PC not booting

[Bigglet]

Hi there MB users,

Recently I´ve run into a serious problem with a new PC I built. In the middle of playing a game two nights ago my PC shut down and refused to show any form of life ever since. Brought my PC to the store and had it checked, unfortunately they told me it was a PSU problem, but it wasn´t.

I´ve used 3 different PSU´s and all three show the same problem. I can plug in all cables and the CPU fan will spin 1/4th of a rotation before it shuts down, after that, powering on gives no sign of life whatsoever untill I unplug the mainboard power cable and switch the PSU off and back on.

My current thoughts are it is a problem with my CPU. If I plug in every cable except for the CPU one, it´ll run. Obviously no screen or boot-up without a CPU, but everything else is powered on. As soon as I plug in the CPU cables and power on, it does nothing. Same with all three PSU´s. Now how can I check whether it is a problem with the CPU power connector or the CPU itself?

Specs:

CPU: Intel i5 2500k (overclocked it to 4.5 ghz @ 1.3 volts, this might have caused a short circuit? Only overclocked it a couple of days ago though.)

GPU: ATI Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Mem: 2x 4GB Kingston DDR3 1600 Mhz RAM

HDD: 2x 500GB WD 7200 rpm

SSD: OCZ Vertex3 120 GB

PSU: Corsair 750W <tested>

PSU2: Corsair 600W <tested>

PSU3: Standard 400W (d/k brand) from stock PC <tested>

OS: Windows 7 64 bit

I have cleared my CMOS without any positive results aswell. Am really desperate for options... Still under warranty though as it´s only 6 months old.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Bigglet

[Guest Seagull]

Hello. I am just going to throw my two cents out there since I do have experience building computers and have built my own computers before.

Since it stays on without the power cord to the CPU what I recommend doing, is down clocking the CPU to about 3.0ghz and see if that makes a difference. It sounds like to me that your CPU isn't getting enough juice so as it powers up everything shuts down since the CPU is the brain of the whole computer.

Just try that as a troubleshoot and see how that goes and post back here and we'll see if that does it.

I just want to add I will assist you to the best of my abilities until someone with more experience then me comes along, but with overclocking, I always had issues in the past on my own machines with doing this, everything has to be just right or some part of the computer throws a fit.

[CWB]

what motherboard are you using ?

as you were overclocking the cpu ... did you provide adequate cooling ?

a couple of thoughts ...

since you "reset" the bios , the cpu should have been able to "slow down" and recover from an unstable situation ...

although on some machines to actually load the default settings requires accessing the bios during boot-up (there is a screen during the process for the option) .

but doing a "pull the battery" will cause the machine to go into this page during boot-up .

as it did not ...

at this point i would hazard that the cpu is toasteriffic or the motherboard has left this mortal coil and joined the choir invisible .

(5 bonus points for the origins of the first and last references)

naturally , overclocking voids any warranty of the cpu .

[Bigglet]

The problem is I can't get into my BIOS as this requires my CPU to be active, and as either the CPU or the power connector to it are messed up, this is impossible. I've plugged the CMOS jumper and put it onto pin 2-3 for ~10sec as said in the manua to reset CMOS. No effect, CPU should be downclocked to original setting though.

Board Im using is the Asus P8P67 and my cooling is sufficient as I've been running it stable for a small week 24/7 (I dont turn it off over night). Under load it runs at around 53 degrees C and while running prime 95 it jumps up to 65 degrees which is hot but still pulls off (it never reaches max load under the circumstances I use it, though). My cooler is a Noctua NH-U9D SE2.

Just to be sure, clearing the CMOS by the jumper as said in manual resets everything stored in the BIOS settings to default, right?

I am about to return the pieces to my manufacturer this week, but if I can test or solve anything myself further I obviously want to do it as I cant miss the PC.

[Guest Seagull]

Well Bigglet, Then I am going to have to agree with CWB and that maybe your CPU is toast. Without actually being there and looking at it for myself its hard to say. Yes if you reset the BIOS it should load the factory defaults.

Just from my past experience with building custom computers and overclocking, something always gets upset and throws a fit. If I was in your shoes I wouldn't overclock the CPU so high next time 4.5ghz is very high, I am just suggesting if you want to overclock I would go as high as 3.4ghz max. I tried overclocking a Q6600 once to 4.2ghz and it killed it, I had plenty of cooling, the voltage was right and everything.

Before I overclocked it I had it overclocked to 3.2ghz and never had any issues with gaming or anything, everything ran great until I said "I'm going to get more speed out of this bad boy" and overclocked it to 4.2ghz, it did the same thing your describing, I took it too the place I bought all my parts and they had a look at it and said it was dead. Just my two cents.

I am just trying to help you out, and I hope you can get everything back up and running, just be gentle with overclocking as it will KO a CPU, GPU or RAM very quickly.

If you have anymore questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Good Luck!

[Bigglet]

Thanks for trying to help, it´s appreciated, although overclocking an i5 to 4.5 Ghz is perfectly fine with just stock items according to a lot of websites. I´ve had it run stable at 4.7 Ghz for a day aswell but it got too hot for my taste. Keep in mind that these ´2500K´ and ´i7 2600K´s are specifically designed for overclocks.

I have a friend of mine who runs his baby stable at 5.7 Ghz and has it had running stable for three quarters of a year. Obviously has a little better cooling but just saying it´s far from impossible to run at these speeds. 3.4 Ghz is hardly an overclock for a 3.3 Ghz standard CPU .

But yeah, once I get a new CPU I will take it easier and try some lower frequencies. Contacted my dealer and heading off on wednesday to get it checked to definitely know if it´s toast. Apparently if it didn´t get fried to over-voltaging it there isnt even a way of telling whether you overclocked it or not, thus being covered under warranty, which might be my luck.

Will keep you posted as the story unfolds...

[CWB]

"Apparently if it didn´t get fried to over-voltaging it there isnt even a way of telling whether you overclocked it or not, thus being covered under warranty, which might be my luck."

that may be true , however , you will know as do we .

*something* about "honesty being the best policy" .

[Bigglet]

What are the odds of the ATX12v connector that takes the power from my PSU being fried compared to my CPU dieing at random? I don't see any case why the CPU should be dead in any case, temperatures weren't too high nor was the voltage. It just doesn't make sense unless my PSU had a random power surge or something of the like. Trying to compare what could've gone wrong... I find it weird that the connector would die at random too, nothing crazy happened with it at all since it was overclocked. Even ran prime 95 stable for an hour at some higher temperatures, but it died randomly 4 days later.

Oh well, shipping it back to the retailer on wednesday and I'll have the finalising answer then...

[Bigglet]

So, according to my retailer the power connector to the CPU short-circuited and fried both the connector and my CPU. CPU has already been replaced under warranty and the main board will have to be sent back to ASUS for them to investigate and repair it themselves, sadly they don't replace items on-the-fly so I'll be stuck with my old rig for a couple more weeks *sob*. Could've had them send it back and take 5-8 weeks or send it myself and take 2-4 weeks so I've chosen the latter. Will post an update when it's there.

[Firefox]

Well at least its under warranty and it will be at no cost to you....

[Guest Seagull]

Well that stinks, at least we all know what the culprit was now.

At least the warranty is still valid and you are getting them replaced.

I hope every goes well when you get it back.

[Bigglet]

So, little update from my side: after 7(!) weeks I have finally received word that my motherboard is back on it's way home. Thanks ASUS for your lovely customer support.

[Firefox]

7 weeks? Wow that took them a looooooong time....

[Bigglet]

So, since my last post alot has happened. Only got it back yesterday. Apparently my retailer miss-informed me that it was already back in their depot, it wasn't. A long week and 7 phonecalls later it still wasn't in. Then, 3 days ago they said it got in and they sent it to me. So a good 8 weeks before I got it back, great customer support...

However, everything aside, it does work again, which was the only thing I've been waiting for all this time.

Just a heads up when buying a main component from asus in the future for any of you

[Firefox]

Well its good to hear you got it back and that it is working for you now..... Happy Safe surfing...