New motherboard, HDD spinning up, but not booting... sometimes?

mchldlg

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Nov 1, 2016
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Hello,

I've recently bought a new motherboard and an HDD due to the fact my old mobo and drive failed, however, I expected it to work just fine, but my hopes were ruined once I had to shut down the PC and start it again.

The hard drive spins up, fans spin up, everything seems to be working, but then the HDD light flashes for a second and refuses to boot to Windows unless I restart it (several times sometimes) or clear the CMOS.

I doubt it's the HDD really, because I've tested another WD Blue 500GB and it was having the same issues, I'm currently looking at the motherboard or the BIOS itself but I can't seem to figure it out myself, so here I am, whether to fix it or just return the motherboard and ask them to replace it while it's not too late.

It's a fairly new build, so I doubt if any of the parts are failing.

Specs:

MOBO: ASRock 970m Pro3 (BIOS P1.60 / 06/17/2016)
CPU: AMD FX 4300, Quad Core @ 3.8 Ghz
CPU Cooler: DeepCool Ice Edge Mini FS V2.0 (25-30C Idle/50C Gaming)
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB Dual Channel) Klevv Neo Creative Evolution @ 1600 Mhz
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5
HDD: WD Blue 1000GB 3.5" 7200RPM, 64MB cache, SATA 3
PSU: Corsair VS450 450W

Symptoms:

  • ■Hard disk spins up, but it doesn't boot into Windows /sometimes/.
    ■HDD light flashes once, then it goes inactive until I reboot.

What I've tried:

  • ■Switching SATA ports.
    ■Switching SATA cables.
    ■Switching HDD power cables.
    ■Testing with different HDD.
    ■Clearing CMOS.
    ■Formatting the disks and doing a clean install of Windows 10.

Everything of the above fixes the issue only temporarily until next shut down, then it sometimes boots up, sometimes not.

I've basically just built a whole new PC and didn't expect it to have issues, but here we go again.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
Solution
i would recheck all power cable connector on the board and parts also are did you check it the board back does not touch the case panel or a cable from monitor touch the case side .
I really cannot do that as I don't have one around right now.
What I know is that it worked fine with the old motherboard and now out of a sudden it won't, is that possible? I mean like, does a specific motherboard require more power than another so the PSU can't handle it?

Also, the PSU seems to be working fine, no strange noises, low temps, I've purchased it before like two weeks.
 
Everything is connected and seated properly, however, I just checked how I mounted my GPU and it seems like the DVI cable is touching the case.

I'll open the side panel aswell to see if there are any cables behind touching the motherboard.

I'll keep you updated, thanks.
 
Alright, so, I moved the cables on the back and tied them to the case so they don't touch the motherboard, I've also applied a thin line of duct tape ontop and below the DVI port of the GPU so the connector doesn't touch the metal anymore.

It booted from the first time without an issue, I'll try shutting it down/restarting it several times tomorrow to see if its permanently fixed and will reply back to let you know.

Thank you.
 
Alright, so, after applying duct tape on the GPU bracket so the DVI cable doesn't touch it or the case itself - there are no issues.
The PC is even booting faster, boots up everytime and I don't even see the double windows loading screen (the one where the logo disappears and the spinning circle is laggy).

I don't feel the case leaking electricity as it did before anymore, now the question is how do I fix this permanently because applying duct tape is just not a permanent solution and it just really bugs me.

Should I get a new DVI cable? Power cable or just the monitor could be faulty so it causes an electric shock or try to rebuild the whole PC?
The monitor is Philips 196VLA LED, bought 2011, so it's 6 years old now.
The DVI cable is second hand (from a friend) because I thought it won't make any difference compared to a new one.

Thanks in advance!