PC with a personality - bad times

mikedigitales · 15 Jul 2017 at 16:18

Hey guys - I'm having some issue with the build in my signature. The core components are around 2.5 years old, and have been super reliable up to now.

Turned it on a few days back and it stuck on the Gigabyte logo, the twirly circles appear for windows to boot then nothing, sticks. Tried booting a few OS on USB sticks, no luck either, same problem. Did the normal fixing PC stuff, reset bios stuff, take out MB battery, then started taking it apart one bit at a time. Even with a minimal setup, 1 stick of RAM from the spares box, no GPU, different mouse/keyboard, no other usb devices, no drives - most of the time same no booting problem, very rarely it would boot once and then on restart nothing the next 10 tries. I was convinced it was a motherboard problem.

So finally manage to get hold of a spare CPU (G3258) to test in it today, expecting to get the same results, and it worked first time. So pulled the 4690K from the other halves PC and popped that in my PC, again worked no probs.

So I thought maybe my 4790K was the faulty component, popped that in the other halves now open PC, and she's happily playing Overwatch on it as I type.

So at this point i'm stumped, separately all the parts seem ok, but put together again no booting. Any ideas at this point would be gratefully accepted!! :confused:

Doogles · 16 Jul 2017 at 02:56

Could be the PSU, I know it's a fairly decent one but it's the only thing that makes sense atm. Have you tried updating the BIOS on the motherboard coming to think of it?

mikedigitales · 16 Jul 2017 at 09:19

Just doubled checked an the BIOS is up to date, will have to try out the PSU swap today, got to be worth a go

mikedigitales · 16 Jul 2017 at 21:56

So took the MB and CPU out of the existing case and popped it in a temporary testing bitfenix case, with a SuperFlower 550w PSU - exact same problems. Sometimes it makes it to the Windows login screen, but it locks up. Also same problem when trying to boot something like PartedMagic from USB. So I popped the G3258 back in and it's fine again. Really can't work out how the CPU and the motherboard separately work OK, but together no luck.

darael · 16 Jul 2017 at 23:50

I wonder if it's possibly a heat related issue and you don't realise it? I'm having a similar problem where my motherboard more successfully boots in cooler weather. If I turn it on or reboot in warmer weather, I'm more likely to need a few tries. Having said that, it loads straight into Windows with no issues or error messages and everything else works fine.

Look at how you mount the heatsink - are you maybe tightening up one corner more or less than the others? Are all the pins in the motherboard socket straight and not bent? Check with a magnifying glass or even take a good photo and let us see.

I've long wondered if the heatsink is causing me problems and on warmer days flexes a little more than normal presenting me with problems.

maklabouhlel · 16 Jul 2017 at 23:52

Can you get hold of another 4790K and try?

Quartz · 17 Jul 2017 at 00:06

Have you tried cleaning the 4790K and socket with Isopropyl Alcohol?

freddie64 · 17 Jul 2017 at 07:44

Can you not just swap motherboards with your mrs?

mikedigitales · 17 Jul 2017 at 16:33

darael said:
I wonder if it's possibly a heat related issue and you don't realise it? I'm having a similar problem where my motherboard more successfully boots in cooler weather. If I turn it on or reboot in warmer weather, I'm more likely to need a few tries. Having said that, it loads straight into Windows with no issues or error messages and everything else works fine.

Look at how you mount the heatsink - are you maybe tightening up one corner more or less than the others? Are all the pins in the motherboard socket straight and not bent? Check with a magnifying glass or even take a good photo and let us see.

I've long wondered if the heatsink is causing me problems and on warmer days flexes a little more than normal presenting me with problems.

I don't think it's a heat issue as I've been testing it all times of day, cold booting and lots of restarts etc, also I tested with the Megahalems, stock cooler and the old Hyper 212. I did wonder about pins, as have read a few posts where that has caused similar issues - but couldn't see anything out of place (will double check this again though).

maklabouhlel said:
Can you get hold of another 4790K and try?

Probably not anytime soon, plus I'd hate to muck around anyone else's expensive stuff not knowing the problem.

Quartz said:
Have you tried cleaning the 4790K and socket with Isopropyl Alcohol?

Yep yep, the bottle of iso was close as always

freddie64 said:
Can you not just swap motherboards with your mrs?

Nah can't be leaving her with the potentially dodge motherboard, it would start acting up when she's doing something for work etc. I've put her's all back as it was and fingers crossed i've not spread the mystery hardware failures to her setup too

darael · 20 Jul 2017 at 11:11

mikedigitales said:
I don't think it's a heat issue as I've been testing it all times of day, cold booting and lots of restarts etc, also I tested with the Megahalems, stock cooler and the old Hyper 212. I did wonder about pins, as have read a few posts where that has caused similar issues - but couldn't see anything out of place (will double check this again though).

My PC just died yesterday, without any warning whatsoever. All I did was power it down while my Virgin Media SuperHub restarted and now my PC won't turn on. My thread is here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/black-screen-sometimes-when-posting.18783535/

I'm just trying to give you a little warning that one day your machine might not turn on again, without warning.

GWANGY · 20 Jul 2017 at 13:36

All intel CPUS have a three warranty ... and intel are very good about honouring it . Especially if you explain that you have substituted CPU and everything works.