First boot turning on and off

[Maxarini]

This is my build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JTmh23

When I booted the PC up for the first time after I pressed the power button the LEDs on the mobo and the fans turned on. 3 or 4 seconds later it all turned off. Then it turned on again by itself before shutting itself off, AGAIN! this happened 3 or 4 times before anything was displayed on the monitor. Once the stuff showed up on the monitor it did not turn off again until I did it manually (about 30 seconds to 1 minute later).

I did not try to turn it on a second time.

Is this supposed to happen and is it exclusive to my motherboard or something? Does it only happen the first time you turn it on?

By answering you are really helping me a lot.

 

[ronintexas]

Go through this checklist: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems

 

[Maxarini]

That checklist is for "no boot, no post and no video output.

My system WORKS. I just want to make sure that what its doing is normal.

 

[Astralv]

What was on the display? Did it actually boot to anything meaningful?

You have G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory. It requires XMP profile to run at 1866. It often has conflict with Asus boards and may need to run at 1600. If problem persists, return it to 1600 Mhz (if you set XMP).

 

[Maxarini]

After the last cycle of it turning itself on and off, it showed the regular screen that says "American Megatrends". It showed the CPU and RAM stats. It also said on the bottom "Press f1 to run setup".

Just tell me is it normal to turn on and off like that on the first boot?

 

[ronintexas]

It is not normal - something isn't installed right - the checklist makes sure your connections are correct. Make sure your BIOS is set to the default setup - no OC'ing to start with.

 

[Maxarini]

So do you think one of the cables is loose or something, or do you think the motherboard is defective?

 

[Maxarini]

So I just turned it on for the second time and it went to the normal POST thing without any shutdowns or restarts. I did notice the fans were changing speeds VERY slightly during start-up though. They are LED fans and the LEDs were on the whole time ( unlike the first time I turned on the computer). Do you think the problem is gone?

 

[Astralv]

What does it say for RAM on the display? Is it 1866, 1600 or 1333? Did you install it in right sockets? Check with the manual. Restart it few times- if no problem, you can try to install. If it says 1600, you will need XMP profile enabled in BIOS.

 

[Maxarini]

I cant check right now but I'll tell you after I do. from what I remember it said 1333 but I may be wrong. By the way, if it helps, I never even went into the bios. Also when you say "you can try to install" you mean install windows right?

 

[Astralv]

Yeah, why not. It works now. The worst thing can happen- it would fail. It is not that serious. You can also count number of beeps when it boots and look it up in the manual.

 

[Maxarini]

I wish I could but I don't have a speaker . I turned it on 4 or 5 times and it worked fine with no random restarts. So what do you think the chances of it failing would be?

 

[Astralv]

You should have a little speaker come with the motherboard, unless there is an electronic display with codes. I thought you said- you heard a beep. Do you have code displays? Also it hardly mean anything. I would say- 20% chance that it will fail. But dont worry about it. Looking at it is not going to solve anything. Go to Advanced Settings and enable the XMP profile for memory. It should give you suggested manufacturer numbers like 9-9-9-27 or something like that. Then try to boot and see what it has to say on the monitor. If it works fine, then install Windows.

 

[Maxarini]

There is a Code Display on the motherboard yes. When I boot up the computer it flashes a bunch of numbers and then stays on A2. After looking it up in the manual it says that means "IDE Detect". What does IDE detect mean?

 

[ronintexas]

That has to do with your hard drive(s), optical drives (DVD/CD-ROM) and SSD drives. Anything that is connected via SATA or IDE cables (your mobo doesn't have IDE cables - so everything would be SATA).

 

[Maxarini]

So then does IDE Detect mean its detecting my drives or that something is wrong with my drives?

 

[ronintexas]

Check your drives - all SSD, HDD and optical - make sure the power & data cables are connected properly. If this continues, remove one drive at a time to see which one is the problem.

 

[Maxarini]

So I enabled XMP profile 1 and as soon as I clicked save and exit the computer shut off. Then it turned on again but XMP was not enabled. Should I still install windows on it with the RAM running at 1333?

 

[Maxarini]

Or should I try to do profile 2?

 

[Maxarini]

Ok so I tried profile 1 again and it worked! so should I install windows now?

 

[ronintexas]

If you are working - give it a shot.

 

[Maxarini]

So I installed windows and the drivers and everything seems to be working fine.

 

[Astralv]

So I enabled XMP profile 1 and as soon as I clicked save and exit the computer shut off. Then it turned on again but XMP was not enabled. Should I still install windows on it with the RAM running at 1333?

Great.