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

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.

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/?

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 15:39

I'd like to keep it at £50

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 16:22

would a p31-p43 mobo not work? they are cheaper than the p45's

PsychoPigeon · 10 Sep 2009 at 16:28

orderd,will let you know how it turns out, thanks for the help

PsychoPigeon · 11 Sep 2009 at 17:56

Got the motherboard, connected everything up and still no boot. No beeps. Nothing. However the graphics card is restarting itself, the lights on the graphics card i'm assuming it uses like a post beep are flashing on and off in sequence with the fan. It wasn't doing this with the old motherboard. I have no idea what's going on.

PsychoPigeon · 11 Sep 2009 at 19:13

i did actually forget to put the 2 x 6 power connectors into the card, but have done that and get the same result. Also if i turn the board off using the power button on the case then it just starts up again(it's all still out of the case and i have been using a screwdriver to start the board up).

PsychoPigeon · 12 Sep 2009 at 09:46

Are you talking to me Locke or the person above?

I have a friend lending me his gfx card so once i test that it has to be the CPU.

PsychoPigeon · 12 Sep 2009 at 14:25

tested the other graphics card and it made no difference. Took it down to a local PC shop and although the guy looked clueless he did think it was the CPU. Does it sound like a CPU issue?

PsychoPigeon · 12 Sep 2009 at 14:55

i put everything back in the case and am getting 3 short beeps then the system restarts then it continuously does short beeps. Still no BIOS screen

PsychoPigeon · 12 Sep 2009 at 15:15

The PC has booted up, i'm still using the old motherboard and it's worked fine, i have no idea what so ever what went wrong.