want to have to do that one yet again πŸ˜†

This photo makes it look quite dusty haha, but this is after cleaning!

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Does the power supply work

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 6 days ago

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.

[–] Scipitie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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 :)

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

One of the first things I tested πŸ™‚. 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 πŸ˜†

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

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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:

  1. AM3 CPU as my desktop PC
  2. AM3+ CPU as SO's desktop PC
  3. AM4 CPU to replace 1 (OG Ryzen), 1 becomes NAS
  4. AM4 CPU to replace 2 (Ryzen 5000), 2 is hot spare
  5. 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.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I think your advantage is needing two machines. Then you can swap stuff between them to test as well.

I gave away my previous build in whole and built a new one. No spare parts πŸ™. And my SO and I are generally using laptops day to day, no need for more desktop machines and can't swap pieces between laptop and desktop.

I don't think having an old mobo/CPU would help anyway, I'm pretty sure one of the two is broken and swapping both out won't help work out which one.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Sure, but even without a P2, reusing the old PC when upgrading was the main thing. I haven't actually used my SO's computer for anything yet, it's just a hot spare should I need anything.

I honestly can't use a laptop as my main machine because I (and my SO) play games, and using a laptop would mean a lot more frequent upgrades. I have a laptop, but it doesn't need very high specs since it's just for trips (mostly videos and web browsing). My laptop is ~6 years old and still does everything I need it to, whereas I upgraded my desktop three times in 7 years (CPU twice and GPU once).

If you had an old mobo and CPU, you could downgrade and keep the NAS running until you had a replacement. I upgraded my NAS because I already had the hardware and wanted better power efficiency, so I could totally go back if I needed to. In my case, I'd downgrade until I upgraded my desktop, then re-upgrade my NAS. I'd probably use my SO's old machine, but it works with any spare PC.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I don't do a lot of gaming these days. When I played Baldur's Gate 3, once I got to Act 3 I switched to streaming from the desktop to the laptop using the Steam function as my laptop couldn't handle it. I also don't do upgrades as frequently as you.

If you had an old mobo and CPU, you could downgrade and keep the NAS running until you had a replacement.

Good point, I didn't think of that.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't do upgrades very often either. Here's my rough history:

  1. Phenom II full PC (no GPU)
  2. GTX 750 Ti - wanted to play games
  3. GTX 960 - SO needed a PC but didn't play games, so I upgraded mine
  4. Ryzen 1700 + mobo + RAM + nvme drive - CPU was severely lagging - 1 became NAS
  5. RX 6650, Ryzen 5600 + mobo + case - GPU was lagging and the 1700 couldn't sleep (CPU fault), so I figured it was time to upgrade; 4 became NAS

I'm still using 5 today, so in 10-15 years, I had 3 GPUs (gave 2 to SO when I got 3), 3 CPUs, and 3 mobos, and I only upgraded the mobo in 5 because I wanted to reuse my 1700 in my NAS. My NAS currently has 2 & 4, and 1 & 3 is a hot spare if anything dies.

In that time, I've had 3 laptops:

  1. HP POS for school (forget the model)
  2. Thinkpad T440 - 2013 - HP fell apart
  3. Thinkpad E495 - T440 died from water damage

1 & 2 are e-waste and cannot be reused.

If you don't count my SO's devices, I think I've spent about the same on laptops as desktops, and my laptops have been very budget devices (no dGPU), whereas my desktops have been pretty midrange and I've been able to play whatever I want.

I'm thinking of giving my kids a PC, and if I do, it'll be my SO's old PC. If I do, 3/4 of our PCs over the past 15 years will still be in use vs 1/4 of our laptops (SO had a laptop that died before I built the first). That's a pretty good track record IMO.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I use a laptop most of the time because then I can sit in a recliner with my feet up. I spend the day at a desk I don't much fancy doing the same in the evening.

I have a Framework laptop from the first ones they made, which are upgradeable and repairable. Unfortunately they don't ship to NZ, I got mine by freight forwarding and also got parts a bit later the same way. But now they have cracked down hard on freight forwarding as I recently learned, so I can't get any more upgrades until they start shipping here (no announced plans).

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That sucks about freight forwarding.

I'm considering getting a Framework for my next laptop as well. But my current laptop works well enough, so I'm in no hurry. If they offered a Trackpoint option or at least put physical mouse buttons above the trackpad, I wouldn't have any hesitation because I love that on my Thinkpad.

But honestly, I use my laptop a few times/year, other than my kids playing Minecraft on it (hence wanting to get them a computer of their own). Most of my gaming is on my Steam Deck or Switch, so I only really use the laptop when we travel or if we have guests over and I need to get something done when everyone is watching a movie or something, and a lot of the time I'll use my work laptop instead since my kids often use both my desktop and laptop.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah they only have the one trackpad option. I tend to use a mouse anyway.

Probably not much point in getting one if you're going to build your kids a PC anyway.

By the way I managed to get a light on the motherboard, so it might not be dead after all. I'm planning to get some more thermal paste today and keep tinkering, I might save it yet.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Good luck!

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 days ago

The luck didn't help haha, I never got that light again, except for occasional split second flashes. I edited some info into the original post, but long story short, after lots of fluffing around in the end it was the motherboard. I got a new one and now I'm back up and running!

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