So about a month ago I bought a pc system from cyberpower. Everything has been great, until suddenly whilst playing swtor last night, it just suddenly turned off. It wasn't the breaker or a surge, it was only the computer. Anyway, I turned off the power supply and waited a moment and it started just fine. Stayed on throughout the night, and when I started swtor again today, it turned off in the middle of a fight. Now however it won't turn on at all, when I press the power button, it seems like it'll start for a bit, and then nothing. I'm not very knowledgeable about computers, and while I already sent an email to cyberpower tech support, I really don't feel like waiting for weeks to ship my computer to them, then get it back.

So to me it seems as if the power supply is faulty or something. It's a 700w power supply from cyberpower themselves.

Some specs:

Intel(R) Core™ i5-2500K 3.30 GHz

1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module

[CrossFireX] GigaByte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard

700 Watts - XtremeGear SLI/CrossFireX Ready Power Supply

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB 16X PCIe

Let me know if you need more information. Any help is appreciated, if I can fix it myself in a short amount of time I'm willing to try.

Could be overheating under load, why its fine normally but is dying during gaming, could be the PSU too though, crapping out under load.
 
Is it pre overclocked and what kind of cooling do you have on it? Did you pick it up or get it shipped? Heatsink might be improperly seated.

It is not overclocked at all, and I've had it running under way more stressful conditions for hours on end with no problem. It was shipped, and it has fans and an including liquid cooling that came with the case. All the fans were working properly, and I never smelled anything. It's in a very open space, elevated from the ground and is allowed to breath.

@Osaladin said:

Now however it won't turn on at all, when I press the power button, it seems like it'll start for a bit, and then nothing.

Are you saying that you press the power button and the fans/lights turn on yet there's no sign of your PC booting up?

Do you recall your PC ever beeping when you press the power button? Normally (if there's an internal speaker) your PC will beep once as a sign that everything is a-ok...if your turning on with no beep then it's the same thing that has happend to my PC in the past which can be sovled from taking out the internal battery for a little bit.

If it isn't beeping (posting is the term), I would open the case and see if anything is loose. It could be faulty ram, try taking some of the DIMMS out and see if that helps.

I once purchased a custom rig (whenever I try I usually fry something) and after a day the PSU died, so sometimes you have to return it.

@1Gorebash1: Yeah the light and fans will turn on for a second or two and then go off. There is no beeping, and I don't think there ever was, I honestly can't remember. Where can I find the internal battery?

@mosdl: I opened it up and everything seems to be in order, would ram cause the computer to not turn on at all? I've never had a blue screen or a problem with the computer before this.

Ok, so I opened it up, and when I turn off the power supply and let it sit for a while, I turn it back on, and it gives me the same thing when I hit the power button. The lights in front, the fans, the video card fan, and the power supply fan and light come on briefly (1-2 seconds).

Edit: I took both ram cards out separately and tried it, nothing.

Edit 2: Ok, so I flipped a switch on the inside of the power supply, a red one, and tried to boot it up. My video card started to spark and smoke, I smelled the same smoke when all of this first happened. Would the video card, prevent the rest of the system from powering on? Also, fuck.

@Osaladin said:

Ok, so I opened it up, and when I turn off the power supply and let it sit for a while, I turn it back on, and it gives me the same thing when I hit the power button. The lights in front, the fans, the video card fan, and the power supply fan and light come on briefly (1-2 seconds).

Edit: I took both ram cards out separately and tried it, nothing.

Edit 2: Ok, so I flipped a switch on the inside of the power supply, a red one, and tried to boot it up. My video card started to spark and smoke, I smelled the same smoke when all of this first happened. Would the video card, prevent the rest of the system from powering on? Also, fuck.

Yes, faulty video card could cause issues. Your motherboard should have some cheap onboard graphics capabilities, try pluging the monitor into it if there are ports and remove the main graphics card

So you don't think it's anything I did wrong? I've kept it very well ventilated, and granted I keep it on most of the time, and I've had play sessions for hours on end, but my old laptop stretched it's limits and it still works fine after 2 years of hardcore use.

holy shit video card started to spark it shouldn't do that and I would immediately remove it sounds like the psu is the problem.

@Osaladin: Sounds like the power supply is no bueno.

Go to Fry's and get a nice power supply to test.

If everything is fine then your old PSU is crap and I've heard that XtremeGear makes shitty power supplies. Try and slap in a Corsair 750w and see if it works. If you still get the same problem then your Video Card is messed up and you can get it replaced if you got the warranty

@Osaladin said:

Ok, so I opened it up, and when I turn off the power supply and let it sit for a while, I turn it back on, and it gives me the same thing when I hit the power button. The lights in front, the fans, the video card fan, and the power supply fan and light come on briefly (1-2 seconds).

Edit: I took both ram cards out separately and tried it, nothing.

Edit 2: Ok, so I flipped a switch on the inside of the power supply, a red one, and tried to boot it up. My video card started to spark and smoke, I smelled the same smoke when all of this first happened. Would the video card, prevent the rest of the system from powering on? Also, fuck.

You killed it, jim. I would have blamed the PSU off the bat, it sounded like a PSU issue. PC Power and Cooling, Sparkle, Corsair. There are a few other brands I can't remember right now, but anything else? Get it away from my computer. I'm surprised they put such a junky PSU in your machine considering a Corsair 700 watt PSU can be had super cheap.

Does that switch say 120/220 on it? The switch toggles between the two voltages. You really shouldn't mess with it.

Shit, so my video card is probably done for now huh? Is there anyway to test it, or do I just have to wait and see when I put a new PSU in it? Right now I'm leaning towards just returning it to them so they can replace everything.

as long as it didn't melt anything and all of the diodes and capacitors are still in tact the card may work just fine after replacing the psu. My old ass seasonic shot a fucking spark at me trying to change some cables around for this mobo plugin that wouldn't let the computer start. I thought my hardware was bad and ended up rma'ing everything when I should've just unplugged that cable to begin with.

This is what I get for wanting to play BF3!

Just an update, I still have the same video card, but I got a Corsair TX850 psu. Everything still same specs, I hooked it up, the computer ran, but the video card started to spark again, I'm hoping that the power supply is fine, there is no red switch on this one so I don't think it can be in the wrong setting. Would the video card spark and burn because of the previous situation? Or is this psu too strong?

It might be a bummer, but I'd stop everything you're doing and return it to them. The big perk of buying a pre-built machine is the piece of mind of one big warranty behind it. Something is wrong, and you shouldn't be spending more money to fix it yourself. It could very well have been the old PSU which damaged the video card, and if it did, it sounds like the damage is permanent. But I'd just pop the old PSU back in there and send it off (make sure the red switch, presumably voltage setting, is back where it was when you got it).

@Osaladin said:

Edit 2: Ok, so I flipped a switch on the inside of the power supply, a red one, and tried to boot it up. My video card started to spark and smoke, I smelled the same smoke when all of this first happened. Would the video card, prevent the rest of the system from powering on? Also, fuck.

It didn't work so you thought the best solution would be to just start flipping switches? C'mon, duder.

If you had bothered to do any sort of research, you'd know that the little red switch on your PSU toggles the voltage depending on if you're in the US/Europe (different voltage coming through your wall outlet). You set it to EU mode and likely fried everything connected to your PSU.

You might get lucky and be able to return it but this might turn out to be a very expensive lesson in basic research.

@Osaladin said:

Edit 2: Ok, so I flipped a switch on the inside of the power supply, a red one, and tried to boot it up. My video card started to spark and smoke, I smelled the same smoke when all of this first happened. Would the video card, prevent the rest of the system from powering on? Also, fuck.

Literally the worst course of action you could have taken. You just fried your video card, and possibly other components.

Sounds like the bad PSU ruined your graphics card. If cyberpower can replace it, do that but order a Corsair PSU. If not, you'll hopefully be OK with just a new card. Also, don't tell them you flipped that red switch.

Ok like I said lol, I got a Corsair 850w psu, I just want to know if that will affect anything, I've already shipped the VC off for a replacement, everything else is working properly. There is no switch on this psu for voltage.

@Osaladin: If everything else is working fine, then there is nothing to worry about. Just don't flip any red switches again... on anything.