New computer won't post

[c0nfusion]

I just built the rig in my sig. It was working fine for two days when I put it together. I moved it to my apartment today. I didn't do anything besides disconnect it, and I carefully placed it in my car. There were no big bumps or anything on the way. I hooked it up again when I arrived at my apartment, and now it won't POST. I hit the power button and the fans all come on, but nothing appears on the screen. The video card has four LED lights on it and the first, third, and fourth flash about every 3 seconds. Every time they blink, the fan on the video card stops spinning for a second and restarts itself.

I've tried to look online but I can't seem to find any information on video card LED error codes. I tried resetting the CMOS, reseating the GPU and RAM, unplugging and replugging in the PCI-E power cables to no avail. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Jd007]

Since you've already tried resetting CMOS, re-seating GPU and RAM etc..., the next thing I would suggest is try the card on another computer and try another GPU on your computer, to see which side the problem is on.

 

[The Sauce]

I'm gonna guess you have either:

1.) a loose contact on one of your cards,
2.) a loose screw floating inside the case and shorting the mobo, or
3.) an extra standoff behind the mobo shorting it out from the back.

The thing to do in these situations is remove everything from the case, rebuild on a piece of cardboard and see if it works. Go to minimal components and add one at a time until it stops working. If it works straight off then there was a short in the case. One time I even had a shorted power switch...that one was tricky.

 

[c0nfusion]

Good suggestions, but please note that this rig was up and running for two days with no problems. There's no extra standoff and I just checked for loose screws.

Does anyone know a specific problem that could lead to the video card issues I described (flashing LED's and constantly restarted fans)?

I'm gonna guess you have either:

1.) a loose contact on one of your cards,
2.) a loose screw floating inside the case and shorting the mobo, or
3.) an extra standoff behind the mobo shorting it out from the back.

The thing to do in these situations is remove everything from the case, rebuild on a piece of cardboard and see if it works. Go to minimal components and add one at a time until it stops working. If it works straight off then there was a short in the case. One time I even had a shorted power switch...that one was tricky.

 

[The Sauce]

I don't know about the lights on your video card and have never heard of a video card with self-diagnostic LEDs. However, I kinda doubt it's your video card, unless it came partially unseated from the PCIe slot. Why would moving your computer suddenly cause your video card to fail otherwise? Doesn't make sense. Having had this happen I can say that it is most likely something that moved or shifted. Even a bad power supply or connector could cause that sort of problem if your video card is not getting adequate power.

The first thing to do is to start removing nonessential parts (i.e. hard drives, cd drives, floppy drives, second memory stick if you have more than one, sound card, etc. ) If you don't find the fix somewhere along the way then I would just rebuild from scratch. Either that or plug in a spare video card to see if that is the problem. Can't tell you how many times I just had to take a computer apart and rebuild it to get it to boot.

 

[c0nfusion]

I just disassembled and rebuilt the whole computer. It's doing the same thing. Power cycling and LEDs on the video card flash on/vid card fan stops every 5ish seconds. No POST and nothing on the screen.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

Did you try booting as you added each piece to eliminate possibilities? Do you have another video card you can test?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The Sauce gave good advice OP, follow it. There is no easy button.

 

[c0nfusion]

The Sauce gave good advice OP, follow it. There is no easy button.

I just did the bareboard test. Hooked up the motherboard outside the case with just one stick of RAM, the CPU, and the HSF. No POST beeps. I swapped out the stick of RAM with the other and tried multiple RAM slots to no avail. So, to me this looks like either a dead motherboard or a dead CPU.

An interesting side note is that once I turn the mobo on using the power switch on the mobo, I can't turn it off with that switch. The only way to turn it off is by hitting the switch on the PSU. I'm not sure if that's relevant or not, but it's another observation.

So what do you guys think? Dead CPU or mobo?

 

[The Sauce]

Well, it is certainly sounding like you have a bad component. Horrible luck there, pal. I would not rule out the power supply as a possible cause as well. Doesn't your motherboard give you some sort of diagnostic post-code with error beeps? If it does that may guide you. You know what I mean? It gives you different beep codes for different hardware component failures. I have had Gigabyte boards before and they all had it. If not then I am afraid that you are stuck swapping out parts.

 

[c0nfusion]

Well, it is certainly sounding like you have a bad component. Horrible luck there, pal. I would not rule out the power supply as a possible cause as well. Doesn't your motherboard give you some sort of diagnostic post-code with error beeps? If it does that may guide you. You know what I mean? It gives you different beep codes for different hardware component failures. I have had Gigabyte boards before and they all had it. If not then I am afraid that you are stuck swapping out parts.

This is part of my problem. The system doesn't POST at all. Everything gets power (fans, LED's, HD, etc when they're all connected) but the system never POSTs and never displays anything. It seems to be endlessly power-cycling as every few seconds the LEDs on the video card will light up like they do when you first boot it and the fan will stop and restart. The system speaker doesn't beep at all during this process.

 

[c0nfusion]

I just went ahead and ordered a new MoBo (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130223). Pray to God it works! I assume the RMA process is going to take forever on my current board, so I'll just sell it once I finally get it.

 

[The Sauce]

Good luck. PLease update and let us know. I am curious. I have had that happen before with continuous loop power cycling. I can't happen to remember what the problem turned out to be...it was a long time and many no-POST's ago.

Isn't that the worst feeling though? I just built an i5 and first time I pressed the power switch it lit up for 2 seconds and went dead. Your heart just sinks. Turned out to just be a quirk with my mobo and it worked on the second press.

 

[c0nfusion]

Follow up: I just received my new MSI 790FX-GD70 mobo in the mail and - it turns out - I was right. It was the motherboard. Everything is up and running now, RMA'ing the Gigabyte board.

And yeah, it was pretty heartbreaking when I realized it was dead haha. I spent a month or two buying components paycheck by paycheck and I was excited to finally have everything together - and poof!