New build, not booting. Please help.

[Sith Ewok]

i5-6500
GIGABYTE GA-Z170N-WIFI
EVGA Geforce 970
Seasonic 550 PSU

It appears to turn on for few seconds, cpu fan starts spinning, then shuts down and restarts on its own continuously.

Before posting here i read that the first thing i should try is to reset the cmos, but i can't figure out how to remove the battery from the GIGABYTE GA-Z170N-WIFI, and the documentation doesn't help.

The battery appears to secured in an upright position to the i/o panel using strong double stick tape. Can anyone familiar with this motherboard please shed some light on what exactly i have to do to reset the cmos? Thanks for the help.

 

[alexoiu]

If removing the RAMs and starting the board, does the CPU fan spin without restarting?

 

[Sith Ewok]

Nope, still restarts.

 

[alexoiu]

Try disconnecting all wires and components from motherboard, but the 24 and 8 pin power cables, CPU and CPU fan. Start the board by shortly touching with a screwdriver the 2 pins on the motherboard corresponding to the case power button. See if the CPU fan does spin without restarting.

 

[Sith Ewok]

I will try it when i get home from work and report back. Thanks for the help!

 

[alexoiu]

No problem.

 

[Sith Ewok]

Just tried starting it exactly as you specified and the results were the same unfortunately.

 

[alexoiu]

Can you post a picture of the board, as it is right now?

 

[Sith Ewok]

http://s21.postimg.org/nwbc5f7nr/Full_Size_Render.jpg

Photographed it last night. cpu fan still spins for a few seconds, shuts down, repeats on its own. Video card is unplugged. I've gotten the same results with every combination of things being connected or disconnected so far.

You can see the battery standing upright behind the i/o panel. Not sure how to disconnect it and haven't been able to do a cmos reset yet.

 

[alexoiu]

You can clear the CMOS by unplugging the power cord and shorting the CLR CMOS jumper:
"CLR_CMOS (Clear CMOS Jumper)
Use this jumper to clear the BIOS configuration and reset the CMOS values to factory defaults. To clear the CMOS values, use a metal object like a screwdriver to touch the two pins for a few seconds"

(check the manual)

 

[Sith Ewok]

I guess i have cleared it then. I did exactly that, and no change. I didn't think it would reset unless the battery was physically removed.

 

[alexoiu]

Try disconnecting the 8 pin power cable and graphics card from motherboard.
Connect a case fan to it. Remove all other cables but the 24 pin one. Start the board by using the screwdriver trick and see if the case fan does spin without restarting.

 

[Sith Ewok]

Update: I removed the graphics card, have only the 24 pin cable and a case fan plugged in, which gave me similar results. Here's a video of what was going on:

https://youtu.be/vXEvq-EG2JM

 

[alexoiu]

Try testing the board outside the case, same configuration. See if still the same.

 

[Sith Ewok]

Just tried. No change.

 

[alexoiu]

Can you test with different case fan (just for ruling it out). Otherwise, it looks like a board issue. Or... the power supply.

 

[Sith Ewok]

I tried both case fans and the results were the same, unfortunately. What's your guess as to which of the two it is? Should I just RMA both?

 

[alexoiu]

Not sure if you've tried: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4
If a fan connected to the PSU does spin without stopping, then I'd say that it's the board.