Question PC fails to boot, takes up to 6 times to actually boot.

Dave1710

Commendable
Mar 24, 2020
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PC fails to boot, takes up to 6 times to actually boot.
Let me describe detailed. I come home and want to open the pc. I press the power button on the case. the keyboard and mouse both lights up. the monitor also says "ASROCK" (mobo's boot up screen). The monitor, keyboard and mouse stop working ( keyboard and mouse aren't lit, and screen goes black). The fans start to go insane. They start going louder and then quieter and it repeats really fast. I tested the psu with a paperclip with one end on ground and one end on start. I tested the psu with a multimeter. All the pins show the right voltage. Also good to know this happens only when the pc is cold (cold starts). This makes me believe it's the motherboard.
I tried cleaning the rams pins, the gpu pins. I cleared the cmos battery. I changed the thermal paste on the cpu. I reinstalled windows. I reseted bios to it's default settings. I tried different settings in bios. I turned off/on xmp. I updated the bios. I probably tried more things but i can't remember. I also monitored the components temperatures. The cpu dosen't go over 62 celcius and gpu doesn't go over 82 (it's an amd gpu so it's okay).

PC SPECS:
CPU Ryzen 7 2700 not OC
GPU Radeon Rx5700 non xt
RAM 2*8gb HyperX Predator RGB 8GB DDR4 2933MHz CL15
MOTHERBOARD Asrock b450 steel legend
PSU Seasonic S12II-620 Bronze 620W
Hard disk Toshiba P300 1TB SATA-III 7200
SSD Kingston 512gb SATA-III.
 
You have done most troubleshooting tips. You can try using one stick of ram at a time to rule out those. You can try unplugging one peripheral at a time to see if it is any of those causing a problem.
to test this faster, it there a way to "cool down" the pc to it's original coolness if you know what i mean? or the only thing i can do it's to wait couple of hours?
 
The only thing I do not know if you tested it already, is booting up with only 1 stick of RAM, try both stick in all slots and see if the issue repeat or not.

The PSU showing good voltages on the multimiter is a good sign but not enough, just as Fix_that_Glitch pointed out already.

Is there a way you can get a different PSU to test? If a different PSU does the same thing then is either the Mobo or the CPU.

You said you changed the thermal paste, Did you reseated the CPU too ?
 
I would rule it out, there is something only working after it warms up. It could be a capacitor in your psu, several tries to boot and the electricity finally warms it up enough to keep it working. Rule that out and you can move on to the motherboard.
i'll call some of my friends and see if i can borrow a psu. i tried removing one of the ram stick and it boots, but the pc was warm so i can't test unless it's cold.
 
The only thing I do not know if you tested it already, is booting up with only 1 stick of RAM, try both stick in all slots and see if the issue repeat or not.

The PSU showing good voltages on the multimiter is a good sign but not enough, just as Fix_that_Glitch pointed out already.

Is there a way you can get a different PSU to test? If a different PSU does the same thing then is either the Mobo or the CPU.

You said you changed the thermal paste, Did you reseated the CPU too ?
I am now going to call some friends and see if i can borrow a psu. When in changed the thermal paste i unmounted the cooler then took out the cpu from it's socket. i cleaned it and the heatsink properly and I put them back(triangle on the cpu aligned with the triangle from the mobo's socket). Then and only then i placed some thermal paste (i think i put a little too much, but the temps dropped like 10 celcius degrees)
 
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The problem mostly likes from the RAM, PSU ( because you tested the PSU already), HD or BIOS setting, or even the OS.

You may try to do:
  1. Used only one stick RAM.
  2. Disconnect the Toshiba HD
  3. Boot into the BIOS to turn off fast boot ( or something like that, because each manufacturer may have the different name)
or
  1. Boot into the BIOS to reset to the default settings
  2. After saving, then boot the PC to see what happens.
 
Well, suffice to say you have done all the troubleshooting you can. I would now agree with your original diagnosis that it is your motherboard. You can try unplugging all the peripherals, like mouse, hd, keyboard to rule those out. If it starts right up then you know its one of them Last looong shot would be to change the battery on the motherboard. Cheap enough try.
 
Well, suffice to say you have done all the troubleshooting you can. I would now agree with your original diagnosis that it is your motherboard. You can try unplugging all the peripherals, like mouse, hd, keyboard to rule those out. If it starts right up then you know its one of them Last looong shot would be to change the battery on the motherboard. Cheap enough try.
I just tried with the minimum peripherials, just displayport and power cable. still not working :))). Tomorrow i am buying a new motherboard, one i've also installed twice for two friends: asus b450f gaming the first gen. i will come back with updates. Thank you for your help.
 
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Interesting that it was a gigabyte board. Been having stability issues with mine after only 6-7 months of light use and so got a MSI board on the way. The gigabyte is under warranty so if I swap boards out and it works with the MSI, I’ll send the gigabyte in under RMA. Guess I’ll end up with two computers.