Hey everyone, I recently repasted my CPU and reinstalled the AIO cooler. However, now my PC won't turn on at all. I unmounted the AIO, cleaned everything, and applied fresh thermal paste before reseating the cooler. The cooler was previously secured by just three screws, which made a lot of noise and caused high temperatures, so I wanted to fix that.
After putting everything back together, pressing the power button or shorting the power pins hasn't worked. The only sign of life is that the idle LEDs light up as they should, but that's about it. I did scratch a bit of the screw hole for the CPU fan, but I checked for continuity, and it seems fine.
Right now, I've stripped the PC down to the bare essentials outside the case, but I'm still getting nothing. The ps_on voltage is at 4.6v when connected to the motherboard, but it doesn't drop to 0 when I try shorting the power pins.
Any advice? Should I try manually shorting the ps_on, or do you think I need to wait for the new motherboard? Thanks for your help!
2 Answers
First off, double-check that the CPU is seated properly in its socket. Sometimes when you take off the heatsink, it can lift the CPU slightly. Also, while it's hard to see in the blurry pic you shared, if there is trace damage near the screw hole, it might be affecting the motherboard.
If you can, try resetting the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery for a bit. Ensure your power supply is turned on and all power connections to the motherboard are secure. Good luck!
One other thing to consider is if the power supply is possibly at fault. Make sure it's providing enough power and that it’s functioning correctly. If you have a spare PSU, it might be worth trying that to rule it out. And yeah, if you're really stuck, shorting the power-on signal can sometimes help - just be careful!
I’ll check the PSU next! Thanks for the tip about shorting the power-on signal. I might give that a shot if nothing else works.
I've made sure the CPU is seated correctly and have reset the CMOS a ton of times. The PSU is definitely on since the LEDs light up. I’m going to keep checking the connections to be safe.