Either a crazy coincidence or it's those damn Mayans

[ChilledGrease]

So, I just put together my new build in an NZXT Phantom 410 Case, with the components listed below.
Asrock Extreme6 1155 Mobo
i5 3570k
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870
Corsair TX650
Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA III
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD
Patriot Viper 2x4GB DDR3 1600
Some generic Disc Drive I had lying around.

When I first put it together and started it up, it went straight to power cycling. The fans would start spinning, the lights would light up, the little red LCD Dr. Debug thing on the motherboard would light up, but only for about 2 seconds before shutting down again and restarting. ***. The only two components I hadn't already tested in a different system were the motherboard and the CPU, so it had to be one of those. The little Dr. Debug screen on the mobo managed to flash a few numbers before it restarted, so I looked them up and found that one of them said some kind of error with the RAM. I tried fiddling around with the configuration of the RAM modules, and by golly, when I only had one module in one specific slot, (The A2 slot to be exact) I got a POST. YAY! The UEFI BIOS showed that every component seemed to be healthy, CPU included thank god. I figured the other slots must just be dead, and so I took the motherboard back to microcenter and exchanged it for a new one of the same model. When I got the system back together again, same ******* thing. It would power cycle until I had only one RAM module in the A2 slot. Is this just a ridiculous coincidence, or could something else be wrong? Like I said before, the Mobo and CPU were the ONLY components I hadn't already tested in my other system, and they all were working just fine. What could possibly be wrong? Your wisdom would be greatly appreciated

 

[BreadWhistle]

Make sure that there aren't any standoffs poking the back of the motherboard causing it to short. That causes your system not to boot correctly.

But this really sounds like a RAM error. Try trying both memory DIMMS in the A1 slot and seeing what the results are. I had a problem where 1 stick a DOA and kept causing my system to go into a boot loop. Could be your problem too.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Get a gigabyte board IMO. My friend had an asrock board go bad after installing an ssd vs my gigabyte board is 5 years old. My new board that I'm building with after Christmas is also a gigabyte.

 

[jasont78]

your rams not some of the 1.6volt rubbish you really shouldnt be running in any of the new intel setups because it voids your cpu warranty is it if so maybe have to manually up the ram voltage to 1.6v

 

[BreadWhistle]

Get a gigabyte board IMO. My friend had an asrock board go bad after installing an ssd vs my gigabyte board is 5 years old. My new board that I'm building with after Christmas is also a gigabyte.

My Asrock board performs fine. I don't see any reason to avoid Asrock at all.

 

[jonjonjon]

did you try updating the bios? i have had compatibility problems with a mb and ram until i updated the bios. try clearing the cmos. anyway to test a different set of ram in the motherboard?

 

[smorizio]

it may be that your mb need a bios update for ram code to work right..had same issue on my asus mb till i put the newest bios.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Yeah that was his experience, he installed an ssd and the sound went out. I built with an asrock years ago and no big issues though. I would try a new set of ram. Seems like ram that I've seen that is 1.6 volts or more causes issues. Try a new ram kit and see if it happens again as you have tried a new board and seeing a bad CPU from the package is unusual.

 

[manofchalk]

Three seconds of Googling says that RAM is 1.5v.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220685
Also RAM running at 1.65v wont outright prevent the system from POST'ing, just puts the CPU memory controller under more strain than was intended.

I would run the system bread-boarded, so outside the case on a non-conductive surface. Strip all the parts not necessary for POST. If the problem persists, then you know something is broken. If it works, then start adding components until it breaks. If it doesn't, then it must have been a shorting issue with the case.