New Build: turns on for 3 seconds then shuts off

j2890

j2890

j2890

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16 Oct 2011
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7
Hi everyone,
I'm working on my first new build. Everything was connected, then as I did a test run, the system turned on for a few seconds then turned off.

I stripped down the entire thing again and kept only the motherboard, CPU, heat sink and CPU fan in the case. The same thing happens: motherboard LED turns on, the fan turns on for a couple of seconds then the fans slow down to a stop. After that i immediately switch off in case the CPU overheats. SO i'm guessing its down to either the PSU, or the CPU or the Motherboard ??

Does anyone know what's going on? It's really depressing as I was expecting it to work all well and dandy and start using it :( .. now this.

Specs:
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 LE
CPU: Intel i7 2600K (with standard fan)
PSU: OcUK Crusade 650W Dual-Rail High Efficiency '80 Plus' Power Supply
Case: Cooler Master Elite 334 Midi Case
 
First thing I saw when I looked down was the PSU? that might be your issue there. never buy an unbranded PSU which could ruin your expensive system.
 
Have you checked the motherboard connectors, 24pin and 4pin it sounds similar to a problem I had but that was down to cause I kept forgetting to reconnect the 4pin after tinkering lol

But it may have something to do with that you didn't buy a names brand psu like antec, corsair etc.... So psu may not be doing its job correctly. General rules around psu are don't skimp out on them as it costs more when it breaks parts.
 
I connected the speaker pins to the motherboard as well, but nope no beeps.
Kegz, I'm double checking the motherboard connectors right now, i'll let you know whats up.
I did read about getting a good PSU, but i read reviews about the one I got, and the only reason i did get an unbranded one was because it was generally good reviews :S.. if its down to the PSU only, then thats great, though is there any way of finding out for sure that its the power suppyl? is there a test i could do?
 
Could be a defective power switch or incorrect connection of switches to pins ^_^

The power switch is only meant to be momentarily connected, if for whatever reason it keeps conducting then it will turn on then about 5 seconds later it will switch off.

To test, briefly short the "power" pins and see if the same effect occurs.
 
Assuming it's actually capable of supplying sufficient power there's no reason why a none branded PSU would stop a PC booting.

There are plenty of good reasons for avoiding poorly designed and manufactured PSUs, but that’s a different issue.
 
OK I HAVE SOMETHING...
I shorted the power supply, it seems to, by nature, turn on for 3 seconds, then turn off, then after another 3 seconds on again, and this time it stays on. Whether this is supposed to happen i dont know, but the second time it turns on, the CPU fans turns on as well and also stays on.

I thought problem solved, BUT, after 5 seconds of the PSU on (with both fans running), i got a beep:

_ . . / _ . . / _ . . (Beeep Bip Bip / Beeep Bip Bip )

whats that about?
 
Beep codes vary by manufacturer. See if you can find a listing for your motherboard, or at least one with the same type of bios. There's a chance that there's a listing in the paper manual.
 
Tried the RAM one stick at a time?

edit:

you are turning it on with RAM in, right?
 
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Those beep codes indicate a RAM problem. Have you got your memory properly installed?

I'd definitely replace that PSU too for piece of mind, if nothing else. Corsair / Seasonic / Enermax all make excellent units. Try to stay away from the generic units as they tend to go boom and take your system with them.

EDIT: It would seem that codes also covers Video Card Errors. Do you have a GPU installed or are you using on-board?
 
Ok, admittedly I had no RAM nor Graphics card in when first testing it...Stupid me. Now that I've put in one RAM it did one long beep and 3 short beeps (which seems to be the video error) so I put it the Graphics Card and connected it to the monitor. still same thing: 1 long, 3 short.
Can it be something to do with the graphics card not connecting properly to the monitor? (i tried both HDMI and VGA and same thing happens).

I remember accidentally touching the Graphics card (on the unprotected side) without a static wrist band when first taking it out of the box... Could that have fried the card completely?

GPU: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6570 HM
RAM: Corsair Vengeance
 
j2890 said:
I remember accidentally touching the Graphics card (on the unprotected side) without a static wrist band when first taking it out of the box... Could that have fried the card completely?
Click to expand...

They can be sensitive to static but they're not that fragile (unless you were stroking your cat/wading through deep pile carpet at the same time).
 
You'd have to be amazingly unlucky to kill a video card in the way you describe.

The PC won’t care whether there’s a monitor attached or not (as far as posting is concerned).

Does the video card need dedicated power, and if so have you plugged the necessary cables in? You’ll normally have two power connectors going to the motherboard, and one or two additional connectors going to the video card.
 
HD 6570 probably doesn't require an additional connector.

Also I handle my components much worse than that, all I do is touch the metal case now and again (with PSU screwed in and plugged to wall i.e. earthed), and I've never had problems.

Unless you are wearing rubber shoes on carpet or something, you'd have to be incredibly unlucky.

I'd also reset the bios, there should be a jumper you can short to do this, or take the battery out for a couple of minutes. If you do this, remember to fix the system clock.
 
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anyon said:
HD 6570 probably doesn't require an additional connector.
Click to expand...

He's already stated it's a 6570. It requires no extra power.

Really I would get a better more reliable PSU like this as you're running a low end graphics card: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-059-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

Now back to the problem... I would have suggest trying out the onboard, but that won't work as you have a P67 board which can't use the i7's inbuilt HD 3000. Hence I would try booting with only one RAM stick in, if it doesn't work, try the other stick (I'm assuming you have the 2x4gb kit?). If that fails then try a CMOS reset. Check your motherboard manual on how to do this, but it's usually unplugging all the power and taking the CMOS battery out for 30 seconds while shorting out a couple of pins.

Seeing as this is your new build, can you describe the procedures you took in building the system? Just in case you made a mistake in building it.
 
OK! i think its solved.
I put one RAM in, and fiddled around with the graphics card. It wouldnt work while plugged into the PCIEX16_1 slot, but worked when i put it into PCIEX16_2 slot.... which is strange since the motherboard instructions clearly said if using only one graphics card to put it into slot 1. I don't get it, but the system runs fine now, whatever floats its boat right? :S (goes to Bios on the monitor).. with a nice healthy single beep.

One thing i will DEFINITELY do is change the PSU, apart from my bad experience with it, it sounds like a F*ing tractor. I think i'll look into the Corsair ones like you suggested.
You're obviously right about not skimping on power supply when it can ruin everything else.

I've now added the rest of the RAM and putting in the other stuff.

Thanks so much everyone for your help! It looks like i might just be able to finish it today (tonight)...
 
Glad you've got it working.

The slot thing does sound strange, but PCs can just be like that sometimes.

There's small chance that there's an actual problem with the first slot, and you've just worked around it. It's a difficult thing to test for unless you have a decent selection of spare parts to play with.
 
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