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I've had a new rig running several months, Q6600 with an 8600GT, 2GB RAM, 2 DVD burners, 3 SATA hard drives (2 are WD Raptors), and.. that's about it. Rosewill 550W Power Supply. Always been connected through a 1200 VA UPS.

It's been fine for months, I've beat it up quite a bit, never had a problem. Tonight I had it on for about 10 minutes, just surfing, and it froze up. I rebooted, but it couldn't quite get into Windows without freezing again. So I turned it off altogether, and ever since it hasn't really quite restarted. It tries but can't.

When I hit the power button, it begins to fire up but does not quite get to POST, and after several seconds it shuts back off. Give it about 5 more seconds and it tries to start up again on it's own. Then shuts back off, starts back up, and repeat and repeat. I've pulled almost everything from the board - the RAM, all drives, and the video card, and still have the same issue.

I keep thinking PSU, but how? Going through the supposed power draws of all the parts, I shouldn't be but about halfway to that 550W or so. And - even if it wasn't enough in the past, then - with everything unplugged it certainly should be enough now!

This is my first Intel build, I am wondering if the CPU would throw itself into some sort of cycle perhaps by telling the motherboard to shut down because it thinks it's overheating or something? Or do I start with the PSU? I don't have hardly anything attached to the Mobo right now, but I suppose it's possible that it's gotten damaged?

ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED! THANKS!

 

[Inferno]

I can guarantee you it's the power supply. One of my machines does the exact same thing until I pull the plug on it. The Rosewill is a cheap unit, and situations such as this is why you don't skimp on it.

 

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I *think* I checked it out though. I found this: Overclockers Hardware - Overclockers Hardware - How To: Test PSU Voltages and basically it's a walk-through of how to check it out.

Everything passed - 3.37V, 5.07V, and 11.92V. That's with everything plugged in and drawing power, and measured over the few seconds that it's actually on before it cycles off again.

If I yank the 20 pin connector and force the PSU to turn on (connect the green "on" wire to a ground wire), it fires up and stays that way.

Seems the motherboard is telling the PSU to turn on and off for some reason

 

[Bitter]

swap a different power switch, if its broken internally and the contact pad is laid across the contacts it can do something like that too.

 

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Unplugged the power and reset switches both, those little wires where they plug into the mobo at the corner. Booted it up by touching the 2 power pins with a screwdriver tip for a split second, and removed it of course. Same thing - cycles on and off, without the power or rest switches even plugged in.

 

[LogicGate]

Maybe it has the NASCAR spirit in it

 

[Bitter]

then what greg suggested is likely, but can you test it against another motherboard? i usually have a junk one laying around i can toss enough into to make it post to see if things like PSU's work. if it does the same thing with another board then you'll know. however....if it works fine with another board.....uh oh. time to check out that warranty on your motherboard i'd think.

 

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I don't have any extra parts anymore. "Back in the day" when I was slinging Athlon systems for family and friends and rebuilding mine every few months I always had a ton of parts around. This is the first Intel build for me and I have no extra stuff. Don't really even have any of the old stuff left anymore either.

I'm going to pull it out of the box and get down to basics - board, chip, RAM, and PSU, with nothing else attached. If it works, I'll put it back in the box and connect things one piece at a time until it stops again. If not, there is a PC repair shop a few miles away. I never thought I'd actually use the place ever, but well WTF why not. Cheaper than me buying and throwing parts at it.

 

[Bitter]

I don't have any extra parts anymore. "Back in the day" when I was slinging Athlon systems for family and friends and rebuilding mine every few months I always had a ton of parts around. This is the first Intel build for me and I have no extra stuff. Don't really even have any of the old stuff left anymore either.

I'm going to pull it out of the box and get down to basics - board, chip, RAM, and PSU, with nothing else attached. If it works, I'll put it back in the box and connect things one piece at a time until it stops again. If not, there is a PC repair shop a few miles away. I never thought I'd actually use the place ever, but well WTF why not. Cheaper than me buying and throwing parts at it.

odds are thats what they'll do as well. :sad:
your idea to pull things one at a time is a good one, be sure to let us know what it was.

 

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Yanked it - board, chip, RAM, and PSU. Nothing else, and it still is cycling on and off. Yeah probably will take it in tomorrow. Bleah.

 

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Just to follow up, I brought the board, CPU, and a memory stick to a local sales / repair shop, was just $30 to diagnose, kinda nice. They pulled some stuff off the shelf and swapped a few things out and it's definitely the motherboard. Looks like RMA time...

 

[superGT]

What kind of board was it? ASUS/INTEL..GIGASHIT??

 

[Inferno]

Unless he did a last second switch, it looks like he had a Gigabyte P35 board.

http://www.club3g.com/forum/2152875-post17.html

Guess you can't beat Asus for sheer reliability. That and those seemingly indestructable Intel reference boards. :lol:

 

[tracer bullet]

Yep, Gigabyte.

I've always used them, MSI, and Asus for all the PC's I've ever built (between myself, friends, family that's probably 2 dozen total or so). Never had an issue with GB at all. Well, until now.

Stupid thing is - since I'm lazy, I ordered another of the exact same board . I'm expecting to drop it in place, have everything plug right back in where it was, and not even have Windows hiccup since the chipset and so on will all be the same.

Did I mention I was lazy?

 

[Bitter]

nah, that should work out fine. im lazy too....same XP install for the past 2 or 3 years :lol: i just keep fixing it, cleaning it, etc.