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2 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Look at the board for any bulging capacitors.

 

I ALWAYS have this around. It's a life saver, believe me.

 

https://www.amazon.com/HighSpeed-PC-ATX-Control-Kit/dp/B015JLMUI4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

"Conductive Polymer Aluminum Solid Capacitors" don't bulge

Just now, DevTech said:

"Conductive Polymer Aluminum Solid Capacitors" don't bulge

Well, we don't know the age of his computer. And it may not have those type of capacitors. While they do not bulge, they can still burst.

2 minutes ago, D!ABOL!C said:

I did scan the motherboard, didn't see any bulging or brown capacitors. I am going to take the motherboard out of the case in a few minutes to get a thorough look though.

Those high quality caps will show no sign.

 

Give priority to opening the power supply

 

Just now, DevTech said:

Those high quality caps will show no sign.

 

Give priority to opening the power supply

 

I wouldn't risk that unless you know what you are doing. You can really get in trouble.

1 minute ago, Mindovermaster said:

Well, we don't know the age of his computer. And it may not have those type of capacitors. While they do not bulge, they can still burst.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-P35-DS3L-rev-20#ov

 

Been a Gigabyte feature for a long time in their better mobos...

 

They are actually solid inside like a conductive plastic so I'd go for the killer clown before a bursting

1 minute ago, Mindovermaster said:

I wouldn't risk that unless you know what you are doing. You can really get in trouble.

Good grief it is NO problem unless he is a complete moron and leaves it connected to the wall socket!

 

Guarantee you there is no TV Flyback Transformer in there!

 

I wouldn't consider my self a complete moron, but I don't think I want to open the power supply. I can at least test the power supply in another machine. Based on all the comments from everyone so far, i'm starting to lean toward a component issue, possibly the CPU. I'm digging the Mobo out of the case and am going to try powering it on outside the case.

11 minutes ago, DevTech said:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-P35-DS3L-rev-20#ov

 

Been a Gigabyte feature for a long time in their better mobos...

 

They are actually solid inside like a conductive plastic so I'd go for the killer clown before a bursting

Good grief it is NO problem unless he is a complete moron and leaves it connected to the wall socket!

 

Guarantee you there is no TV Flyback Transformer in there!

 

I haven't bought Gigabyte motherboards since the LGA775 days...

 

Stupid or not, there are <word> in there that can kill you if you hit them. (cant think of word)

5 minutes ago, D!ABOL!C said:

I wouldn't consider my self a complete moron, but I don't think I want to open the power supply. I can at least test the power supply in another machine. Based on all the comments from everyone so far, i'm starting to lean toward a component issue, possibly the CPU. I'm digging the Mobo out of the case and am going to try powering it on outside the case.

So very unlikely to be the CPU - silicon just does not deteriorate - thats what rocks are made of

 

Some other mobo piece could have flared out on first power up, but bad caps in PSU most likely until examined.

 

10 minutes after powering down PSU all residual capacitance will have discharged (actually after a few seconds) so put on cardboard and pop the four screws. then lift open just enough to peer inside with a flashlight without touching anything. Then press down and attach 4 screws again.

 

If PSU caps look good, then bad mobo.

 

No luck outside of the case. I'm not going to sweat it too much. This machine was built back in 2008. I was just going to use it as a machine to learn Linux on. Thank you for all the ideas, I appreciate it muchly!

Just now, D!ABOL!C said:

No luck outside of the case. I'm not going to sweat it too much. This machine was built back in 2008. I was just going to use it as a machine to learn Linux on. Thank you for all the ideas, I appreciate it muchly!

There are a ton of surplus discarded by corps Dell, HP, Lenovo etc computers on the market with i7 2XXX and i7 3XXX CPUS for $50 to $100. They tend to have stupid cases and few expansion slots but perfect for your objective and very capable, very powerful.

 

And these days, just use your Windows 10 Hyper-V to run a Linux VM at close-to-bare-metal speeds. Use CentOS or Ubuntu to get full device driver pass through for video etc. Actually ALL Ubuntu distros (direct from Canonical) now have the Windows 10 drivers build into the distro.

 

Windows 10 also has a Bash shell option that is way more than just a cosmetic add-on - Canonical worked with Microsoft so that tons of Linux code is integrated into Windows where it needs to be to work transparently. Tons of Linux headless server software works in the Bash shell as is.

 

 

 

 

I know you all were waiting with baited breath. I have a verdict!

 

In the case of the defective PC, Mr. Power Supply... You ARE the problem!!!

 

So I plugged the PSU into another working PC and it did the exact same thing. For fun, I plugged the original power supply in the working PC and powered in to the same outlet and it fired right up.

 

Thank you again for all of your assistance everyone!

4 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

glad you got it sorted; if that PSU is still in warranty I'd RMA that mofo if you haven't already :)

Nice call! Didn't even think of that. It looks like the warranty is 5yrs on it. Now just have to find the receipts  😎

1 minute ago, D!ABOL!C said:

Nice call! Didn't even think of that. It looks like the warranty is 5yrs on it. Now just have to find the receipts  😎

May not need to.  May only need to call them up.   If the build date is less than 5 years based off of serial number you may be in good shape. 

9 minutes ago, sc302 said:

May not need to.  May only need to call them up.   If the build date is less than 5 years based off of serial number you may be in good shape. 

I gave them a shout and they said just fill out the RMA form on the website. I submitted it with the Serial #. If it's covered, I should be good! I just hope it is under 5 yrs!

 

The PSU was a Silencer 610 EPS12V if anyone was curious.

2 hours ago, D!ABOL!C said:

I gave them a shout and they said just fill out the RMA form on the website. I submitted it with the Serial #. If it's covered, I should be good! I just hope it is under 5 yrs!

 

The PSU was a Silencer 610 EPS12V if anyone was curious.

! Blast From The Past !

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Power_and_Cooling

 

Memories... The completely unaffordable top PSU brand on the enthusiast PC building circuit...

 

Kind of - sort of - back from the dead in 2014

 

" In early 2011, the Silencer 910W became available again, along with a new model, the Silencer 760W. These models are re-engineered from a SeaSonic S12D platform, the successor to the older S12 platform used in the original Silencer series"

 

So you had a Seasonic design... that shouldn't have failed...stuff happens...

 

 

 

On 11/27/2018 at 10:33 AM, Mindovermaster said:

Stupid or not, there are <word> in there that can kill you if you hit them. (cant think of word)

As long as you don't lick a capacitor, there won't be anything that will easily shock you in those power supplies, haha.  Most modern consumer electronics are low voltage (DC transformed from AC) and low power, so the risk is very minimal.  Your skin does a good job of insulating you from being shocked by 48VDC and below.  For example, if you touch both terminals of a 9V battery, you won't feel it. If you lick it, you'll get a tingle.  Similarly with a 12V car battery.  Bridge both terminals with a wrench and it goes up in sparks.  Touch them with your hand, and nothing.  Lick it... yeah that'll hurt and maybe kill you.  PC power supplies have 5V and 12V rails, so not much there to do damage.  Plus the exposed terminals of the through-hole components below the PCB board will have conformal coating, so it's really difficult to actually get hold of them.  There is also probably a discharge resistor circuit that will bleed off the capacitors soon after the power is turned off.

 

Probably more information than you cared to hear, but feel free to poke around any PC components.  You'll do much more damage via static electricity than getting yourself lit up.

13 minutes ago, Astra.Xtreme said:

As long as you don't lick a capacitor, there won't be anything that will easily shock you in those power supplies, haha.  Most modern consumer electronics are low voltage (DC transformed from AC) and low power, so the risk is very minimal.  Your skin does a good job of insulating you from being shocked by 48VDC and below.  For example, if you touch both terminals of a 9V battery, you won't feel it. If you lick it, you'll get a tingle.  Similarly with a 12V car battery.  Bridge both terminals with a wrench and it goes up in sparks.  Touch them with your hand, and nothing.  Lick it... yeah that'll hurt and maybe kill you.  PC power supplies have 5V and 12V rails, so not much there to do damage.  Plus the exposed terminals of the through-hole components below the PCB board will have conformal coating, so it's really difficult to actually get hold of them.  There is also probably a discharge resistor circuit that will bleed off the capacitors soon after the power is turned off.

 

Probably more information than you cared to hear, but feel free to poke around any PC components.  You'll do much more damage via static electricity than getting yourself lit up.

The newest ones, no. The old ones hold quite a charge inside. Being this is ~5 years, I would bet it doesn't have recent power safeties.

It is the amps that kill you, not the volts.  a car battery can kill you if you ground out...  A static electricity generator can produce a million volts, you can touch it and not be harmed by it (well except for your hair standing straight up). 

 

some info, if you care to read it...tldr version: current kills (amps or joules), not voltage and it only takes a few amps to put you down.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2002-03/1015513767.Eg.r.html

 

http://practicalphysics.org/van-de-graaff-generator-safety.html

 

 

 

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