New System Won't Post, Keeps Restarting After 2 Seconds

[skojec]

I offered to build a new system for my little brother for Christmas, and got all the parts Christmas week. Things got dicey right away. I've already had to RMA the MoBo (bent CPU pins) and when I got the new one back I found I had to RMA the GPU (OS would only recognize it intermittently on two different systems) and now this. When it was working, the voltages all looked good, and when it first manifested this problem I just cleared the CRLT jumper on the Mobo and it worked again just fine.

Then it did it again a couple days ago and I can't get it back. I've cleared the jumper a bunch of times, swapped the RAM around, re-seated the CPU, pulled the battery off the board and reinstalled...I can't figure out what to attack next.

I've had this thing in my basement for two months, and I don't have a ton of time to work on it. Made the mistake of thinking it was a simple system build but I have never had so many problems with new parts.

The system with the prob is configed as follows:

NZXT Guardian 921 Mid-Tower Case
BFG ES-800 800W PSU
ASUS P5Q PRO
Intel C2D E8400
EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3750640AS 750GB SATA-300
LITE-ON 20X DVDRW
Logitech G5
Windows Vista 64 Home Premium

 

[Slugbait]

Sounds like your mobo is shorting out against the case.

 

[skojec]

I thought that was a possibility too, so I took it out and tried booting while it was sitting on an anti-static surface. No joy. Still doing the same thing.

 

[skojec]

To be clear about the error, it powers on (fans spin up, lights come on on the case) but then it immediately powers off after 1-2 seconds; then, it repeats this 2 seconds later, and just does this in a loop. No beeps, no video, no error code.

 

[crimson117]

First, plug in just the bare minimum: CPU, heatsink/fan, one stick of memory, power supply, case. (no hard drives, video card, etc).

Does the thing seem to post without the reboot loop? (if you can't tell, you might need to add the video card).

If it still reboots, have you tried (in order of easy to harder):
- Booting with a single known good stick of DDR2? (such as one from our own rig, if applicable)
- Using a different Power Supply?
- Using a different CPU?

 

[skojec]

I've reached an impasse in that I don't have an extra CPU/PSU to try it with. I've tried everything else. The only CPU/PSU I have avail is the one in my personal rig, and I try to avoid cannibalizing because that's when my stuff usually winds up getting broken.

I guess at this point I am trying to figure out what I need to RMA. I'm past the 30 days for NewEgg, so everything I send back has to go to the respective manufacturers. I'd like to limit it to the most likely components.

 

[crimson117]

I think a bad CPU or ram would either not post at all, or would have weird errors when trying to run anything on it. It wouldn't cause a power cycle.

A bad PSU or a bad Motherboard might do the power cycle stuff you're talking about. Try contacting the vendor for each and ask for an RMA; they may agree or provide some insight into the real cause of the problem.


Edit: you could also try booting with just PSU, CPU, and Motherboard (no ram). It should at least power on, I believe. That would help confirm that the ram isn't a problem.

 

[skojec]

Crimson,

Thanks for the response, that's what I'm thinking. I've put in a support request with ASUS, and I'm considering one with BFG for the PSU, but I really have my doubts about that being the problem. I already have an RMA for the video card since more than half the time it doesn't detect as anything but a "Standard VGA Adapter" so the drivers won't load.

Once in a while I have a problem with a system build, but this is the one from hell.

 

[imported_wired247]

If what you're saying is what I think you're saying:

some asus boards just do that (power on for 2 seconds, shut off, power back on automatically).

BUT... it should POST.

once everything is up and running properly, and you stop tweaking bios settings, it should not happen anymore. it could happen after a power outage, after components are disconnected, after voltage tweaks, after you adjust RAM timings, etc.

If you fail at overclocking something and the system won't POST, then on the next boot up it does this behavior as well... to rescue itself from a non-POSTable state.

it's nothing to worry about, if your system is stable and everything works, just let it be.

BUT... if your system is not POSTing then you DO have a problem.