Newly Built PC won't start (same problem twice after booting succesfully)

CTrap33

Honorable
Apr 16, 2013
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10,680
I recently put together a computer with the following components:


CPU: Intel - Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Phanteks - PH-TC12LS_BK 53.3 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: EVGA - Micro 2 Micro ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Storage: ADATA - Ultimate SU800 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card
Case: Antec - P50 MicroATX Mini Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus - DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit

I tested the motherboard out of box, had no issues, so went ahead and put it in the case and connected all headers, fans, and components. I installed Windows 10 yesterday and then some drivers. After this I shut the PC down for the night. Then about 18 hours later, I go to start the PC with the power switch on the front of the case and nothing happens. Long story short, I tried removing and plugging back in all headers and components to no avail. I finally took the motherboard out, removed all components, took off CPU fan, removed thermal paste and RAM and started from scratch. I then did another out of case test on the motherboard using the onboard power switch (not shorting the board to start). It was successful again. I did this without CPU fan installed.

I thought perhaps I used a bit too much thermal paste the first time as it was oozing out of the sides of the CPU a bit. So this time I applied less and assembled everything in the case again. Got everything to boot fine. Adjusted some bios settings, downloaded and installed some monitoring software, and restarted a couple of times throughout. The I shut down through the start menu. Went to power back up and cannot boot again. The only other thing I can think of is maybe the RAM being somehow not in the slot correctly as the CPU coolers makes things very tight and the metal is in contact with the RAM on one side. Or maybe I'm shorting it out somehow? The heatsink and fan doesn't sit centered exactly.

Does anyone have any ideas of what to troubleshoot? I've reached the end of my wits here. I've also built over half a dozen computers so I'm no newbie at this.


***Update 1: I removed CPU fan and RAM and reinstalled RAM. Was able to boot without problems (of course the CPU temp rose quickly). I'm thinking maybe the contact between the metal heatsink and RAM is the problem. Could this be shorting out the board or knocking a stick of RAM loose? The solutions I see are going with a different CPU cooler or sanding down the heatsink to get it to fit with the RAM better.

***Update 2: Back to the drawing board. Went to boot today and could not. Tried swapping the RAM to every combination I could including using only two stick instead of four. Got nothing to work.
 
Solution
Rotating the cooler doesn't help with clearance? My guess is that it has to do with the ram touching the cooler.
The inner slots (two closest to the cpu) of the board need ram in it to start? Try first a clear cmos before trying this.

Dugimodo

Distinguished
When it won't start try disconnecting the power cord completely for a few mins or just turning off the wall outlet or PSU switch. It's weird but sometimes it works. As to what is causing it, could be a bad power connection, faulty power switch, loose hard drive connection, RAM not in properly, fault in the motherboard, PSU issue, the list goes on. It's a tough one to diagnose remotely.

You could try disabling fast startup and make sure you are not going into standby instead of shutting down, some hardware combinations do not like waking from sleep. Doesn't sound like a software issue but it's not impossible. My current PC actually did that a couple of times when I built it and then it's been fine for 2 years... sometimes PCs are just weird.
 

CTrap33

Honorable
Apr 16, 2013
122
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10,680


I'm trying everything here. I know I had fast boot disabled, but this thing isn't even starting up. Power button does nothing. Only thing I cannot try right now is a working power supply. Though I don;t think this is a problem. As I said, I had this thing running for a couple of hours with no problems. Every previous time I turned on the power, it booted without issue. It's not as though I'm booting to a black screen or error.

 

Vic 40

Titan
Ambassador
Rotating the cooler doesn't help with clearance? My guess is that it has to do with the ram touching the cooler.
The inner slots (two closest to the cpu) of the board need ram in it to start? Try first a clear cmos before trying this.
 
Solution