PC won't turn on - PSU or Mobo?

[Planetoa]

Here's the situation:

My friend, who builds systems all the time, and I decided to put together a PC for me about 10 months ago. We plugged it all together, it worked and I was a proud new father. I loved my system and I took good care of it. Everything was great until this morning when it would not turn on.

Now I discoverd that the power had gone off during the night since the microwave and other applicances were blinking 12:00. My power bar did not have its breaker flipped though. Could a power surge that my power bar did not react to be the source of the problem?

Anyway, I've gathered that it is probably the PSU or the mobo. Here's the spec on them:

Asus A8N-E Socket 939 nVidia nF4 Ultra Chipset

Antec SONATA II Piano Case with a 450 W SmartPower 2.0 ATX

If anyone can help me figure out which piece of hardware is malfunctioning I would be grateful. Suggestions, links, ideas - anything will help.

 

[Slowlearner]

If the computer was off when this outage/spike happened, nothing should have been damaged. I wouldn't trust the surge protection of low end power strips, in fact it may have no protection at all. However, I have seen surges/spikes coming thru the broadband cable connections and zapping the network card, but rarely the mobo.

Try a different power point/strip.

 

[Planetoa]

Well, it's not the video card. I pulled that out and it still didn't boot.

I noticed that when the system is plugged in it makes a very, very quiet and high pitched electronic hum. I'm not sure whether it did this before. Does this indicate anything about the PSU?

Any help is appreciated

 

[Planetoa]

Originally posted by: Slowlearner
If the computer was off when this outage/spike happened, nothing should have been damaged. I wouldn't trust the surge protection of low end power strips, in fact it may have no protection at all. However, I have seen surges/spikes coming thru the broadband cable connections and zapping the network card, but rarely the mobo.

Try a different power point/strip.

I've got a wireless adapter, so it couldn't have received a surge through the broadband connection.

 

[Slowlearner]

High pitched hums generally mean a failing/damaged psu - there could many other causes too - so there is a possibility that the psu is damaged - see if you get another psu to test the system.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

After a Smart or TruePower is 2~3 years old the odds of it going bad are very high.
Open it up and find leaking Fuhjyyu capacitors. Google that brand name...Read
http://www.badcaps.net/Ident/ For pictars.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Yep, most likely power supply

 

[Planetoa]

I'm pretty sure that it's the power supply. I've come across a few other articles that discuss a damaged PSU that emits a quiet humming. I'll be getting a new PSU over the next few days. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks a lot for the suggestions and feedback.

 

[Chriscross3234]

Instead of starting a new thread, I'm having a similar problem with my PSU or my mobo to blame

I assembled all my new parts right out of the box, plugged in my power cord and attempted to boot it up. Nothing happened except the mobo LED light comes on for about a couple seconds, the CPU fan sorta turns on full speed but seems to run at a low speed, and the PSU seems to be running also. I removed everything but what's needed to start the mobo and the same problem exists.

My hardware:
Gigabyte GA-965P-S3
Ultra V Series 500W PSU
C2D E6400 Stock Fan

 

[bendixG15]

Originally posted by: Chriscross3234
Instead of starting a new thread, I'm having a similar problem with my PSU or my mobo to blame

I assembled all my new parts right out of the box, plugged in my power cord and attempted to boot it up. Nothing happened except the mobo LED light comes on for about a couple seconds, the CPU fan sorta turns on full speed but seems to run at a low speed, and the PSU seems to be running also. I removed everything but what's needed to start the mobo and the same problem exists.

My hardware:
Gigabyte GA-965P-S3
Ultra V Series 500W PSU
C2D E6400 Stock Fan

Good manners dictate that you should start your own thread and not take over this one,
(known as hijacking)

Sure someone will help you out

 

[Planetoa]

Woo Hoo!

Success. I replaced the PSU and I'm back again.

Thanks for the help!