afraid mobo might be dying?

[Haveneumann]

Hi Guys,

Hoping you can help me out. A little confused as to whether my RAM or my mobo is going bellyside up ...

On wednesday i was using my computer and all was working as it should. didn't do much other than look up some sports results and such. When i tried turning on my computer last night the fans just started running, on every single component - graphics card included - but it didn't boot up. My monitor had no signal as well.. I first tried to check whether it was a problem with my monitor or my recently purchased GTX 980 TI - no problem there it seemed. So i started googling a bit and found this dude who had RAM problems. I currently have 16 GB of ram in 4 slots. i tried removing 2 blocks and suddenly my comptuter booted up. I figured it might be a problem with those 2 blocks of RAM but i tried fiddling with it and checked out all 4 blocks of RAM in different combinations. Whenever i only use 2 or 3 of the 4 blocks of RAM the computers starts up fine albeit at times it's running extremly slow. There's no consistent pattern - it seems weird... After having spent most of my night toying around with possible scenarios i inserted all 4 blocks of RAM in my case and went to bed. This morning i tried turning it on, just to see if it could have been dust in one or two of the slots or whatever other odd reason there could be and now it just boots for 2 seconds - then restarts - boots for 2 seconds - restarts etc etc....


Does anyone know what the F is wrong with my computer? : )

I have the following specs:

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 rev. 1.0
Intel I-7 3770K
16 GM of ram. 8 GB Kingston HyperX limited edition and 8 GB Kingston HyperX Genesis - they have been running simultaneously for 18 months with no problems.
Gigabyte GTX 980TI G1 gaming 6GB
Corsair 750 W PSU
1x 120 GB intel SSD
1x 120 GB Corsair SSD
1x 500 GB Samsung SSD

Thanks.

 

[jboydgolfer]

are You able to run Memtest on the working RAM? Personally I wouldn't mix RAM, but if it doesn't bother the machine , who am i to say otherwise. it SOUNDS like a PSU symptom. Do You by chance have another PSU to try??

I would recommend, pulling the 980ti... and seeing if THAT allows for a proper boot... swapping PSU for another known working unit is a good way of crossing off possible issues/causes.....testing RAM with memtest cant hurt.

Also, post any BSODS error reports, etc. might help with resolution.

 

[Haveneumann]

are You able to run Memtest on the working RAM? Personally I wouldn't mix RAM, but if it doesn't bother the machine , who am i to say otherwise. it SOUNDS like a PSU symptom. Do You by chance have another PSU to try??

I would recommend, pulling the 980ti... and seeing if THAT allows for a proper boot... swapping PSU for another known working unit is a good way of crossing off possible issues/causes.....testing RAM with memtest cant hurt.

Also, post any BSODS error reports, etc. might help with resolution.

RAM are running at same speeds and all specifications are identical except for the name...

I don't know if the graphics card is the problem. i got that last week and it has been working fine. Actually everything has been running perfectly up until yesterday. My mobo is 4 years old by now, so is there a chance it's just simply giving up?
When i was checking if the monitor/graphics card was the problem, i disconnected the graphics card entirely and the computer still wouldn't boot. The only way i can get it to boot is to remove some of the ram blocks..

I have an older psu lying around somewhere but it's not capable of handling all the components..

 

[sneekypeet]

Sounds like voltage to me. Remember parts do wear a bit over time, and for something like memory, even the slightest amount under what it needs will drop channels.

I would suggest trying one of three things one at a time and see what shakes.
Add a bit more CPU volts.... It is possible that it needs a little love.
Add a bit more memory volts...or
Add a touch to the QPI/VTT.

In my past experience with Gigabyte boards, default voltage works fine for the basic setups, but once you added more memory or try tweaking things, they almost demand more voltage to function properly. Even more as it ages.

 

[Haveneumann]

Sounds like voltage to me. Remember parts do wear a bit over time, and for something like memory, even the slightest amount under what it needs will drop channels.

I would suggest trying one of three things one at a time and see what shakes.
Add a bit more CPU volts.... It is possible that it needs a little love.
Add a bit more memory volts...or
Add a touch to the QPI/VTT.

In my past experience with Gigabyte boards, default voltage works fine for the basic setups, but once you added more memory or try tweaking things, they almost demand more voltage to function properly. Even more as it ages.

So are you saying that it's my psu that's not working properly or the mobo? Not 100% about what you mean... My psu is rather new - bought it under a year ago... So hope that's still working proper!

I used this "opportunity" to persuade the wife to let me buy a new mobo and a new cpu, so tonight I'm going to completely disassemble my rig and re-build it with new mobo and cpu..

Hopefully that should let me start fresh so to speak...

 

[sneekypeet]

I never said the PSU was faulty, I said things can and will wear over time. Thing is that there are a lot of components in the voltage regulation, and a thing called capacitor aging. Ask anyone who overclocks their parts, it will run stable for a certain period of time, and eventually will become unstable for the same reasoning. Usually a minor adjustment to the right voltage will bring stability back.

If you just want to throw money at the problem and upgrade, that is your call.

 

[met]

i can say i have never had to replace a MB in a computer. hundreds, and not a couple hundred short of the 4 digit mark. power supplys, video cards, memory, HD, DVD, fans on heat sinks. never a motherboard, and have fried parts and still ran, although didnt KEEP running it; for safety reasons.and they are so cheap!

its a drag, but start from scratch, disconnect it all, POST MB, insert mem, get into bios, HD, boot, (on board vid?) and start it all, you will find it.

i had to pull mine apart to put a bracket behind the MB for a liquid cooler, luckily no probs, but anything can happen, and if you are not grounded?!

looked up your card, your PSU W is plenty. if cables connect to the PSU triple check.

disconnect all USB devices, if any. and the obvious, try them all in another PC if at all possible, even just a few pieces if you can.
oh and get your self an actually mechanical HD to backup unless you have an external one. SSD's are infamous for just going, and you WONT get it back! corps and businesses (the ones with intelligent IT pros) are still using TAPE or mechanical.

nice thing about steam, all is saved; or at least that's how i believe it to be. since my games are all i care about on my PC, for the most part.

thats where i start. and first chance once you are in? disable virus detector.