The original post: /r/buildapc by /u/ExodiaTheWelcomed on 2025-02-21 13:56:57.
I've recently finished rebuilding my PC, swapped out everything aside from the case, motherboard, and power supply. The computer has successfully posted and I've been able to set up my os and all that. However, sometimes when I press the power button nothing happens, no lights, no fans, nothing. I'll unplug it check the fpanel connector making sure it's plugged all the way in. Then I will plug the PC back in, try and turn it, which it will but I'll get a red dram light on the motherboard. As far as I understand this indicates a part isn't hooked up correctly (mobo is something like b650 elite eagle ax). So I'll turn the PC off and then back on but this time it will boot up just fine. This process has happened a couple times now.
Most recently I noticed the light on the power button on my case was flashing weirdly (like surging with brightness suddenly instead of a soft rise and fall) in a way it didn't with the old setup. So, I suspected it was an issue with the power button's connection to the case. I unplugged the fpanel connector from the motherboard, then plugged pack in p+, p-, and pwr (didn't bother with hd led as I couldnt get it in without having to take out the GPU which I didn't want to do) and then it did the turn on with dram light before being turned off and then turning on normally thing. The power button was no longer flashing weirdly so I assumed I had fixed my problem. This morning when I went to turn on my computer however I'm back at square one with nothing happening when I press the power button. For what it's worthz I was able to turn off my PC last night using the power button, the os recognized it was being pressed just fine and brought up the power options menu (mint os).
Can anyone help me identify what's going wrong? I really don't want it to be the motherboard because I would hate to have to build this whole thing over again. However for context, I did use a bit too much thermal paste on the cpu when first installing it. Some thermal paste got on the motherboard pins which I then cleaned off with a paintbrush and 90% isopropyl alcohol, that seemed to work fine other than the fact those pins look a little discolored now... But Im pretty sure a motherboard can turn on even if the CPU isnt being read properly. The CPU from that incident was replaced with a new one so the CPU should be fine. I am much more ready to buy a replacement power switch if that's the issue but I'm a little sick of spending money rn so id like some second opinions before making any more purchases. I'm happy to answer any additional questions anyone has. I'm sorry this was a long read but thank you so much if you decide to help!