Solved Failed/intermittent boot

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Hostilact

PCHF Member
Jun 27, 2019
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Let me start with what I am currently running.

Board: Z270 PC Mate
VGA: Asus GTX 1080
PSU: Corsair RM 750x
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-7700K Processor
MEM: 2x8GB, 2400MHz ADATA XPS
COOLER: Not sure on the brand but a liquid cooler
OS: Windows 10 64bit Home

Now to the issue. So This started randomly on Saturday when I went to turn on my PC, Everything turned on (fans, lights, ect.) but as I sat there nothing popped up on my monitors. Looked through the view window and sure enough the EZ Debug light for the CPU was on, so I shut it down turned the hard power switch on the PSU off, unplugged it, hit the power button to try and burn any residual power off, plugged it back in and flipped the switch back, now it was switching itself on and off endlessly every 2sec and would attempt to boot for about half a second.

My first instinct was to shut it back off, unplug it and swap the memory around. No joy. Second was to try and boot off 1 stick. No Joy. Third was to remove the GPU and try again with the memory in the original spot. No joy. Swapped memory again with GPU removed. No joy.

Did a little digging and read that it could be a PSU issue (I didn't have the Corsair at the time but a 600W High Power Bronze). So I went to the store and got the Corsair but still no joy. So I did some more digging and found a post about resetting the ME in the BIOS, but I couldn't even get to the BIOS screen. My buddy gave me a tip about removing the GPU and putting in a single stick of memory in the #2 slot which somehow worked to get me to BIOS. Sure enough my ME version was reading 0.0.0.0, so with a quick search I found the correct version for my Motherboard and put it on a USB stick to install. I did it and it worked...……. for a day.

Here I am going to boot up my PC again today and I am back at square one. Same issue as Saturday, same symptoms. Now before I take all the items off my desk and break down my PC again, I am wondering what the cause of the issue is and why it would repeat itself. Is it something I am doing? Is it a fault in the components? Is it a Windows update? Is there something I can do to prevent it from happening again?

Any insight on this issue would be greatly appreciated. Like I said I have done some digging on here and found people with the same issues, but have not come across a post where they had it happen again a few days later. Thank you in advance
 
How old id this system?

Hostilact said:
plugged it back in and flipped the switch back, now it was switching itself on and off endlessly every 2sec and would attempt to boot for about half a second.
Click to expand...
Hostilact said:
Now before I take all the items off my desk and break down my PC again, I am wondering what the cause of the issue is and why it would repeat itself. Is it something I am doing? Is it a fault in the components? Is it a Windows update? Is there something I can do to prevent it from happening again?
Click to expand...
When you put the system back together you did make sure that all the power connection were connected properly?
Made sure that the Motherboard is not shorting out on the case?
Made sure to use the proper height risers?
Made sure that the water cooler is circulating the fluid?
Removed the old thermal paste and applied the proper amount to the CPU?
Remove the plastic cover from the Cooler and CPU prior to attaching?
Have you places a piece or card board on you desk and assembled the system on that to see if it work then?
 
Rustys said:
How old id this system?



When you put the system back together you did make sure that all the power connection were connected properly?
Made sure that the Motherboard is not shorting out on the case?
Made sure to use the proper height risers?
Made sure that the water cooler is circulating the fluid?
Removed the old thermal paste and applied the proper amount to the CPU?
Remove the plastic cover from the Cooler and CPU prior to attaching?
Have you places a piece or card board on you desk and assembled the system on that to see if it work then?
Click to expand...


So I should have specified in the original post, this was not a new build. I have had this PC for about 2 years. It was a prebuilt system from ibuypower. Nothing inside the system had been changed prior to me swapping out the PSU. When I swapped out the PSU I was made sure all connections were secure on both ends and fully seated, I also ensured all pins and connectors were good to go prior to installing. The CPU and cooler have never been removed/moved. I can feel the fluid running through the hoses when the system is on so there is fluid movement there on the CPU cooler. I have not tried removing the components from the case and doing it on cardboard, was really hoping to avoid taking the whole system apart BUT if that is a highly recommended troubleshooting method I am not against doing it.
 
" if that is a highly recommended troubleshooting method I am not against doing it "

It is the best way to do this yourself,without taking your pc to a repair shop.. Also a good way to see if the mobo is not grounding out and to see if or what hardware is failing.
 
vger said:
" if that is a highly recommended troubleshooting method I am not against doing it "

It is the best way to do this yourself,without taking your pc to a repair shop.. Also a good way to see if the mobo is not grounding out and to see if or what hardware is failing.
Click to expand...

So if I do this and the problem continues, what would be the next step? I am going into my weekend so I would like to get this knocked out prior to going back to work next week.
 
Ok. So I took it all out, layed the mobo flat on the carbboard, only things plugged into it were the CPU power, MoBo Power, a single stick of memory (I tried both sticks) in slot #2 (tried all slots just to be sure), and the CPU cooler. Still no luck.

However, when I do all of the above (single stick in slot 2) but remove the CPU power cable, I get it to at least turn on and stay on, obviously I don't get any further than that since there is no power to the CPU but I thought it might be something.
 
Hostilact said:
However, when I do all of the above (single stick in slot 2) but remove the CPU power cable, I get it to at least turn on and stay on, obviously I don't get any further than that since there is no power to the CPU but I thought it might be something.
Click to expand...

Doesn`t sound too good I`m afraid, things that can cause such behaviour include an overheating CPU, a system short and a bad power good signal between the MB and PSU.

Quick test for you to do, try swapping the CPU cooler from the 4-pin water pump fan connector to the 4-pin CPU fan connector, if no change, try each of the 4 x 4-pin system fan connectors.
 
phillpower2 said:
Doesn`t sound too good I`m afraid, things that can cause such behaviour include an overheating CPU, a system short and a bad power food signal between the MB and PSU.

Quick test for you to do, try swapping the CPU cooler from the 4-pin water pump fan connector to the 4-pin CPU fan connector, if no change, try each of the 4 x 4-pin system fan connectors.
Click to expand...

So since I have had the computer, the cooler pump has been plugged into the 4 pin CPU Fan 1 and not the Pump Fan 1. I have never had an issue with temps (that I know of) so I never really thought twice about the pump not working properly. Would the pump not work properly in this configuration?

Also I figured out what type of pump it is. Its the Asetek 550LC
 
Hostilact said:
So since I have had the computer, the cooler pump has been plugged into the 4 pin CPU Fan 1 and not the Pump Fan 1. I have never had an issue with temps (that I know of) so I never really thought twice about the pump not working properly. Would the pump not work properly in this configuration?
Click to expand...

The fact that there are separate fan headers for an air cooler for the CPU and one for a liquid/pump driven cooler suggest that there is some difference between the two, voltage requirements would be my guess.

May I ask why the liquid cooling was not connected to the correct header on the MB in the first place, it was suggested that you try swapping the fan header around but in view of what you have previously said go straight to connecting the liquid cooling up as it should have been from the outset.
 
phillpower2 said:
May I ask why the liquid cooling was not connected to the correct header on the MB in the first place, it was suggested that you try swapping the fan header around but in view of what you have previously said go straight to connecting the liquid cooling up as it should have been from the outset.
Click to expand...

So this was a prebuilt system from ibuypower, not knowing any better myself I had assumed that the professionals would know where to plug thing in, so I had not bothered to check any of the stuff. Also it lasting almost 2 years would that still mean that would have been the issue? I gamed on this build quite a bit daily for 3-4 hours at a time with no issues. I will say that when I did pull the CPU cooler off, the thermal paste was dry and crusty, again not knowing any better I am not sure if that is normal or not.
 
Rustys said:
Yes that is normal and hoping that you removed the old and replaces it with new.
Click to expand...
Well the computer is still torn apart until I can figure out what the cause/issue is. Without the pc even booting up do I really need to worry about the cpu over heating atm?
 
As long as the pc is not powered up,then no there will be no cpu heating issue's.
 
Hostilact said:
I will say that when I did pull the CPU cooler off, the thermal paste was dry and crusty, again not knowing any better I am not sure if that is normal or not.
Click to expand...

As Rustys has mentioned what you describe is normal for used thermal compound as it is only spreadable for application and it hardens once it has cured by heat.

May I ask when and why the cooler was removed from atop of the CPU.

Before you can do anything else the old thermal compound must be correctly cleaned off from both the top of the CPU and the base of the cooler and then the correct amount of new thermal compound re applied before remounting the cooler, the old compound must not be scraped off as it can damage the mating surface on the CPU/cooler, you can purchase proper kits for cleaning off and re applying thermal compound examples of which you can find here.
 
Hostilact said:
Well the computer is still torn apart until I can figure out what the cause/issue is. Without the pc even booting up do I really need to worry about the cpu over heating atm?
Click to expand...
If you are powering on the system in any way shape or form then yes. If you are not at all powering on the system at all then no.
 
Well after testing with a different CPU my buddy had sitting around, it worked again. Decided since I needed to replace mine I might as well upgrade it a little. I now have the MSI Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon Motherboard and an i7 9700K. I also swapped out my CPU cooler with a CoolerMaster one and this time it IS plugged into the pump slow on the motherboard. Thank you all for the assistance in troubleshooting. I learned a lot.
 
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