Computer Power-Cycling

Vegemyte

Hi! I recently bought a bunch of new computer hardware but, having put it all together, it won't work. Also, having pulled it apart to get the basics to work... well, it still won't work.

Processor: Intel i5-6600K
Fan: Coolermaster Hyper 103
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z170-D3H
PSU: Corsair CX500

Nothing else is connected at the moment; not even RAM (though, I did try powering with RAM - no dice).

It turns on, fans whirr, LEDs light up, but this only lasts for ~8 seconds before powering down again. I've tried another PSU, so I can rule that out. I've tried another motherboard/cpu/fan setup in the case, so I can rule that out.

I've tried about 10 times to reseat the motherboard, but always get the same result. I've tried reseating the fan and CPU, but still get the same result. There are no bent pins on the CPU socket, and I haven't had the smoke of doom come out from the CPU. I've looked up the manual for the motherboard, but it has no troubleshooting tips. I'm all out of ideas, so if you have any, please let me know!

Elvenshae

That really sounds like the CPU overheating because it doesn't have the heatsink properly applied to it.

Have you checked to make sure that the Hyper 103 is really installed correctly? I once put a heatsink and fan combo on and missed one of the side connections, so it wasn't held properly flush against the CPU, which caused similar problems.

You've applied thermal grease to the Hyper 103 / CPU connection, right?

Commander Zoom

I actually did this on my last build, so if you're gonna laugh, do it - and then check it anyway:
Make sure that you lifted the locking bar on the CPU socket, before putting the CPU and heat sink/cooler on.
(I didn't read the tiny pamphlet right and missed this step. Somehow it all went on anyway, but it was very tight; fortunately I figured things out before trying to power it up.)

dispatch.o

Pull the motherboard out of the case and check the risers you installed. It sounds like you may have one in the wrong location. You may be grounding out the entire board.

Edit: Alternatively, disconnect all of the front panel wires and any additional usb channels. Only connect the power_switch.

Edit2: Alternatively alternatively, use the cmos jumper and reset the bios to defaults.

Edit3: Hardware - especially motherboards - ships dead all the time, if you're in doubt just RMA it if you can test everything else and verify it works in another machine. The vendor probably wont even ask a question.

Daenris

Vegemyte wrote: »

It turns on, fans whirr, LEDs light up, but this only lasts for ~8 seconds before powering down again. I've tried another PSU, so I can rule that out. I've tried another motherboard/cpu/fan setup in the case, so I can rule that out.

Just want to make sure I'm understanding this. You tried a different (known working) PSU with your new CPU/fan/motherboard and it keeps resetting. Then you tried the new PSU with a different (known working) CPU/fan/motherboard and it keeps resetting also. That right?

If so, definitely seems like a grounding issue with the case or something.
Unless you got really really unlucky and ended up with a bad PSU and mobo whose failures yield the same result.

Edit: Or something uncommon like a bad power cord if you're using the same one on both tests.

Vegemyte

Elvenshae wrote: »

That really sounds like the CPU overheating because it doesn't have the heatsink properly applied to it.

Have you checked to make sure that the Hyper 103 is really installed correctly? I once put a heatsink and fan combo on and missed one of the side connections, so it wasn't held properly flush against the CPU, which caused similar problems.

You've applied thermal grease to the Hyper 103 / CPU connection, right?

I cleaned off the thermal grease I applied (rather shoddily, I might add) and tried again (should also note: I *did* clean off the first batch of thermal grease using isopropyl alcohol and a cloth *first*, before trying again), this time just putting a small pea-sized glob on the middle of the CPU and let the heatsink spread it out. Still no luck. I had a look at the manual and I can't see what I've done wrong, but I'll keep looking.

Commander Zoom wrote: »

I actually did this on my last build, so if you're gonna laugh, do it - and then check it anyway:
Make sure that you lifted the locking bar on the CPU socket, before putting the CPU and heat sink/cooler on.
(I didn't read the tiny pamphlet right and missed this step. Somehow it all went on anyway, but it was very tight; fortunately I figured things out before trying to power it up.)

Locking bar? You mean the lever? I lifted that, put the CPU in, had it locked under the bolt before putting the lever back to it's original position - not sure if I've missed something else as well but I'll give it another shot at this point.

dispatch.o wrote: »

Pull the motherboard out of the case and check the risers you installed. It sounds like you may have one in the wrong location. You may be grounding out the entire board.

Edit: Alternatively, disconnect all of the front panel wires and any additional usb channels. Only connect the power_switch.

Edit2: Alternatively alternatively, use the cmos jumper and reset the bios to defaults.

Edit3: Hardware - especially motherboards - ships dead all the time, if you're in doubt just RMA it if you can test everything else and verify it works in another machine. The vendor probably wont even ask a question.

I have four risers and I've put them in fine (at least, they've worked for the other motherboard I have on hand). I've tried using the CMOS jumper too.

I might just ship it back, put I'd rather not go through the hassle unless I've tried everything! Thanks for the responses!

Vegemyte

Daenris wrote: »

Vegemyte wrote: »

It turns on, fans whirr, LEDs light up, but this only lasts for ~8 seconds before powering down again. I've tried another PSU, so I can rule that out. I've tried another motherboard/cpu/fan setup in the case, so I can rule that out.

Just want to make sure I'm understanding this. You tried a different (known working) PSU with your new CPU/fan/motherboard and it keeps resetting. Then you tried the new PSU with a different (known working) CPU/fan/motherboard and it keeps resetting also. That right?

If so, definitely seems like a grounding issue with the case or something.
Unless you got really really unlucky and ended up with a bad PSU and mobo whose failures yield the same result.

Edit: Or something uncommon like a bad power cord if you're using the same one on both tests.

Yeah, I've tried two working PSUs with this new motherboard, and both with the old one. They both work for the old one, only the new motherboard is resetting. I am using the same kettle cord for both - I might try the newer one, but I'm also going to look through the case for any shorts I might've missed because at this point I'm all out of ideas relating to the CPU and Motherboard themselves.

Bliss 101

This is a long shot, but I had the same problem with a computer I recently built for a friend. I was at my wits end, the only thing left that I could think of was to take out the CMOS battery. Well, the underside of the battery looked a bit weird, with some discoloration as if it was burned or contaminated with something. So I replaced it with the battery from my friend's old motherboard, tried booting -- and to my eternal surprise, the system booted up fine!

Aside from that, I have no ideas. I suppose you don't have an old compatible processor at hand to further narrow down the problem. You could also unplug all drives and see if you can get to a bootable device error or if it still just cycles.

dispatch.o

If it's not beeping, it's not even trying to post.

CPU fan is spinning up and connected appropriately? All the jumper clips are present and in default position?

Essentially every error would give a beep code except it not even trying to post. I'd go through the manual for a schematic of the jumpers and go through them individually to make sure they're all present and in default position, check the cmos battery to make sure it's seated properly and then sleep on it for a few nights and if nothing else stupid came to mind, return the board.

Edit: Though that does sound a lot like what happens when you power up with the bios reset jumper in the wrong position.

Vegemyte

I had a look under the CMOS battery - clear and fine, no discolouration or anything. And the fan is spinning fine and I've checked all the jumpers. At this point I've given up and put my old computer back together (and solved a 6-month long problem that spurred this upgrade by changing a single SATA cable and port) and will try to post back the motherboard for the warranty.

Foomy

is the cpu aux power conencted? If it's not you get a short 5-10s boot and then shutdown.

Pailryder

agree with dispatch.o, without beeps but getting power, that's an odd combo but sounds like a bad mobo or wiring.

VishNub

Check the RAM seating.

I had this problem a few months ago -- everything spins up, but no beep codes, no boot. In my case reseating the RAM fixed it.

Wassermelone

I had power cycling problems on a recent computer build

Ended up being my PSU (and motherboard for that matter).

But this is a good troubleshooting list for boot/post problems:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems