0

Now and then my PC (about 4 years old now) fails to boot normally. More specifically, I press the power button, and the CPU fan, system fan 2 (system fan 1 stays off) and motherboard/GPU lights turn on. But then, nothing. It doesn't even get to BIOS.

After squiggling around with hardware, reseating GPU and RAM, resetting CMOS, and draining power (unplug power cable, hold power button for 30s), now and then it will boot again. But sometimes it initially only starts the CPU fan+mobo lights, and after a few seconds, (or sometimes minutes) it boots normally.

My Specs are:

Windows 10
Intel I7 4790K (not overclocked) + NZXT X62
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2x8GB @ 1.6 GHz
MSI GTX 1080TI
Corsair RM750 PSU

About 3 months ago I replaced the CPU cooler and the GPU to what I have listed, after which the problem seemed to have disappeared.

Until a few weeks ago. After the unplug+hold 30s trick, the PC didn't get any power, so no CPU fan either. It did however get power when I would reset the CMOS by connecting the plug on the mobo. After the usual reseating and squiggling, the PC turned on (so with only CPU and mobo lights) and after about 15 minutes it booted again.

And yesterday during a game, the PC simply switched off out of nowhere, it went for a reboot, and got stuck again without booting into BIOS. I've checked for disconnected components, reseated the RAM (also in different slots), but I get nothing yet.

I'm not sure how to troubleshoot this, and every time it happens I'm afraid it won't boot anymore at all. So any help would be appreciated!

Improve this question
3
  • I suspect it's a bad motherboard. Have had a couple of boards like that over the years. My old desktop PC (also with a Gigabyte board, not overclocked) refuses to POST about 10% of the time. It's brutal. Try ruling out the PSU first.
    – Mr Ethernet
    Commented Sep 11, 2019 at 10:49
  • Thanks for the tip. I've just asked a friend to borrow his old pc so I can rule out components (RAM & PSU). If those seem fine, I'll get a new motherboard probably.
    – M4rw
    Commented Sep 11, 2019 at 11:17
  • Mine was good for 4-5 years before it started to happen, so it's the same sort of timescale.
    – Mr Ethernet
    Commented Sep 11, 2019 at 11:42

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

I would check the PSU, I've had similar issues in the past. Make sure you get the correct wattage, which is dependent on what other parts you are using. It's also less expensive to replace this than the motherboard as an initial attempt.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .