PSU going bad or Mobo?

[CapriAnupam]

Hi all,

I have an assembled PC built from 2013 with

Motherboard: Gigabyte B75M-D3H
and PSU: Cooler Master GX 450 W

The configuration is old now, as you can see.

The 3.0 USB ports had already stopped working long ago when Windows 10 was installed on the system, because there were no USB 3.0 Windows 10 drivers available officially from the Gigabyte site for this motherboard, and I don't think Windows 10 generic drivers are working.

A few months ago, I noticed that the keyboard and mouse connected at the USB 2.0 ports of the back panel of the motherboard suddenly stopped working. I tried the other USB ports at the back, and on connecting to one of them, I got the message in Windows that there was extra power surge at that port. I do not remember the exact message. After that, I connected both the keyboard and mouse to the front panel USB 2.0 ports which are still working.

Recently, a few days ago, I tried to check the back ports again to see that power surge message, but now the back ports are all dead... no activity at all on connecting to any of them.

Is this is a motherboard problem, or is it a PSU problem? Is the motherboard going dead, or did that damage come from the PSU?

Rest of the PC continues to work well, except for another thing.

I had APC BR600CI-IN UPS connected until last year to the PC. I had its battery replaced once already and it was working well. Last year during the lockdown, one morning I turned on the UPS and it just started to trip repeatedly. I immediately disconnected the UPS, and kept it aside. Since then, I am running the PC from a power strip.

I could not get the UPS repaired during lockdown. I am still not comfortable with a technician visiting the house to repair the UPS. Also, he will most probably want to connect the UPS to the PC again, for testing the load and to see how is it tripping? I do not want to take that risk. Also, they will charge 350/- just for visiting, apart from the repair charges, which I find a bit steep. I am not well these days, and so I cannot take the UPS for repair personally at the APC service center... so that will have to wait.

OK, so that aside, I recently noticed that my PC was shut off a couple of times when I came to check on it. I generally keep the PC running throughout the day. In our area, power goes off randomly anytime for a few minutes, so I thought that power must have gone down, and maybe I did not notice.

But just yesterday, I noticed that the power point for the power chord connected to the CPU on the power strip was making sparking noises. The noise increased, and spark happened and PC just turned off. Today, I replaced the power chord, but the same thing is happening again... sparking noise. Is this a power strip issue, or somehow there is back surge from the PSU? Can that happen? Or, is PSU having a problem?

I should mention that the same sparking kind of noise used to occur from the UPS too, when it was connected to the PC. I thought that the noise was coming from the UPS and I should get it checked soon. Alas, I could not get it checked in time.

Maybe that noise was from the PSU power chord? Not sure.

I won't be able to get the UPS repaired anytime soon, so for the while, if there are any suggestions for a good, reliable, power strip or extension boards with minimum 4 points, which I can purchase from Amazon, please provide.

Should mention that since I noticed the sparking from the power chord, I also noticed that connection from the network interface from the motherboard to the router was turning off randomly, and causing internet disruption. Again, a PSU issue or Mobo? The connection disrupts for a while until I take out the network cable and put it back in again. Works fine after that.

Also please tell if the PSU is going bad or the mobo?

I haven't been able to clean my PC also since a very long time now, so the dust accumulated inside might also be causing problems. I used to clean my PC very regularly before, but lately I have turned lazy or just keep postponing it.

I think it might be time to go for a new PC assembly. Will ask for suggestions in the forum, if I decide to go that route.

 

[AINDRASIS_GUPTA]

Before you plan to do anything, I would highly suggest hiring a local electrician and checking your power outlets.

There might be either a grounding issue or you're pulling way more power than what the power outlet can provide.

I always suggest against using power strips because they are electrical & fire hazards. It'll be better if you can set up a separate power outlet to be used with your PC with ideal ground safety.

 

[Silent47Assassin]

Here are some more things you can do to pinpoint the issue:
1. For sparks, check the power strip socket for damaged terminals. Even if you changed the cord, the terminals (sockets) on the strip may get worn out from previous sparks.
2. Check voltage levels through some monitoring software or even better, disconnect psu from motherboard (both ATX and EPS), power it on by shorting out the green wire with any black wire on psu ATX connector and use a multimeter to measure voltages on each voltage rails. You can google for ATX color codes and target voltages. If the deviation is minor, probably the PSU is fine.
3. Dust maybe the culprit here, so try cleaning the system using a blower and/or vacuum.
4. Your UPS may have a weak battery for which it is tripping. Try to test it independently by putting a different load like a 100 watt incandescent bulb or something similar. Make sure to not overload it by connecting a very high wattage load. If it still trips, your battery may need to be replaced. You can do it yourself by getting a replacement battery from a nearby battery dealer. They will also buyback the old one for a small discount. Typically these batteries run well for 1.5 to 2 years.

Lastly, after rereading the details, it looks like the motherboard itself is the problem, but still you should check out the other components independently to be sure.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Highly suspect this is a power issue coupled with getting your mobo fried - caps and etc. Get it repaired, while be on the lookout for a new system

Secondly the USB3 driver issue is confusing. Check out the chipset - you should have drivers for it somewhere.

 

[CapriAnupam]

Before you plan to do anything, I would highly suggest hiring a local electrician and checking your power outlets.

There might be either a grounding issue or you're pulling way more power than what the power outlet can provide.

This was a good advice. I called the electrician yesterday and he checked and told there is no grounding issue and the power level is also fine. Although he just checked that with a bulb, and not by a multi-meter. I might check myself the voltage with a multi-meter later on. But seems like more power isn't the issue here.

I always suggest against using power strips because they are electrical & fire hazards. It'll be better if you can set up a separate power outlet to be used with your PC with ideal ground safety.

I too do not like power strips myself, and did not intend to use this one for such a long time, but what to do, I had no other choice during lockdown. I need to get my UPS repaired as soon as possible.

Also, I am thinking of buying an extension board... the modular plastic kind that are being used nowadays where you can add as many switches and plugs as you want. Will go for a good quality one. I will need it because apart from my main desktop PC, I also test or run PCs from others... family or friends or spare PCs that I have. The extension board will be very handy there.

Here are some more things you can do to pinpoint the issue:
1. For sparks, check the power strip socket for damaged terminals. Even if you changed the cord, the terminals (sockets) on the strip may get worn out from previous sparks.

The sockets seem to be okay. There has not been more sparking since I replaced the power chord. So, let's see.

Although the network interface continues to disconnect randomly. It might be that the cable somehow got damaged. I will have to buy a new one.

2. Check voltage levels through some monitoring software or even better, disconnect psu from motherboard (both ATX and EPS), power it on by shorting out the green wire with any black wire on psu ATX connector and use a multimeter to measure voltages on each voltage rails. You can google for ATX color codes and target voltages. If the deviation is minor, probably the PSU is fine.

This seems too technical for me. Will leave it for now.

3. Dust maybe the culprit here, so try cleaning the system using a blower and/or vacuum.

I did clean the PC a bit yesterday. Although I did not use a blower, but I took out the power supply and wiped it with a cloth. I see some amount of dust on its fan, but I don't think I do anything about it. I used the PSU to test an old motherboard which is not booting up. Must say, even after all these years the PSU wasn't making any noise at all.

There was a lot of dust accumulated inside the cabinet and I cleaned most of it. Seems good for now. Will do cleaning with a blower later when I feel a bit better.

4. Your UPS may have a weak battery for which it is tripping. Try to test it independently by putting a different load like a 100 watt incandescent bulb or something similar. Make sure to not overload it by connecting a very high wattage load. If it still trips, your battery may need to be replaced. You can do it yourself by getting a replacement battery from a nearby battery dealer. They will also buyback the old one for a small discount. Typically these batteries run well for 1.5 to 2 years.

I had the battery changed once already a few years back, so don't think the battery might be an issue, but can't say for sure. I do not have anything to load test the UPS myself. Will have to take it for repair.

Lastly, after rereading the details, it looks like the motherboard itself is the problem, but still you should check out the other components independently to be sure.

Motherboard does seem to have dying components, but not sure if that is because of motherboard itself or power surge from PSU or the electrical outlets. Sometimes we do get voltage fluctuations here, so maybe that might have caused it. But yes, it is very strange that all USB ports at the back are all dead.

Highly suspect this is a power issue coupled with getting your mobo fried - caps and etc. Get it repaired, while be on the lookout for a new system

Yes, I think it might be time to go for a new build soon, if the network interface too goes dead. Something definitely wrong with motherboard then.

Secondly the USB3 driver issue is confusing. Check out the chipset - you should have drivers for it somewhere.

I am running Windows 10 32-bit. There are no drivers available for that for my motherboard. There are drivers available for Windows 10 64-bit, but I do not plan to update it to 64-bit for now. I only have 4 GB DDR3 RAM, and I don't think it will be enough to handle the 64-bit OS. My system already runs a bit slow nowadays.

Interesting though, maybe if I update to 64-bit, those USB 3.0 ports might start working?

 

[arunmcops]

Most probable a ground issue with Mobo and cabinet. Try to keep the mobo outside the cabinet and test the USB ports. If there is no issue, you may need to change your cabinet or properly insulate mobo and cabinet contacts.