PC Keeps Restarting Before POST or Boot Screens

[buddhatb]

Went to turn on my PC after work today and it keeps restarting after 2 seconds. My LCD screen is just black and shows nothing. Not even the POST or Gigabyte screen shows up like how it should after pressing the power button during a normal startup. The restarts are an infinite loop, so after a few times I just powered down. My PC was working perfectly fine last nite before I went to bed. I have not installed any new software or hardware in a few weeks, so I'm thinking it must be a PSU or motherboard issue.

Anyone know what could be a possible cause? Any way to test the PSU to see if its failing?

I have checked all the cables and re-sat the RAM and video card with no luck. Also tried to clear the CMOS, but that didn't help either.

System Specs (Also located in my Sig)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6
Corsair HX520 PSU
XFX 8800GTS 512MB
4 GB RAM
3 Hard Drives
Samsung DVD-RW Drive
Windows XP Pro

 

[Chapbass]

doin any overclocking or anything like that?


my gigabyte board does that if i push it too hard...but a cmos reset takes care of that.


did you just pull the cmos jumper or actually pull out the battery?

 

[buddhatb]

No overclocking on anything. Everything at stock voltages. I tried resetting the CMOS by removing the battery for a few mins, but no luck fixing the issue. System keeps turning on for 2 seconds, off for 2 seconds, on for 2 seconds, off for seconds in a continous loop. Computer monitor is completely black thru the entire process. System does not stay on long enough to POST or enter BIOS.

Will be trying a new PSU tomorrow to see if that works or not.

 

[Chapbass]

you try just one stick of ram? could be a bad stick. weird that it just started happenin though.

 

[buddhatb]

Originally posted by: Chapbass
you try just one stick of ram? could be a bad stick. weird that it just started happenin though.

Removed all non-essential hardware connected to the PSU and motherboard except 1 RAM and video card. Same issue still persists. My system turns on for 2 seconds, turns off for 2 seconds, turns on for 2 seconds, turns off for 2 seconds in a continous loop of that sequence. At least the failure is consistant. My monitor is completely black, so I cannot even get the system to run long enough to run memtest or get into BIOS.

I got an Antec PSU today to try on my system and I still get the same issue with it, so that basically rules out my existing Corsair PSU being faulty.

I am out of ideas on what could be causing this.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Sounds like you may have a failing motherboard.

 

[buddhatb]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
Sounds like you may have a failing motherboard.

That is what I am starting to think as well. I will be contacting Gigabyte Tech Support regarding the issue to determine if a RMA is needed.

 

[DJK6]

I have a GA-EP35 MB and mine is doing the exact same thing. Anyone find the answer?

 

[dbailey]

Sounds to me like the ram you have in there requires more voltage. Do you have any extra 1.8 volt ddr2 ram sitting around to try? If so, boot up with that, adjust the ram voltage and settings in the bios for your current ram and then install it and boot up that way. I had some finicky ram that did the same thing.

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
Sounds like you may have a failing motherboard.

That's what I am thinking too especially if you are getting no beep codes and no screen output.

I would pull the memory out completely and see if you get a screen output. I have also seen this happen if the CPU is on the blink too. but like I said before I am leaning toward a mobo prob on this one.