Hi, Last post here was about cleaning a watercooling loop. That has since been cleaned, pump been replaced and my AX1200 (which fried due to my own carelessness) has been replaced with an AX1200i. The computer had been running beautifully for a about 8 days, when it suddenly switched itself off this morning. Thought it was a power cut, but it wasn't. Switched it back on, and about 15 minutes later once I started loading up some programs, it powered off again. Switched it back on, except this time it would not even POST. Same thing happened the next 10 times, often switching itself off again after 2s. 1. Disconnected the PSU, tried the self test around 10 times and each time the LED lit green (verified by two different people). 2. Reconnected only the following: GFX card, CPU & Motherboard, and then switched the motherboard back on. Motherboard and two heat-sink fans wirred to life. Remained on for about 10-15s, at which point I switched the motherboard off (as the rest of the cooling system wasn't on). 3. Attached the cooling system to Peripheral & SATA socket 4 on the PSU (rest of the fans & water pump). The system again stirred to life, POST'd and I managed to get into the BIOS. When exited, a "Either reboot or insert boot media" message appeared. After the 1st and 2nd times with this configuration, I powered down manually once this screen was reached. At this point forward, assume that at least the GFX (sockets 2 & 3), CPU (socket 1), Peripheral/Fans/Pump (socket 4) & Motherboard cables are plugged in at all times. 4. I attached the power cable for my 3 HDDs into peripheral & SATA section - socket 3, and switched the system on. However, it auto-powered down when I got into the BIOS, and it didn't even POST on the 2nd attempt. That is when I removed the cable, and tried it again without the HDDs. 5. Repeated (3.). This third time I left it for >2mins once it reached the "Either reboot or insert boot media" screen. Once I was satisfied, I powered it down manually. 6. Attached the SSD cable into socket 3, and turned the system back on. POST, BIOS & boot media request screen all appeared in due course. Switched system back off. 7. Removed SSD cable, attached DVD/BRD cable, using a a different socket (socket 2). Switched system on - POST, BIOS reached. About 10s later, system auto-powered down. It attempted to switch itself back on, it couldn't. Switched it off. 8. Removed cable from socket 2, put it back into 3. Attempted to switch system back on. It failed. Switched off. 9. Removed from socket 3, then waited a minute, and tried switching the system back on. No dice. Switched off. 10. Left for 10 minutes or so. Tried again to power on with only the basic cables attached. Lights & fans wirred for a split second before it auto-powered off, auto-repeated 3 times before I switched it off. Whilst the self-test light came on green each time, I no longer trust it, so take that as you will. At this point, I'm out of ideas. Any advice would be appreciated. Regards, CCA
When it shuts down, is it going through a proper shut down as it would if you were turning it off, or does it just die?
That says to me one of 2 things. PSU failure or there is a short somewhere, hence why the PSU cuts out. One other possible problem could be overheating, you have said you redone the loop recently. make sure the CPU cooler is seated properly and making good contact
That is what I was fearing. I guess the only option is to ask for a RMA? Edit: CPU cooling is not an issue. It idles at about 30C, only reaching 50C under high load.
If it's a short check all the wiring, also make sure nothing is touching the mobo or GPU. I had the same symptoms as what you have once and it turned out to be the back plate on one of the the GPU's touching the PCB and shorting . It's worth checking all the sometimes over looked things before totally writing off the PSU
Will do, thank you for the tip. I hadn't even twigged that something like that was possible. I'll update in the morning.
Update 1. Had a look for loose connections, exposed wiring, short circuit bait etc and couldn't find anything. 2. Plugged in the MB, GFX, CPU and Cooling into the PSU and switched it on. No dice. PSU kept auto-cycling on a 1s on/3s off cycle. Switched it back off. 3. Removed everything, then plugged only the MB in. PSU switched on without an issue. 4. Added the GFX card. No problem. 5. Added CPU. Wouldn't start. 6. Removed CPU, added cooling. No problem. 7. Added HDDs, then SSD, then DVD/BRD all one by one, and no problems with power-on. 8. Added CPU. Couldn't power on. Didn't even bother trying to cycle it, had to manually try 3 times. Nothing. So: Yay, possibly narrowed it down. Nay! Its the CPU potentially. Any advice on how to troubleshoot from here? Update 2 So, looks like the most likely outcome is that I killed the CPU. Not entirely surprising as I was running the computer for possible month(s) without a fully functional water cooling system. Cue facepalming To boot, LGA1366 is obsolete. Well, I was wanting to build a completely new system at some point, so wth. Still, if I am possibly wrong about the CPU, then yay, as that will save me a lot of money.
Right we are masking progress. CPU's are pretty hard to break and even if it's fried it will still power up. Try switching on but with out the CPU plugged in. I'm still thinking potential wiring / PSU problem Only way to test a CPU is in another rig.
Aye, I tried powering it on without the CPU plugged in, and that was successful each time I tried (2-3 times iirc). Unfortunately, I don't have another rig lying around to test the CPU specifically. Many thanks for sticking with me . Any other ideas?
Based in this I would say its either the cable from the CPU that connects to the mobo or the socket on the mobo. Check for bent pins or loose pins, dodgy wires etc. Its possible it's the mobo. But that is where I would start looking first. I don't ever recall hearing a CPU that caused the probs you been having.
I checked the CPU cables, and removed the extension wire and plugged the power cable directly into the socket. Still didn't power on successfully. Checked both CPU cables, couldn't find any cuts or wear (one is brand new anyway), nor was there any obvious damage at the Mobo socket or connectors on either end of the cables. Couldn't see any obvious scorch marks either on the Mobo. One place I haven't checked for scorch marks yet is the CPU itself. Worth ruling that out anyway?
It's worth looking at the CPU, but it pretty hard to break one or fir it to malfunction and cause problems. They usually just work or they don't. Ideally you need another PSU, just to test things. Then you can rule that out of the equation.
