Mystery PC powers on and off, repeatedly

[JustInspired]

Had a very similar issue recently with an Asus board power cycling for no apparent reason. Turned out to be the RAM timing and frequency wasn't being detected properly and after setting it manually it ran like a dream.

 

[AndyM]

I'd try building the system out of the case. Just place the board on your work bench, and add the components from there.

I've had systems before that absolutely needed those little washers between the board mounting screws, and the board itself. If it behaves like it should, then it's an earthing issue.

Only a suggestion, but what do you have to lose?

Andy.

 

[mdopro1]

SUCCESS!!!

I finally got it all working and culprit was...... the memory

Yeah but early on he says "I replaced the CPU, same result."

That's because memory was actually killing these boards. So testing with a different CPU didn't change anything since the board was already fried. CPU is fine.

Had a very similar issue recently with an Asus board power cycling for no apparent reason. Turned out to be the RAM timing and frequency wasn't being detected properly and after setting it manually it ran like a dream.

There you go, RAM!!!!

It's always the ram, yet I couldn't figure it out because even once this ram touches the board it's game over. So testing with test ram didn't do anything leading me to believe it's something else, every single time.

I didn't kill the fourth board though. I did use the same ram for a moment and that's when it powered off/on but I immediately turned it off and replaced memory. At this time there was nothing else in the system other than the CPU so memory was starting to prove bad. Behold, I installed my test memory and all worked fine. Even installed windows 7 and hours later still working fine. I have since then installed all components except the 3.5 inch bay because I'm scared of that thing and still is working like a charm.

So lesson is, sometimes memory can have enough influence to kill a board or three. However, as you can see things were misleading me. Also verified, the other three boards are indeed dead. So this haunted memory is out of the box and never going into another machine. I don't even want to RMA it if it's a compatibility issue. I'll just eat the loss and be happy that this computer is gone and I can finally repair 20 other machines that have queued up.

Thanks all for trying to help, information was all that I had but it just wasn't enough info to pinpoint the culprit.

 

[compnet]

Ram killing boards? not likely.. More likely you got confused, ruled ram out early, and sent back a bunch of good boards.

 

[NYJimbo]

Ram killing boards? not likely.. More likely you got confused, ruled ram out early, and sent back a bunch of good boards.

+1 ... and thats all I am gonna say.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Ram killing boards? not likely.. More likely you got confused, ruled ram out early, and sent back a bunch of good boards.

Yes because didn't he say he had already replaced memory?

Crap like this is why I don't build PCs. I let Equus build them for me. They can test what setups work before hand and have the part stocks on hand to switch out should a system fail on burn in.

Anyone that white boxes there own systems is a fool because at some point you'll take it in the teeth.

 

[mdopro1]

Ram killing boards? not likely.. More likely you got confused, ruled ram out early, and sent back a bunch of good boards.

I still have other three boards and re-tested them with known good test memory. They are all power cycling.

 

[Adept PC Repair]

Tried cmos resets on them all? Possible the spd was set incorrectly on the ram forcing some odd timings to be set in bios.

I can't see that ram has killed the boards either to be honest

 

[Wheelie]

... To my surprise the client is agreeing to all this, obviously his bill has gone up dramatically ...

You're going to charge him more for a problem you couldn't fix?

And trust me, I'm not saying you are a bad tech or anything. We've all had gremlins like this at one time or another that have absolutely tested everything we have (financially and emotionally). But now that the dust has settled are you still charging him more?

.