PC Restarting Before Boot

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 11:26

Hi,

Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong forum.

I shut down my PC the other night and noticed it was still running with nothing showing on the screen, i then turned it off by pressing the power button and everything kept restarting over and over so i eventually pulled out the power cable. Now it's restarting every 3 seconds and shows nothing on the screen and no post boot sound. Something else i noticed is that the processor fan starts 2 seconds after everything else, is that normal?

I've tried quite a few things to troubleshoot the problem but it's still occuring. Here's what i've tried:

Taking the motherboard,cpu,1 stick of ram and PSU and putting it on a bench(outside of the case) just to make sure it wasn't the power button/short circuit from the case.

Buying a new PSU with higher amps.

Taking everything out of the case and putting it back in piece by piece and starting up the pc to see if it's anything in particular that is casuing it.

Cleaning every part making sure there's no dust.

Putting some more thermal paste on the CPU and making sure the heatsink is firmly ontop.

Other than that i can't think of anything else. I don't have access to a motherboard that supports my CPU neither do i have a friend with the same CPU to put in my board.

I personally think it's the motherboard, only because i've had trouble with motherboards before and although this hasn't happened exactly like this before i've had very similir issues. Some other people think it's the CPU causing everything to restart. I'm trying to avoid buying all new hardware(although i've bought an 80 quid PSU) so i either want to buy a new mobo or new CPU, i just need a bit of advice on what this problem is normally caused by.

Thanks for any help

Coldzero · 10 Sep 2009 at 11:29

So just to confirm, what happens when you power on your pc now?

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 11:31

I know it's a bit long, basically everything starts up for 3 seconds then restarts, this is with just the CPU, 1 stick of RAM and the PSU attacthed to the motherboard. No post boot. One of those components are causing the restarting.

pctestcard.com · 10 Sep 2009 at 11:38

Check the connection on the small power connector(4pins) from the PSU to the mainboard.

Clear Bios by removing the battery.

We got exactly same problem PC fixed this way.

Hope this helps!
Bill

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 11:40

I will say something about the 4 pin, if i leave it unplugged the pc still doesn't boot but all the fans stay on and it doesn't reboot the system, when i plug the 4 pin back in the rebooting starts again. This is with a new PSU, could it be a problem with the motherboard?

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 11:48

Ok i just cleared the cmos and the PSU fan stays on which is a sign that the system isn't restarting, however the CPU fan keeps stopping and starting.

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 13:37

Took out the battery and put it back in and it's stopped restarting however it doesn't boot and the graphics card fan stays on full rev. But the restarting has stopped which is the main thing. This indicates it's a motherboard issue right? a short circuit somewhere/?

mrk · 10 Sep 2009 at 13:43

Have you tried removing a memory module?

The CPU fan not starting is normal, Intel chipsets will start the cpu fan shortly after boot, sometimes up to 3-5 seconds - normal stuff.

GFX card fan will start at full speed then drop to idle speeds as soon as POST starts - also normal.

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 13:49

Ok so the reason the gfx fan is on full rev is because there's no boot gotcha. Yes i've taken out the memory and switched between the 2 sticks.

mrk · 10 Sep 2009 at 13:51

I can only imagine the BIOS has corrupted then especially if it's booting but not POSTing, I guess it's not a dual BIOS mobo like Gigabyte ones are?

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 13:53

Sorry i forgot to post my specs:

Gigabyte P35C DS3R
G.skill 2x 2GB
Intel Duo 2.66ghz
Radeon 4890
Corsair 650w PSU

I'm assuming i need a new mobo, however the P35S DS3R seem to be all discontinued, is there something else cheapish that would run all of my components?

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:12

i plugged in the hdd and on the screen theres a flashing white line as if it expect me to type something, no bios screen though.

mrk · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:13

SOunds like the mobo has gone...or bios...or both!

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:21

Could you help me find a motherboard that will accept all my current hardware? I'm not lookin to splash out just something that will get the job done

would this suffice?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-101-GI

My current one is p35c chipset, but aslong as it's socket 775 my processor should work fine with it?

mrk · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:23

You want to confirm it's the mobo first really, all roads point to it but 1 at present, try a 2nd gfx card and see if the same happens - if it does then it's safe to say mobo is the problem and we can look at what offers are out there.

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:26

well i thought the fact that it was screwed up even with no graphics card attachted was enough to show it wasn't that, i don't have a working 2nd graphics card

mrk · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:38

Your mobo won't boot anyway without a GFX card though unless you plugged VGA into the onboard gfx card but your board does not have onboard VGA!

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 15:32

what i meant was the system was restarting itself without the gfx attachted, essentially making no difference. It was only when i cleared the cmos and moved the bios battery the motherboard reacted.

mrk · 10 Sep 2009 at 15:36

Hmm I see, well any P45/P35 mobo would be what you'd need I guess, within your chosen budget which we do not know yet.

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 15:39

I'd like to keep it at £50