Tech Guide: Diagnosing a PC which will not POST or Start
- Thread starter spirit
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Not sure if this has been mentioned in here but my PC wouldn't boot when I had a broken USB port where one or more of the 4 prongs inside of it were shorting against each other or the metal around the port. Prevented it from POSTing and no beeps. Straightening out the prongs and making sure they weren't touching anything fixed the problem. Might want to drop that in there. 
I can see that being a common problem as it was caused by the black plastic piece on the inside breaking out. Lots of people aren't very careful with their USB ports (myself included) so might be good to mention.
I can see that being a common problem as it was caused by the black plastic piece on the inside breaking out. Lots of people aren't very careful with their USB ports (myself included) so might be good to mention.
Not sure if this has been mentioned in here but my PC wouldn't boot when I had a broken USB port where one or more of the 4 prongs inside of it were shorting against each other or the metal around the port. Prevented it from POSTing and no beeps. Straightening out the prongs and making sure they weren't touching anything fixed the problem. Might want to drop that in there.
I can see that being a common problem as it was caused by the black plastic piece on the inside breaking out. Lots of people aren't very careful with their USB ports (myself included) so might be good to mention.
Thanks for the heads-up. I'll add it into the guide tomorrow. Thank you! :good:
Kawlos Ghroomez
New Member
Nice guide lad.
Another thing to consider is your CPU Fan. A couple of my pins broke and I thought no problem. Worked for about 4 months and must have sustained a knock and it would boot for 2 seconds and then kill out.
Thinking my computer was completely dead I didn't use it once for about 7 months and accepted defeat. Then I got bored and wanted to figure out the problem. Went back to the processor, thermal pasted it again, whacked it up and noticed a SLIGHT play with the CPU fan when I lifted the computer up. So I booted it on the floor with a finger pushing on the fan and there I had it.. Working fine.
Conclusion? Base plate of the fan wasn't sitting flush/tightly against the CPU which caused it to potentially overheat and shut down to prevent extra damage. The first boot (2 seconds) always lasted longer than any other (0.5 - 1 sec).
Couldn't find anything on the internet about this, so it's worth adding. I ended up buying a nice new and more effective CPU fan for about £28.
Another thing to consider is your CPU Fan. A couple of my pins broke and I thought no problem. Worked for about 4 months and must have sustained a knock and it would boot for 2 seconds and then kill out.
Thinking my computer was completely dead I didn't use it once for about 7 months and accepted defeat. Then I got bored and wanted to figure out the problem. Went back to the processor, thermal pasted it again, whacked it up and noticed a SLIGHT play with the CPU fan when I lifted the computer up. So I booted it on the floor with a finger pushing on the fan and there I had it.. Working fine.
Conclusion? Base plate of the fan wasn't sitting flush/tightly against the CPU which caused it to potentially overheat and shut down to prevent extra damage. The first boot (2 seconds) always lasted longer than any other (0.5 - 1 sec).
Couldn't find anything on the internet about this, so it's worth adding. I ended up buying a nice new and more effective CPU fan for about £28.
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