PC intermittently restarting after 1-2 seconds of booting

[usexsoap]

I'll try to make this quick, it's driving me nuts.

I got a cyber power pc as a gift, no complaints there! I've been using this
PC for only one month, it's new and it has worked fine. I had
a 1060 6gb I put in in place of the rx 580 4gb it came with. Everything
worked fine.

I got an Oculus Rift and a pcie usb 3.0 card, everything was
working fine. I put in a samsung evo 850 SSD, everything worked fine after
realizing cloning a HDD could be hell.

Now, weeks later I saved up money and I figured I would upgrade the i5 7400.
So, I got an i7 7700k, a Cryorig H7 Cooler and an
EVGA Supernova 650w G2 to replace this no name 500w psu it came with.
Easy enough right? So, i remove the old power supply, get the EVGA all plugged in.
I take out the i5 7400, pop in the 7700k.

I put on the thermal paste, not too little not too much. I get the Cryorig H7 on
flawlessly and have it on nice and firm. I plug everything in.

It starts up, temps are mid 30's, played PUBG for a while, mid 60's, not bad, I'm satisfied.
Mind you, I'm not overclocking right now because I have an Asus Prime B250m-a and the
7700k is the max cpu I can get and obviously I can't overclock with it and that's ok with me.
I turn the PC off, I start it again later, all good.

Then, the next morning, I sit down, hit the power
button and a second or two later it just "click" as it shuts down. A couple seconds later it starts up and is fine. I shut it down, turn it on and it's fine. An hour later I start it up again after being shut down, fine. 8 hours later, it does it again. The next day, again. It's like 50% of the time. It's never more than one restart.

No blue screen, nothing. I check the logs and the only errors are OVRruntimeservice or something to do with the Oculus but I notice this is in the log like a thousand times. I'm freaking out so yesterday I opened the case again. The CPU 4 pin connection by the cpu seemed a tad loose but not much, maybe I was being OCD. Then I noticed how the cpu power cable had 2 separate
ends so if you had an 8 pin or whatever you could plug in the second. I noticed the one of the two that I plugged in had 6 wires going into it even though it was a 4 pin just like the other. Also heads up it IS the cpu NOT the VGA for the gpu. So, I notice the one dangling is only 4 wires, which makes sense. I think maybe I should have plugged that one in if I'm only using one.

I switched them which was a pain because now the cooler is in there! I did all that BEFORE i put in the cooler so it wouldn't be an issue but turns out I had to sneak in there anyhow and unplug/plug that cpu cable in. I checked for loose cables/cards. I checked for anything that would cause shorts. I close her back up and I only plugged in the mouse and keyboard.

It starts up. Later that night, starts up again. This morning, starts up again! Home from work? Starts! So I put it to sleep.... then, an hour later I click the mouse. It lights up, power light turns on, a second goes by and "click", it turns off, a second goes by again and the computer starts back up. All my joy sucked out from my insides and vanished. It makes a click noise when it happens, like a circuit breaker switch being tripped or something, assuming that's the PSU?

I don't know if my Asus MOBO is sensing something and shutting it down to protect it? Or maybe it's a faulty PSU? My CPU temps are good and it hasn't turned off while using it. It's only when I go to boot it, or apparently now even waking up from sleep. What else could it be? Do I just order a new PSU, switch it out, see if it happens and if it doesn't then send the other one back?

I had a hand me down PC for years and it had blue screen issues and was beat to hell and it drove me crazy. I'm SO glad to have a new PC that isn't causing me problems. I put in a new PSU to make sure I had a nice one and wouldn't have problems and now it's coming back to haunt me! Please help! What could be causing this! The last thing I want to do is have to rip stuff out again, I'm so OCD. I've build a couple PCs for friends over the last few months and I have never seen this! One boot it's fine, the other it's not! Thank you! I have attached a video of it happening. It sounds like a beep but that is my cat. In reality there is always a click sound. Thanks for your patience! All day at work I can't stop thinking about it, and it's occasional so every time I think it's fixed, it's not! WHY!
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIcr0eLN2sk"][/video]

Specs:
Asus Prime B250m-a
i7 7700k stock
Cryorig H7
Arctic Silver Thermal Paste
EVGA 1060 6gb SC
Samsung Evo 850 500GB SSD
Western Digital 7200rpm 1TB
EVGA Supernova 650W G2

 

[Jesse_20]

Have you tried updating the bios yet?

 

[MeanMachine41]

Hi usexsoap

Your PC restarting during Post cycle is very often associated with DRAM Primary Timings not being retained in Bios. Post goes thru a training process to establish the best config for RAM. Slight increase in DRAM voltage can rectify this or slight loosening of primary timings or try 2T command rate.

I'm not saying with 100% certainty that this will resolve your issue however it's worth a try.

BTW: You can Overclock with a "K" processor.

 

[usexsoap]

Hi usexsoap

Your PC restarting during Post cycle is very often associated with DRAM Primary Timings not being retained in Bios. Post goes thru a training process to establish the best config for RAM. Slight increase in DRAM voltage can rectify this or slight loosening of primary timings or try 2T command rate.

I'm not saying with 100% certainty that this will resolve your issue however it's worth a try.

BTW: You can Overclock with a "K" processor.

Thank you for the reply! This makes me wonder because after I installed everything I activated Profile 1 of XMP in bios but after this started happening I reverted back but it's still doing it. I don't think I can overclock on a B250mobo, but that's another story If I update my bios like Jesse stated, what would you recommend trying first? Upping the voltage? If so, up it to what and what would the option be exactly in bios? I am familiar with pc building but only to a certain extent, thanks. Also, you think it could be that even though it was fine and all I did was change out the PSU and CPU? Could having tried out that XMP done it? Thank you so much.

 

[usexsoap]

Have you tried updating the bios yet?

No I have not but I will try that right now and then go from there. Unfortunately it takes a while for me to find out if it happens again because I think I'm good and then BAM it does it again! I'll rule that out, though. I see there was an update a few weeks ago.

 

[MeanMachine41]

Yea updating your Bios is a good idea to address new RAM.

Updating your Bios should bring Bios back to default however clear CMOS prior to the update.
If issues persist then Bios recommendations will be suggested. Check with the MB QVL that indeed the RAM your using are compatible and also supported by the CPU.

Official support for i7-7700k is DDR4-2133/2400MHz and if the RAM you have is OC RAM then XMP profiles don't work as it is not the JDEC standard. In which case you will have to read up on how to configure DRAM timing control to get your SPD config correct.
If confused then list your RAM kit.

 

[usexsoap]

Yea updating your Bios is a good idea to address new RAM.

Updating your Bios should bring Bios back to default however clear CMOS prior to the update.
If issues persist then Bios recommendations will be suggested. Check with the MB QVL that indeed the RAM your using are compatible and also supported by the CPU.

Official support for i7-7700k is DDR4-2133/2400MHz and if the RAM you have is OC RAM then XMP profiles don't work as it is not the JDEC standard. In which case you will have to read up on how to configure DRAM timing control to get your SPD config correct.
If confused then list your RAM kit.

Ah, sorry I didn't include the ram. I have a single 8 GB ADATA XPG DDR4 2400. It's what the pc came with. Everything worked fine. Only thing I changed was the GPU and the SSD and everything was fine. Once I changed the PSU and the CPU is when this started happening. I didn't mess with the RAM aside from the XMP but I reverted back to "default" and it still happened. I literally just updated my BIOS before I read this so unfortunately I did not "clear the CMOS" before doing so. I did notice it was back to default. I did however change my fan speed to "turbo", I turned off "fast boot" and I disabled "charge usb during power s5" or whatever because my bluetooth dongle lights up and is annoying. Is that fine? I'll see what happens tomorrow morning/after work etc. It's hard to be hopeful :/ but yah, it's' a pre build cyber power pc, didn't mess with the RAM and all was fine before installing cpu and psu, aside from XMP and then switching back.

 

[MeanMachine41]

Well if your happy with 8GB in single channel mode then a Bios update should fix it.
If not then I recommend a (2x8) 16GB kit for dual channel mode, the frequency you desire that have been tested and listed on the MB QVL.
Most retailers will exchange your RAM for the upgrade.
The Bios changes you made should be OK.

 

[usexsoap]

Well if your happy with 8GB in single channel mode then a Bios update should fix it.
If not then I recommend a (2x8) 16GB kit for dual channel mode, the frequency you desire that have been tested and listed on the MB QVL.
Most retailers will exchange your RAM for the upgrade.
The Bios changes you made should be OK.

2 sticks of 8gb is my plan but haven't made it that far yet. Was gonna order another 8gb of what I have but
instead of risking it I think I'll sell it and get a dual pack and be safe. But first, gotta figure out this issue. Question. If my computer just did the restart from waking up from sleep, would that still be a memory issue? It kinda makes sense during initial boot, even though I don't understand how from just changing a PSU and CPU, but, if it's possible that's an issue could it STILL be the issue if I woke my computer up from sleep and when it started waking up it rebooted itself? Would it still be ruled as a possible RAM issue still? Also, what's this you are saying exchanging RAM? I would like to know of a retailer that does this lol because that sounds nice.

 

[MeanMachine41]

Question. If my computer just did the restart from waking up from sleep, would that still be a memory issue?
Answer. Possibly but not definitively. There are other things that can also cause an error when recovering from sleep mode. Updating Bios is a possible fix.

Question. Also, what's this you are saying exchanging RAM? I would like to know of a retailer that does this lol because that sounds nice.
Answer. Some will and some won't so check before purchase. It really depends in which country you are in too. Decent quality RAM has a lifetime warranty and includes faulty RAM that fails Memtest.?

 

[usexsoap]

Question. If my computer just did the restart from waking up from sleep, would that still be a memory issue?
Answer. Possibly but not definitively. There are other things that can also cause an error when recovering from sleep mode. Updating Bios is a possible fix.

Question. Also, what's this you are saying exchanging RAM? I would like to know of a retailer that does this lol because that sounds nice.
Answer. Some will and some won't so check before purchase. It really depends in which country you are in too. Decent quality RAM has a lifetime warranty and includes faulty RAM that fails Memtest.?

Ok so I just got home, turned the pc on, started fine which is usually the case, then I put it to sleep to hopefully
replicate yesterdays incident. Low and behold, I click the mouse an hour later, it lights up, the pc power light lit up and not even a full second later it cut out and rebooted, bringing me to the login screen after boot saying "password incorrect". I'm not very hopeful. Seems like this double boot is common especially with Asus MOBOs. The fact that it is doing it waking from sleep is very concerning, though.

I do notice I hear a fan starting up almost coming from the power supply but it sounds like a winding up and then it's just "click" off. When the computer does start, for the first few seconds I do hear a sound, not sure if it's a coil wind or what but sounds like an electrical reving up or even a fan spinning but periodically brushing against something but then it subsides. It's very feint. Any how, I don't hear beeps, there are no lights blinking on the mobo, nothing but the power light and the fans start and once they start everything cuts out. So, what next?

In CPU Z my RAM says 1.2v. On my mobo dim slots it says 1.2 on the slots. Should I check BIOS and check the voltage? You think it's still RAM related? I had flashed the bios. I could try the CMOS next, perhaps take out the RAM and re seat it? Re seat it in another slot maybe? I'm not sure what to check in bios, maybe something is giving either too much power and the MOBO is shutting down as a safety precaution or it's the opposite and not receiving enough power? Every forum where someone has this problem it's endless and never solved. Thank you for your help. I want to make sure I try things before replacing the power supply. Ugh FML

 

[Jesse_20]

You may be having issues with hybrid shutdown, a feature that decreases boot time by loading important drivers and fragments of the kernel into a special hard drive page file before shutting down. This has the consequence of not stopping the CPU timer when you perform a regular shutdown, and sometimes the RAM usage remains.

To disable hybrid boot, type "Power Options" in Start and select Power Options (not Power and sleep settings). On the sidebar, select "Choose what the power buttons do." Click "Change settings that are currently unavailable." Under "Shutdown settings," uncheck the box next to “Turn on fast startup." Save changes, then reboot your PC and see if anything is different.

I would also hook the old PSU back up and test with it in place for awhile to see if there any differences. It could rule out the new one as the cause.

 

[usexsoap]

You may be having issues with hybrid shutdown, a feature that decreases boot time by loading important drivers and fragments of the kernel into a special hard drive page file before shutting down. This has the consequence of not stopping the CPU timer when you perform a regular shutdown, and sometimes the RAM usage remains.

To disable hybrid boot, type "Power Options" in Start and select Power Options (not Power and sleep settings). On the sidebar, select "Choose what the power buttons do." Click "Change settings that are currently unavailable." Under "Shutdown settings," uncheck the box next to “Turn on fast startup." Save changes, then reboot your PC and see if anything is different.

I would also hook the old PSU back up and test with it in place for awhile to see if there any differences. It could rule out the new one as the cause.

Thanks for the reply! So I just checked and it isn't an option, it's just "sleep" and "lock" in shutdown settings. I saw that if I "enable hibernation mode" in command prompt it will "appear" but I'm not sure if I should, would this mean it isn't actually enabled to begin with? I thought about hooking up my old PSU it's just that it's one of my last resorts because I dreaded taking it out and putting my new one in. The cable management is such a pain and the sata power cables etc are so tight and everything is close quarters and the last thing I wanna do is have to go through with that all over again. Joys of this cyber power case i guess.... I was also hoping, and I know this is avoiding part of the troubleshooting, that if it keeps acting up and I did in fact replace the PSU if I could just unplug my current one and plug it into the new one because it would be an exact replacement. Of course that doesn't rule out a bad cable or something.

Anyways, yah, should I still try to find the disable fast boot in windows since it isn't existing as an option for me? I just restored bios to "default settings" in the mean time I'm trying to replicate the issue. Don't know how I feel about turning off and on my pc over and over though hehe

 

[Jesse_20]

Sorry, Windows 10 is a bit different to get to the setting.
In the Power Options menu, click "plan settings" next to the power plan that is selected (balanced or saver).
In the change settings for the plan menu, choose change advanced power settings.
In the Advanced Power settings menu, expand the sleep section, expand "Alllow hybrid sleep" and disable it.
Apply and save.

I'm not sure this will work, because you said the issue occurs even from a full power off state when turning it on for the first time.
To test the old PSU, leave it out of the case, and just swap connections from installed PSU to it, leaving the installed one in place. We are only testing, so no need to tear everything down again. (although you might find a kinked/shorted wire possibly in the process).

 

[usexsoap]

Sorry, Windows 10 is a bit different to get to the setting.
In the Power Options menu, click "plan settings" next to the power plan that is selected (balanced or saver).
In the change settings for the plan menu, choose change advanced power settings.
In the Advanced Power settings menu, expand the sleep section, expand "Alllow hybrid sleep" and disable it.
Apply and save.

I'm not sure this will work, because you said the issue occurs even from a full power off state when turning it on for the first time.
To test the old PSU, leave it out of the case, and just swap connections from installed PSU to it, leaving the installed one in place. We are only testing, so no need to tear everything down again. (although you might find a kinked/shorted wire possibly in the process).

Ok I'll try the hibernate thing now. My old PSU is hard wired into the PSU, it's not separate detachable cables like my new EVGA Supernova. But, if need be I will manage. We have a few cats and lots of static in the house too so I like to be super cautions but ANYWAYS, get this! So, after resetting to default BIOS I noticed my pc says I have 3 keyboards and 1 mouse. I only have the keyboard, mouse and ethernet cable connected. What the heck? Also, here is the crazy part! I also just realized there was a hidden windows update. So I updated it. Restarted... I literally just put my pc to sleep to replicate it, yada yada, and a second later it turns itself back on! So, I I put it so sleep again and it immediately wakes back up! Before, it would reboot waking from sleep also, at least this started happening the other day (I don't put it to sleep much) alongside double booting from initial start. So yah I put it to sleep and it auto just turns back on like i moved the mouse or something.

I go to event log and in power saving or whatever it says the computer woke from sleep for "unknown" reasons a few times, then due to "power button" and then one for USB something something. I looked up the usb in device manager and the option to wake on sleep is grayed out and unselected. SO, I go into mouse and disable wake on sleep, then I go into keyboard andddddd it says I have 5 keyboards. LOL so I "uninstall" them all and there are none. Then, I unplug it, plug it back in and low and behold there are "5 keyboards" in the keyboard drop down of device manager. So, I disable all of them to wake on sleep. I restart the computer and now it goes to sleep and doesn't auto wake up. WTF??

UPDATE: In Advanced settings, in the sleep drop down, it only says +Sleep after and +Allow wake timers and nothing about hibernate still. What the heck lol

 

[Jesse_20]

The weirdness could be because windows updates is allowed to wake the computer from sleep by default, so that you can schedule it for off-hours.
The multiples could also be explained by the update, as it might be installing drivers, or turning off windows systems to apply the updates.
As for the Hibernate settings, it might be disabled or your computer might not support it, but I also have a 7700K and an 850 evo pro and G2 650, and I KNOW my desktop does.

To check if enabled:
Go to Power Options again.
Choose what the power button does.
Next, click on Change settings that are currently unavailable.
And try to enable Hibernate.
Then go back to the previous post and disable it in the sleep settings.

 

[usexsoap]

The weirdness could be because windows updates is allowed to wake the computer from sleep by default, so that you can schedule it for off-hours.
The multiples could also be explained by the update, as it might be installing drivers, or turning off windows systems to apply the updates.
As for the Hibernate settings, it might be disabled or your computer might not support it, but I also have a 7700K and an 850 evo pro and G2 650, and I KNOW my desktop does.

To check if enabled:
Go to Power Options again.
Choose what the power button does.
Next, click on Change settings that are currently unavailable.
And try to enable Hibernate.
Then go back to the previous post and disable it in the sleep settings.

Ok yah that is so weird that it's not in there as an option, just checked again, just "sleep" and "lock". I'll look into it again tomorrow. Way past my bed time now lol. Out of curiosity, mainly idle initially after you are booted up at desktop, does the i7 fluctuate between 30c up to like 50c+ and then stabilize? I read that it's normal for this processor to be all over the place. It's just weird coming from an i5 7400 and it's a steady 32-34. Regardless, after playing games it doesn't get past 70c right now and I'm sure that's just one of those spikes too because while playing and looking not at the max temp but the current temp it's usually low 60's. I'll update tomorrow with hibernate and if it's still double booting etc. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Jesse_20]

One other thing, the Disable Fast Boot can be found in the bios, it allows the motherboard to fore-go some start-up checks after a successful shut-down.
It's worth a try to disable it, as the ssd does decrease start-up time, and just *might* be causing an issue on your board.

 

[Jesse_20]

My CPU core 3 consistently spikes roughly 10-15 degrees higher than the other cores. Grab a copy of HWMonitor and you can track the use of each core as well as the temp for each. You should see temps rise and fall in relation to each core's use. I even went as far as de-lidding and applying liquid metal to my CPU in an effort to stabilize it. It helped, but not much. The overall temps were lower, but that 3rd Core still spiked similarly.

 

[usexsoap]

My CPU core 3 consistently spikes roughly 10-15 degrees higher than the other cores. Grab a copy of HWMonitor and you can track the use of each core as well as the temp for each. You should see temps rise and fall in relation to each core's use. I even went as far as de-lidding and applying liquid metal to my CPU in an effort to stabilize it. It helped, but not much. The overall temps were lower, but that 3rd Core still spiked similarly.

I disabled fast boot a few days ago in bios and it hadn't worked. I use HWmonitor religiously. I wonder if all those voltages at the top could help me see if it's anything psu related. I did load optimized defaults in BIOS lastnight so I'll see if it does anything maybe. I did notice it said it would change a few things I changed before but also it changed something about UEFI so maybe when I enabled and disabled XMP last week a certain setting did not get changed or something. I'll keep you posted.

 

[The Paladin]

@MeanMachine41
you stated "BTW: You can Overclock with a "K" processor. "

though technically correct you can overclock a K cpu, it is a incomplete statement, No you cannot overclock a K processor on a B250 motherboard sorry, K CPUs can be overclocked on Zxxx series motherboards.

@Usexsoap
You mention "It's what the pc came with. Everything worked fine. Only thing I changed was the GPU and the SSD and everything was fine. Once I changed the PSU and the CPU is when this started happening."

Have you tried to put the 7400 CPU back on the board and see if it still doing the issue ?
also when you pull the new cpu from the die, look at the die pins, do any look bent?

 

[usexsoap]

@MeanMachine41
you stated "BTW: You can Overclock with a "K" processor. "

though technically correct you can overclock a K cpu, it is a incomplete statement, No you cannot overclock a K processor on a B250 motherboard sorry, K CPUs can be overclocked on Zxxx series motherboards.

@Usexsoap
You mention "It's what the pc came with. Everything worked fine. Only thing I changed was the GPU and the SSD and everything was fine. Once I changed the PSU and the CPU is when this started happening."

Have you tried to put the 7400 CPU back on the board and see if it still doing the issue ?
also when you pull the new cpu from the die, look at the die pins, do any look bent?

When I took out the 7400 I inspected all the pins, mainly because when I was wiping off the thermal paste with alcohol wipe a bit of dried up past got pushed off of the cpu onto the mobo. I don't know if my eyes played tricks on me but I worried a speck got in the pins. I gently wiped the piece off the mobo and it suck to the wipe fairly easily so I'm sure I didn't damage the mobo. I proceeded to inspect the pins because of my concern that I may have possible had a speck of thermal paste in the pins near the edge. I did not see any paste particles.

So I definitely inspected them hehe. I did notice however, after placing the 7700k in, it seemed like there was a slight gap and could see the one row of pins just a tad. Not the corner, but the entire side of pins on the side of the gpu etc, opposite of the side closest to the edge of the mobo. I couldn't remember after taking out the 7400 and installing cpu's in friends pc if this very slight gap, barely a mm, existed, but the processor was definitely seated and the nubs were in the two notches nice and snug.

I put a generous amount of thermal paste on it but nothing super crazy like a nice sized pea. The Cryorig H7 went on easily I put the case off the table and my wife held it in place gently while I tightened the screws firmly, in a staggered pattern, until snug. I went so smoothly that I don't want to have to do it again and not do as good of a job and get high temps, plus installing a cooler, smoothly or not, was and is a pain in the behind.

I could put the 7400 back in for sure but haven't gotten to that point, just as with the psu, I don't want to unless I've exhausted any other options. Granted, if I installed the cpu and psu, it's most likely one of the two and at some point i will probably have to swap out and replace one of them.

 

[usexsoap]

So last night I loaded default in BIOS. I also found there was a windows update, and an Nvidia driver. This morning it didn't double boot, when I got home it didn't double boot boot, then I put it to sleep like I did that last 2 evenings and I waited an hour or so just like that last 2 times and when I woke the computer the light turned on, the fan spun, no video signal, just light and fans and then it turned off and rebooted. The mobo stays "breathing" the yellow light it emits and what not and when the pc loads back up and I log on it seems to leave off as if it is still waking from sleep. I really don't believe this is a cpu issue, I felt confident when I sealed her up. I worried about the PSU because I could tell the person who assembled the fan casing did a shoddy job because around the casing there is a bunch of glue dripped down like icing so if that same person assembled other important components it could be a lazy employee, I work in manufacturing and our work is important and used for forensics but some employees still just don't care and things slip through the cracks.

With that being said, when I have time on Sunday I will remove this PCIe USB 3.0 card I've had, take out the GPU and remove the mobo battery while I also short/reset the CMOS, wait 10 minutes, insert the battery, put the GPU back in, leave the PCIe card out, unplug my secondary HDD and leave my SSD because when it was working fine I actually had the HDD unplugged to begin with while testing the SSD for a couple weeks. I will also use a different keyboard and mouse that doesn't light up, oh and I will remove the RAM stick and re seat it and also re seat it into another DIMM slot or whatever.

I'm writing it down on a sticky pad so I can bang it out sunday morning. After that when it does it again unless anyone has any bright ideas I guess I'll order another PSU from amazon and if it works I'll return the old one unless they charge for shipping but it would be defective and I've only paid return shipping once in the past so I think that's the easiest way. I honestly don't want to have to cut all the cable ties and unplug everything and hook up the old generic psu that is hard wired, shove the cables in there and what not and do it all over. I'd rather first unplug this one and plug a replacement in instead. It's more time but the cable management really is a pain and I'd like to avoid it if I can.

My cpu temps are sitting in low to mid 30's and mid 60's heavy gaming on this 7700k with a simple cryorig h7, I really don't think it's the cpu and the psu is the only other thing to rule out. I don't see anything loose or plugged in wrong, there isn't anything exposed touching the mobo. I've hooked up a few pc's from scratch the last couple months and it's no different than them, I'm ocd and would notice. I don't understand how the PSU is the cause exactly but I don't see how anything else is either if it starts 80% of the time first boot and runs fine and HWmonitor, as far as I can tell, and cpuZ say all is fine. So yah, lemme know guys. Thanks

 

[Jesse_20]

I'm out of ideas other than trying the old PSU (and if that doesn't work, CPU) to see if the system acts the same.
After re-reading this entire post, I did notice you mentioned the CPU power cord and the 8 vs. (2) 4-pin connectors.
The 4-pins are actually designed so that only one of those will actually fit into the motherboard. The second 4-pin is actually a mirror image of the first and not an identical pin set. If you look closely, they have rounded and square pin sets making up a connector. The pin set will be square on one pin and rounded on the other in the top row of the connector. The other 4 pin will be reversed, so that it will not plug in properly (i.E. Rounded on first, square on the other). They are made to hook together to create a single 8 pin socket. Look at the 8-pin CPU cable that came with the G2 and you will see what I mean.

 

[usexsoap]

I'm out of ideas other than trying the old PSU (and if that doesn't work, CPU) to see if the system acts the same.
After re-reading this entire post, I did notice you mentioned the CPU power cord and the 8 vs. (2) 4-pin connectors.
The 4-pins are actually designed so that only one of those will actually fit into the motherboard. The second 4-pin is actually a mirror image of the first and not an identical pin set. If you look closely, they have rounded and square pin sets making up a connector. The pin set will be square on one pin and rounded on the other in the top row of the connector. The other 4 pin will be reversed, so that it will not plug in properly (i.E. Rounded on first, square on the other). They are made to hook together to create a single 8 pin socket. Look at the 8-pin CPU cable that came with the G2 and you will see what I mean.

Oh snap, yah I did notice one of the two (the one I had plugged in originally) had 6 wires in it and the other just 4. I couldn't understand why one would have 6 and one have 4 if they are both 4 pins. I did not notice that they were reversed, I was double checking each connector I plugged in in terms of the round/square. Maybe I overlooked that one, could be why it was loose? I since have switched it with the regular 4 pin and it clicked in nice and good and is in there firm. I was so sure that would have originally solved it. I felt so stupid. It was a pain with the cooler in there. Too bad it didn't fix the situation.

I do have all the cables on the power supply end all shoved in behind the power supply where there is really the only space to put the bundle of it all. This case has 4 fans build in. They all were connected via peripheral cables and the actual fan connectors for the chassis fan were never connected. I guess the fan lights are powered by the peripheral cables. Any way, I thought about eventually plugging them into the chassis fan slots so I can control the speed. Dunno why it wasn't like that to begin with. What I'm getting at is there's like 4 fan connectors dangling about with these 2 daisy chained peripheral connectors (total of four) plugged into the two peripheral connectors on the peripheral psu cable. I'm going to check when I open her up again, would it be a possibly among all the cables all together it would cause a short if, say, they were touching each other and somehow managing to make contact with the pins? I know the peripheral cables form the case fans seem very open and the pins could be easy to touch.

If it were indeed some kind of short, it wouldn't start at all though right? Wouldn't that be ruled out by it only being intermittent.

Honestly, with it only happening after being asleep for MORE than an hour, etc, it's somehow the power supply not giving enough juice at start up or something?

I think I'm overthinking it at this point. I was so cautions all I did was unplug the PSU, plug the new one in, pop out the cpu, pop the new one in. Paste her, pop on the cooler and called it a day. Didn't touch or fiddle around with anything on the mobo and everything is plugged in just how it was before.

ONLY other thing is it's 4 fan light peripherals on a single peripheral cable, possible it's too much on one cable? I'm a noob with psu's. Also, I'm using 1 SATA power cable connected to my HDD, SSD, and my USB PCIe card, which has nothing plugged in it right now.

I appreciate the help, I've learned a lot. I'll prolly order a PSU monday and get it prime and hope it works and return the old one, then go from there. Tired of stressing over it. I'm glad Amazon is easy with returns and such.