• Reboot loop before mobo splashscreen, appears to work intermittently
    2 replies, posted
Hi, Today I tried turning on my computer and it did its normal whir up of the fans and HDD's, the lights went on etc. Just before the time it would usually hit the mobo splashscreen it just shuts itself off (nothing has displayed on the screen at all), waits a couple of seconds, then turns itself back on again and does the same thing over and over. So I unplug it for a while, plug it back in and it works. Then I reboot to see if its consistent - it doesn't work. I open up the computer and first of all clean out some dust with canned air. I unplug the oldest stuff, namely a 7 year old Seagate Barracuda and a wireless network card (not in use) of a similar age - no difference. I know these things are unlikely to cause a problem at this stage but it is possible - thought I'd eliminate them first. I have 2 sticks of RAM, each is 8GB. I start by removing one - still doesn't work. I remove the second and put the first back in where I got it - it works. So I'm now thinking "it's the second RAM stick I took out". I reboot it multiple times and it works fine every time. I then take the stick which is working and put it in the slot of the one I assumed was not working (to try and rule out the slot) - works fine. So I'm thinking "let's just make sure it's that RAM stick" so I pop it in the free slot (the one where the now working one was originally). I turn it on multiple times, works every time. WTF. The only thing I've done here is basically swap the RAM sticks so they sit in different ports - but for all I know it might just do the reboot loop again next time I try and switch it on (I'm using it now to post this, no problems so far) I never get BSODs, freezes, reboots, or anything of the sort. Lately with the summer temps my PC has run a little hotter (my i7 3770 reached 70C and my 6870 reached 90C while gaming for several hours) but it's been starting and running reliably up until today when it's done this. I have a good PSU which has run fine for a couple of years (Cooler Master GX 550W). I'm posting to basically ask - if it happens again, what should I try first?
Updating the motherboard firmware would be my first thing to try.
[QUOTE=Naelstrom;45181259]Updating the motherboard firmware would be my first thing to try.[/QUOTE] Hmm, I could do that while it is POSTing, but it's been working ok for ~2 years which made me think it must be a HW problem. The setup of the HW has not changed so I dunno why the firmware would suddenly stop working.
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