Pc stuck in boot loop before BIOS

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24 Jun 2012
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Hi all, out of nowhere my pc(built by me 3 years ago) will not boot up and I desperately need help. When I power on, the system starts for 1 or 2 seconds and then turns off. A couple of seconds later it tries to start again, but the same thing happens. It's doing this indefinitely. Below is my specs and what I have tried so far:

-i5 3870K
-MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2GB
-Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77
-Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W
-Seagate Barracuda 1TB
-Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB

~Tried removing RAM, switched modules and tried every combination
~Unplugged everything non-essential
~removed CMOS battery to reset

In another thread elsewhere, someone mentioned to try this " Grab a paperclip and bend it in half, grab the power connector for your motherboard and then stick one end into any green wire and one end into any black. If your fans stay running (Assuming their connected to the PSU) then it's likely a motherboard issue."

I tried this and the system would stay on, but would not boot. Am i looking at a faulty motherboard here?
 
In another thread elsewhere, someone mentioned to try this " Grab a paperclip and bend it in half, grab the power connector for your motherboard and then stick one end into any green wire and one end into any black. If your fans stay running (Assuming their connected to the PSU) then it's likely a motherboard issue."

I tried this and the system would stay on, but would not boot. Am i looking at a faulty motherboard here?

Not had to do this myself, but i think you should only do this when it is not connected to your motherboard.

It is done to test the psu only. But even though the fan may spin, it may not be providing enough power to your PC.

Did you try booting without the gpu?
 
Can you try another psu?

Try removing the cmos battery for ~ hour.

Any usb device attached, other than keyboard and mouse? (eg wifi dongle in the back)
 
I don't have access to another PSU unfortunately.

All USB devices are unplugged, will try removing the cmos battery for longer and report back.

Anything else I can try?
 
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That's all i can think of.

Sure someone else will be along soon to offer more/better advice.

Good luck and hope you get it up and running soon. :)

EDIT

When you removed the battery did you have the pc unplugged from the wall socket?
 
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Ok, cmos battery has been out and back in with no change, so I think we can rule this out. Thanks for your help freddie.

Can anyone else shed any light on this?
 
you didn't disturb the cpu at all did you? if not then leave it installed/untouched

would be best to try and borrow a spare psu to test with first
 
I don't know whether this will help but I just recently brought and built my first pc so I know I'm not really qualified to comment but when I first got it built I had the same issue as you and it turned out to be my RAM one was slotted incorrectly. You tried taking them all out and then resitting one stick and see if it boots? If it does maybe a memory issue?

Worth a go?

EDIT... Sorry just read that you tried the removing RAM. I just quickly jumped to my conclusion.

Did you try just installing one stick and power on though?
 
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I did, yeah. Tried both sticks individually in the first slot but to no avail :(

Damm, sorry to hear that. Maybe it is a memory issue? If you can try another PSU and if it doesn't work then try different memory?

Hope you get it sorted though mate. I understand your worry and frustration.
 
Yeah, terrible timing too with Fallout 4 on the horizon :(

I only know one other person with a decent rig, so I'll ask them nicely if I can borrow some components to test.

The fact that the PSU fan spins is leading me to believe that's not the problem(really hope i'm wrong here). All fingers point to the motherboard at the moment, which would be a disaster. It's about 3 months out of it's 3 year warranty.
 
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Yeah, terrible timing too with Fallout 4 on the horizon :(

I only know one other person with a decent rig, so I'll ask them nicely if I can borrow some components to test.

The fact that the PSU fan spins is leading me to believe that's not the problem(really hope i'm wrong here). All fingers point to the motherboard at the moment, which would be a disaster. It's about 3 months out of it's 3 year warranty.

Yeah that is a bummer mate but how you have described it, it's exactly what my rig did as soon as I got it built and pressed power button. Maybe your memory has failed and I suppose that would be better than the mobo mate.

Hope you get it sorted though. Will have to post back in here and keep us up to date.
 
you didn't disturb the cpu at all did you? if not then leave it installed/untouched

would be best to try and borrow a spare psu to test with first

Didn't touch the cpu but did unplug the stock fan and remove it(it's now back on). Would that have disturbed the thermal paste?
 
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