Infinite boot loop without a GPU

[jthomson485]

Just hoping for a bit of advice for my first home-built computer. After a long time of contemplation, I've decided to build my own computer, mainly for playing games on. It will be my first computer that i've built myself, and as I can't see me doing it again for a while I thought I might as well go all out. For some reason, I've decided I'm going to build a custom water loop for the thing, because in my naivety I thought I would manage it no problem

So I've been slowly acquiring parts for it that I've been building together as I go. I pretty much have everything other than a GPU and my cooling loop, which I'm hoping to get after this months pay check comes in. The parts I have are listed below.

Mobo: Asus Prime x299 Deluxe
CPU: Intel i7 7820X
RAM: G.Skill Trident RGB 32GB (4x8GB)
SSD: samsung 970 evo 500GB and 860 evo 500GB
Power: Corsair HX1000i
Some EK radiators and fans which I've put in ready for the cooling loop.
EK motherboard/CPU water block which I've already fitted.


Essentially, I just wanted to check that everything is working, and that i've put it all together correctly. If I turn on the power, everything lights up and the fans come on. The LCD flashes up some codes for about 5 seconds before everything goes off for a brief period before starting again. The last code I get before it restarts is a 9A. As I don't have a GPU yet, so I don't actually have a way of connecting it to a monitor to see if anything shows up (the mobo doesn't have any display out ports). My question is just whether the restarting could be due to the lack of a GPU/ability to connect to a display? I wanted to make sure that everything works ok before I install my cooling loop, because it will be a pain if I have to dismantle everything after.

 

[norcalsc]

I don't think that chip has integrated graphics, you're going to need a gpu if not. I could be wrong, I often am

 

[norcalsc]

Yeah you need a gpu

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, it is almost certainly due to the lack of a GPU card. 9A indicates USB initialization is started, so the lack of a connected keyboard or mouse might be triggering a reboot as well. It's always, in ALL cases, a poor idea to attempt booting a system that does not have all required components connected.

Be patient. Wait until you have a GPU card and can see what's actually going on, on screen. Also, if you don't have a CPU cooler installed and connected, that will either cause the system to restart or shut off, in all cases, unless you've already been in the bios and disabled the setting for the CPU FAN header.

 

[jthomson485]

I guess that's reassuring that it's probably just the lack of GPU. I promise I won't turn it on again until the GPU is in. Thanks for the advice 🙂

Is it possible to test the system with everything except the water cooling?? I am a little worried that the CPU might overheat.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Do not EVER, EVER EVER EVER EVER, power on ANY computer system that is not intended to be passively cooled, and has a passive cooling system, without having a functional CPU cooler installed and operational. Whether that is a stock cooler or a custom loop, doesn't matter, so long as there is a cooler rated for the TDP of the processor installed.

As I said, most of the time by default the system won't even allow it to continue booting past a certain point, or will shut down. But even when it doesn't, you need to realize that prior to loading windows, in the bios or pre-POST environment, the CPU is generally at full frequency and voltage, so it's not going to be "cooler" since it's not actually doing anything. It is going to be HOTTER than it normally is when idling in the Windows environment. Having a PC on without active cooling installed is a very bad idea and there are tens, or maybe hundreds, of threads here where people have ended up burning up a CPU by leaving systems powered on that did not having a CPU cooler installed, whether it was in the bios, or the POST processing screen, or Windows or no display, or whatever. It's a good way to ruin your system before you even get it going.

 

[jthomson485]

Ok, gotcha. I guess I'll just have to wait until absolutely everything is in place and hope that it all just works. Thanks for the help