Rene Lamontagne wrote:
On 2021-03-14 5:01 p.m., Bob F wrote:
On 3/14/2021 1:27 PM, Larc wrote:
Symptoms: started rebooting occasionally, progressively increasing
with prior mouse
pointer fadeout or freeze (cordless and corded mouse) - stopped
seeing USB wifi
adapter, although USB drives would still work - now won't post at all
(power comes on
and case PLED and fans run for about 20 seconds, then reboot, rinse
and repeat) - no
HDD LED - no signal to wake monitor - power to DVD burner on.
Multiple reconnections
and even reseating of the CPU and heatsink/fan and trying different
memory modules
didn't help.

PSU: Tested thoroughly with comprehensive digital PSU tester and
everything 100%

Is there anything else I should check out? I'd like to learn it's
not the
motherboard since a replacement that could accommodate the 7th
generation i3 CPU in
it would cost about as much as a new 300 series board and i3-9100 CPU
combined.

I'm not running a higher powered setup here since this isn't a main
system, but one I
use for Windows Insider development testing.

Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H270 Performance
PSU: Corsair CX500M

Larc


You tried replacing the battery, and resetting the bios? If it comes
up enough to do so, re-burning the bios could be worth trying.

Sometimes power PSUs test great with a tester but do not deliver clean
power under actual operating loads, It may be worth trying another known
good PSU just to make sure, otherwise the MB is probably the culprit.

Rene


Remove PSU cover (voids warranty), look for leaking caps on +5V rail,
do not touch anything. Look at it only. The PSU is likely well past
the warranty period, in which case stealing a look won't matter.

If we knew the brand of PSU and model number, it would be
possible to guess at this. Antec made by ChannelWell (CWT)
are known for this. I have several duff Antec in the
junk room. Other brands have treated me better.

With some luck, a puff of gray smoke comes out
of the PSU hole at startup. Once the +5V caps warm up,
the smoke stops.

Paul