Does this sound fried? Reassure me.

[Mark_198]

Hey guys so I had built my first pc and it was up and running just fine. Although Windows and bios showed I had 8gb of ram so I remove both sticks, and make my way to Best Buy. Once I got new sticks of ram I put them in and I'm now stuck in reboot loop. Yes I've tried changing spots. But as I removed the ram I felt a loose screw. I then realized the '' standoffs'' I had used (since my case only had two..) were not meant for holding a mobo and when I turn on the pc there is no display although both the cpu fan and system fan work. Along with the led light. So I'm assuming a metal screw I was using was touching the.board and is causing a shortage. Do you guys possibly think I destroyed something? There aren't bent pins, no zap, no smell of burning components and the humidity here is fine. Maybe I have some sort of shortage protection? I just want to know if this metal screw is causing the reboot loop and if it damaged anything. P.s my gpu fans spin also.

Specs: gtx 950 ssc 2gb gddr5
8 x 2 pny anarchy ram.
600w thermal take psu, (also tried with an evga and same reboot loop.)
I3 6100 3.7ghz
Cooler master n200
H110m-A gigabyte mobo.
Western digital blue 1 tb

1. Did I get lucky and the short didn't destroy anything?
2. No zap or burning smell and all fans seem to work meaning I can fix the standoff and I'll be fine?

 

[BadActor]

Unplug the CPU, remove the CMOS battery, and then press and hold the PC power button for a minute or two. Replace the battery, plug the PSU back in and try to reboot. A misplaced standoff may short the board and cause damage, but you need to rule other things out.

 

[DeadlyDays]

I think your issue is the RAM or the Mobo slots, there is usually plenty of space around the standoff holes that unless you are throwing a huge washer or have a screw with a ridiculously wide head, you shouldn't even risk a problem with the screws. Also, though I am no electrician, the screws mount to the case, the case is ground, any voltage should go straight to ground instead of into anything else so you'd just be draining the flow of electricity from anything which isn't going to cause damage...

As for what might be wrong with the ram, improperly seated, the mobo defaults for the ram are wrong, bad RAM sticks. Or its the mobo's ram slot that is bad. I suspect a settings issue in mobo though. boot into the bios and adjust the voltages/timing to match the recommended settings for the RAM you are plugging in.

 

[Mark_198]

I think your issue is the RAM or the Mobo slots, there is usually plenty of space around the standoff holes that unless you are throwing a huge washer or have a screw with a ridiculously wide head, you shouldn't even risk a problem with the screws. Also, though I am no electrician, the screws mount to the case, the case is ground, any voltage should go straight to ground instead of into anything else so you'd just be draining the flow of electricity from anything which isn't going to cause damage...

As for what might be wrong with the ram, improperly seated, the mobo defaults for the ram are wrong, bad RAM sticks. Or its the mobo's ram slot that is bad. I suspect a settings issue in mobo though. boot into the bios and adjust the voltages/timing to match the recommended settings for the RAM you are plugging in.

Oops probably forgot to say I can't even boot. My pc tries and then shuts off within 4-5 seconds and repeat infinitely. As for the ram slots I do think that's a possibility. But the ram can't be. 4 bad ram sticks now? I doubt it but it's a chance in a million. Plus the mobo is actually slightly loose and the screw heads are kinda bulky and wide. I feel like the standoffs are brass due to poor conducttivity but I'm using these crap metal ones meaning they conduct and short right?

 

[Mark_198]

Unplug the CPU, remove the CMOS battery, and then press and hold the PC power button for a minute or two. Replace the battery, plug the PSU back in and try to reboot. A misplaced standoff may short the board and cause damage, but you need to rule other things out.

Did you mean unplug the psu. Also what is this testing?

 

[BadActor]

Yes, unplug the PSU. You're resetting the CMOS completely by doing this.

 

[DeadlyDays]

I'm thinking then either bad mobo settings for RAM or physical damage to the RAM slots. your issue sounds exactly like what happens when ram is improperly seated/not installed. Clearing the CMOS may help as it should set the mobo back to default settings and that may help, but again maybe the default settings are nogood for the ram you are using. I've had to undervolt/overvolt from default settings to get RAM stable because mobo's assumed wrong voltages. Try only 1 stick at a time for best chances. if you can't get it to work try to warranty the mobo

You don't need the mobo secured to the case to boot, if it is a standoff issue, remove all the standoffs/screws and try to boot.