Computer not booting to POST or BIOS, keeps restarting after PCI-E install

VR_User

Prominent
Jul 31, 2017
5
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510
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P
Intel i7 2600k
GeForce GTX 980
16GB Ram
750W Power supply

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Hi guys,

My system has been working perfectly fine for many years now, I haven't had any problems with it up until yesterday night.

Recently I made a few minor upgrades, I replaced my graphics card, and did a little overclock on the CPU to 4.0-4.2GHz. I tested everything out and it was working great, graphics all good, CPU clock and temps all good. No crashes, errors, blue screens or anything to say something was wrong. I had it running like this for a couple of weeks. The next thing I needed was some USB 3.0 ports, so I ordered a Inateck PCI-E USB 3.0 card (the one recommended by Oculus).

Yesterday I installed the PCI-E USB 3.0 card, made sure it was installed correctly, followed the instructions provided and gave it power through SATA connection. I powered on the system but could not boot, tried a few times but I realised it was restarting on its own after about 2-3 seconds. It is not even going to POST or BIOS.

I did a search online to see if any others had similar problems, there was nothing for the same card, but people have reported the same restart problem with other types of PCI-E cards (sound, WiFi, graphics). In most cases it seemed to be a compatibility issue. So then I thought the card was either faulty or incompatible, and I decided to remove it while I figure out what it was.

I removed the card, powered up the system, and the same thing kept happening. It just kept restarting with nothing on the display. This got me really worried. Did the card break my computer? I unplugged the computer and checked all connections, everything looked fine. Powered up and same again. I looked online for more solutions, I found many posts that describe the exact same problem but most of them encountered the problem unexpectedly or on a brand new build, some managed to fix it, others didn't. There doesn't seem to be a consistent reason as to why it happens.

I removed the motherboard battery after reading some posts, I had it out for about 15 minutes, it didn't help. I don't know what to do, I really need some help. Everything looks like it is powering up fine, fans spin, LEDs light up, hard drive and disk drive both spin, sometimes it makes a single beep. But after a few seconds it just restarts and does the same thing until I switch off the power supply.

Please help!
 

VR_User

Prominent
Jul 31, 2017
5
0
510


Hi! I have not tried that yet, that's the next thing I will try. I have read that some people have been able to boot up with a single RAM stick, so I will give it a try but I don't see how the RAM could have anything to do with it.
I believe all of the motherboard lights were on, some green, some red if I remember right...not sure if this is good or bad...? I will see if I can isolate the RAM LED to see it's colour.
 

VR_User

Prominent
Jul 31, 2017
5
0
510
It wasn't a tight fit or anything, there was enough room between them. But I'm not going to re-install the USB card just yet, unless you think I should? I am more concerned about getting my system to boot up just as it did prior to installing the card.
 

VR_User

Prominent
Jul 31, 2017
5
0
510
Well I did check all my wiring and connections because I did have to fiddle with wires to get power from a SATA cable for the card. But thanks for your suggestions, I will definitely recheck. I really do hope its something as simple as a loose connection somewhere.