did i fry my motherboard or power supply (or both)?

Question

It was working fine yesterday...Anways... I tried to plug the case usb ports (front) to motherboard and I must have had the acouple of wires mixed up because when i booted it up, it turned on for 10 seconds, turned off, and just never came back on. I unplugged the wires to make sure my pc was ok but it just didn't want to turn on. Now i'm stuck here hoping I can just replace my powersupply (only thing I have confirmed is Videocard and HDD still work). If anyone has any input i'd be glad to hear it... Thanks.

Answer 1

By doesnt turn on, I suppose you mean that it really doesnt turn on. Well first is first, (I've actually had people forget this and ask me what's wrong with the computer) is it plugged in and does the plug work? If yes then check the switch on the power supply. There should be two. 1 is like a push up and down switch that switches between 110V and 240V. Make sure it's one whatever you're using. U.S. is 110V standard. Then make sure the flip button with the I / O on it had the I down. I'm sorry if that made you feel stupid and was completely useless but people forget...


Okay if that doesnt work then tell me what happens. WHen you press the on button does the CPU fan spin for less than a revolution then stop again? Like every time you press the on button does it spin a little like VERY little like twitching kind of little when you press the on button? If if it does then it's probably your power supply. If not, it's probably not it.

You can actually test the power supply by unplugging the long plug that you plug into the mainboard and sticking a staple to short it into starting up. The two wires are black and green and are on the same side as the clip. In fact, the black wire should just be right of the clip. Be sure to plug some CD drive or hard drive into the 5V connectors to make sure that it starts up.

If the problem ISNT the power supply then check to make sure you have your power button plugged in properly. When playing with the front USB ports you could have knocked it loose or simply plugged the USB ports into where the on off switch should be because they look kinda similiar. So check your manual on that.

If that isnt the problem that unplug the computer and take out the battery and wait like 20 minutes. If you want instantaneous results, take a paperclip and short the clips of the battery. You should short it for like 5 seconds...

If all that doesnt work, it's beyond me.

Answer 2

I am going to guess that you have decent computer knowledge and that is why you are fiddling with your motherboard. The easiest way to resolve this is to remove every plug in device from your pci slots except for your video card. Now clear your CMOS at the clear CMOS jumper on your motherboard. Usually its pins 1 & 2 that hold your computers information for your CMOS and pins 2 & 3 that dumps it. To make sure it is completely clear remove your motherboards battery and power cord from the back of your computer. Give your computer about 1-2 minutes to clear everything out. Now put the CMOS pins back to 1 & 2, install the motherboards battery, plug in the power cord and now you are ready to trubbleshot. Put the PCI cards back in one at a time till you find the offender or bad card. It is possible that completely clearing your motherboards CMOS might fix your problem. Anyway, good luck.

Answer 3

I think it is unlikely that you have damaged the power supply but you may have damaged the mother board. They sometimes have tiny surface mounted fuses which will fuse if you have connected the +5 volt feed to the usb socket to chassis or earth. It is possible to replace the fuse if it exists but first I would try and fault find the problem with a volt meter.
The power supply, if it is axt type will not start up unless connected to motherboard. It requires a power good signal from the motherboard. if the +5 volts has gone missing due to fuse or safety protection resistor going open circuit it wont start up but if you try it on a known good motherboard it will receive its power good signal and work.

Answer 4

not straightforward to inform without seeing it. Motherboard, scent it, does it scent like it fried? Are any of the capacitors leaking on the mobo,(motherboard)? have they were given a brown liquid substance popping out everywhere, or are the tops pushing up, increasing the 'X's? basically because the PSU fan spins does no longer recommend that's sturdy. i have replaced many a plausible grant that did not have the 5+ volt rail operating. The 12+, and 12-, and 5-, 3+,3- did! Your 'puter received't hearth up without each of the most superb voltages. maximum complications come back to memory stick/s weren't seated, went undesirable, processor fan end,(processor burned up!), or the potential grant went undesirable. ninety% are the potential grant! (basically my 2cents!)

Answer 5

if u plugged the usb cable in wrong on the headers on the mobo, and boot it up it would be fine, unless u plug a usb device in the usb ports ie a usb fflash drive, that couldve short circuit ur motherboard. it happened to me once, but my mobo is fine, so guessing it is ur mobo at falut, plus check ur psu if it still work.

Answer 6

Resetting the bios is worth a shot. Look in your motherboard manual (or find online) the location of the 'Clear CMOS' jumper and use it.

Answer 7

It seems like you've diagnosed it correctly. It sounds like a motherboard or power supply problem. Power supplies are cheaper, so I would try replacing that first.

Answer 8

The first thing I would try is to reset the CMOS, if that's possible with your board. I would bet that the board is fried, though. Probably not your cpu or the psu, but I wouldn't want to bet on either.