[SOLVED] Extended Troubleshooting Sequence - Stuck at a phase of Breadboarding

[Tyler C]

My issue starts with what sounded like an overheat of some sort: My pc shut down during some gaming. I got it running again with no issue for 5 more minutes and then it wouldn't start up in any way ever again. (no fans, lights, actuation of anything)



Here's where I am now.:


I got a new mobo and PSU to rule out those as potential problems. I still have the old ones, dunno if they were ever the original problem







These basics are breadboarded (removed from case and reassembled on cardboard box) I can get the PC to start up with ONLY these components:

Power Supply

CPU + Aftermarket Cooler

2 Sticks of RAM (my full amount) in the proper slots for the board

Mouse/keyboard



These components breadboarded allow me to boot into the BIOS and interact with it (I’m using an HDMI cable from the integrated graphics HDMI on the motherboard to my monitor)

If I add anything further to this set up, the system will not start up for more than half a second before shutting down:

I’ve tried adding each of my hard drive’s to the mix one by one, trying new power/sata cables the whole way. They do the same thing of not allowing the breadboarded pc to boot for more than ½ second.

If I add the GPU without its PSU cable, the whole setup (meaning the basic breadboarded CPU, motheboard, cpu cooler, and RAM) starts up just fine (including the graphics card + fans) but displays a “please hook up the power to the gpu message” when the pc is turned on. Sometimes the fans on the GPU will start up, and then do this strange wiggling motion. Every couple seconds they seem like they start up, but then stop before they move much. (This only occurs during the specific situation outlined in this paragraph.)

If I add the GPU with its PSU cable, the whole (breadboard )system will not start up for more than half a second before shutting down.

Is it seriously possible that my Hard drives (one is actually an SSD that contains my OS) AND my GPU are fried? All of these components are fairly nice gaming components, such as my GeForce 980 GTX ti

 

[Ralston18]

Thermal paste is my first thought.

Remove the cooler, clean off old paste, reapply new paste per instructions.

Breadboarding - ok but be very sure that nothing is touching where it should not be touching. Some short or ground could be the culprit.

Do you have another known working PSU to GPU cable to try?

 

[Tyler C]

I redid the thermal paste a couple times just to be sure.

 

[Ralston18]

Is the following still happening?

"If I add the GPU without its PSU cable, the whole setup starts up just fine (including the graphics card + fans) but displays a “please hook up the power to the gpu message” when the pc is turned on"

If so, take a look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes and warnings.

Look for any log entries that correspond with the boot failures.

Also, post full system hardware specs and OS. Appears that we must delve deeper.

 

[Tyler C]

Is the following still happening?...

The pc will not boot up further than the bios (when I can get it to boot). Will the logs be located there? If I could even get the pc to boot with my hard drives / OS , id gladly give you the event viewer results. As it stands, the build will not boot when a hard drive is connected (neither my OS-containing SSD nor my other threee 1TB HDD's will work)

 

[geofelt]

Run memtest86.
It boots from a usb stick and does not use windows.
If that runs ok for a full cycle, then your basic hardware should be ok.

Next, try to boot with windows in safe mode(f8)
That will run with a minimum of drivers.

I have had a case once where the presence of a corrupt hard drive caused boot failures.
I never figured out why.