It has to be the motherboard, right?

[Bob.]

A cheap setup: GA-H81-D3, G3420, board compatible 2x2GB 1600 GSkill, kingston Hyperv300 ssd, Themaltake TR2 420w PSU.

Had a few blue screens (so long ago, I don't remember the stop error). Then, weeks later, system wouldn't post. Sometimes no-post bootloop with a beep and end up at a non-blinking cursor only to try again. Other times, just a no-post boot loop without the monitor getting a signal.

It's breadboarded with a new (different) PSU, new RAM, bios reset, all the usual suspects. I have it running now, as I discovered the secret:

Symptoms:

1. System will restart fine
2. System will not start after shutdown (goes through bootloop)
3. Power down, unplug, remove one stick of ram (from slot 2 of course),
system starts fine
b) shut down, system will not restart (bootloop). Power down, unplug,
reinsert previously removed stick of ram, system starts fine. Or bypass the attempt to boot and just remove or insert ram. System will boot.

So the system will run, but a bit of a hassle. I've tried everything else except replacing the motherboard or cpu. I do mean everything. Go ahead. Quiz me if you like.

This is a light duty machine, thus the cheap components.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[zir_blazer]

First thing, try another Power Supply. Thermaltake TR2 line sucks, on other Threads you will see spontaneous reboot or cold boot issues that are magically fixed by switching that crappy Power Supply.

 

[LTC8K6]

He already tried that.

 

[Bob.]

I did indeed change the psu, but with the same model (had a new one sitting on shelf). I knew it wasn't the greatest psu, but figured it would be too much of a coincidence if it exhibited the same issues. But your point is well taken.I just ordered a corsair CX750M. It should be here in a few days.
I also have a new in box msi gaming 5 I'm going to put on the testbench this weekend with the same ram and ssd to see if that resolves the problem.

And that will be the end of the low end parts I have available. 1st time in 20 years I went low end, and I got bitten. I'll post back at the beginning of the week - thanks for your remarks.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I did indeed change the psu, but with the same model (had a new one sitting on shelf). I knew it wasn't the greatest psu, but figured it would be too much of a coincidence if it exhibited the same issues. But your point is well taken.I just ordered a corsair CX750M. It should be here in a few days.
I also have a new in box msi gaming 5 I'm going to put on the testbench this weekend with the same ram and ssd to see if that resolves the problem.

And that will be the end of the low end parts I have available. 1st time in 20 years I went low end, and I got bitten. I'll post back at the beginning of the week - thanks for your remarks.

IMHO the absolutely worst place to save money on a new system is the PSU. Simply because if the PSU is bad, then everything else is affected. And I do mean everything.

Low-end components with a decent PSU (f.x. Corsair CX-series) are just as stable and reliable as higher-end components.

 

[Bob.]

It took a while to get around to it, but I ordered one of the new z97 boards and installed it. Problem solved. Now I guess I'll RMA the Gigabyte board and order another cpu. I can always use another system.

Thanks for your comments.