Question My PC boot-loops repeatedly ?

[cazetoG]

Hi all.

So I'm in a bit of a trouble here.

My PC won't boot up - it's stuck between powering on and then off (all within a second) - and it keeps doing this until I turn off the PSU on the back.
Sometimes I can get my PC to power on and use it like I normally would, play games, watch movies etc - and no problems at all - but when I shutdown the PC and try again later to boot it - the problem re- occurs.

When the problem was occuring, I tried removing some of my USB hardware connected to the PC - and it would then power on, and I could replug the USB hardware and continue using the PC. So if I had too many USB connected it would'nt power on and go into that cycle I mentioned.

Note: I have 4 USB connected to the PC, keyboard, mouse, steelseries hub for headset, mousepad.

I originally thought it was the power demand that caused this problem, so I went out and got a seperate USB hub with an individual power supply - and it did help for a couple of days but now the problem has returned.

I've tried taking the pc apart, removing the GPU, removing the RAM - I also changed that little motherboard battery - nothing helps.

I suspect the PSU to be somewhat failing, but I really don't know.

Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[Aeacus]

Full system specs, including PSU make and model (or part number) is? Also, how old the PSU is, and was the PSU bought new or used/refurbished?

 

[cazetoG]

Full system specs, including PSU make and model (or part number) is? Also, how old the PSU is, and was the PSU bought new or used/refurbished?

Alright - forgot to include that!

CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900 CPU @ 2.80GHz
GPU NVidia GeForce RTX 3080
PSU Cougar gex750 80+
MB ASUS Prime Z490-P
2 NVme 1TB m2
32 GB RAM

Everything was bought brand new

 

[Aeacus]

PSU Cougar gex750 80+

That's mediocre quality PSU. And given it has to power RTX 3080, with insane transient power spikes (2-3 times TDP), your PSU either craps out on wattage wise, quality wise or both.

I'd try with 2nd, known to work, good/great quality PSU.
Either 1000W: Seasonic Focus/Vertex/PRIME, Corsair RMx/RMi/HXi/AXi, Super Flower Leadex Gold/Platinum/Titanium. To cope with transient power spikes.
Or 750W ATX 3.0/3.1 PSU. List: https://hwbusters.com/best_picks/best-atxv3-pcie5-ready-psus-picks-hardware-busters/2/

 

[digitaldata77]

This is worth the investment for your rig.

 

[cazetoG]

That's mediocre quality PSU. And given it has to power RTX 3080, with insane transient power spikes (2-3 times TDP), your PSU either craps out on wattage wise, quality wise or both.

I'd try with 2nd, known to work, good/great quality PSU.
Either 1000W: Seasonic Focus/Vertex/PRIME, Corsair RMx/RMi/HXi/AXi, Super Flower Leadex Gold/Platinum/Titanium. To cope with transient power spikes.
Or 750W ATX 3.0/3.1 PSU. List: https://hwbusters.com/best_picks/best-atxv3-pcie5-ready-psus-picks-hardware-busters/2/

I see.
But how about I never have any problems playing or running any game when the PC is on - never had any issues? I only have that problem when I boot my PC.
I just find it odd that if my PSU is the problem, I don't have any crashes or something like that when playing heavy games - I only have that one problem when I start my PC?

Either way I'll upgrade the PSU and hope that fixes my issues with the booting.
I don't know alot about PSU's.
Would you say that an Corsair RM1000x would be ideal? I see it has a great discount in my country at the moment.
And wouldn't I be able to keep the current cables inside and just switch the PSU?

 

[Aeacus]

Would you say that an Corsair RM1000x would be ideal? I see it has a great discount in my country at the moment.

Corsair RMx 1000W is good quality PSU. 10 year warranty with fully-modular cables.

"Ideal" is subjective.
For me, "ideal" is the best that money can buy. E.g Seasonic PRIME TX-series. (Which i'm actually using, two of them, to power both my and missus'es builds.) Or Corsair AXi or Super Flower Leadex Titanium.
For others, "ideal" is usually as cheap as possible. But you can't cheap out on PSU since PSU powers everything and thus, is the most important component inside the PC.

And wouldn't I be able to keep the current cables inside and just switch the PSU?

No!

Never keep the power cables when replacing a PSU!

Pinout on PSU side is different between PSUs and you will fry the PSU and/or whole PC, if you are lazy and doesn't bother to replace the PSU power cables.
Always use only the power cables that came with the PSU.

But how about I never have any problems playing or running any game when the PC is on - never had any issues? I only have that problem when I boot my PC.

During boot up: CPU, MoBo, RAM and PSU must work perfectly for successful boot.

Since your CPU has iGPU in it, remove RTX 3080 from the build, hook monitor to MoBo and look if boot up issues go away.
If they do, issue is either with GPU or PSU (since without dedicated GPU, load on PSU drops considerably).

However;

it's stuck between powering on and then off (all within a second) - and it keeps doing this until I turn off the PSU on the back.
Sometimes I can get my PC to power on and use it like I normally would

This symptom points towards PSU issue. And you having mediocre PSU, makes it more likely PSU issue.

 

[cazetoG]

Corsair RMx 1000W is good quality PSU. 10 year warranty with fully-modular cables.

"Ideal" is subjective.
For me, "ideal" is the best that money can buy. E.g Seasonic PRIME TX-series. (Which i'm actually using, two of them, to power both my and missus'es builds.) Or Corsair AXi or Super Flower Leadex Titanium.
For others, "ideal" is usually as cheap as possible. But you can't cheap out on PSU since PSU powers everything and thus, is the most important component inside the PC.


No!

Never keep the power cables when replacing a PSU!

Pinout on PSU side is different between PSUs and you will fry the PSU and/or whole PC, if you are lazy and doesn't bother to replace the PSU power cables.


During boot up: CPU, MoBo, RAM and PSU must work perfectly for successful boot.

Since your CPU has iGPU in it, remove RTX 3080 from the build, hook monitor to MoBo and look if boot up issues go away.
If they do, issue is either with GPU or PSU (since without dedicated GPU, load on PSU drops considerably).

However;

This symptom points towards PSU issue. And you having mediocre PSU, makes it more likely PSU issue.

I guess its the Corsair RMx 1000w I'll get then - you think its sufficient enough for my specs?

Ah okay - I will change the cables as well - never done it before, but I figure if I just follow the same placements as the ones I'm taking out, i'll be fine.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Aeacus]

you think its sufficient enough for my specs?

RTX 3080 is 320W GPU. With transient power spikes, it can spike up to ~600W or so. Add the rest of the system to it at ~200W and you'll end up with ~800W, where 1000W (1kW) PSU should suffice.

What are GPU transient power spikes? A video to watch:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnRyyCsuHFQ