Computer won't turn on after changing CPU settings

[Athera]

Lately my computer would shut off after playing a recent game or a game that took a lot of CPU. Usually I could play for an hour before it shut off and eventually I got tired of it and decided to look into it. I thought it might've been overheating so I changed some of the CPU settings down to see if that would help, but now it just turns on for 30 seconds and then shuts off. I have no idea how to fix it or if the hardware is just broken now. Any help for it would be really appreciated. My speculations are that I might've over cooked the CPU, but I wanted some opinions first.

CPU: intel i7 490k
GPU: GTX 1080
RAM: 16gb

 

[Barty1884]

Enter the BIOS and load "optimized defaults" OR, you could remove the CMOS battery for 5-10 minutes to achieve the same thing.

That gets you back to a solid baseline.

As for overheating vs failing, it's too early to tell. Once you've loaded optimized, we're in a better position to monitor temps etc.

Please post your full system spec - motherboar,d CPU cooler, PSU etc.

 

[Athera]

Nothing will appear on the screen at all so I have no idea how to enter BIOS now. My motherboard is a gigabyte, the only CPU cooler is some fans and I'll have to check the PSU.

 

[Barty1884]

Clear your CMOS*. Depending on the board, there may be a jumper..... but I don't know what board you have.
Model numbers will help - "Gigabyte" doesn't help, that's just the brand. What is actually cooling the CPU? Is it aftermarket? Or does it say "Intel" on it?

*You can remove the round, silver CR2032 battery on the motherboard. Leave it out for 10 minutes, then put it back in.
That'll do the same thing as "load optimized defaults" in the BIOS.

 

[Athera]

The processor just has intel on it and the motherboard is a gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H. The PSU is also a CX 750 M. I'll try removing the battery now and see if that works if I can find it.

 

[Barty1884]

Yeah, that's just the stock cooler - and after a few years, it may not be up to much.
Might be worth reapplying thermal paste and cleaning the fan...... but in my experience, unless the rig has sat untouched for a long time - or it's been a really long time since the paste was applied, it's not likely to be the difference between "ok" temps and overheating.

Make sure your case has been cleaned out of dust and has some decent airflow through it.

As for the battery, on that board you'll find it right below the first PCIe x16 slot.

 

[Athera]

Well good news is now it actually lunches but it gets to 200F on just the desktop screen and then it crashes. What should I do now, I booted it up in BIOS and it's doing fine, I just don't know what to change.

 

[Barty1884]

Is the CPU fan actually spinning at all?

 

[Athera]

I just checked, it is spinning. The options in the BIOS are set to auto and running it to high, I just need to know which ones to change so it doesn't run so much and overheat.

 

[Barty1884]

Changing settings in the BIOS isn't likely to fix anything if there's an underlying overheating issue. Reseat the cooler, replacing the thermal paste

 

[Athera]

Update: it gets to the desktop, lets me log in and THEN it crashes. It's also making a new squeeky sound. No idea what's causing it now to just crash at the desktop

 

[Athera]

New update: I tried clearing the CMOS and the PC seemed to be working fine until I logged on and crashed. Then I tried to do system recovery and it still crashed. Now I tried to do factory reset and when it tries installing windows it just crashes with no blue screen and then gets stuck in a loop.

 

[Barty1884]

Yes, those are all symptoms of overheating.

Did you reseat the cooler like I suggested?

 

[Athera]

Sorry for the late response, but I finally reseated the cooler like you suggested. It seemed to work fine at first, everything installed and I got to the desktop. After a few minutes of installing things it proceeds to crash again on the desktop after a few minutes of loading things.

 

[ebock]

"Squeaky" sound sounds like a bad cooling fan. I would replace the cooling unit on the CPU. (Do you have a graphics card or are you using on board graphics? I have had these cooling fans go as well)

 

[carssuckjeepsrule]

In your original post, you stated: "I thought it might've been overheating so I changed some of the CPU settings down to see if that would help,". What were the CPU settings before you decided to throttle back? In other parts of this thread, it appears the CPU cooler may have been sub-par. A fully functional stock Intel cooler is fine for some overclocks, but it's limited. If your settings were pushing the limit (or over it!) those overclock settings complicated by a malfunctioning CPU fan could have resulted in permanent damage to the CPU. New, quality, CPU coolers don't have to cost a lot. Plenty of good choices under 40 bucks.

On a side note, el cheapo power supplies can also cause stability and shut down issues. If the CPU turns out to be fine and you get the heat in order and you are still having issues, keep the power supply in mind.

 

[scooter69]

Make sure its set to 110v, make sure its plugged into a good socket (test it with a lamp, make sure it turns on), replace the PSU power cord with a known good cord. Check to make sure your 24 pin and 4/8 pin are seated on the board and your board didnt get shorted by accident. If all else fails, id say take it back and exchange it or buy a PSU tester ($10-$20) and test it yourself. The tester can come in handy in the future depending on how much building you do. If there is a problem with the BIOS, look on line to for your board # and "how to reset the bios model #-------" usually just a jumper or paperclip will do it and see if that does it.