What is at fault?

[Akkuma]

So I got my new rig today and set it up then powered it up to just check everything is fine, since I am still waiting on my video card. What happened immediately was the computer started and then rebooted soon after (span of 5-10 seconds). Only one of the fans turned on regardless of if I only had 1 fan plugged in and left the mobo itself powered.

I noticed my heatsink fan attempting to start, but never actually going possibly due to not getting enough power before it restarted. On top of that, I felt the PSU fan 'restart' with the reboots.

I pulled everything out so that I could literally only have the mobo getting powered and it still occurred, thus it can't be a not enough power for my system issue. I figure there are four possible culprits, the PSU, the CPU, the mobo, or the actual case (Antec P180B) Power Switch is somehow causing it to continuously restart.

Checked again and this time couldn't get any fans to spin at a truly serious rate, so only 1 fan getting powered is no longer true.

I found the psu w/o mobo trick and the results are 3 fans (all of them) ran without a problem and at proper speeds.

Here are my specs that are relevant:
Gigabyte DS3
E6600
TT Purepower 600W (Active model)
P180B

I'm convinced that it isn't a cpu issue as all the fans should still run and not keep rebooting automatically. I am very suspect of the possibility that the P180's power switch is somehow causing a restart every 5-10 seconds. The other possibility is that the 12v lines are faulty and/or the 24pin connector and forcing the computer to reboot since they are overloading.

No I don't have anything to test it against as my other computer is a SFF with a built in 200W psu and the other comp I have is 8 or so years old, so probably has about as much power.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as the tech support forums seems to not be the place to get any help.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Try disconnecting the reset button first see if it changes anything.
If not, disconnect the power button and put the reset button in its place, so the reset button is now operating as your power button. See if that changes anything.

It will at least tell you if the buttons on the front of the case are screwing you up. I had a power button go bad on me that I could push to turn the system on but then it would shut down a few seconds later.

 

[ForumMaster]

you can test whether it's the power button by shorting the neccesary pins using a screw driver. that will tell you whether the power button is at fault.

i must admit though, it sounds like a bad PSU. where did you get it from?

 

[Akkuma]

I got everything from Newegg, so RMA'ing it won't be a problem. Thanks for the advice on shorting the power switch as it proved that the case was not at fault. I had all my fans spinning up and 'rebooting', but it obviously kept rebooting as the cpu fan never got started other than a really meager attempt to start up.

This leaves either a bad 12v rail(s) on the psu overloading so reboots, the mobo itself forcing the reboots, or even possibly the cpu in some strange circumstance.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Bad motherboard. Y"I found the psu w/o mobo trick and the results are 3 fans (all of them) ran without a problem and at proper speeds. " That right there tells you it's not the power supply

 

[Akkuma]

Ya I don't think it is the PSU anymore either. I just threw in my 7900GTX and decided to actually test out how long it took for it to reboot and the results are 5/4 seconds it lasts and then 5/4 seconds to start again in these test conditions: 7900GTX, 3 fans or w/o 7900GTX and only 1 fan.

This to me signals it isn't the PSU if it lasts just as long w/ or w/o a 7900GTX pulling power.

 

[Akkuma]

Apparently, Gigabyte's DS3 is designed to do this when ram is not in the mobo. This must mean my ram wasn't seated properly even though I thought it was.

 

[Boyo]

Well at least you found the problem.

 

[caberguy]

I run at 965P-S3 and my HSF does the same thing. There's an integrated fan controller that doesn't throttle the HSF to full speed right away and it doesn't start really going until windows starts booting.