Hero Won't Power On

[jtsanabria]

I recently built the following:

i7-4770K
Hero board
16gb G. Skill Trident X 2400Mhz
840 Pro Series 256GB
Corsair AX860
EVGA GTX 770 Dual
WD Caviar Black 1TB (Rev 3)
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme
Cooler Master HAF XM case
etc

Today I was playing some BF4 and my pc shut down out of no where while I was running around in game. It completely killed the power and turned off. I tried to reboot, but nothing happen. When I opened the case, the Start and Reset switches were blinking. I reset the CMOS, I removed the gfx and tried onboard video, I changed my DRAM configurations just to see if that would help, I tried using the BIOS flash update in the rear I/O panel, and none of these options worked or even turned a light or fan on. After some time of trying new things, the Start button no longer flashes, but the Reset flashes very very dimly. I'm unsure as to really solve this problem - maybe my power supply went bad? I don't have another to test that, but what other options can I pursue?

[HiVizMan]

Looks like your PSU went.

A clear CMOS did nothing, so besides pulling all the hardware out of your system and testing each piece one by one I would suggest trying to borrow a working PSU and test.

[jtsanabria]

That's where I was thinking of starting as well. However, I don't have another PSU to test it with. Would you suggest the method of shorting the psu and then using a multimeter to check the voltage drop between different pin sets? I was going to use this pinout chart:

http://www.google.com/imgres?safe=off&sa=X&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbnid=d_kGrgmFW8QiFM:&imgrefur...

[jtsanabria]

Should I attempt to short the psu power on function and test different voltage drops between certain rails? I was going to use this pin out chart since I don't have a separate PSU to test it on:

http://www.google.com/imgres?safe=off&sa=X&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbnid=d_kGrgmFW8QiFM:&imgrefur...

[jtsanabria]

Spent some time with a multimeter yesterday to get values on both the 24pin cable and the 4+4pin cable. Both are supplying the proper voltage drops that they should be. Maybe a bad mobo then?

[HiVizMan]

If possible can you at least test with another PSU?

Or simply RMA the mother board and see how it goes.

[jtsanabria]

I will see if I can borrow a friends (probably gonna have to persuade them to take it outta there case/unhook their components lol) but i'm not sure. Either way, I could RMA the board if need be. I have another board I can test the PSU on to also test the PSU. It worked for like 6-8 hours and then stopped..why would this happen?

[HiVizMan]

If you can return the board with little hassle then do so, that is one variable out of the equation.

As to why, well there are many reasons that could cause sudden electronic death. Honestly there are just to many to list - but I think what you mean is can a PSU cause that kind of sudden stop. The answer is most definitely yes, it is the most common cause of hardware damage. Can I be sure it happened in your situation of course not, no way I can be certain at all.

[jtsanabria]

I will hopefully be replacing my current board with a brand new board on Friday. If it doesn't fix the issue, I'm not really sure what will. The psu has proper voltage drops so I'm ASSUMING it's properly functioning, but I will need to get a device (couple fans probably) to actually put a load on the psu in order to test it thoroughly. I'll try to install the new mobo outside of the case, on a wooden surface, to see if there's any issues there.
A few newer questions I If it occurs again:
Is there a way I can test if my water cooler is leaking or making some electrical connection it shouldnt be (besides visual checks)? Is there a telltale sign of leakage?
Will my board power on regardless of whether or not my cpu/ram/gfx card are working? For instance, if I do my test boot outside of the case and I ONLY use the motherboard and connect it to the 24pin and 4+4pin cables, will it turn on, or at least glow red like it does when properly working? Or should I install the cpu/cpu fan first?

Thanks for the help and I apologize for the barrage of questions. I'm just trying to troubleshoot while learning as I go.

[HiVizMan]

What I would do when your new board gets here is this.

CPU and Intel cooler.

One stick of ram.

No VGA for now.

Keyboard and mouse.

No hard drive


Power on, get your bios sorted and see that all your bits, CPU and memory, are working. And of course your PSU.

Just use the box the motherboard came in as a test bench. That is what most folks do.