Random PC hardware problem - no clear result after methods of elimiation

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

Anne_ger

Prominent
Mar 16, 2017
8
0
510
Hi all,

my name is Anne and I am from Germany. I have a really random problem with my gaming hardware and ran out of ideas...
Last year I "built" myself a gaming PC. Sometimes I had issues but thought I fixed them. Now they are back. :heink:

I thought maybe you could help me with it. I tested the most common methods of elimination to find the faulty part but I did not get a clear result.

System:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-B150-HD3P (edited)
CPU: Intel Core i5-6500
Graphics card: GIGABYTE Nvidia GTX 970
RAM: Kingston HyperX DIMM 16GB DDR4-2133 Kit
HDD: Samsung MZ-75E250B 250 GB, SSD
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-L12
power supply: be quiet! 500W (BQT E5-500W)

Latest version of Win 10


Problem:

1. Starting the PC (hit power button)
2. cooler and optical drive start to move
3. no beep, no signal on the screen. PC would run like this (working coolers and so on but no signal or beep) for ever - nothing happens

Strange thing here: Usually the PC just works for weeks without any problem. All of the sudden the problem reemerges.
First I thought it was a problem with the 5V part of my power supply because it seemed to work dependent on how many USB devices were connected - but it was just a coincident that it worked without any USB device during the booting process.


Methods of elimination:

1. Removing of all components except CPU and motherboard
2. 1 x Beep
3. consecutively testing of both RAM modules in both bays (1 and 2) got be always 1 beep. RAM seemed to be fine
4. both RAM modules again - no beep
5. Try again: 1 beep

Same thing with the Graphics card. Sometimes it works with card, sometimes it does not.

Now the funny part (which lead me to my first thought that it has to do something with power supply (maybe broken capacitors?): If the PC does not boot and I switch off the power supply for some time (for example over night) it will work again after a view hours.

What do you think?
I am sure most of you understand more about this than me.. I would be really glad for any tip.

Best,
Anne :)
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Eximo

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
May 27, 2010
25,816
4,164
139,340
Usually my first resort is complete re-assembly, which you have pretty much done, you never know when that one little piece of conductive dust got somewhere and is causing an intermittent problem.

Have you checked the outlet the power supply is plugged into? Any other devices on the circuit? Ground loops have been known to cause misbehavior.

I wouldn't rule out a bad power supply, and that is a relatively inexpensive component to swap out.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Anne_ger

Prominent
Mar 16, 2017
8
0
510
Thanks for your help!

When it happens I usually try to reboot a few times. If this does not work (which normally is the case) I switch off my power supply for half an hour and try again. If this does not help (rarely it does) I switch it off over night. This is the one fix that works. But of course it is not really satisfying when you want to play in the evening after a workday ;)

Concerning the power supply I will re-check all the connections this evening.
It is quite frustrating to work with this problem because it is so hard to check if something worked due to the fact that it randomly occurs. I thought several times it was gone but it came back. So I can not really answer after how many times it occurs. Sometimes it feels like the PC has a "bad week" and it happens every day or so and sometimes it works fine for a really long time
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DRagor

DRagor

Polypheme
Jan 23, 2017
9,028
745
65,440
Few more questions:
Does it ever happens when restarting comp (when Win does update for example)?
Did you checked CPU socket on motherboard for bent pins?

When you do that connection re-check, please take a look at 24 pin and 8 pin sockets on motherboard. Look for any, even slightest, bent pins on those sockets.

And one trick for you to try next time it happens: Turn off PSU. Then press Power switch on the case for 30-60 seconds. Turn PSU on again and try booting.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Anne_ger

Prominent
Mar 16, 2017
8
0
510
I will check for the pins this evening.
The problem never occurred after a reboot as far as I remember.

Concerning your extra tip.. I also tried this before. I did not mention it. It had no effect. But maybe I did not push long enough. I will try longer next time! Thanks :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DRagor

DRagor

Polypheme
Jan 23, 2017
9,028
745
65,440


Like I mentioned before - ghost hunting.
So, when PSU is hot, it works good. When it's cold, it may not work - and solution seem to be make it even more cold. :pfff: So far, nothing makes sense here. Maybe your machine simply does not like you? :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DRagor

DRagor

Polypheme
Jan 23, 2017
9,028
745
65,440
I think there are only 3 components that could cause such problems: CPU, mobo and PSU. But no way of telling which one is guilty. CPU is actually rather unlikely, but can't be ruled out. Right now you are waiting for any new symptoms, so it could help figure it out.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Vic 40

Vic 40

Titan
Ambassador
Oct 22, 2013
20,885
994
87,990

Sounds like a psu issue at first to me. Can you test with another one? Maybe from a friend or a local shop ...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

Anne_ger

Prominent
Mar 16, 2017
8
0
510
Hey, thanks again!
Actually I will test a new one tomorrow because the PSU is the only old part on my PC and I got new problems (strange noises in my headset/Problems with my microphone) witch indicate PSU Problems. If this works it would be so great! :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom