[SOLVED] PC gets stuck in boot loop for up to 10 minutes, then boots and works fine

[andythepandy93]

Hi All!

I've been having a problem with my home built PC for around two months, and I'm all out of options apart from replacing parts now, so I'm just checking on here before I do so!

Specs:
CPU: Intel i7-4790K @ 4GHz - not overclocked
RAM: 16GB (2x 8GB sticks)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX950
Wireless PCI card
Blueray/DVD reader/writer
2x 500GB solid state drives

The problem first started around 2 months ago. At first I noticed my PC was taking a little longer to boot than normal. When watching the screens, it never made it to the Gigabyte logo, and never made it to POST. It just powered up - the fans spun up and the power light came on. 2-3 seconds later, the power light and fans go off. It then repeats this over and over again, until one time it will seemingly randomly succeed and fully boot.

One thing I have noticed is that the little flashing underscore cursor that appears in the very top left of the screen normally in the very first stages of booting (it appears for less than a second) is sometimes in a different position. It used to be in the very top left corner. However, sometimes it appears inset from the top left corner by around 10cm from the top and left on my screens. After it appears in this unusual position, it seems to trigger a load of boot loops (in which you can see nothing on the screen, not even the cursor). Then as soon as it appears in the normal position, it boots fine.

As soon as the PC boots successfully, there are no problems with the PC whatsoever, and have used it for 14+hours with no problems.

Things I have tried:
I have tested the RAM by booting with each stick individually using different slots. I have also booted with no RAM - the issue still happened in all these cases.

I have booted with the graphics card, wireless PCI card and blueray/DVD drive all disconnected - the issue still happened.

I have booted without the SSDs connected - the issue still happened.

I have tested the power supply voltages and timings with one of those tester things and all values were well within the accepted ranges.

I have reset the CMOS by shorting the jumpers, and by removing the battery for a while. The first boot after doing this worked first time, but the problem was back again on the next boot.

After trying all this, I went on holiday for 2 weeks. I came back to my PC 2 days ago (on Monday). The PC had not been booted on for 2 weeks (but I had left the power at the wall switched on, and the power switch on the power supply was on too). It booted first time, no problems whatsoever. Yesterday (Tuesday) I also had no problems at all, it booted straight away. It was this morning (Wednesday) that the PC is once again up to its old tricks, and it did around 30 loops before finally booting.

I think that I need to start replacing parts until I find the culprit, and I believe the place to start would be with the motherboard (seeing as the problem still happened with all the other parts disconnected). But I thought I'd check with you lot first for any good suggestions! I also find it very odd that it is an inconsistent problem, and it was fine for the first 2 days after it had a 2 week holiday!

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Andy

 

[Tyber_gsk]

Hello.
Looks like bios problem to me.
Try to get inside bios and change memory setting to x.m.p. this was my problem back in the days.
After i changed ram to x.m.p. my pc restarted 3-4 times and then started normaly..

 

[nikoskostantopoulow]

My money is on your MB.
My old PC is the same.
Refuses to POST at random.
Found a trick tho:
Keep it unplugged.
Then when it is to be used plug it and it will boot for sure.
Doubt that the same trick will work for you also but still the MB is the main suspect.