I hesitate to post this because it has been addressed so many times (why I chose split second term), but don't quite see my question answered and some just drop the thread without saying what finally solved their problem (or even thanks). After posting I notice that I use HSF and cpu fan interchangeably. They mean the same in this post.
I built 2 identical computers for our church. Specs are below. Both passed the “smoke test” (HSF and case fans came on and I didn’t see or smell any smoke.) I loaded both computers in my truck (cab) and took them to the church, where I installed the mobo drivers and Win 8.1 on one of them. I came back the next day to repeat the procedure on the second one, but it exhibited the symptom so many others have described here (comes on very briefly and then shuts off). I brought both computers home to troubleshoot the dead one.
After double checking all the cables and connections and verifying that the panel (pwr & reset buttons, etc.) connections were identical, I swapped PSUs. One computer functioned with both PSUs, and one remained “dead” with both supplies. I then turned to this site and was surprised to see how many others had experienced this problem (and over many years). I read about a dozen of the threads until nothing new seemed to be showing up, and then reluctantly decided to try the “breadboard” approach. (That means something different to me). It sounds reasonable, although this is probably my 9th or 10th build and I’ve never needed it before.
I undid all my meticulous cable management, disconnected everything (wasn’t using a video card anyway), took out the 2 memory sticks and laid the bare mobo out on anti-static bags. My stocks of extra computer parts yielded a 2 wire connector I could slip onto the pins on the motherboard so I could send the start signal by touching the wires together, but I could not find a case speaker, so I’m working without any beep codes yet.
With the 24-pin and 8-pin power cables firmly seated, I applied power (touched the wires together). The HSF looked like it was “trying” to start. It moved about ¼ inch then stopped. The mobo has a (3 pin) cpu fan 2 connector, so I tried the cpu fan on that with the same results. I attached an old (but unused, since I don’t usually use stock cpu coolers) Intel cpu cooler to the cpu fan 1 connector on the motherboard and it worked fine. I only let it run for about a second for obvious reasons.
I said the fan looks like it’s “trying” to start, because it sort of quivers as it stops. So I tried starting it with my finger. That worked, but when it started it made a lot more noise than a cpu fan should and then it seemed to be slowing down, so I turned it off. It seems obvious to me that it is a faulty cpu fan. But the obvious answer isn’t always the right one, and although the case fans now come on, I didn't think they were before I took everything out of the case. So I’m asking the experts on this site if there could be something I have overlooked before I go back to Fry’s and try to get a replacement. Also, do you think I should demand a whole new cpu since all the testing I’ve done may have put too much heat stress on it?
Here are the specs (I only had a $700 budget, including the OS, so I picked up the parts as they went on sale)
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Pro4
SDRAM: 8 GB (2 x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 DDR3 1600
PSU: 430W Corsair CX430M ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
SSD: 250GB 840 Evo-
HDD: 500GB WD Black WD5000BPKX (SATA3 2.5")
Case: SilverStone SST-PS07B MicroATX
I built 2 identical computers for our church. Specs are below. Both passed the “smoke test” (HSF and case fans came on and I didn’t see or smell any smoke.) I loaded both computers in my truck (cab) and took them to the church, where I installed the mobo drivers and Win 8.1 on one of them. I came back the next day to repeat the procedure on the second one, but it exhibited the symptom so many others have described here (comes on very briefly and then shuts off). I brought both computers home to troubleshoot the dead one.
After double checking all the cables and connections and verifying that the panel (pwr & reset buttons, etc.) connections were identical, I swapped PSUs. One computer functioned with both PSUs, and one remained “dead” with both supplies. I then turned to this site and was surprised to see how many others had experienced this problem (and over many years). I read about a dozen of the threads until nothing new seemed to be showing up, and then reluctantly decided to try the “breadboard” approach. (That means something different to me). It sounds reasonable, although this is probably my 9th or 10th build and I’ve never needed it before.
I undid all my meticulous cable management, disconnected everything (wasn’t using a video card anyway), took out the 2 memory sticks and laid the bare mobo out on anti-static bags. My stocks of extra computer parts yielded a 2 wire connector I could slip onto the pins on the motherboard so I could send the start signal by touching the wires together, but I could not find a case speaker, so I’m working without any beep codes yet.
With the 24-pin and 8-pin power cables firmly seated, I applied power (touched the wires together). The HSF looked like it was “trying” to start. It moved about ¼ inch then stopped. The mobo has a (3 pin) cpu fan 2 connector, so I tried the cpu fan on that with the same results. I attached an old (but unused, since I don’t usually use stock cpu coolers) Intel cpu cooler to the cpu fan 1 connector on the motherboard and it worked fine. I only let it run for about a second for obvious reasons.
I said the fan looks like it’s “trying” to start, because it sort of quivers as it stops. So I tried starting it with my finger. That worked, but when it started it made a lot more noise than a cpu fan should and then it seemed to be slowing down, so I turned it off. It seems obvious to me that it is a faulty cpu fan. But the obvious answer isn’t always the right one, and although the case fans now come on, I didn't think they were before I took everything out of the case. So I’m asking the experts on this site if there could be something I have overlooked before I go back to Fry’s and try to get a replacement. Also, do you think I should demand a whole new cpu since all the testing I’ve done may have put too much heat stress on it?
Here are the specs (I only had a $700 budget, including the OS, so I picked up the parts as they went on sale)
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Pro4
SDRAM: 8 GB (2 x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 DDR3 1600
PSU: 430W Corsair CX430M ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
SSD: 250GB 840 Evo-
HDD: 500GB WD Black WD5000BPKX (SATA3 2.5")
Case: SilverStone SST-PS07B MicroATX