System Problems -> Requesting Help

[arcticrevenant]

Hey y'all,

So, in the last 6 months, I have upgraded pretty much everything within my system, excluding the case, both optical drives, and a single 750 gb HD that I've been using for storage purposes. Here's the build and approximate age of each item:

ASRock Extreme 4 Z68 (Middle December 2011)
Intel Core I5 i2500k (Middle December 2011)
16 GB DDR3 Corsair RAM (Middle December 2011)
Corsair H60 CPU Cooler (Middle December 2011)
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 680 (Early March 2012)
Samsung 830 256 GB SSD (Early February 2012)
XFX 1000W 80+ Platinum PSU (Late February 2012)

Now, here's the problem:

Starting last weekend, I noticed that my system was randomly restarting, and that no matter what I did within the OS, I couldn't determine the cause. It eventually reached the point where the restarts where occurring before the POST screen would even come up (when this happened, the system would power cycle ever 1-2 second). I eventually got into the system, where I reinstalled the Operating System (Windows 7 Home Premium). After doing so, the system ran stably for over 24 hours, and I assumed the issue was dealt with. I got the OS fully updated, got the Nvidia Drivers reinstalled, and got the motherboard drivers reinstalled from ASRock's website.

This morning, I tried to run a game off my system that I had downloading during the evening (Tera Online, for those wondering), and not 5 minutes into game time, the computer shutdown. It came up a few second later, and proceeded to boot all the way into Windows. It stayed there for all of 10 minutes, before it shut down again. As of a few minutes ago, it is still power cycling every 1-2 seconds, and I cannot even access the POST screen or the OS.

To cover loose ends, there isn't an overclock of the system in place. CMOS reset button was pressed on the back of the system when the issues first appeared back during the weekend, and I never put them back to where they were. Connectors from the PSU to all parts of the system have been double and triple checked to make sure they're in place, and I've checked to see if everything on the motherboard is properly seated (GPU, RAM, etc.). When inside the OS after the first crash, I checked the Temperatures on the CPU and the GPU, both are well below any risk levels (GPU was at 41* C, CPU at 39* C).

Any thoughts? I'm very tempted to drop it off at a tech shop to have them do diagnosis, but I was hoping I could get some other thoughts before I do so. Local tech shops charge an arm AND a leg before asking for your wallet.

 

[suteck]

Let's start with the newest installed components,
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 680 (Early March 2012)
Samsung 830 256 GB SSD (Early February 2012)
XFX 1000W 80+ Platinum PSU (Late February 2012)
First try - Just boot to bios and see if it will stay on for a couple of hours there. It it starts rebooting when you're not doing anything then I would suspect the psu first. Try not using the video card and use the ondie video and see if the problem persists. If it doesn't then you've found your problem. If it does then restore the card and the next thing to take out of the equation is the ssd. Do you have another drive to try in it's place? If so, try it. I know you've pushed the clear cmos button so during restart have you set bios drive mode back to ahci where it was when you installed the OS? Or did you always have it in ide mode? Check on that. Is there an update to the bios? Can you update those?

I see where you've checked all the plugs but have you actually unplugged, blow out cleaning and replugged them. It's sounds like a useless step but you'd be surprised at how 1 piece of lint in a plug will effect a power flow. Do you have a multimeter? Something that you can monitor from the wall plug the power draw? Is the computer the only thing on the plug or is there something else on the power source that might be drawing excess power causing your system to be power starved temporarily? Hey, trying to save an arm and a leg here lol.

 

[arcticrevenant]

Thanks for the information, suteck. The issue was found and repaired.

Turns out, the motherboard's CPU power connector's clip had broken, and the power cable was slipping out of the connector port. Going to RMA it, but I have a new motherboard in it's place.

 

[arcticrevenant]

Best answer selected by arcticrevenant.