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Three hours on a dead PSU that was actually a loose front panel header
I spent three hours on a customer's rig that wouldn't post. Pulled the PSU, tested it with a multimeter, swapped RAM, reseated the CPU. Then I noticed the power button felt a little mushy. Jumpered the motherboard pins with a screwdriver and it fired right up. The front panel header connector had wiggled loose. Has anyone else burned a full morning on something this dumb?
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iris_rivera444mo ago
That exact mushy power button thing got me too about six months ago on a Dell Optiplex I was fixing up. I had already swapped the CMOS battery and even flashed the BIOS before I finally got annoyed enough to just short the pins with my keys. My advice is to always keep a small metal tool like a screwdriver nearby when you troubleshoot, but also train yourself to check that front panel connector first because it's literally the easiest thing to overlook. Those plastic headers can work loose from just moving the case around or even from thermal cycling over time. I started using a tiny zip tie to lightly secure the header to the motherboard cable, just enough to keep it from shifting around. You ever try that trick or do you just check the connection and move on?
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thomas2914mo ago
Oh yeah, I once spent two hours chasing a no-boot issue on an old HP desktop only to find the front panel connector was seated one row off on the pins. Made me feel like a real amateur, but hey it happens to all of us.
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gavin_kim34mo ago
Right there with you, I once diagnosed a 'dead' motherboard for an hour before realizing I forgot to flip the PSU switch lol.
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