Problems since Nov 2009

[Harlon]

new member 1st post here.

A custom PC i started putting together in november last year still isnt any closer to being finished after spending almost triple the amount it should have cost me.
I have read the sticky My PC wont start and as far as i know ive tried all the suggestions there which is why im posting here.

System is

3 months of problems when will it end.
Ill start at the begining to see if some1 can see a pattern or something.

25th Nov 2009 i decided to build myself a whole new system as mine was getting out of date and took out the optical drive as i assumed i could still use that.

What i ended up with was

case : Antec 900 Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
hdd: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache
Optical: Pioneer DVR-212DBK
MoBo: MSI P55-GD65 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3
CPU: Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156)
cpu fan: Akasa AK-968 X4
graphics: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4890 1024MB GDDR5
RAM: Corsair Dominator 4GB DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C8)
psu: Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply

The latest problem im having is that the system refuses to even start i get about 2 seconds of power before switching off.

I dismantled the system into individual components and then placed the Mobo on its box, i connected the PSU 24pin and 8 pin ATX connecters and bridged the power connection with a screwdriver (to see if it was the switch on the case)
When i do this i get power for about 2 seconds and then it turns off but what is different is that after the power goes off the mobo starts up again and switches off again and this repeats endlessly until i turn off the power on the back of the PSU.

SO to clarify when all i have is a PSU connected to a Mobo and nothing else the power cycles on off on off on off etc every 2-3 seconds.

Due to various issues i have had with this build, i have had parts replaced left right and centre.
Currently this is the state of play with the parts

Mobo: This is the 3rd!!! mobo im trying (all the same model x58a-ud3r)
this one arrived in the post on saturday the 13th march
PSU: im on my 2nd psu again both have been the TX750 and the psu i have is less than a week old

I wont go into details unless asked to but i will say that out of the other parts i own i feel ive gone beyond extreem lengths to test them.
Im now a member of no less than 9 forums where ive been posting up the problems for help and so far no luck.

I am at my wits end and am BEGGING for help.

[rch1231]

Hello,

Ok without looking at it here is what I can think of. The first thing I can think of is to check the power switch and reset switch connections from the front panel and make sure they are on the right pair of pins. Next, did you ever run the CPU without a heat-sink and did you put the conductive paste between the heat-sink and the CPU? If not you may have toasted the CPU.
Next check to make sure the CMOS jumper and battery are in correctly (sometimes the factory sets the CMOS to clear or tapes the battery to prevent draining the battery till you use it. Next disconnect/remove every thing (hard drives, CD ROM, USB ports, remove any expansion cards) but the speaker and the video and see if it boots without them. Lastly if you are using IDE drives with the ribbon cable make sure that it is right side up on both ends. Many systems will not boot with the cable upside down.

[caperjack]

when you tried running it from inside the mb box ,did you have ram in it ,if so try without ram. also check your power source, are you plugging the psu into a power bar or extension of any kind.
also are you using any kind of adapter from video to monitor like vga to dvi or something

[Harlon]

@rch1231
I doubt it was the power switch as it was working fine before but even IF it is that its not going to be just that because ive bench tested the system as well so it wont be the front pannel connections

Just for future reference i belive i am conecting the fpannel connections the right way round the white wire should attach to the negative pin am i right?

I have never powered the system up without the heatsink installed and yes i have applied thermal paste between the cpu and heatsink.

This mobo doesnt have a CMOS jumper (as far as i can see) it has a Clr_CMOS button amongst the back pannel connections and the battery does not have any tape behind it either.
http://img.directcanada.com/images/GIGABYTE/GA-X58A-UD3R/GA-X58A-UD3R_1.jpg

AS i mentioned earlier i already did removed everything else from the system(even taking the mobo out of the case to bench test) so
Results from bench tests

Mobo+RAM+CPU+GPU
Same as before turns on for 2 seconds before turning off
Mobo+RAM(1 stick)+CPU
Still the same turns on for 2 seconds
Mobo+CPU
once again no difference i get 2 seconds of power
Mobo on its own
A slight difference here is that it will "cycle" the power what i mean is that it will power on for 2 secs then turn off then turn on then off on off on off and will continue doing that indefinately until i turn off the power from the power supply.

You mention leaving the speaker connected and by that i assume you intend for me to listen for the POST beeps.

Again the hard drives arnt the problem as they are not connected for the bench testing and for future reference they are SATA II and not IDE

@ caperjack
with regard to the ram question you had look at the bench test results above.

At the moment yes i am working from a power extention, as i have more room to work and better light source to work with, i assume from this question that its probably best i find a way of using mains power directly instead of from an extension lead

I am planning to be using a DVI to VGA adapter so it will look like

Tower>DVI-VGA adapter>VGA cable>monitor

[caperjack]

@rch1231
@ caperjack
with regard to the ram question you had look at the bench test results above.

ok

i assume from this question that its probably best i find a way of using mains power directly instead of from an extension lead

after 3 mnts anything is worth a try

I am planning to be using a DVI to VGA adapter so it will look like

i mention that because i just assumed you tried it out of the tower with it hooked to a monitor ,sorry for assuming , but i have i seen computer not boot because of dvi to vga adapter to a lcd monitor

[Harlon]

Got any suggestions as to what i should do?

[caperjack]

not ,sure ,but have you tried different ram, are you using 2x2gig or 4x 1 gig sticks .don't see you ram ram in msi list of tested ram
http://www.msi.com/uploads/test_report/TR10_1846.pdf

your ram=
RAM: Corsair Dominator 4GB DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C8)

im no expert so just guessing ,1600mhz is overclocked ram,am i correct .
maybe you should try a stick of pc38500 -1066mhz

check your manual ,should have come with the board ,for correct ram settings ,maybe bios setting wrong and clearing it may help but only following manual instructions on how to clear or change to defaults

[caperjack]

looking a bit more i see nice board you have ,in my dreams maybe ,one button overclocking ,any chance it needs to be started in regular speed first !weird thoughts i know
http://event.msi.com/mb/xtreme_speed/index.html

[Harlon]

Argh i hate not having edit buttons i didnt realise the system specs i posted were wrong

the core i5 machine was what i 1st had in november but that had other problems as well so i gave up with that and replaced it with this

case : Antec 900 Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
hdd: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache
Optical: Pioneer DVR-212DBK
MoBo: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366)
Cpu fan: Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir
graphics: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4890 1024MB GDDR5
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Triple Channel (TR3X6G1333C9)
psu: Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply

ALL the problems i have posted here asking about are to do with that setup please ignore the i5 component list

[Harlon]

SO yeah the system isnt being overclocked at all its all straight out of box i havnt been able to get to the bios to overclock

[mechbas]

To throw my hat in.
I know it seems dumb but had a machine once that would not boot up. The solution that did not seem all the obvious at the time was that the board was NOT grounded to the PSU via the case. At the time common was a green ground wire from the PSU that wasn't connected with the casing at the front main power switch. For you, just because the PSU connector is connected to the system board does NOT mean that you have a proper ground connection between the system board and the PSU. Like I noted, seems really dumb, however, never had another boot problem with the system till some butt rewrote my bios online which at the time wasn't supposed to be possible either.

[Harlon]

To throw my hat in.
I know it seems dumb but had a machine once that would not boot up. The solution that did not seem all the obvious at the time was that the board was NOT grounded to the PSU via the case. At the time common was a green ground wire from the PSU that wasn't connected with the casing at the front main power switch. For you, just because the PSU connector is connected to the system board does NOT mean that you have a proper ground connection between the system board and the PSU. Like I noted, seems really dumb, however, never had another boot problem with the system till some butt rewrote my bios online which at the time wasn't supposed to be possible either.

Unfortunately im not sure what it is i am to take from that and do to?

[mechbas]

No ground connection means NO circuit. No circuit means NO boot.

[caperjack]

At the time common was a green ground wire from the PSU that wasn't connected with the casing at the front main power switch

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
don't think i seen green ground wire since the AT psu that had the switch wired right to the psu.

also i build/work on computer almost daily,and have been running them out side the tower for yrs now ,no problem

[mechbas]

MSI - Micro Star International's technical (email) support page gives a HTTP 404 error, i.e. "Webpage cannot be found" strikes me as very suspicious. Their 800 number is only for laptops. Apparently, they don't have an easy answer either.
You can try the email support link yourself > http://us.msi.com/msiforms/c_problem_desc_form2.asp

I would consider taking the hardware back to the store for a different OEM.