Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Reply to this thread

Solved Forum question

Started by Eaglestrike999 | | 6 answers
Computer starting up w/ fans then turning off. It does this on a loop until I turn it off from the PSU. CPU LED is red.
I recently went to install my 2nd 760 to run SLI however I had a few problems with it not fitting. I undid the motherboard and put a few risers in and it solved the problem. Putting everything back together I started up my computer to find that all the fans started spinning, and then after a second they all stopped and it powered down. After a second or two it would try again and the same would happen on a loop until I turned it off from the PSU. When I looked into my case I noticed the motherboards CPU LED was red.

I have tried removing the second GPU assuming it was a power problem however that did not work. I then removed most of the parts one by one until only the CPU was left and it still has the same problem.

I have checked the CPU and it seems to be fine other than the fact it needs some thermal gel.


System Specs:
- NZXT Phantom Black Full-Sized Tower Case
- 2x (SLI) EVGA GTX 760 SC ACX 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card
- Intel Core i7 4770K 3.50GHz Socket 1150 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
- Asus Z87-PRO Socket 1150 DVI HDMI DisplayPort 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
- Seagate 1TB Barracuda 3.5" SATA-III Hard Drive - 7200RPM 64MB Cache
- Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO - SSD Only
- Be Quiet Pure Power L8 600W Fully Wired 80+ Bronze Power Supply
- Corsair Vengeance Performance Memory Module 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 1600MHz Unbuffered CL9 DIMM Memory for 2nd and 3rd generation Intel Core systems


Any help is greatly appreciated as the only repair store where I am will charge me around £50 just to take a look at it!
  • By posting on this site, I confirm I am over 13 years of age and agree to abide by the site’s rules.

a b à CPUs
a b V Motherboard
October 17, 2014 10:49:18 AM

Eaglestrike999 said:
nostall said:
Ya gotta go back to the start.
Power down completely, remove the second 760 and the risers: I don't know what you are using or where you place them but it appears something is grounding or shorting the board and/or the CPU - hence the red light.
Put it all back as you originally had it; Make certain nothing is touching the back side or the top surface of the mother board (especially anything metal or conductive) and that all your power connections are solidly plugged in and see if it will boot.
Re-post, please, and tell us what happened.
Quick Update: How did the second 760 "Not Fit"?


This worked perfectly, took the motherboard out and refitted it to make sure it wasn't slanted or bent and it now works perfectly. Must have been something causing it to short circuit like you said. Thanks a bunch mate!


You are very welcome, glad you got it fixed: And welcome to Tom's!
October 16, 2014 12:59:49 PM

nostall said:
Ya gotta go back to the start.
Power down completely, remove the second 760 and the risers: I don't know what you are using or where you place them but it appears something is grounding or shorting the board and/or the CPU - hence the red light.
Put it all back as you originally had it; Make certain nothing is touching the back side or the top surface of the mother board (especially anything metal or conductive) and that all your power connections are solidly plugged in and see if it will boot.
Re-post, please, and tell us what happened.
Quick Update: How did the second 760 "Not Fit"?


This worked perfectly, took the motherboard out and refitted it to make sure it wasn't slanted or bent and it now works perfectly. Must have been something causing it to short circuit like you said. Thanks a bunch mate!
October 16, 2014 1:37:35 AM

The board was slightly slanted, not bent, just slanted, so the first GPU that was higher up on the slanted board slotted in perfectly, for the second one I had to use a riser on the bottom left hand corner of the motherboard to make it fit as the GPU's metal bar that locks it in place on my case was getting caught before the GPU was fully inserted. The riser fixed this issue but I'm slightly worried that the fact the motherboard is slightly slanted in some places is causing the short circuit?

I have already checked for any screws I might have accidently left in and I'll take everything out and start again when I get back home from work and let you know what happens.

Best solution chosen by Eaglestrike999

a b à CPUs
a b V Motherboard
October 15, 2014 6:00:39 PM

Ya gotta go back to the start.
Power down completely, remove the second 760 and the risers: I don't know what you are using or where you place them but it appears something is grounding or shorting the board and/or the CPU - hence the red light.
Put it all back as you originally had it; Make certain nothing is touching the back side or the top surface of the mother board (especially anything metal or conductive) and that all your power connections are solidly plugged in and see if it will boot.
Re-post, please, and tell us what happened.
Quick Update: How did the second 760 "Not Fit"?
October 15, 2014 12:58:08 PM

It doesn't even get to BIOS, it literally starts and powers down instantly, as for the RAM I don't think its a RAM issue as my stick works in my work desktop.

It could be a temperature issue as the thermal gel around the CPU is wearing a bit thin, is there a way to bypass this just to see if this is in fact the problem?
a b à CPUs
a b V Motherboard
October 15, 2014 9:36:12 AM

Could be a RAM issue - make sure it is seated properly. If you have another stick laying around, you can try installing that as well.

See all answers