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Any pc advice?

Kamira

Kamira

Moon
Joined
Apr 19, 2021
Location
uk
Following a question I posted in chat regarding my dying / dead pc, I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas about how I can fix my PC.

Issue is: computer starts up more or less normally, maybe just a little slow but that could just be my imagination. After 1-2 minutes of being on, it restarts, without fail.

Fans are all still spinning, and the pc itself is relatively new and quite clean inside. Neat cable work too so shouldn't have air flow issues.

Restarts don't happen in safe mode, but event viewer logs only say error causing an unclean reboot, but don't specify what caused the problem.

So, here's what I've already tried:

Formatted hard drive and reinstalled windows to rule out software / malware issues. No effect.

Tested hard drive in my old pc, it still works and doesn't cause reboot.

Bought and replaced power supply. No effect.


Any ideas how to work out which part failed?
 
Sadly I already read that one and didn't have any luck with it. Most of what it talks about is software issues, which (unless I am understanding it wrong) reformatting my hard drive to delete everything and then completely reinstalling a fresh copy of windows would have been a catch-all for any of those issues.

I more or less know by this point that it is one of the components that has failed, I just have no idea how to work out which.
 
Disconnect everything that it is not necessary to boot up with, you can even remove all but one stick of ram.
 
It resets very soon after being turned on, before anything has had time to get hot. And as far as I can tell fans are normal speed.

As for peripherals, yes I did remove those too, forgot to mention that, sorry. Also tried disconnecting the reset switch on the case in case there was a fault there.

Hadn't thought about testing ram sticks individually so that's definitely a new one to try though!
 
Like I said if its not necessary for a boot, disconnect it.
 
Have you always had this issue ever since building the PC? Since you say its fairly new, so it could be some issue with building. Check to see if everything is plugged correctly, especially your RAM sticks, and GPU and PSU cables.

Did this happen more recently? If so, can you remember what the last thing you did before this problem started occurring? What happens after it restarts? Does it keep doing that every 2 minutes?
Also are there any weird noises you can hear while running the PC?
 
When I say fairly new, I mean I've had the PC about 10 months, and it always worked fine. It only just started very recently. And yes, it happens within two minutes every time I turn it on now.

Psu has been fully replaced after problem started, that was my second idea for what was wrong. Got a brand new one, so yes everything connected properly on that.

I did remove, check for dust under, and then re-place ram sticks, so confident that they are properly installed.

Everything sounds normal, fans have always been fairly quiet, and still are.

GPU is something else to double check then.

There had been a couple of windows updates a day or two before, which was why one of my first attempts at a fix was reinstalling windows.

No other downloads, programs, parts or peripherals changed as far as I'm aware.

I wasn't doing anything strenuous at the time it first happened, just watching you YouTube videos.
 
Updates!

So I tried forbidden fruit's suggestions first and double checked all cables were fully plugged in. They are. So unfortunately that didn't change anything.

Alisa I tried your suggestions next, removed my second ram stick, tested the first one on its own, and then repeated with the other stick. Still had the same restarts issue unfortunately.

However... I got lazy. Possibly to my own benefit.

I didn't bother to replace the case side panel between testing the sticks, so noticed something else for the first time.

My motherboard has a LED troubleshooting thingy. When I turn the pc on l, right away the VGA (graphic card) light comes on, then turns off a half second later. This is followed immediately by the boot (related to the boot drive, as I understand it) light doing the same thing. Both are off other than those initial flashing periods on start up.

I know for sure the drive works, it has been tested in another pc.

The pc runs as normal for those 1-2 minutes it always seems to survive, but right before the restart, the CPU light flashes - followed instantly by the restart.

I did Google what the lights mean of course, but all the videos and articles I found were about lights staying on continuously, not a brief flash.

So does anyone know:

1) is it normal for the LEDs to flash during startup?

2) if there are multiple lights showing at times, is it likely that the motherboard itself is the issue, or is it more likely that the CPU is the actual culprit as it is the one that lights up right before the restart?
 
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