PC won't turn on

It’s taken an unusually long time for this PC to complete its POST over the last ten days.
As of this morning, it won't boot at all; the front panel light is just blinking, and there isn't a single POST beep to be heard.
My first move was to strip everything down—disks, RAM, GPU...
When I power it on, the CPU fan spins up.
I was expecting those long, drawn-out beeps indicating a memory error, but nothing. If I listen really closely, I can catch these incredibly faint, short chirps (if they even qualify as beeps).
The POST beeps used to be much louder when the system was actually functioning.
Those quiet little chirps are still audible even when the RAM is reinstalled.

What's the most likely culprit here (CPU, motherboard, or PSU)?
The motherboard and CPU are about four years old, though I did swap out the power supply six months ago.

Start with the obvious stuff... swap out the CMOS battery on the motherboard and grab a different PSU just to rule it out. You should also double-check all those tiny little front panel connectors—power button, reset, speaker, all that jazz—to make sure nothing's loose. What kind of specs are we actually looking at here, and what power supply are you running right now?

Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 1860MHz
DDR2 800 MHz x 2
ASUS P5B-E PLUS
The PSU is an EVGA CX series.

I've checked the connectors and they seem fine. Those "weird" beeps occur whether the speaker is plugged in or not.
The PC won't even shut down when I hold the power button down...
It feels to me like the motherboard has finally given up the ghost, though I'd appreciate a second opinion from someone more experienced.

What are the actual symptoms when a motherboard battery dies?

So, you're having trouble getting this thing to boot—what you're describing sounds like the fans are spinning up just fine, but you aren't getting a POST. You’re stuck staring at that BIOS checksum error screen, unable to move past the initial startup, and the system clock keeps resetting itself in the BIOS... honestly, just try swapping out the CMOS battery first. It's a total long shot, but it's basically $3.25, and if that happens to be the culprit, it won't cost you anything to fix. Also, there's a chance your motherboard has an onboard speaker, which would explain where those beeps are coming from—if that's the case, it shouldn't matter whether you have a separate speaker plugged into that tiny header or not. Is the speaker connector actually attached to the case along with the rest of the front panel wires, or are you using one of those standalone little buzzers?

The speaker connector is attached to the housing.
I suppose I’ll try swapping out the battery, though I have no idea where one even finds those around here...

Honestly, you can find these at any local tech shop, a dedicated battery outlet, or even most jewelry stores—they usually carry them too. Just a bit of advice: bring the old battery with you to be safe.

Given how old this PC is and based on the symptoms you're describing, you're likely looking at a failure in the motherboard's power delivery system.

Take a close look at the capacitors surrounding the CPU. If they don't look healthy—specifically if they appear swollen or bulged out like the one in this photo—you've found your culprit.



The capacitors have probably degraded, leading to poor voltage stabilization.
This can be fixed by having the capacitors replaced at a repair shop, or you can do it yourself if you're skilled enough and have the right soldering equipment.
It is vital to source high-quality replacement capacitors with the exact same ratings.

Maybe dial back the service advertisements a bit next time.

Benjamin King2

Maybe dial back the service promotion a bit in the future.

Benjamin King2

No hard feelings, @Benjamin King2, just once all the other "ads" and similar links disappear from this forum too.

Front: http://www.links....
Top x2: http://www.links......
Check it out, HAF 932 is currently on sale at Best Buy...

Believe it or not, this service is one of those rare shops that actually fixes things instead of just pushing you to buy something new. Every piece of advice I give comes from a good place, and the whole issue with motherboards and crappy capacitors is a well-documented problem. This service only sources and uses top-tier capacitors that you can't find in local US stores, and we guarantee they'll last at least 5X longer when we swap them out. We've been dealing with these specific repairs for years, and unfortunately, people constantly toss their gear and buy replacements because the repair costs about $50.

I reacted to that "subtle" link because your advice was sending people down the wrong path by suggesting they go buy a battery—just wasting Donna Martin4's time.

And that's not true; saying "some" shops would be better is an understatement....

Any computer hardware store, battery shop, or even a jeweler should have them... best to just bring the old battery with you.

Donna Martin4 didn't even ask for a repair shop address—look, if someone asks where they can take their PC to get it fixed, feel free to drop a link. I’ve got nothing against that specific shop, it’s just that you seem to be dropping a link to them in basically every single post you make.

Regarding those "ads" you're accusing me of—I don't work for Best Buy, so I'm obviously not out here shilling for them. If someone asks where to pick up a specific component, of course I'm going to provide a link to the store selling it; that isn't advertising, it's being helpful. And hey, if someone asks for a repair service, go ahead and post your own shop's link—nobody is stopping you from doing that.

As for batteries... honestly, I can't think of a single computer hardware retailer (and I mean a physical store, not some online-only shop) that doesn't carry them.

So, I’m dealing with this total nightmare where my PC just won't boot up... I hit the power button and you can hear that brief sound of things trying to kick in, the lights flicker on for a split second, but then everything just dies immediately. It keeps doing this loop every three seconds until I finally just yank the plug out of the wall to make it stop. I even cracked open the case to see what was going on, and the fans spin up for a heartbeat before cutting out again, just over and over... It honestly feels exactly like trying to crank an old car engine that just refuses to catch and die, you know? If anyone has any clue what the hell is happening, please help me out...

Maybe try borrowing a different power supply just to test it out.

I might give this a shot, though honestly, it’s only about a year old, just a 650W unit...
Thanks man.

You always have to start with the obvious stuff before you can really dig into the weeds... which is why swapping out the power supply is step one. Especially if we're talking about some budget unit that probably isn't worth much to begin with. Is the PC itself getting old, or is it just the PSU?

I’d actually suggest trying a CMOS reset—it's possible the BIOS settings have just become a bit scrambled. A simple way to do this is to pop the battery out of the motherboard for a few minutes, then put it back in and try powering it up again. It sounds a little old-school, I know, but honestly, it’s a classic fix that often clears up these kinds of startup issues.

I’m constantly tinkering with my rig, swapping stuff out here and there... power supply, motherboard, CPU, RAM, GPU—everything is basically a year old at this point.
I totally forgot to mention that I tend to leave my PC running overnight quite a bit, and last night was no different. When I fired up the monitor this morning, everything looked normal, just sitting there on the login screen like usual. But the system was completely bricked; the fans were spinning fine and everything seemed powered up, but that login screen was just frozen solid. I tried every trick in the book to unstick it, even tried a hard reset via the button, but absolutely nothing worked. I eventually had to just yank the plug from the wall to kill the power. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as I booted it back up, that exact same freezing issue came right back to haunt me...

driftingsurfer81 said:I upgrade parts here and there—PSU, motherboard, CPU, RAM, GPU—everything’s only about a year old.
Forgot to mention I leave my rig running overnight quite a bit... did it again last night. Woke up, turned on the monitor, and it was just stuck on the login screen like usual. Everything seemed fine—fans spinning and all—but the screen was frozen solid. Tried everything, even a hard reset, but nothing worked. Eventually, I had to pull the plug. When I booted back up, the same damn issue popped up immediately.

Well, this is interesting... my godfather had the exact same thing happen, except during a thunderstorm. Screen froze, couldn't even pull up Task Manager, nothing. He shut it down, tried to reboot, and boom—same mess. Since it was under warranty, he sent it in for repair; sat at the service center for nearly a month before they swapped out the motherboard. He thinks you probably ran into the same faulty board issue he did...

Diagnosis: motherboard is dead. It’s only about a year old, so it’s still under warranty—thank God, otherwise I’d be sweating over the cost of $333 for a replacement... Honestly, any kind of failure is better than having the drive kick the bucket 🙂

Solid board—in 95% of cases, it’ll work just fine as a replacement 😁 for whatever was originally in there...

Just waiting on them to get this sorted out for me, and I'm rocking an ASUS H55M-UD2H, s1156, Intel ® H55, with 4 slots for DDR3 2200+/1800

Got a similar issue here
My MP won't boot. Connectors look fine, power supply seems okay too. I am missing one capacitor, though. Could that be the culprit? Also, how do I actually reset this thing? How long do I need to leave the battery out?