Weird pc trouble

[Jooseu]

So this is a weird one... A while back I did a small cpu upgrade, I went from a 2500k to a 2600k, because the price was decent, and I knew I could probably sell the 2500k fairly quickly. But a few days after the upgrade, I started having some issues, whenever I was playing anything more demanding than minecraft, my pc would bluescreen in 15 min or less, with the error message "critical process died". I thought this may be an oc issue, and tried to run at lower speeds and even stock speeds, but the problem didn't go away.

I tried switching back to the 2500k, and the problem appeared on that as well (I did check the socket, and I don't see any damage, or thermal paste or anything like that, checked cpu pads as well, no issues there, looking good).

After a while the problem changed, and I started having trouble booting into windows, the only way to get in was to let my windows start the automatic repair, which would find nothing, and then click start into windows 10 in the options, or plug in a usb with the windows install files on it, and go to repair the pc, and do the same thing.

Quite soon after that the pc would actually crash as soon as the windows logo appeared on the screen, it would just power down. I tried a different hard drive, and it worked somewhat better, I was able to boot. BSOD issue still present though. 

Since the components are a bit old, and this was happening the night before black friday started, I decided to just order new parts, so I could have a working computer on my hands, and try to troubleshoot in peace, and sell the working parts. 

 

So now, I have tried to test everything I could think of, I have tried a different mobo, psu, ram, cpu, different combinations of all of these, and currently no combo of cpu, psu and ram is even posting, with or without the gpu in the system, fans are spinnig, but usb devices aren't getting any power.

I did manage to get it to post a couple times, but it was not reliably posting with any parts tbh, and might require some fiddling, like just booting it, shutting down, and trying again to get it to boot.

 

I'm running out of ideas here, and I find it really hard to believe that the whole system would be just bricked, so if anyone has any ideas here, I would really appreciate it.

 

If you think it might be useful info, here is the list of exact parts I've been using to test it all out:

CPU: i5 2500k, i7 2600k, i5 2500 (borrowed from school)

RAM: 16gb kit of 1600mhz hyperx ram, tested with memtest, 0 errors, as well as a 2gb stick of some random memory (also borrowed)

MOBO: Asus P8z68 v pro gen 3, some lenovo h61 mobo (borrowed)

PSU: Thermaltake Smart SE 630W, some random oem psu, about 200w of power, should be enough to boot the system without issues (borrowed)

GPU: Msi gtx 960, only thing confirmed working, since it works with the new parts without issues

[ELSknutson]

how are you testing the computer? In or out of the case also are you using any fan while testing. 

 

also are you using the same hard drive/SSD

 

[Jooseu]

7 minutes ago, ELSknutson said:

how are you testing the computer? In or out of the case also are you using any fan while testing. 

 

also are you using the same hard drive/SSD

 

I have a couple of case fans plugged in, which do spin, and a cpu heatsink without the fan plugged in, because it's broken, it's beefy enough for idle temps to be reasonable. Plugged into a spare monitor, and right now I'm just trying to get something to boot reliably. Using a laptop hard drive, that is working fine, I pulled it out of my laptop specifically to test the system with. Basically just trying different combinations of hardware to try and get anything to boot, and it just doesn't want to work.

[ELSknutson]

have you tried it out of the case with just  1 stick of ram PSU and and HDD plugged in? 

[Jooseu]

Yeah, I have tried without fans, and 1 stick of ram, also without usb devices. Not out of the case thought, since I don't really have anywhere to put just a mobo, it's in an old case just to be sure that it doesn't get any physical damage to it or anything like that, from say a cat walking over it.

[Jooseu]

4 minutes ago, ELSknutson said:

have you tried it out of the case with just  1 stick of ram PSU and and HDD plugged in? 

Yeah, I have tried without fans, and 1 stick of ram, also without usb devices. Not out of the case thought, since I don't really have anywhere to put just a mobo, it's in an old case just to be sure that it doesn't get any physical damage to it or anything like that, from say a cat walking over it. Really good at using forums, forgot to press the reply button the first time

Forgot to mention, but I did check that nothing in the case is shorting anything, all good there.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Jooseu

[ELSknutson]

you can test it on a cardboard box or something. I have had issues like this before and sometimes there can be io metal touching the board also ensure you are using the proper ram slots.

 

other things I have see is if your CPU cooler is to tight  your system may not boot you can try just holding the Cpu cooler on the chip to see if that works. 

[Jooseu]

1 minute ago, ELSknutson said:

you can test it on a cardboard box or something. I have had issues like this before and sometimes there can be io metal touching the board also ensure you are using the proper ram slots.

 

other things I have see is if your CPU cooler is to tight  your system may not boot you can try just holding the Cpu cooler on the chip to see if that works. 

I've done most testing by just lightly pressing the cpu cooler down on to the cpu, too lazy to screw it in every time, since the results haven't changed either way there. Also if you mean that the io shield would be shorting something it's not installed at all. And the mobo tray comes out of the case, and I've checked outside of the case that nothing is touching the bottom of the mobo either. And I did get the boards to post a couple times in the case, just not reliably.

[ELSknutson]

Have you tried putting the ram in other slots? 

have you tried other monitor cables/ cable types ie vga, DP, Hdmi?  

also are you ensuring that your PSU cables are all plugged in perfectly ( I had an issue once were the side pins on a 24 pin were not aligned perfectly and it caused all types of issues) 

is there any beep codes or debug led's 

 

[Jooseu]

2 minutes ago, ELSknutson said:

Have you tried putting the ram in other slots? 

have you tried other monitor cables/ cable types ie vga, DP, Hdmi?  

also are you ensuring that your PSU cables are all plugged in perfectly ( I had an issue once were the side pins on a 24 pin were not aligned perfectly and it caused all types of issues) 

is there any beep codes or debug led's 

 

Yeah, I've tried with a dedicated gpu, as well as integrated, and with a hdmi and dvi connection, and I have tried every cable to make sure it's in properly, and it's not even giving me any beep codes, the borrowed mobo has a speaker, and I tested by trying to boot with no ram, and it gave me a beep code then, so it's working, and I have tried different stick in different slots on both mobos.

The asus board has a led for boot device which does come on, in some situations, but I didn't really find anything useful on forums or in the manual, and it seems to be caused by something else to be honest, since the windows install stick is working fine, as well as the hard drive, and I did see the hard drive get recognized with the same psu and sata cable on the other mobo, when it did post. I have also tried multiple sata ports on both, no change.

[ELSknutson]

Thats all I can think of ATM I guess double check your connections an other components is the only other things I can think of. 

[Jooseu]

2 minutes ago, ELSknutson said:

Thats all I can think of ATM I guess double check your connections an other components is the only other things I can think of. 

Yeah, this is a real head scratcher, I honestly am starting to think that the thermaltake psu has just started to nuke components, which seems highly unlikely, since it seems to be working fine, and was working fine before the cpu upgrade. And even if the i7 is dead, I doubt it could have broken anything else, it would just not work properly.

[ELSknutson]

to me it seems like a display problem especially if the fans spin and your not getting beep codes. 

[Jooseu]

8 minutes ago, ELSknutson said:

to me it seems like a display problem especially if the fans spin and your not getting beep codes. 

It does seem like it, but the display I'm using is working fine, it does show a signal sometimes, and I've tried different cables, as well as both a dedicated and the integrated gpu, so I don't think so. Not impossible, just unlikely, will have to test with another monitor once I have the energy to start testing again.

[Brent744]

Complete the following...

 

1. Unplug absolutely everything from the tower (usb, monitor, keyboard, etc.)

2. Hold power button for 30 second (to discharge any remaining power), wait 5 then hold another 30.

3. Clear CMOS, Note if steps 1 and 2 were not completed correctly, there is no guarantee the cmos was cleared.

4. Plug in only the basics, monitor, mouse and keyboard. Ensure you only have 1 stick of RAM plugged into DIMM slot 1.

5. Attempt to power on the tower, boot right into the BIOS.

6. Select "Load Optimized Defaults". This will revert any overclocking settings but its important to do so when troubleshooting.

7. Save and reboot. See if it boots to Windows.

8. If you are successful in booting to Windows, I recommend you either "Reset" Windows or completely wipe and reinstall Windows on the drive.

 

Let me know if this helps and good luck.

[Jooseu]

1 minute ago, Brent744 said:

Complete the following...

 

1. Unplug absolutely everything from the tower (usb, monitor, keyboard, etc.)

2. Hold power button for 30 second (to discharge any remaining power), wait 5 then hold another 30.

3. Clear CMOS, Note if steps 1 and 2 were not completed correctly, there is no guarantee the cmos was cleared.

4. Plug in only the basics, monitor, mouse and keyboard. Ensure you only have 1 stick of RAM plugged into DIMM slot 1.

5. Attempt to power on the tower, boot right into the BIOS.

6. Select "Load Optimized Defaults". This will revert any overclocking settings but its important to do so when troubleshooting.

7. Save and reboot. See if it boots to Windows.

8. If you are successful in booting to Windows, I recommend you either "Reset" Windows or completely wipe and reinstall Windows on the drive.

 

Let me know if this helps and good luck.

I already have new parts, and the old c drive is in my tower currently, as a game drive, I tested it and smart status is good, and the speeds seem good and I have no issues. But I will try to clear the cmos as well, have only done so on the asus board, and it might also be the cmos battery on the one I borrowed is just dead, who knows.