Having problem with my PC please help

[grathomp]

I recently took a video card out of my system. Now, when I go to power the PC on the lights and fans will turn on for less than a second and quickly shut off. Approximately 5 seconds later, it will automatically try to turn on again. It repeats this process until the power supply switch is toggled. Does anyone know what is wrong or how to solve this? Thanks!

[Bok]

Reset the BIOS perhaps, by unplugging the CMOS battery for 30 - 60 seconds.

[grathomp]

Tried taking the battery out for 3 minutes. Still doing the same thing. Thanks for the reply, Bok.

[FourOh]

Does your motherboard have onboard video? Some systems will revert to onboard graphics if the add-on card configuration is changed.

Did you replace the card or remove it? Are there other graphics cards installed?

[grathomp]

No onboard video. Tried putting the video card back in. Tried a different video card. Tried new PSU.

[DrPop]

Really sounds like a motherboard thing. I would first take out all the RAM and then try with one stick at a time, see if that resets it. Also try leaving the board without any power to it - pull the battery as BOK said, as well as pulling the plug to the PSU and leave it sit like that a couple mins with NO RAM sticks in. Then put one stick in and see if it will boot.

Are there any other cards plugged into the motherboard beside the video card in question? If so, please remove them just in case it's a power draw issue, and then try to boot with only the video card plugged in.

[grathomp]

Thanks, Dr. Pop. I'll try that really quick and post the results.

[grathomp]

No other cards are installed at this point. I pulled the RAM and battery out for ~10 minutes and checked each RAM stick one by one to see if it would boot. Same problem persists... ugh.

So I've checked the RAM, PSU, tried different video cards, and reset the CMOS. Starting to seem like a motherboard issue. Anyone have any more suggestions?

[Duke of Buckingham]

Boot the computer on safe mode with network and see the generated dump log for us to know the error. I would try the first logical solution would be:
From the desktop right-click on My Computer.
Click the Properties option.
In the System Properties window click the Advanced tab.
In Advanced click the Settings button under Startup and Recovery.
In the Startup and Recovery window uncheck the Automatically restart check box.
Click Ok.

and next use system restore try one month before now.

So this three actions usually solve 99% of the problems else send us the error on the dump.

[DrPop]

Hi Duke - he can't even get it to post - nothing - so booting in safe mode is a ways away at this point.

@Grathomp - well, it's a long shot, but you could try reseating the CPU and see if that does anything. Sure seems like a motherboard error of some sort though...does the GPU work in another computer? Are you sure you have all the power hooked up correctly, like the 8 pin CPU power to the mobo? Sure sounds like it's drawing too much and/or there is a header with wrong pins shorting something out. Sorry I'm not much more help... :p

[Duke of Buckingham]

Hi Duke - he can't even get it to post - nothing - so booting in safe mode is a ways away at this point.

@Grathomp - well, it's a long shot, but you could try reseating the CPU and see if that does anything. Sure seems like a motherboard error of some sort though...does the GPU work in another computer? Are you sure you have all the power hooked up correctly, like the 8 pin CPU power to the mobo? Sure sounds like it's drawing too much and/or there is a header with wrong pins shorting something out. Sorry I'm not much more help... :p

Sorry I have not much time so I am fast reading and may have lost that, I thought that was not being tried yet, thanks DP.:o

[Slicker]

I had a similar problem and it turned out to be a bad hard drive. It was pulling so much power when it started up that the box would just beep and shutdown/restart over and over and over. Also had the same problem with an ATI GPU that went bad. As soon as I swapped the card from another PC, it worked fine. So, using trial and error, and hopefully a GPU you can borrow from someone else, disconnect each component one at a time and see whether it will post. It shouldn't have to boot, just post.

[grathomp]

I had a similar problem and it turned out to be a bad hard drive. It was pulling so much power when it started up that the box would just beep and shutdown/restart over and over and over. Also had the same problem with an ATI GPU that went bad. As soon as I swapped the card from another PC, it worked fine. So, using trial and error, and hopefully a GPU you can borrow from someone else, disconnect each component one at a time and see whether it will post. It shouldn't have to boot, just post.

Even with the SSD, HDD, bluray drive, etc. unplugged the pc stil won't post. Thanks for the help, guys. Think it's time for a new motherboard.

[DrPop]

Yeah, unfortunately it does sound like that. Any chance you have a warranty left on it? What kind of motherboard is it?

[grathomp]

No more warranty on it. It's close to 4 years old. 1156 socket ASUS P7P55 LX