monitor, keyboard, mouse not working but power ok

[martinicollio]

My son just returned from holiday and powered up his gaming pc. It powers up ok but no signal to the monitors, keyboard or mouse. The fans work, the storage hard drive is spinning, dvd drive has power, graphics card has power lights on and when an additional external device is plugged in then it gets power from the same port that the keyboard or mouse is plugged into. Picture attached of system with power on.

The monitors work with another computer, as do the keyboard and mouse. No visible damage to the motherboard. Worked fine before the holiday but not on return. Was left plugged in.

Have tried disconnecting everything, power drain, removed ram and retry with one slot filled each time.

Windows 10. I can post the full build but was wondering what the trouble shooting order for this kind of problem should be?

We built the pc a couple of years ago. Running with no problems. No software changes prior to going on holiday and was working fine. Neither of us are super experienced with tech troubleshooting but not afraid to get stuck in. I actually enjoy it, my boy just wants to play some games.

No library of spares hanging around, so I wanted to start with the most likely stuff first.

Searching online points to PSU, CPU and ram as places to start. Any recommendations as to the order?

Any suggestions most appreciated.

 

[Macboatmaster]

As you say it was left plugged in, although it is unlikely to have been the cause, are there any indications of power cuts whilst your son was away.
Or is that not a possibility because he lives with you and therefore you would know if there were.

In view of the fact that the hard drive is spinning a possibility is the usb port drivers - if the mouse and keyboard are connected usb
The fact that a device receives power from the usb port does not mean that the mouse and keyboard must also work.

Have you tried a restart, as against forcing shutdown with power switch
By that I mean power on, as normal, wait for a couple of minutes and then press restart button.

Also try powering computer on WITHOUT monitors connected
See if the mouse and keyboard then show a signal

How many monitors - two I presume and how are they connected eg HDMI DVI etc and are both to graphics card
Does motherboard have integrated grpahics?

 

[crjdriver]

One thing that just jumps out at me from your pic; cx pw supply. The cx series from corsair is for a basic build NOT a gaming/overclocking or other stressful endeavor. Even corsair says so on their site;

CX Series™ Modular power supply units are an excellent choice for basic system builds

This is where I would start; swapping in a known good pw supply. Note you do not have to fully install the test unit; simply connect atx, aux, and video pw. Hit the ON button and see if the motherboard will POST.
After the pw supply, I would suspect the motherboard or ram. I [personally] am not a fan of msi boards. CPUs are actually pretty hard to hurt unless you overclock/overvolt them or physically damage the cpu during install.

 

[Macboatmaster]

I agree regarding the PSU but in view of this

No software changes prior to going on holiday and was working fine

I would make other tests before incurring the cost of a PSU as I suspect

No library of spares hanging around, so I wanted to start with the most likely stuff first.

you do not have one to lying around to try.

An alternative may be to take the PSU out and the local computer shop - not one of the giant multiples, should be able to test it for just a nominal payment.

 

[martinicollio]

Thanks for the replies.

Regarding the PSU, point taken and I'll look to upgrade that at some point if that isn't the source of the problem. It has been running fine with that PSU for a number or years. Although a custom build there is no playing around with clocking and such.

PSUs, is it possible for them to selectively fail e.g. put some power through but not enough? I discounted the PSU as some power is clearly being supplied but seems that is an incorrect assumption. Is it? If it is incorrect then I'll look at that.

Trying start up without monitors plugged in still produced no signal to mouse or keyboard.

NB. The same USB ports used for the mouse and keyboard do work when another external is plugged into them (a music mixing keyboard). So does that mean that it is not a power supply issue?

I don't know about power cuts but there was certainly an thunderstorm when he was on holiday. He lives with his mum just around the corner. Nothing else in their house appears damaged but a power surge could be a possibility. So RAM and CPU most susceptible? In that order?

 

[martinicollio]

Ps. Two monitors both HDMI. Motherboard no onboard graphics card.

Would it help to post the full build spec?

 

[Macboatmaster]

Is the computer connected by a surge protector or plugged in straight to the AC
If a surge protector try without it
Occasionally, on a power surge, surge protectors even when reset can limit power

I think your way forward at this stage is to

An alternative may be to take the PSU out and the local computer shop - not one of the giant multiples, should be able to test it for just a nominal payment.

The power to the usb port

NB. The same USB ports used for the mouse and keyboard do work when another external is plugged into them (a music mixing keyboard). So does that mean that it is not a power supply issue?

does not mean that the PSU is supplying correct voltage to the motherboard and rest of the system
USB power is 5v
If a power surge has damaged the PSU the 5v could still be supplied but the PSU may not be supplying the required 12v for the system to boot

Yes please do post the build details

There is of course a possibility that the computer is posting - but you will not know as you have no monitor.

 

[martinicollio]

Is the computer connected by a surge protector or plugged in straight to the AC
If a surge protector try without it
Occasionally, on a power surge, surge protectors even when reset can limit power

No surge protector. Just plugged into an extension lead / socket set and into the wall. The power switch on the socket set was off. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Yes please do post the build details.

So the build is as follows:

MSI 970A-G43 AMD 970 ATX Motherboard (PCI-E, Socket AM3+)
Corsair CP-9020048-UK Builder Series CX600 ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply Unit, 600 W
AMD FX8350 Black Edition 8 Core Processor (4.0/4.2GHz, 8MB Level 3 Cache, 8MB Level 2 Cache, Socket AM3+, 125W, Retail Boxed)
Deepcool Captain 240 EX
HyperX FURY Series 16GB (2x 8GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL10 DIMM Memory Module Kit
HyperX FURY Series 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL10 DIMM Memory Module Kit
Asus AMD Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II Graphics Card (4GB, GDDR5, PCI Express 3.0)
Kingston Technology 480GB Solid State Drive V300 SATA 3 (Windows boot drive)
Kingston Technology 240GB Solid State Drive 2.5-inch V300 SATA 3
WD 1TB 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive

There is of course a possibility that the computer is posting - but you will not know as you have no monitor.

Indeed, it is booting from one of the SSDs, so difficult to tell. The HD is spinning but that is not really relevant.

So testing the existing PSU and seeing if that is the source of the problem / getting a higher spec one anyway seems like the recommended next step? Any suggestions as to what would be an appropriate PSU?

Thanks.

 

[crjdriver]

The specs on your video card are somewhat unclear. The asus site says pw requirements 300W additional which leads me to think you would increase the pw supply by 300W over what the rest of the system requires. Here is the link to the asus site;
https://www.asus.com/Graphics-Cards/R9290DC2OC4GD5/specifications/
The 8350 draws a lot of pw [even more if you overclock] I would be looking at at least a 700W unit. Good ie recommended brands; Corsair [AX, HX, or RM models ONLY] Seasonic, or Antec [HCG models ONLY]
This would be about the cheapest pw supply I could recommend for use in a gaming type system;
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151187

 

[Macboatmaster]

1. You say you have

Two monitors both HDMI.

Please verify that is correct

that card the Asus, if we have the correct one, has only one HDMI port.

2. I would disconnect that 1TB WD drive and see what happens when booting

3. That motherboard has PS2 mouse and keyboard connections
If possible I would try them
It may just be a USB issue on the mouse and keyboard

I would still have the PSU tested, but my money at the moment is not on the PSU

4. Do you know what is first boot device setting in UEFI (BIOS) firmware
What I mean by that is that first boot device could be set DVD
with second boot device as Windows Boot Manager on the 480GB SSD
If that is the case it is worthwhile seeing if the computer will boot from a dvd
I doubt it will, but I consider it worth a try

If it is not the PSU or other hardware, my money is on a Windows update before the computer was last shut down.
You would not be the first person to then discover that on the next restart you had problems.

 

[martinicollio]

The specs on your video card are somewhat unclear. The asus site says pw requirements 300W additional which leads me to think you would increase the pw supply by 300W over what the rest of the system requires. Here is the link to the asus site;
https://www.asus.com/Graphics-Cards/R9290DC2OC4GD5/specifications/
The 8350 draws a lot of pw [even more if you overclock] I would be looking at at least a 700W unit. Good ie recommended brands; Corsair [AX, HX, or RM models ONLY] Seasonic, or Antec [HCG models ONLY]
This would be about the cheapest pw supply I could recommend for use in a gaming type system;
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151187

Thanks for that. I'll follow up on some of your suggestions.

 

[martinicollio]

Please verify that is correct

Sorry, that was incorrect - one HDMI and one displayport.

2. I would disconnect that 1TB WD drive and see what happens when booting
3. That motherboard has PS2 mouse and keyboard connections
If possible I would try them
It may just be a USB issue on the mouse and keyboard
I would still have the PSU tested, but my money at the moment is not on the PSU.

I'll try all that but will not have time until next weekend. I'll post an update.

4. Do you know what is first boot device setting in UEFI (BIOS) firmware
What I mean by that is that first boot device could be set DVD
with second boot device as Windows Boot Manager on the 480GB SSD
If that is the case it is worthwhile seeing if the computer will boot from a dvd
I doubt it will, but I consider it worth a try

If it is not the PSU or other hardware, my money is on a Windows update before the computer was last shut down.
You would not be the first person to then discover that on the next restart you had problems.

I seem to recall the first boot device is set to the DVD, at least I made a boot DVD and wrote clearly on it "Boot DVD"! Yes, the second boot device is 480GB SSD.

I'll try the PSU testing first and replace that if needs be. If it does not need replacing then I'll try 2, 3, 4 above. I'll then post an update here.
Thanks.

 

[Macboatmaster]

Cheers

 

[diego098]

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