PC won't turn on

[Norellicus]

Earlier this evening, my PC, which has been running fine, suddenly got INCREDIBLY loud from one or more of the fans spinning up to full speed; nothing seemingly wrong with it, I shut it off for a minute so I could examine the fans thinking maybe it was dust or something obstructing the airflow. From the moment I shut it off though, it went into some kind of fault-loop and now I can't turn it back on. The little green LED that is on most mobos these days flickers instead of coming on solid, and if my speakers are plugged in I can hear a fast series of ground fault 'pops' (I can also hear this in the PSU itself when it's plugged into the mobo, but NOT when I just feed power to the PSU without connecting it to any components).

I've run out of ideas, just looking to collective web wisdom before acting on the suspicion that the mobo is somehow zapped (it's plugged into a surge suppressor and there was zero sign of any kind of power flicker when the fans kicked high, but it's the only solution I can come up with).

[xopher]

The little green LED that is on most mobos these days flickers instead of coming on solid,

PSU is not supplying enough power anymore. Get a new one.

[Norellicus]

Do PSUs lose their potential? If not, that seems a little dubious, since it's been working fine and I have not added any new components. Though I suppose it's definitely possible that it somehow has failed, I don't have a PSU tester to be sure (I plan to get one for the future lol).

[CoronA1979]

Do this, to see if the PSU makes the noises with it not connected to any components.

http://aphnetworks.com/lounge/turn_o...aperclip_trick

This will allow the PSU to actually power up it's circuits without the MB telling it to do so. Just because you have the PSU plugged in doesn't mean it's actually putting power out. This is a common trick many use to run waterpumps to bleed/fill there systems.

If it does, get a PSU. If it doesn't, disconnect every component (GPU's and anything else in your PCI lanes included) from the MB and try it with just the MB. If all is well there, start adding one component at a time.

[Norellicus]

Nice, I didn't think to try that.

PSU sounds normal when I do that. Connecting just the 24 pin from the PSU causes the flicker/pop, and adding the +4 pin (the yellow and black one) doesn't improve things.

[CoronA1979]

Well, could either be the MB or the PSU not having enough juice to power said MB.

I'd try to find another MB I could test the PSU on or see if someone else/or yourself has another PSU.

[Yabby]

Save yourself some time and just do what xopher said.

[Norellicus]

Yeah, I'm going to buy a PSU first (unfortunately I don't have a compatible spare to try out), and if that doesn't solve it I'll go back and get the rest of the components to replace the innards. Gotta love Microcenter being open until 9pm!

[chiyio]

My guess would be the MB has gone bad, but hopefully you'll get lucky and it's the PSU.

[Norellicus]

Turned out I was lucky, PSU fixed it right up. I bought the other components anyway though lol, PC due for an upgrade.

[Kerberoz]

Tried resetting the CMOS?

edit: nvm