PC Pre-Post Reset Loop

[twolfhound]

Not sure where else to put this, and the only things I see in relation to the topic seem to mostly deal with palm devices.

I just got a system from a friend. The thing was working alright. But, I had to format it. In the process of attempting to put in a new hard drive (secondary), it started acting a bit odd. Not booting properly, sometimes not even booting at all. Finally, the errors kept changing up until it settled onto this one final problem: The Pre-Post Power Reset Loop. Everything comes on, for a few seconds. Then everything goes back off, again. ANd it just keeps doing it until I hold down the power button and shut it all down. I've attempted replacing various parts (took out the second hard drive, replaced the first, replaced the graphics card, the CMOS battery, unplugged DVD drives, etc). But, at this point, no matter what I do, it still ends with the same problem. Though, when I did put in a different graphics card, it beeped at me, letting me know the card wasn't good. But, upon a third graphics card, we go back to the original problem. I've waded through pages of web results for this problem, but still no closer to any kind of solution. Thanks in advance.

 

[Onus]

This could be a symptom of insufficient power. What are your system specs, including the brand and model of the PSU?

 

[uguv]

I had this problem when my PC froze during a BIOS flash, killing the motherboard. I had to RMA the board. As jtt mentioned it could also be because of insufficient power or perhaps a loose connection somewhere.

 

[chookman]

+1 on the PSU, sounds like it gradually got worse until it could boot no more. Try and spare PSU if you have one laying around.

 

[liubros]

are you overclocking your CPU? have you touched heat sink by accident?

i have the same problem once and it is b/c the heat sink is not placed properly, the CPU gets to a high temperature and reset itself. i am not sure about your problem.

 

[bobbknight]

When you have tried everything but the PSU it is time to suspect the PSU as the problem, when you do replace the PSU, get a good one from tier one or two. To see the tiers look at the toms PSU sticky.

 

[twolfhound]

I appreciate the advice, and I went home and checked out something I had read somewhere else on the forum. Turned out to be a RAM issue. Why it followed a slow decay, and why the RAM was working fine one minute and not the next remains a mystery. But, I remove one stick of RAM and it started up just fine. As an added note, rather than assuming the RAM was bad, I attempted to plug it into a different slot, and it synched up as it should. Strange, but works. Thanks.