PC turns on then off then on then off quickly, BAD CAPACITORS???

[thenetvines]

Hi guys.

PC is a custom Z75 PRo 3, with an i5 Intel, and 3 GSkill ram sticks, also a 80 plus gold PSU, and a good Cooler Master 212 EVO, that I bought for my younger brother to use for learning programming only.

The PC was working fine for almost a year in a clean place.

What I tried so far:

Jumped CMOS, removed battery, hold power button, and discharge caps with a screwdriver.

Bought a brand new PSU CX430 to no avail.

Removed all peripherals (only a hard drive and usb 2.0 headers were connected to it anyways)

Tried to boot her up with the motherboard outside the case in case the case, the raisers, or anything else was shorting it.

Cleaned, and replaces its thermal paste in case a little bit of it slipped out and was shorting it.

I prayed.


Well, none of that worked so far, so I'm starting to think maybe bad capacitors are at fault? I don't know how to test for that, I know how to replace bad capacitors from TV's and monitors just by looking at obvious bulges at their tops, but not how to test them.

What else could I try?

 

[i7Baby]

Post your complete and detailed build.

Is it in a dirty place now? Is the CPU getting hot? If so, blow the case out with compressed air - to get the dust out - so it runs cooler.

Has your mobo got bulging capacitors?

 

[smorizio]

does the pc post or just stay it the on/off boot loop. if it stuck in the on/off boot loop it could be a bad ram stick. if it boots into windows after a few restarts then the mb having an issue trying to set the right speed for the ram/cpu.

 

[thenetvines]

I'm sorry for the late response.

The build has always been in a clean place, and plugged to an expensive surge protector as well (but am starting to think a storm here in Florida might've caused this).

The PC never posts at all, just loops on and off turning the fans on and then off.

What's weird to me is that id the capacitors were at fault, maybe it would turn on solid after a while of getting warmed up, like my monitors with bad caps would, or maybe I've no clue about how caps work (most likely).

The PC was never OC'ed, and the temperatures have always been good since it wasn't used for gaming or hard task on load, heck, not even constant Youtube playback in HD like my other old PC's...

I tried using another brand new PSU, and also a good RAM stick from another DDR3 2800+ mobo my friend had, but he's afraid to try out the processor on it in case it ruins his motherboard.

 

[i7Baby]

Post your complete and detailed build.

Disconnect the OS drive, connect and internal speaker to your motherboard (per manual) and see what post/beep code you get per http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

 

[thenetvines]

OMG!!! This is crazy... So we take my friend's working 2 RAM Sticks out his build, try it on my PC to no avail, ok.

But as soon as we put the working RAM back into HIS BUILD, it started doing the same infinite boot loop on HIS build now!!!!

I hope it's just a clear CMOS, or in this case of UEFI mothermoards, some kind of reset when it comes to reading RAM, so we're still investigating right now...


Sorry about not posting PC build in complete, and also, the motherboard didn't come with a tiny beep speaker like other mobo's used to.


My build:

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155
ASRock Z75 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s


UPDATE: We got my friend's build to work again by clearing his CMOS once, but no matter how many times I clear it on my build, it still boot loops with no post at all.

 

[i7Baby]

Why have you got triple channel ram in a dual channel ram motherboard - http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z75%20Pro3/?cat=Specifications ?

 

[thenetvines]

The PC is not used for any type of heavy task. The RAM was of good brand, reviews, and price. And while I was aware of the dual channel feature, the manual indicates that it can use 3 sticks, and deactivate that feature which wasn't much of a loss for the purpose of this build.

 

[i7Baby]

Try it with a dual ram kit in it.

 

[thenetvines]

As stated above, we already tried working pair of RAM sticks on it to no avail.

As of right now, I'm trying to reinstall the processor, asi I read in another thread some other kid had succes with that after a few tries.

 

[i7Baby]

Not a pair. A kit. Does using 2 of the 3 sticks work when placed per the mobo manual?

 

[thenetvines]

Ok, the pair we tried were a kit sold to be used as a dual channel kit also from GSkill. We tried all possible configurations per manual using the working RAM from a friend, and before that, the 3 sticks as well. Some threads report it's common for the B1, and B2 slots to malfunction, but we double checked even with the A1 and A2 slots just to be sure.

UPDATE:

Ok, I think I found the problem. Basically when I tried to re-install the CPU again, this time I noticed the pins more, and saw that 2 of them seemed bent.

So I tried using a very small needle, and see if it fixed it, but it didn't. HOWEVER, this time, when I turn on the PC, it turns on, then off, and then stays off for good until I remove the cord, and retry.

This tells me that most likely the problem is bent pins, and I'm reading that a lot of people were able to fix it by manually tweaking them if they are still able to.

I'll keep trying this, and report.

 

[i7Baby]

About 10% if the time you can straighten the pins without breaking them. Good luck.