I've been working on a project when suddenly my PC blacked out. All my peripherals turned off, but the case LEDs remained lit. After shutting down completely, it wouldn't power back on at all—no signs of life. I've diagnosed it to the motherboard, so I took it out and set it on a cardboard sheet with just the PSU, CPU, and RAM connected. Still, no error LEDs and no fan activity from the CPU. My older motherboard, RAM, and CPU work fine in the same cardboard setup and the full PC. The PSU readings are normal, but I can't test the CPU or RAM separately. I'm pretty sure the motherboard is the issue since I can't even get a light to show on it. I bought a new motherboard, but it has the same problem right out of the box—no lights, no fan. Am I just really unlucky and got a dead-on-arrival board? Is there something I'm doing that's causing damage? Or are my testing methods off and I should look for other issues? My current setup is a B650 GAMING X AX V2 with an R7 9700x and I ordered a B850 AORUS Elite WIFI7 as the new board. I also have some spare parts, including an ASRock Z390 Taichi and an i9 9700k.
5 Answers
Where did you purchase these boards?
You might want to consider switching to a different motherboard brand. Your luck reminds me of my own experience. I had to replace three MSI MPG x670e Carbon motherboards in three years. I finally switched to Asus, and I haven't had compatibility issues since with my RTX 5080!
I'll definitely check out different brands after I exchange this last board. Just want to be sure I'm not overlooking something before trying another.
Sounds like your power supply might be the issue. If you've managed to ruin two motherboards, it's worth investigating the PSU more closely since those other components usually don’t take everything with them when they fail.
Getting two dead motherboards is definitely unusual. You might just be having some bad luck, but I'd check your PSU for any weird spikes under load. It's also important to be careful about static electricity when you're handling the components. If your old setup works fine and the new boards are failing, it makes me think something specific to the newer platform could be at play here.
I agree! The newer parts do tend to draw more power, so if the PSU is spiking, that could be the root of the problems.
The motherboards might still be fine! The power supply does a check before sending power—if there's a problem, it might not provide any. The case fans running doesn't always mean the PSU is okay. If you have a multimeter, you can check the PSU's output and inspect for bulging capacitors which indicate potential failure.
I did check the PSU with a multimeter and it seems fine, but I'll take it to a shop to get the CPU checked too and ask them to look at the PSU just in case.
The first one came from Microcenter and the second one was from Amazon. I know Amazon isn’t the best source, but I needed something quick for my projects since I don't live close to a Microcenter anymore.