[SOLVED] Boots for a few seconds and then resets (I know this has been posted before but those didnt help)

fall3n

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Hi, I know this has been posted before but those didn't help with my issue... I am concerned that my problem is a hardware incompatibility because I am a PC-builder noob. I built one other PC a few years ago but had someone else pick out the parts. This time, I chose my own parts, I have:
Gigabyte Z390
i7-8700K 6-core CPU 1151 socket
2x Crucial Ballistix RAM
darkFlash Shadow PWM Aluminum CPU Air Cooler LED Addressable RGB Motherboard Control Cooler Cooling Fan Motherboard Sync for Intel Core i7/i5/i3

Anyway, as the title says, my system turns on, but before the screen displays anything it resets itself (this happens forever until I shut off the PSU manually). When this first happened I thought it may be the front panel wiring so now I just complete the circuit between the two pins for the pwr to turn on the computer which works fine. But after turning on for some reason the system waits a few seconds and then resets.

Possible clues that I can see:
1) When the system turns on for a few seconds, every fan spins EXCEPT the CPU fan. This is a weird cooler/fan to me: (darkFlash listed above). It has two connectors coming out of it, one is the usual fan header to connect to the mobo but the other is a 3-hole (not pin shaped holes, these are round) plug that says "XWD" on it. I don't know where to plug it in so I just moved it out of the way so it dangles there without touching anything and causing a short or something.
View: https://imgur.com/NnOM28v


2) There is a group of 4 lights on the bottom right corner of the motherboard: the top left light is labeled "CPU" and the top right light is labeled "DRAM". I am not sure if this is some kind of testing system but when I first turn on the computer the "CPU" light lights up orange for a few seconds, then it turns off and the "DRAM" light glows orange for a few seconds then the machine resets.. Idk if I have RAM that is compatible with my motherboard... I think I do? My research here was just quickly asking a friend.

Does anyone know why my system loops on / off / on / off? Is it a RAM thing or am I off on that one?
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EDIT: #2 were status lights
 
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Solution
@Fix_that_Glitch hmm there is no “sys fan1” but there IS a 4-pin header labeled “SYS_FAN2”. Could they mean that one? I currently have another fan plugged into it (and that fan works) but I can move the CPU fan plug over to it And plug the other fan in somewhere else. Since the CPU fan has two different plugs, should I plug the regular 4-pin connector or the weird connector from the original post into ”SYS_FAN2”?

fall3n

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it is not plugged into anything, I just put the plug behind the back panel of the case so it would not contact anything.

The connector has the pin formation I I 0 I so any 4-pin header would have it's 3rd pin broken if this were plugged into it ( the 0 is not a hole, it is just an empty space of flat plastic)
 

fall3n

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@Fix_that_Glitch something must have been touching the motherboard because I cleaned off the table the system is being built on and now the computer starts when I power on the computer.. ok, I should follow your lead and deal with one issue at a time. Where do I plug in that weird 3-hole connector?
 
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fall3n

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@Fix_that_Glitch one of the 2 plugs is plugged in. The standard 4-pin plug coming from the CPU is plugged into the CPU_FAN header. The second plug coming from the fan (thats the weird one) is just dangling behind the case.

Possibly related: There is an empty 4-pin header on the mobo right underneath "CPU_FAN" called "CPU_OPT".
 

fall3n

Distinguished
Sep 29, 2010
69
2
18,545
@Fix_that_Glitch hmm there is no “sys fan1” but there IS a 4-pin header labeled “SYS_FAN2”. Could they mean that one? I currently have another fan plugged into it (and that fan works) but I can move the CPU fan plug over to it And plug the other fan in somewhere else. Since the CPU fan has two different plugs, should I plug the regular 4-pin connector or the weird connector from the original post into ”SYS_FAN2”?
 
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Solution