Sata Power causes my PC to not boot after GPU swap.

[SgtBigmac]

Yes, you read the title correctly.
I have just purchased an ASUS RTX 3070 KO OC to replace my MSI GTX 1060 Armor. After swapping the cards, my pc wouldn't boot. After some hours of trouble shooting, re-seating everything, I was finally able to get my system to POST and enter BIOS after unplugging all my SATA power connectors, which including 3 case fans, and 1 HDD. 

My specs:
MOBO:  ASUS ROG Strix X470-F Gaming   bios version 4017
CPU: Ryzen 7 2700 3.2ghz
GPU: old MSI GTX 1060 Armor 6gb  new  ASUS RTX 3070 KO OC
RAM: TridntZ RGB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000mhz
PSU: Thermaltake Smart Pro RGB 750W
M.2: Samsung 970 Pro 512GB primary boot drive
HDD: WD Blue 1TB Storage

Now that I am able to get into the bios, I can see that my M.2 SSD is being detected as a main boot device but it will not boot to windows. It just says insert a bootable device and press any key to continue.
As the title says, if I attempt to plug in my sata hdd power connector, or even just a sata power connector to my case fan, the system will not boot at all, only a quick flash from the RGB and that's it.

Things I have tried to fix the problem:
using another psu with a different set of power cables
clearing the cmos
reseating the gpu, multiple times
reseating every single power cable, and trying multiple slots on the psu
reseating ram and changing which lanes and number of sticks I used.
flashing the bios to the newest version but ASUS ezflash3 says "selected file is not a proper BIOS" and I downloaded the proper bios.cap file from ASUS' website
i even tried putting the old card back in to no avail.

And it gets worse; I tried putting my old 1060 into my girlfriends rig as an upgrade from her 960, and the same damn thing happened.  SATA power connectors caused it to not boot, only flash rgb for a split second.
Luckily I was able to get her computer to boot into windows again after tinkering with bios settings, but now her 512gb 2.5 inch SSD isnt being detected.

Anybody else ever have an issue like this? I haven't seen or heard anything like this. I have built multiple gaming rigs before and this is the first time ever having an issue.

[AbydosOne]

5 minutes ago, SgtBigmac said:

Thermaltake Smart Pro RGB 750W

Can you confirm the modular cables you're using were the ones included with the PSU?

[-rascal-]

What fans + case do you have?

 

Why are you powering your case fans with a SATA power connections?

They can get power directly from the 3-pin / 4-pin fan header on the motherboard.

 

These are RGB / ARGB fans, correct?

The RGB lighting and control should be separate from actually fan power + control...via the RGB / ARGB header (or something alike).

 

[SgtBigmac]

1 minute ago, -rascal- said:

What fans + case do you have?

Why are you powering your case fans with a SATA power connections?

They can get power directly from the 3-pin / 4-pin fan header on the motherboard.

 

Im using a Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition case. It has a built in RGB fan controller that so happens to use sata power to operate.
I could plug the 3pin fans directly into the headers to avoid using the sata power, but theres still the issue of not being able to use a HDD
 

3 minutes ago, AbydosOne said:

Can you confirm the modular cables you're using were the ones included with the PSU?

Fairly cerain one of the 8-pin GPU power connectors came from a different PSU since the RTX needed a second 8pin power cable, otherwise, they are all original connectors and were working fine for the last 2 years of use with the GTX 1060

[Helpful Tech Witch]

30 minutes ago, SgtBigmac said:

Fairly cerain one of the 8-pin GPU power connectors came from a different PSU since the RTX needed a second 8pin power cable, otherwise, they are all original connectors and were working fine for the last 2 years of use with the GTX 1060

Don't do this. A good chuncb of the time a psu with modulating cables will ahve a completely new pin out for the cables, and basically no other psu will match the pinouts

[SgtBigmac]

1 hour ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Don't do this. A good chuncb of the time a psu with modulating cables will ahve a completely new pin out for the cables, and basically no other psu will match the pinouts

Would it be worth investing in another power supply with enough pcie cables for the 3070 then? Or is there something else I can try?

[-rascal-]

4 hours ago, SgtBigmac said:

Im using a Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition case. It has a built in RGB fan controller that so happens to use sata power to operate.
I could plug the 3pin fans directly into the headers to avoid using the sata power, but theres still the issue of not being able to use a HDD
 

Fairly cerain one of the 8-pin GPU power connectors came from a different PSU since the RTX needed a second 8pin power cable, otherwise, they are all original connectors and were working fine for the last 2 years of use with the GTX 1060

 

THAT is a concern.

You DO NOT use the modular cables belonging to another PSU, because the pin-out on the PSU side can/will vary.

You accidentally swap what is supposed to be a 12V wire with a Ground, things can die.

Hopefully this is not the case, but for all we know, you might've already damaged either the RTX 3070, motherboard, or PSU.

 

That Thermaltake PSU should have 4x PCI-E 6+2 pin power connections....

[SgtBigmac]

Good news!

I got both machines running, graphics drivers installed, and all drives detected!

I used a non modular power supply for my main rig and used a spare power supply that I knew had the right power cables belonging to it on my girlfriends rig. 

They need a big warning label not to use cables from other PSUs lol. Very stressful and nearly expensive lesson to learn! Thank god for over current protection on the power supplies I was attempting to use.