PC resets 8-times before POST then boots

[Durbs]

Howdy folks,

Scratching my head on this one at the moment.

Upgraded my video card recently to a Sapphire Radeon HD5770 Vapor X.

Turned PC on and installed fine. Went to turn on the PC the next day and it resets 8 times (and always 8 times) before even getting to POST.
It then resets again and boots fine - GFX card works no problems.

I thought it might be a PSU problem (min. requirements were 450W PSU, I was on 430W) so upgraded to a 500W one.

Have removed each RAM card in turn, no effect, removed all PCI cards, no effect.
Removed GFX card and it just doesn't boot at all I run the PC to a TV so I can't use a VGA cable with the onboard graphics processor.

Specs:
AMD Dual 3gb
4gb RAM DDR2(4x 1gb sticks)
Gigabyte GA-M565-S3 mobo

It's not a major pain in the ass because once it does boot, everything works fine, but it can't be good for the components having power cycled so many times.

I'll go and dig out the old GFX card and see if that makes a difference.

Any thoughts in the meantime much appreciated

 

[Durbs]

Sorry - can't seem to edit, but mobo is GA-M56S-S3

PSU = Blue Storm Pro 500

 

[darkguset]

This usually happens on overclocked machines where the PC cannot boot at those settings, so it goes on to another setting and on and on until it finds a setting where it can work properly. Have you overclocked your PC? Are your memory timings and voltages appropriate?
Try this setting: go into BIOS load optimised defaults, save and exit.

 

[aethm]

Hmmm... this could be a failure of a number of things... but, I agree with darkguset. Most of the time it's a fault in the BIOS settings. Although if you haven't recently changed anything other than your video card it's perplexing. Did you mess around with PCIE voltage settings with your old video card? It sounds like you've gone through the normal troubleshooting steps. If resetting your BIOS doesn't work it's possible you have a problem with your motherboard or harddrive.

 

[megamanx00]

Well, if your PSU is the FSP Blue Storm Pro then it's fine. Yeah, I would say a BIOS setting. Reset the BIOS and then go back in and manually configure it. Run Memtest to ensure that your memory settings are stable as well.

 

[Durbs]

Thanks for the responses.

Haven't overclocked anything (though the HD5770 Vapor-X version is an overclocked GPU out of the box...?) and haven't messed around with any voltages.

My initial thought (though I don't know that much about these things) was whether it mattered the RAM was DDR2, where as GPU RAM is DDR5?

Have tried loading both optimized defaults and fail safe defaults - no joy.

I'll run Memtest and report back

 

[Durbs]

Memtest completes with no errors...

 

[aethm]

The DDR2 Ram doesn't matter. First... I'd try installing your old card and see if that fixes the problem. If it does then I'd try bumping up the PCIE voltage a little with the new card. It shouldn't be a problem but perhaps the factory overclock requires a bit more power.

2nd. If you have a spare HD laying around I'd trying booting off the old drive.

3rd. It's possible that your memory or motherboard got zapped when you installed the new card. I'd try swapping the memory with a friend.

One final question. Does it do the 8 resets from cold boot only? Once it boots, if you restart windows does it still reboot 8 times?

 

[darkguset]

When changing to the new card you might have zapped the CMOS and corrupted it. Unfortunately even in this day and age it is quite common if you do not properly discharge yourself. I would suggest you re-flash the latest BIOS from http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=2607#anchor_os

 

[Durbs]

Yeah - already reset and re-flashed BIOS, still nothing.

Aethm - It always happens, from cold boots, from Windows restart, from having been on for 4 hours.

I'll see if I can bump the PCIE power.
I'm mildly sceptical about components getting zapped as all tests that I've run when it's up and running report no errors; memory seems fine, GPU readouts are as they should be, no crashes, hangs or anything.

Hmmmm

 

[darkguset]

Can you please switch off your computer, open the case and inspect your motherboard carefully with a flashlight? Especially look for blown up capacitors or other burnt out components. It could be just a faulty component on the motherboard so the motherboard itself is faulty and nothing to do with any of your settings. If it is really annoying just send it back under warranty.

 

[aethm]

I agree with darkguset.. it's hard to pin down but the most likely situation is that something was accidentally fried. Motherboard chief among them. It's hard to believe when your being so careful but it does happen. I've done it twice. :S

 

[rollfats]

hi, i have had the same problem. i press the power on button and straight away the laptop resets about 4 times before it actually starts and then runs fine. today i changed the ram with a friends who has the same laptop and it had started 1st time with no problem and had shutdown and restarted several time and still worked fine. i had then put my ram in my friends laptop and that run 1st time with no problem. wierd i know and cant find any solution. any help would be great as i havnt a clue what it could be. i then put my ram back into my laptop and the same thing would happen again, resets about 4 times before it starts to power up. i had 1 hint and that was to remove the battery and hold down the power button for 5 seconds then but the battery back and then it would power up 1st time. i still havnt resolved the problem