I agree with Joe C about the power supply. I'd go for a Seasonic, but I'd get something with a little more wattage. Also, make a visual inspection of the MoBo and see if any of the caps are swelled up on the top. That will tell you for sure if the MoBo is bad. @Joe C: Nichicon all the way
If i remember the GA-G31M-xxx series (revision 1.0 mainly) did have a spate of capacitors going 'open circuit' and failing to smooth the power lines around the CPU voltage regulator section (near the IO/Plate area). Looking at the Caps you may not actually see anything wrong if this is the case. However some can leak and have a crusty substance on the tops, or as MJ mentioned bulges both a tell-tale sign they are failing or failed. The Revision 2.x seemed to have better caps but heat/cold cycles is always the nemesis of any electronic parts. A old PSU (3yrs+) can also have signs of ageing capacitors inside. If buying a replacement PSU i always go for a 80+ rated one, less heat more power and they last longer also a higher wattage than 500w so that the PSU is not being ran at close to its max rating.
Thanks for the prompt input guys! When I cleaned the boards, I didn't notice any cap visual damage. At least from the outside, they look in good shape. I always inspect those, as with previous mobos (Soyo in particular!) I had noticed fluid coming out. A decade back, one of the caps in a friend's MSI mobo literally exploded. I was there. It was terrifying. I ve even kept the shell of it as a souvenir Regarding the PSU, that was most enlightening; I was unaware of the quality difference in the caps. I ll definitely spend a little extra for a Seasonic. I m between the S12II-520 vs M12II-520 (EVO). I guess the difference is that the EVO is fully modular? At the end of the day, if it's not the PSU that's causing the problem, I will have a better quality PSU for when I build the remaining system. Cheers
As MJ stated in her #3 post, getting a higher watt if your going to upgrade in the near future would be in your best interest, a 650 - 750 watt would cover anything in the near future unless your going to run more than one video card. Going modular is nice if you want your case to look nicer. Modular of course is not a must but can help in those smaller mid-atx size cases. also, those Seasonic's do have a 5yr warranty
Yeap...makes sense. But I m not aiming for a high-end configuration anyways. It's probably gonna be a mid-range I5 and single GPU. I m not into games over the last few years and when I do, I d go for an old classic e.g. CAPCOM Arcade stuff like Street Fighter or even DOS games from the 90s (e.g. Titus the fox, Golden Axe). Luckily, good emulators exist for both. Latest stuff don't appeal to me anymore. So for now, I think I ll settle for that 500w PSU. Anything 600w 80plus+ goes well above 100EUR - and I can't afford that at this time... I mostly use the PC for watching documentaries, series, movies. Meaning my next GPU should be able to handle 4K playback on its own. Existing configuration provides just enough firepower for 1080p (but not 10bit encodings even on 2K...)
that sounds like all the symptoms of a bad mobo....but i would try to swap out the PSU and see if is the culprit.
Although I can't see any physical damage on the motherboard, I am afraid I can't rule out this being a motherboard issue. I just hope it's not. Fingers crossed...
Your old PSU probably only had the 20pin ATX connector so that left you with 4 holes exposed. Not a problem with onboard vga use but with a PCI-ex it could of caused a few problems in that the PCI-ex socket not have enough power for the gfx card. Newer PSU's have a 20+4 pin connector which can be split into the 20pin for older motherboards. All ATX power connectors as shown on the diagram are now used with the new PSU. Sys_Fan, this is for a fan to be connected to the case to extract heat. Nothing apart from a fan should be connected to this or it may/will damage the board. The Atx (CPU) on most boards there is just a 4 pin connector as on your board and the 8pin(4x4) on the PSU can be split into the single 4 pin block as you found out, this is normal, some more powerful boards would use the 8pin ATX CPU connector. You can only fit one of the 4pin connectors as they are 'keyed' to fit only one way.
Sometimes i find that now and then i have to clear the cmos, either by removing the battery (power off) for a few seconds or by putting the CLR_Cmos jumper on the pins (or other set depending on the boards configuration). Obviously with a flat battery this would happen anyway and would need changing, symptoms are date/time not being correct or a CMOS Failure press F1 to continue type messages appearing. Batts last about 3yrs give or take. CR2032 is the common battery number. You will have to reset the time date and other bits in the bios again. But this might clear the problem of no monitor signal because the bios has been reset to its defaults.
It looks like you have the cables connected correctly. Most are designed so that you cannot get them really wrong more so the motherboard power connections as they have certain ways they will only fit into the corresponding socket they designed for.
The non responsive from standby may be a bios problem? Look for power management menu in the bios setup screens, change from s3 to s1 if possible and test.
My CMOS battery is brand new. I ve only replaced it recently when I opened the case. It was well over 5yr old! I ll have to try and clear the CMOS as you proposed and if that works, I shall look into power management options and see whats what. Really need to narrow things down a little...
yup... you would be looking at around $500. to upgrade to anything new like Ryzen or Sky/Kaby/Coffee Lake cpu's. Your old psu had a "Fan Sensor" the reason that you plugged that into the "fan" outputs on your motherboard. The Seasonic does not have that option, so just connect a case fan to the "fan" on the mobo
dude stop wasting time and driving yourself crazy your mobo is toast....like joe c told u get on ebay pick one up for cheap.