No power, no explanation

Alright, so I'm panicking. This computer has been working since around December, which is when I got it new, without a hitch. It had some problems before with powering on (sometimes if I pressed the power button too hard, it would get stuck resetting and turning on over and over until I would hold down the button to shut it off, then switch the psu off and on, then try again) however this became incredibly rare, particularly because I learned to power it on by just barely pressing the power button. Today though, a funny thing happened. I brought my desktop home for thanksgiving break. It had been working that day, all day, all the weeks before that. Then after a fairly smooth 50 minute car ride home down the highway (where the PC was stored in the trunk, wedged between lots of stuff), I got the PC home. That was Wednesday, today I tried quickly setting up my desktop like I always do… hit the power… and nothing. No light, no activity, no sound, no nothing. When I hit the switch absolutely nothing happens. I tried plugging it into different outlets, tried changing the switch on the PSU to see if I had just had that off, tried replugging my power switch on the motherboard back in (WOW that was a pain in the rear to do again), and I'm basically at the end of my rope. I have no idea what is wrong with my computer or what could have happened during that car ride that has made this completely inoperable. The motherboard looks like it's okay, all the plugs and such are in, it hasn't fractured or snapped or anything. I really just have no idea what to do. Tomorrow I'll be taking it to a Microcenter but I wanted to see if you guys had any ideas. I built this thing myself, although I'm far from an expert it's been working totally fine for a long time. I spent about 1k on it so the idea of it just being completely dead is… O_O Given the sequence of events, the only tenable explanation seems to be that something happened during the driving (too much vibration or something) that caused this whole thing to muck up. I just wish I knew what that thing is so I can, if possible, repair or replace it.

The simplest test is take the PSU out, or at least unplug EVERYTHING from inside the case, then turn the mains on, if the PSU fans (assuming it has some) turn on then there is life, if they don't it suggests the PSU is dead, but it sounds like you've had a power issue for a while, either bad cables and\or bad PSU, moving the system is all it takes to upset things when they are playing up, but if all your connections are good, then the PSU is probably dead, but do check the fuse in the plug before going mad looking for things, it could be that simple a solution, hope you get it sorted.

Or just as likely, it's that power switch on the front of your Tower. Could be something internal in the switch that jiggled all the way loose during transport and re-setup. I once fixed an HP with similar problem. The internal plastic plunger on the back of the mechanism of the switch would no longer extend sufficiently to press the internal portion of the swtich. I ended up whittling a wooden insert to replace the plastic plunger. Worked great and no further problems. However, replacing the switch might have done just as well.

Update: According to the guys at microcenter, both my power supply and my motherboard are busted. I think fried. Can any of you guys figure out how this might've happened over the course of a simple car ride??? Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply with Three 12V Rails GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard I am reading reviews about my motherboard (it seems to be the weaker of the two parts in terms of reputation) and many people are having problems involving endless reboot cycles, like the ones I mentioned. However that doesnt really explain why pressing the switch lightly would cure that problem. Nor does it explain why those two pieces happened to fry.

both my power supply and my motherboard are busted. I think fried.

Those terms are not terribly descriptive.

What "evidence" does microcenter offer.

Did they put your PSU on a testing device and find that the voltages and amperages were significantly faulty?

Did they physically inspect the board and capacitors, finding darkened burn areas or bulging and leaking capacitors?
Did they find faulted section with a multi-meter?

Did they swap in a substitute PSU, finding that it improved the situation?
Did they swap out the motherboard, leaving your other components plus a fresh PSU, and find that it then could work perfectly?

The terms that you mention, apparently from microcenter, are easy to throw around and are great words to stampede an owner into giving up and buying a new machine.

New PSU - up to $90+ US
New MOBO- $150 - $250
Labor probably a couple of shop hours

And no guarantee that if they attempted to salvage RAM $100 plus, CPU $100 plus and Graphics card $75-$100plus, that they would not also be found to be in need of replacement.

Customer is over a barrel on that kind of scenario. Why not just buy new?

Now I don't "challenge" the microcenter statements…. if they are basing them on some credible evidence.

But what's to say that all the internal cleanup and reconnecting while replacing MoBo and PSU might just have corrected a faulty switch, or that they find they need to replace a faulty switch in addition to the other replacements, that may or may not need to have been made.

Best course of action, in my opinion would be to get a second opinion.

It seems unlikely that they will charge for anything more than the replacement parts and possibly whatever labor it takes to put it together. But I guess we'll see. I have no idea how they decided these parts don't work (I got this information second hand from a parent who knows almost nothing about computers) but things are already in swing now… if I can find out the details I definitely will though. It does seem really far-fetched to me that these parts would suddenly both just die on me after a simple car ride. I feel like the idea that this is both the mobo and psu dead kind of might rule out the whole "this was just the power switch" thing, right? I mean I am assuming these parts were at the very least tested individually to see which ones work (since that is so simple), if this was just a matter of a switch not working, I am almost positive they'd get it. And if they were to fix my cpu without fixing the switch that would also not fix it. Of course if, like you said, they accidentally fixed the switch while replacing…who knows, maybe I really am being bamboozled… Oh well. I'll try to figure out what I can.

I appreciate your cool-head attitude.

and possibly whatever labor it takes to put it together.

Ever had to strip everything off from a MoBo, remove all the power cords, unscrew it and replace it and replace all the components including CPU.

We have some excellent builders and techs here, who could probably do it in their sleep and in much less time than I'd estimate (two hours)
Most of them could assemble a full computer from separate components in less than 2 hours.

My reply was maybe a bit of a devil's advocate perspective.
Sounds like you have the situation well in hand.
Hope it goes well for you.

Actually, when I was building this computer, I put on my CPU fan as one of the last steps. Turns out the fan needed a backplate! I had to rip the whole thing apart just so I could take the motherboard out and put that backplate on. I can definitely appreciate how annoying it is… it took me (being a novice) plenty of time, hahaha. I most definitely share your suspicion and appreciate your ideas (that's why I love this site). I will do what I can to see I don't get gyped.

So he said something about using a multimeter and also trying to test the individual parts… it was hard to understand him (thick Indian accent) but I guess I have to take his word for it. Or something. What is amazing is that he said it would take 60 dollars worth of labor to install the motherboard AND 60 dollars worth of labor to install the PSU. Just wow… I can see how these scam artists make their money now, lol. These estimates are clearly predicated on customers having no idea how these things work. It's kind of infuriating, but oh well. I guess this is over now, at least.

UPDATE: Hah, so this might interest you guys. Apparently all the techs in this place are stumped. Although they say they will figure it out, I was wondering if you could? They have gone through 3 motherboards (no I don't have to pay for them thank god). It's not the Gigabyte P45 that I was using before, it's some upgraded R type or L type or something (I can't remember exactly what they said), and they say that every single time they use one of these, after 3 hours the motherboard dies. Shorts or something. What the hell? So anyway I feel good for giving it to them now… it sounds like something is pretty messed up, although I can't imagine what. Any ideas? Think I'll have to replace anything else? The only other thing replaced is the power supply. I don't know if that is breaking every time too but I'm fairly sure it isn't.

Raptor, If techs with hands on the machine are puzzled, it would be a far stretch for a tech who's never touched the machine to be able to tell you the reason that a piece of hardware is failing. It is possible to go online and read horror stories about failing hardware and even repeats of hardware failing. Sometimes people then jump to conclusions about a bad brand or a bad batch of a brand's components. But who really knows if they haven't seen them first hand. No need to delve into horror stories. I'll just wish you the best.