New PC build - reboots every 2-3 seconds

[duck10]

Hello,

I'm having problems with a PC that I built yesterday. This is my first ever homebuilt system, and my experience is not so great, so please bare with my lack of tech speak.

Upon pressing the Power button on the front panel the system boots up (everything seems to boot, including case fans, graphics card) but then after 2-3 seconds the PC shuts down and then starts up again. As this happens, there's a low volume click and the reset LED on the front panel flickers. There is then just a constant loop of resetting.

I've tried various things like booting without the graphics card, taking out the reset wire from the front panel bit, but nothing seems to make any difference.
I haven't yet removed the heatsink or CPU as I don't have any solution for cleaning the thermal paste from the chip. Also, I cannot remove all 6 sticks of RAM as the CPU Cooler covers the first two DIMM slots.

My PSU has an 8-pin power cable to powerup the motherboard. I've tried just plugging in 4 pins but still this doesn't change anything.

I have a small motherboard speaker plugged in but doesn't beep.

So basically, I'm asking if anyone has any solutions to my problem. I think my next step is to get some rubbing alcohol so that I can reseat the CPU and heatsink.

Unfortunately I don't have any spare parts to try out in the new system, so, on top of my lack of computer-building experience, I'm finding it difficult to pinpoint my problem. The time of year doesn't help either!

I spent many hours putting the PC together, carefully putting everything in place following guides, and using anti-static methods, but obviously something has gone wrong somewhere, or I have faulty hardware.

Here are my parts. These were all bought brand new:

Case: Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 8 Channel Audio ATX
CPU: Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz Socket 1366 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
PSU: Corsair 650W TX Series PSU - 120mm Fan, 80+% Efficiency, Single +12V Rail
RAM: (2 sets of) Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory CL9(9-9-9-24) for i7 motherboards
Graphics card: Sapphire HD 5770 Vapor-X 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E
CPU Cooler: Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 Socket Intel 775, 1156, 1366 AMD AM2 AM3 Performance
Optical drive: LG GH22LS50 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM with LightScribe SATA Optical Drive

Thanks for reading

-Adam

 

[g048989h]

First, if you're going to remove and clean the cpu and cooler just use q tips. I have never used rubbing alcohol or anything besides q tips to clean off old paste. It comes off pretty easy, just keep going over it until the q tip comes off clean.
Second, have you gone to the trouble shooting tips here on this site?
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/288241-31-read-posting-buyer-guides-troubleshooting
Be patient with yourself, whatever is wrong can and will be fixed. Building a PC, trouble shooting problems, tuning the PC should be taken slow and steady with a lot of thought.
Work through the trouble shooting guide step by step and take your time. If you have questions along the way, and you probably will, post them back to this thread. Someone will reply and help you along.
I am curious tho, if you have a MB speaker why no beeps at all??

 

[carlhenry]

you must have plugged the reset SW on the power SW? or try switching the wires and double check if they are plugged in their designated pins.

 

[keith263]

Hi duck10,

Had a simular problem with an 11 month old build - wouldn't post just kept on restarting.
Replaced the PSU everything was then OK, strangely though RMA'd the said unit and they
could not find any problem with it and sent it back to me.
What I'm trying to say is perhaps I had a bad connection somewhere and the process of
replacing the PSU sorted that out not the new unit itself!!
It could be worth a try stripping it down and rebuilding if you can't borrow a replacement PSU.
Good luck and keep trying - It's probably something straightforward.

Regards keith263

 

[keith263]

I just noticed you are using 12GB of ram, it maybe a pain to change but you could try
6GB, if it's it a bad module you have a 50% chance of then leaving it out, and if it works keep swapping the modules until you find it.
Also I have read previous posts of people (on some setups) of having issues with all
the RAM slots populated.

Regards keith263

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Have you checked BIOS for proper settings ? Often, using 6 modules requires relaxing timings. Any MoBo lights .... today LED's on MoBo have replaced speaker beeps w/ many manufacturers (Asus for example).

I always start troubleshooting with Memtest86+

http://memtest.org/

Do each set of 3 by itself overnight. If ya get any errors, do 1 module at a time.

 

[duck10]

Hi guys, thanks very much for the replies. Hope you had a great christmas

Unfortunately I've had no luck with my PC.

I stripped everything bare, re-seated the CPU, re-assembled everything with 1 stick of RAM, and yet nothing has changed whatsoever; switch it on, and it reboots after 3 seconds.

I've spent the last couple of hours troubleshooting things:
I jump-started the PSU, and it worked just fine. So can I assume the PSU works?
I also jump-started the motherboard, yet it still continues to reboot. I'm assuming the front panel case connectors are working then.
I tried leaving the 24-pin ATX plugged in but removed the 2x4-pin one. Everything boots up and stays running, but nothing happens on screen. Plus the fans sound really noisy. Don't really know what this means though

So it looks like it could be a faulty motherboard or CPU?

Any MoBo lights .... today LED's on MoBo have replaced speaker beeps w/ many manufacturers (Asus for example).

Yeah there are some lights. It looks like a single southbridge LED flashes red just as it reboots. What could this mean?

 

[willmalcom]

Have you tried booting from a different outlet / powerstrip / ups? It probably won't make a difference, but I guess it is worth a shot. I had power irregularities until I switched my UPS, but nothing like what you are describing. My computer would boot and then reset during operation, when I switched UPS it was all better!

 

[rob222222]

Hi guys, thanks very much for the replies. Hope you had a great christmas

Unfortunately I've had no luck with my PC.

I stripped everything bare, re-seated the CPU, re-assembled everything with 1 stick of RAM, and yet nothing has changed whatsoever; switch it on, and it reboots after 3 seconds.

I've spent the last couple of hours troubleshooting things:
I jump-started the PSU, and it worked just fine. So can I assume the PSU works?
I also jump-started the motherboard, yet it still continues to reboot. I'm assuming the front panel case connectors are working then.
I tried leaving the 24-pin ATX plugged in but removed the 2x4-pin one. Everything boots up and stays running, but nothing happens on screen. Plus the fans sound really noisy. Don't really know what this means though

So it looks like it could be a faulty motherboard or CPU?



Yeah there are some lights. It looks like a single southbridge LED flashes red just as it reboots. What could this mean?

Hi Duck, I've had the same problem however with luck i'd traced the problem to a set of power switch connectors on my mobo.

 

[Frankiecav]

It's a psi issue most likely data power related it can boot up fine and still cause this problem at boot, change it or loan one

 

[Frankiecav]

It's a psu issue most likely sata power related it can boot up fine and still cause this problem at boot, change it or loan one

 

[springhalo]

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