Bad PSU or Motherboard?

[ryanandcasey]

One day my PC just stopped working. Now when I go to plug it in nothing turns on or works. How can I tell if it is the PSU or the motherboard? Thanks for the help.
Ryan

[Rob]

There are a lot of things that can cause a computer to act like it has no power. In your case it sounds like the computer was working fine and then one day it was dead, as opposed to building one from scratch and trying to get it to power on for the first time. I'm not sure what you mean by "plug it in". Do you plug/unplug in your computer from the wall socket regularly?

In any event, especially since the computer was working before, you should check the simple things like wall switches and the case switch on the back. It's also worthwhile double-checking the connections inside of the computer to make sure a power connection has not come loose. I mention checking for causes like this on my pc assembly pages on this page: http://www.mysuperpc.com/build/pc_first_boot_common_problems.shtml (http://www.mysuperpc.com/build/pc_first_boot_common_problems.shtml). I'd suggest giving this page a look as it may provide some other ideas on things you can try short of failed hardware.

If you're pretty sure it's a failed hardware component causing the problem then the power supply and motherboard are good suspects. If it were me then I would swap out the power supply with something plenty beefy. It's an easy upgrade and one that's worthwhile even if the problem turns out to be elsewhere.

Replacing the motherboard is a major upgrade. It's probably not something you should try yourself unless you feel pretty confident tinkering with your computer, take every precaution to preserve your hard drive (such as cloning it first - on another computer, obviously), and are prepared for the worst, such as pretty much rebuilding your computer from scratch and using the existing hard drive as a data hard drive in the new computer. If you think a new motherboard is needed, then consider paying a PC technician to have a look at it and confirm it's the problem.

[ryanandcasey]

Have no fear, after being a avid mysuperpc.com guy, and refering many friends to your site and am very confident in my abilities to install a new motherboard. (I have actually helped a few people do it as well....for a minimal cost of beer) I bought a new power supply last night so I'll keep everyone updated as to how it worked. I did however try installing a different power supply but it didn't have enough power to start the motherboard (was missing the 4-pin ATX +12V
Power Connector). But it did start up the fans which is more than I can say for the old PSU. I'll post again once I get the new PSU in.