PC Troubleshooting
There’s an amazing feeling of pride from building your own PC. You’ve chosen the perfect parts, ones that mix the best power you can get with your budget, and aimed at no one else’s idea of what you need. You’ve carefully installed them all, you’ve wired your system together, screwed in the last screw, and hit the power button for a quick test, and...Nothing Nada. Zip.
There’s nothing that’s going to make you feel quite so small. But do not despair! This actually happens to the best of us, and while it may seem daunting fi nding out what’s gone wrong, and how you can fix it, is just a matter of being thorough.
Double check the wire placement with the diagram in your motherboard’s manual.
First things, do check it isn’t something obvious. Check your power cables, and make sure your PSU doesn’t have its own power switch – if it does, make sure it’s switched on. If all of that’s fine, it’s time tostart working down the line. Check the wall socket – you never know – and any powerboard you might be using. Then check the voltage switch on your PSU, and make sure it matches local voltage. If all this works, switch out the power cable you’re using, in case that’s the culprit – if you’re at all like a lot of us in the o†ffice, you’ll have a lot of these, and they can fail in time.
At this point, if everything outside the case is working, it’s time to dive back in.This may sound odd, but give the inside of your case a good sniˆ . If you’re smell anything burnt or like ozone, or if you can hear a high-pitched whine from the PSU, guess what – it’s your PSU. It’s much rarer than it used to be, PSUs tend to have two points of failure – and they’re at the end of their life (obviously), and when fi rst turned on in your shiny new PC. If this is the case with your build, test a spare PSU; you’ll likely have the one from your old PC, and it’ll do fi ne for testing.If it works, return your faulty unit and get a new one. You should be fi ne at this point, and get about installing your operating system.If all seems fi ne with your PSU, the next most likely culprit are the headers for the power switch on the front of the case. These simple cables are usually nested in amongst audio and LED cables, as well the reset button, and are quite easy to install in the wrong spot. Double check the wire placement with the diagram in your motherboard’s manual.These are the most common problems with a newly built PC, and every time we’ve had a system fail to power up, it’s been one of these things. That said, if everything is in order, see if your motherboard has its own power button (many overclocking models will), and try that. If that works, it’s likely the case’s power switch that is the fail point. You can either contact the manufacturer for a replacement, or, again, return the unit and get a new one.
At this point, if everything outside the case is working, it’s time to dive back in.This may sound odd, but give the inside of your case a good sniˆ . If you’re smell anything burnt or like ozone, or if you can hear a high-pitched whine from the PSU, guess what – it’s your PSU. It’s much rarer than it used to be, PSUs tend to have two points of failure – and they’re at the end of their life (obviously), and when fi rst turned on in your shiny new PC. If this is the case with your build, test a spare PSU; you’ll likely have the one from your old PC, and it’ll do fi ne for testing.If it works, return your faulty unit and get a new one. You should be fi ne at this point, and get about installing your operating system.If all seems fi ne with your PSU, the next most likely culprit are the headers for the power switch on the front of the case. These simple cables are usually nested in amongst audio and LED cables, as well the reset button, and are quite easy to install in the wrong spot. Double check the wire placement with the diagram in your motherboard’s manual.These are the most common problems with a newly built PC, and every time we’ve had a system fail to power up, it’s been one of these things. That said, if everything is in order, see if your motherboard has its own power button (many overclocking models will), and try that. If that works, it’s likely the case’s power switch that is the fail point. You can either contact the manufacturer for a replacement, or, again, return the unit and get a new one.
If you’re still living in the Land of No PC, well... now things get really tedious. At this stage, it’s likely going to be a component issue.
Change out the CMOS battery, and if that still doesn’t do the trick, then it’s time to get drastic and consider the possibility that your motherboard is hors de combat. Essentially, even testing this theory means basically rebuilding your system.
We’re sorry
Unless, of course, it’s our old nemesis heat, or a faulty PSU that’s slowly failing.
is starting, but still failing to complete the boot process properly. If you’re getting power – fans turn on, drives start to whine, and so on – but the machine then shuts down, it’s likely a fault of some kind that can be found by following the above process of checking cables and internals.
In this instance, though, checking the CPU is properly seated is probably a good idea. Your machine could also get stuck in a cycle of powering up, shutting down, then powering up again, basically looping on and off. Nine times of then this means you’ve either got a faulty motherboard, or your PSU is either faulty, or possible not powerful enough.
There are a lot of possible errors to list, and our space is limited, but in all our experience, we’ve found we’re never alone when it comes to odd startup errors. The internet, however, is your friend.
There are a lot of possible errors to list, and our space is limited, but in all our experience, we’ve found we’re never alone when it comes to odd startup errors. The internet, however, is your friend.
ALL OPERATING SYSTEMS ARE... NOT GO
So, you’re machine is powering on, you’ve gone through the Windows install process (and had a cup of co ee while waiting), and you think you’re all good to go... And bam.
If your machine powers on, and stays on (woohoo!), but shows an error message before booting into the OS, and stops there, take note of the error.
If your machine powers on, and stays on (woohoo!), but shows an error message before booting into the OS, and stops there, take note of the error.
Common errors include ‘BOOTMGR is missing’ or ‘NTLDR is missing’; in fact, it’s usually a missing fi le or driver of some kind that is the culprit. As we said, take note of the exact message, and try searching for it on Google (on a working device, of course) – you’ll more than likely fi nd exactly how to go about dealing with the problem, from messing about with boot orders in the BIOS to running a Startup Repair of Windows.
It’s also possible that you’re new machine works well for a while, but then either blue-screens or shuts down entirely. Depending on your Windows OS (yes, we’re talking Windows, because talking about multiple OSes could fi ll a LOT of pages), you should access MSconfig or System Configuration. Select the Diagnostic Startup option, reboot, and see how things go. If all is well, start re-enabling applications. It’s a little tedious, but it should fi nd what’s causing the issue.
Unless, of course, it’s our old nemesis heat, or a faulty PSU that’s slowly failing. The latter is unlikely, so see if your motherboard comes with any tools for monitoring CPU and system heat. It’s entirely possible that if your new build is not adequately cooled, that slow heat build-up is causing the issues. If you’re CPU isgetting toasty, think about installing some extra fans, or double check the airfl ow in case cables are getting in the way.Troubleshooting can be tiring, but hopefully, after all this, you’ll have a smoothly running system. And speaking of tiring, I think even I need a nap.
It’s also possible that you’re new machine works well for a while, but then either blue-screens or shuts down entirely. Depending on your Windows OS (yes, we’re talking Windows, because talking about multiple OSes could fi ll a LOT of pages), you should access MSconfig or System Configuration. Select the Diagnostic Startup option, reboot, and see how things go. If all is well, start re-enabling applications. It’s a little tedious, but it should fi nd what’s causing the issue.
Unless, of course, it’s our old nemesis heat, or a faulty PSU that’s slowly failing. The latter is unlikely, so see if your motherboard comes with any tools for monitoring CPU and system heat. It’s entirely possible that if your new build is not adequately cooled, that slow heat build-up is causing the issues. If you’re CPU isgetting toasty, think about installing some extra fans, or double check the airfl ow in case cables are getting in the way.Troubleshooting can be tiring, but hopefully, after all this, you’ll have a smoothly running system. And speaking of tiring, I think even I need a nap.
