I have purchased a new motherboard Gigabyte AB350, new CPU Ryzen 5 1400, new ram Corsair DDR4 16GB, new SSD HDD, new power supply Corsair 650 watt and installed the lot in an ATX case I had and use for word processing and surfing the Internet with 2 x old 500GB but hardly used SATA HDD for data. Installation and connections presented no problem but the 'old' monitor (manufactured March 2015) did not want to work (the subject of another thread). Fans were working, the motherboard was also illuminated, I got a short sharp bleep (POST OK) and what was looking like the typical cdrom activity before getting the installation message asking what type of installation the user wants to select which I could not see - monitor refusing to leave VGA mode not supported by motherboard.
Thinking that the cause of the problem could be the fact that the new SSD did not contain an OS yet, I removed the lot and re-installed the old gear and then installed the OS (Debian 7) on the new SSD.
I then removed all the old components and re-installed the new ones only to find that the power supply seems to have died. I am not a professional but I know enough what I am doing and followed all instructions methodically and cautiously. Absolutely nothing went wrong or was suspicious, in fact, it is hard to make a mistake and I cannot figure what has happened. The only unexpected event was an interruption (blackout) in the supply of electricity which I only noticed because the clocks running on mains were showing the time as being 3 minutes which meant that the electricity had been reconnected 3 minutes before. I do not think that I did anything during the blackout or glitch, which seems to have been of a short duration because I would have noticed otherwise.

I have tested the CPU 12v plug of the PS with a multimeter and there is no current - no voltage, this is using different leads plugged into "mains" in case the new lead was faulty, CPU fan not working, 12v fans not working, no board illumination - tested fans 12v connection and no voltage there either. However I have electricity as light plugged in same power point is working.

I am under the impression that if something had gone wrong, I should have witnessed either a sound or sparks or some smoke but nothing like that has happened, not even the slightest smell of something having overheated or burned. I also thought that Corsair was a reputable manufacturer/supplier.

My question is:
Is there anything I can do to find what the problem is? Does the power supply have an internal fuse I can check/replace? Is it normal for a power supply to die without any sign? I am not concerned about warranty because even if it is a warranty issue, the freight will be about half of the value of the item but I do not want to buy another power supply without having some idea of what might have happened to this one.

Thank you for your help.

I would replace it, seems it has died.

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Its not a VGA mode problem, the problem and solution are on your other thread, here-

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...3/#post5709600

I'd really suggest using debian 8, and upgrading to 9 as soon as possible when you are using current 'bleeding edge' parts.

Corsair are generally very good.

You don't normally wont get 12v on a switched off ATX PSU. To check that you normally need to 'jump' the PSU on.

How to 'jump' a PSU here-

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...-without-a-PC/

Further hints here-

http://www.aitechsolutions.net/pchwtrblsht.html

Yes, you can blow a PSU without sparks, overheating, burning, smells or any other sign. Sometimes they just die.

When you have had power issue, even if it is just a blackout, its more likely something has gone wrong even if there is no sign.

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Hi,

You should check that the 'pwr switch' jumpers are connected to the motherboard properly. You can short the two power pin connectors momentarily to see if the power switch is at fault. Check your motherboard manual for the pins layout on the board. Some users confuse the printing (silk screen) on the board for proper pin connections.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

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Thank you for the answers.
I will check the switch, I have been very careful about pin connections and polarity, even for the switch but I have noticed something that I did not expect, I haven't bought any hardware for a long time and the coincidence is that when I purchased this power supply, all those I had seen on the Internet were about $AU65(500w) to $AU85 (650w) and I got one 650W for around $AU85 but after the failure to power up, they are all twice that price at around $AU165, could it be a matter of having accidently bought someting too cheap or unsuitable?
I understand I have to replace it (unless the switch is the culprit) but still wish to have a clear mind on the subject when I do.
I still have to fix that but can't do it without the PS working and I am trying not to mix the two.

You can fix it without a video card. In case you dont beleive me, check the CP suport list for your motherboard-

http://www.gigabyte.us/Motherboard/G...10#support-cpu

None of the 'Ryzen' CPUs list a 'GPU Frequency' because none of them have one.

You will never get the onboard video going without the on CPU GPU. Buy a video card.

No, its not too cheap or unsuitable.

Just to spell it out- the way to chase down the issue is to follow logical steps.

Try 'jumping' the PSU- if that doesnt work the PSU is dead (or there is very slight possibility of a blown internal fuse, list the exact model and I or somebody else here will check)

If the PSU starts by jumping, the try hooking it up to the motherboard. If it will not start with the power button, remove the power button leads and touch both the power button pin connectors with a screwdriver or other conductive metal item (like onebuck suggested).

If it starts then its a bad button or power button leads.

If it does not.....you could have a dead board.

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I thought Antec was reputable too, until brand new ones failed at well under 12 months of age twice here. With modern electronics from Asia it's really not that unusual for failure to occur for no apparent reason or without any unusual sound a few hours or less after initial power up. Both my Corsair PC power supplies have been solid performers. Blown fuse has never been the reason for PS failure here. If it wasn't under warranty I would say open it up and see what brand capacitors were used. Some are well known to be problematic and simply do not belong in power supplies from brands with good reputations.

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Thank you for all the answers.
"Jumping" the switch pins does not work, so the switch is OK. I will get another PS as well as a video card (I was unaware I needed one). I will also open up the faulty PS as satisfaction of my curiosity is more important to me than the warranty and I will report anything of interest.
I mean I can't check the settings of the monitor with this motherboard without the PS working (old PS has 4 x 12v pins, new one has more).

Opps, sorry "can fix it without a video card" was a typo, it should have been "you *can't* fix without a video card".

I know this is uncool but I'd suggest following the logical steps I outlined above.

If you have a dead motherboard (which is more than possible) getting a new PSU and video card is not going to help you much. Its not much fun running back to a PC store when they are easy to access, if you have to order stuff that makes it way more of a pain to get new bits. Also its not hard to test the PSU to see if it powers up....

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I read somewhere that I could have a dead motherboard, so I tried it with an SFX power supply and it works. I decided to try a last time with the suspected dead ATX ps since I could not see anything wrong after opening it up and to my amazement, it works, I could not belive that there could have been a bad contact between two brand new components but that seems to be the only explanation since I was very careful in the successful insertion of the plugs, till hearing the click of the locking gadget. Since that was OK I kept going with the installation of Debian 7 and almost everything works normally now (what does not work is an old ps2 connected mouse that was working on the old board, I had to use a USB one).

However, many years ago, I also relied on ps from antec and as mrmazda hinted, good quality components are rare these days, this corsair ps does not seem to have many quality capacitors although I am not a professional in this area. There is about 15 capacitors and half are of the type you can buy from any electronic shop a dollar for a hundred or something like that, the others are of the same type but, for what I can guess, with a more appealing finish.

Why an older version of debian when 8 is just about to be superseded by 9?

Good quality components are easier to get than ever.

I'm not 100% sure of what corsair PSU you have but I'd guess its a VS650. They are not going to be using 'top of the line' capacitors etc. on an 'entry level' psu (though I'd be willing to bet that the caps in there are totally fine for the job).

If it was me I would have gone for a CX500 over a VS650. You dont need 650 watts. (or even 500 for that matter but going under that is going against the hardware manufacturers recommendations if I recall correctly).

Prices at the shop where I normally go, all corsair 650 watt PSU.

VS650 - $83
CS650 - $131
RM650 - $165

Even the RM series isnt the 'top of the line' that would be the AX series but its smallest size is 760 watts.

I'd be willing to bet that the Corsair VS650 is at least as good as similar priced/sized Thermaltake, Silverstone and Aerocool PSUs and much nicer than 'yum cha' 650s.

Entry level stuff is never going to be as good as top of the line hardware. In the end, while brand can sort of matter, you will get roughly what you pay for. A $80 650 watt PSU is not going to be as nice as one that costs twice as much.

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How does Corsair PSU compare with Enermax?

My previous Enermax used to trip the 15A AFCI circuit breaker in the panel. I suspect it was because the power factor mechanism had failed which, in turn, may have caused an initial surge of current on startup, which the AFCI falsely detected as an arc. I replaced it with an Enermax Platimax.

I had an Antec PSU fail after six months with a lot of sparks and smoke. I have been leery of Antec ever since.

Regarding some of the previous comments about Corsair quality, I had a Corsair H100i water cooler fail out of the box. They replaced it under warranty. I also had a Corsair Voyager USB stick fail after a couple of years. They also replaced it.

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Regarding Corsair psu quality, all I can say at this point is it depends. Corsair does not actually manufacture psus; they have others do it for them(OEMs) and they put their brand on those products. In the old days, Corsair used Seasonic exclusively to manufacture their psus. Now, they have a couple of different sources, only one of which is Seasonic. If you have a Seasonic built Corsair psu, you have a quality unit as Seasonic has a reputation as a high quality manufacturer. If someone other than Seasonic made your Corsair psu, you have a lesser quality unit. Here's a very good if somewhat dated article on psu quality and how to track down who the real manufacturer is:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...urer,2913.html

At this point, whenever I do a build, I just buy either a Seasonic psu or a relabeled psu built by Seasonic.

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That is a helpful article. I am surprised to find PC Power and Cooling among the non-OEM. I thought they were the best of the best, a powerhouse American company. Supposedly, they used only Japanese capacitors. The only reason I didn't get their PSU at the time was the price and the fact that they did not have modular cables. This
link is also useful. It shows my PSU in the tier-2 category.

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I once thought my PSU had died because, after a power cut, my machine would not power up. I unplugged abd replugged all leads and, still, nothing. Then, out of sheer annoyance, I held the power button down, hard (I was very annoyed) for what seemed like ages (probably over 20 seconds but under a minute) and, lo and behold, the machine booted up.
Moral of the story being that, for some reason, PSUs seem to need the power button to be held down for a long time after a power cut. Or, perhaps, it's the MoBo's fault?

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