(Booting Issue) Two restarts before staying on, no video output

JGodlewsky

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May 31, 2011
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I recently sent in my motherboard to MSI for an RMA as my SATA ports became unresponsive after a year of successful use. However, once I received the new board and connected everything back up I began to experience a few issues.

Upon powering on, everything seems to start up fine (CPU and GPU fans start spinning, hard drive kicks on, and my LEDs light up) then after 3-4 seconds everything powers off, reboots, powers off after 3-4 seconds, then powers back on for good. Throughout this whole process, though, I have absolutely no video signal - even when everything is running for good.


What I've Done:

1. Booted with both hard drives (individually), same results.
2. I bought a new power supply (will list below), thinking my original one was dead after measuring the output and seeing it was minimal if not completely gone. Same results.
3. I've cleared the CMOS, same results.
4. I've connected my video output directly to my onboard chipset (with my GPU disconnected), but I still don't get any video signal.
5. I've booted with one stick of RAM, in different slots, but results stay the same.
6. Reseated all devices, double- and triple-checked all power connectors.
7. I've gone through all the steps in the basic trouble-shooting guides here in the forums.

Notes:

After reinstalling the new motherboard I applied new thermal compound to the CPU. When disconnecting it from the original board it was stuck to the heatsink, but it came off easily after applying some heat to the edges (via hairdryer) and lightly twisting.

I'm about to try new sticks of RAM, and possibly a GPU from another rig if I can get my cousin to part with it for an hour.

Thanks for any and all help, I really don't want this rig to go to waste. It was a champ.


Specs:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Ed. (3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor)
Motherboard: MSI NF980-G65 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ
CPU cooler: Stock AMD heatsink
Video Card: EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Power Supply:
Original - Seventeam ST-750PAF 750W ATX 12V V2.2
New One - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V
Hard drive:
Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AADS 500GB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Operating System: None currently installed, haven't gotten to that point yet.
Case: Thermaltake SopranoRS VG7000BWS Black SECC ATX Mid

Other:
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B
Acer P224Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
 

John_VanKirk

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Hi there,

Bilbat has a section in his Gigabyte Guide about system reboots. It's at the top of the Gigabyte motherboard section, and might be worth reading and trying the suggestions. I realize you have an MSI motherboard but the concepts may be the same
 

JGodlewsky

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May 31, 2011
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I'll swing by there in the meantime and see if I missed anything. Thanks!
 

JGodlewsky

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May 31, 2011
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So, I breadboarded everything, cleared the CMOS again and changed the motherboard battery. I also tried using a totally different monitor and a different set of cables....

Still, no video.
 

JGodlewsky

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May 31, 2011
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I got a speaker for my motherboard today so I will be able to test that out once I get home from work. I'm thinking that unless, somehow, both of my sticks of RAM went bad that I'm having a CPU/Mobo issue.