PS, CPU or Motherboard

Post by **Timothian** » Thu May 24, 2012 10:27 am

On my daughters computer, it starts to boot up and gets to the bios select screen (the one that shows you the key options), that screen is up for a second, sometimes not at all, then the computer shuts down, hangs for a couple seconds then starts up again. It will cycle all day if you let it. The bios select screen is a normal screen during the boot up process.

I disconnected all the internal components (HD, DVD, Video card, RAM), one by one and it still cycles. The fan on the CPU works and the heat sink appears to be firmly seated, cut I did not take it off. to verify.

What I am wondering, is what point in the boot sequence the computer is at when it hits the bios screen. I assume the CPU self test is done at that point. If that is true, then it would likely be the power supply (Bah, no extras sitting around house to check this out).

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3-B3
CPU Intel i5

Thanks.

Post by **Zargut** » Thu May 24, 2012 10:54 am

The next thing to try is to clear the CMOS. Please follow these instructions exactly.

Remove the power cable from the mains supply and then press the power switch on the case for a few seconds just to drain any residual energy in the PSU capacitors.

Once done remove the motherboard battery for at least one hour before replacing it with a new one.

Next plug back into the mains supply and boot.

You will now need to enter the BIOS by pressing DEL and load Optimised BIOS Defaults.

Make any other changes to the BIOS settings to suit your self like disabling the floppy drive, disabling the full screen logo and making the HDD the primary boot device and then press F10 to save and exit.

Post by **Timothian** » Sat May 26, 2012 12:15 pm

Thanks Tug. I tried what you suggested and also cleared the CMOS via the jumpers and the computer has same symptoms. Will swap out the power supply next, that is normally the culprit, especially here in Florida. Problem is that I have to wait, ordered it on line, refused to pay the price at Best Buy for a decent PS. Don't mind taking a shot in the dark and buying a power supply, I always use them eventually.

Post by **Timothian** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:42 pm

Beeps and other stuff:

Not sure if I mentioned it, but this was a computer that worked about one year until this failure occured.

I changed out the power supply, computer has same symptom, it cycles on and off, stays on only a few seconds, the cpu and case fans spin up. I pulled the mother board out of case to make sure it was not shorted, reseated the CPU, checked the heat sink, all looked well. Systematicly unplugged connectors again to see if behavior changes.

I hooked up a speaker, and there are no beeps produced, it just cycles on and off. If I unplug the video card, it still cycles on and off, but I get a long beep followed by two short beeps. I googled this and for Award bios, it apparently indicates it is unable to initialize the video screen (which makes sense if there is no video card plugged in). This shows me that it gets past the CPU self check in the boot sequence. as it is trying to get to that step.

Therefore, I assume the CPU must be good and the motherboard went bad. Does this make sense, should I check anything else before buying a new motherboard?

Post by **Timothian** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:53 pm

Also. Has anyone ever succesfully returned a motherboard to gigabyte after they have had it 10-11 months? I can't imagine it being worth the hassle. It was a cheap $99 motherboard from Newegg.

Website · Post by **Tungest** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:51 pm

Sounds like the Hard drive to me Aae. Do you have a spare you could try?

Post by **Whipsnade** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:36 pm

I have a gigabyte MB that went bad and after getting a hold of them the gave me a rma number and had me send it to them for a check up. the found something wrong with the mb and fixed it. But I guess they found something unrelated to my problem and after getting a hold of them again they gave me a brand new mb.

http://eq.magelo.com/profile/1881992 · Post by **Dakuan** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:19 am

From your POST code, it sounds like you have a GPU issue. If you use onboard mobo gfx then that is the issue. Test the hard drive on a spare system as a secondary drive and chkdsk it. Many symptoms you are experiencing happen with dying HDs, bad PSUs, and even dead mobo capacitors that fail at POST when at load.

It's either a bad onboard video card or an expansion GPU is loose/bad.

I verified your beep code in Scott Mueller's Upgrading & Repairing PCs.

Good luck.

Post by **Timothian** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:22 pm

It is fixed, it was the motherboard. Tinkered and tinkered with swapping stuff out, no cure. Finally got new MB, it is nearly identical to old one (same Gigabyte line of MBs, same chipset, etc..). Built it up with all the original original components (CPU, HD, video card, PS, RAM) and it works great. Did not even have to update drivers. Now to try to get my broken one replaced under warranty, if so, it can be the start of a new system.

Post by **Taunto** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:36 am

Timothian wrote:It is fixed, it was the motherboard. Tinkered and tinkered with swapping stuff out, no cure. Finally got new MB, it is nearly identical to old one (same Gigabyte line of MBs, same chipset, etc..). Built it up with all the original original components (CPU, HD, video card, PS, RAM) and it works great. Did not even have to update drivers. Now to try to get my broken one replaced under warranty, if so, it can be the start of a new system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc#t=1m35s

Post by **Timothian** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:01 pm

Taunto, thanks for the video, I feel very inspired. I think if I ever get a new MB from Gigabyte, I will smear fruit on it, toss some sand on it, and then hold it up in the air (people seem to only remember the part about holding the lion cub in the air, they always forget the stuff that happens just before).

Post by **Timothian** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 10:35 pm

Ah, the saga continues. When I replaced the motherboard, the system worked great for a few months.

I sent the original motherboard to gigabyte and sent it back fixed. I called and talked to someone there and they said that it was the bios, it had gotten corrupted. Not sure how this could happen since this motherboard has two bios chips, a backup one that is never updated and kept safe incase you mess up your working bios. It is supposed to load this bios automaticaly if you clear your working bios. I did every bios clear method known (jump the jumpers, pull out batter, unplug PC, etc..). The original motherboard is sitting in the box it was sent back in, I don't trust it.

Anyway, my daughter's PC started doing the exact same thing it did before, power recycling and never finishing up booting. Dang, I replaced everything before when I was trying to troubleshoot it and it did not fix it before. Only thing not replaced is the video card as Dak suggested above... time to buy stuff again.

http://eq.magelo.com/profile/1881992 · Post by **Dakuan** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 3:37 am

Test the wall socket for issues. Also, do you have computer on floor? But probably a virus.. I make sure to enable DEP for things like this. Also, hiiiii everybody! I'm broke but ill be back! /wave --furiously

Post by **Whipsnade** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 2:53 pm

i would call gigabyte again and talk to them since they say it was the bios. they might be able to walk you through a fix for the new mb bios.

Post by **Timothian** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 12:44 am

Ok, unable to fix the bios on the, "new" motherboard. Talked to gigabyte, looked at web etc. Gigabyte has a way to load up new bios from USB memory stick, but PC reboots too fast. Also tried all the fixes I tried before, swapping power supplies, memory etc. Somehow, the new motherboard is messed up and I assume it is a corrupt bios like the last one.

I took the old motherboard that I sent gigabyte that they said they reloaded the bioas on and built up the system around it and it works great. All the other components in this system are the same ones I have had all along.

I asked gigabyte what could cause bios corruption and did not get much of an answer. He said a shorted CPU or RAM, but both of thsoe seem to work fine, no indication they are bad. Intenet is not very helpful either. Guess I will wait to see how long this build lasts before I swap out the motherboard again.