My PC turns on, shuts off, and turns itself back on. Help?

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

Hello,

I recently made an upgrade to my PC because I gave my older parts to a friend. I added an SSD to my case to speed up some programs that I used often. Please note I gave away my older parts gradually, so I had a few different parts combinations in my PC (ex. fx 6300/ gtx 760 Msi twin frozr, then i5 6600k/gtx 760). I upgraded from the gtx 760 to the reference nvidia gtx 970. Everything was working fine, until my PC would turn on for a few seconds, shut itself off, and turn on again. An error page would appear saying "press f1 to restore bios setup" along with info about my system. It worries me because I think turning off and on by itself would shorten the life of my expensive PC. Any recommendations?

Specs after giving parts to friend:

Intel i5 6600k @ 3.5 ghz
Asus Z-170 A motherboard
Evga supernova 650 watt gold psu
Nvidia reference gtx 970
Western digital blue 1tb 7200 rpm
Nzxt S340 white mid tower case

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

Power down the system, unplug it, press and hold the power button for three seconds to drain any remaining power, open it up and remove the CMOS battery from the motherboard. After 30 seconds, please put the battery back in and attempt to boot again.

If this yields no change in the expressed behavior, then contact your motherboard manufacturer and ask how they recommend that you deal with a corrupt BIOS.

Often, when BIOS becomes corrupt, the board is bricked. But some boards have a secondary BIOS that can be used to combat this sort of situation. That difference is why I recommend calling the manufacturer before you spend the money on a new board.

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

I will try that when I get home within the hour, thank you for your feedback. I will see if this works. I have a warranty on the motherboard, so we can see if I need to go down that road.

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

Did you register the motherboard? With Asus, you have to register your product online before they will RMA it, which is also done online.

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

I tried what you had recommended, and my pc turned on for a split second and turned back off. My nzxt kraken x61 lit up, so there had to be some sign of life. I had the cmos battery in upside down before due to another problem in my system.

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

I put it back in and out a couple times with no luck. the leds and the fans turn on for a split second nd turn off again, this time with no revival

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

What is the exact model of your PSU? EVGA Gold is not specific enough, they make plenty of different models that have the 80+ Gold rating.

Tom's Hardware PSU Tier list, please read through the entire post.

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

evga 650 watt supernova g2 gold certified 80 +

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

That is a great power supply.

The problem appears to be that your BIOS is corrupt, leaving your motherboard unable to function properly.

Please register your board and contact Asus to have it replaced.

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

I talked with asus, and they said my ram, (Crucial ballistix lt 16 gb ddr4) was not known to be fully compatible with the z170 board. They recommended to remove all components but the cpu and update bios if I get a clean boot.

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

Okay

Keep me posted if that yields any results.

This is why I say to contact the manufacturer, I had no way of knowing that RAM that meets standard specs would not be compatible with a certain version of the BIOS.

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

So I did what the man on the phone told me, and his advice yielded unexpected results:

I removed everything from the motherboard except the 24 pin power connector and the cpu, heatsink, and cpu connector, along with 1 stick of ram. I got a boot and a display running off of HD integrated graphics, and the bios. but, my pc turned on, turned off, and turned on again, only to return to that "American Megatrends" bios restore warning. Any feedback?

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

BIOS is corrupt.

These sort of problems are usually caused by hardware conflicts.

What a hardware conflict is and how it is recognized is determined by what BIOS you have. If the BIOS becomes corrupt for any reason, it may lose its ability to accurately communicate with all of the components of the system. Also, you should probably stop using this system before the BIOS craps all over the firmware of your other components.

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

Ok so I should see if I should get a replacement? I plugged everything back in on the mobo, and I went back to phase one of the bios warning but it eventually booted up like normal. I'll call Asus again later.

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

Should I try what Asus told me and try to update the bios to accommodate the memory they said wasn't fully compatible?

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

You could try, but likely what will happen is that it will get stuck in the update process and never work again. Although there is a chance it could work.

You're sure that you have a warranty on the board? Just in case?

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

Would updating the bios fix the problem?

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

It's possible, but unlikely

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

Yea, I got it off of Amazon with a 2 year protection plan

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

But how do I know that Asus would offer an RMA, do I just tell them I have a protection plan?

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

Based on new information provided, I now know that your protection plan is not through Asus, it's through Amazon. Contact the seller and find out how they handle exchanges.

Dylan_12 · Jul 9, 2016

Alright, I am allowed to get a free replacement or a full refund until the 16th. I will choose that option, one or the other. Thank you for all of your knowledgeable help, I am truly grateful!

weberdarren97 · Jul 9, 2016

No problem.

If you have all the information you need, please select a Best Answer so that users that stumble across the post can find the solution they need and trust it.

Dylan_12 · Jul 10, 2016

I decided to turn on my system after a day and see what happened... It booted normally without problems. Weird. I think I'll still get a replacement just in case

My PC turns on, shuts off, and turns itself back on. Help?

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