Computer turns on, off, then back on

[sebby490]

Hi, this is my pc:

 

MOTHERBOARD:            GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3         

RAM:                G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)      

CPU:                AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo)                  

STORAGE:            Seagate ST1000DX001 1TB Desktop Solid State Hybrid Drive                        

CASE:                Corsair Obsidian 750D                                                                

VIDEO CARD:         XFX Double D R9-280X-TDFD Radeon R9 280X 3GB 384-bit                            

OP:                    Windows 7 64 bit                                                                                                              

POWER SUPPLY:       Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-750 750W                 

CPU COOLER:            Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO                                                            

                                                           

Over the past half of a year or so my computer, (when ever I turned it on), has started up for a second or two only to turn off, then to turn back on and then stay on. I've always ignored this problem because it always sounded like my power supply was possibly the problem but after this happening one morning and then getting a blue screen saying that my computer couldn't boot correctly, it started to scare the crap out of me. But, right after it blue screened I tried to turn it back on and it did boot the second time,(with the normal on, off, and on). So, hoping that is was a fluke I kinda ignored it and then turned off my computer to go to school. Only to get home and have it blue screen again. Now, I'm writing this hoping that someone will help me. I've spent just about all of my money on my computer and to have it completely brake would be really, really, really, really, really, really suck. I have no idea if it's a grounding issue or a hardware issue or a software issue. Also, I haven't changed my cpu or have tried running the system outside of the case yet, (as I have no idea if it will change anything). Any advice that would help me would really be appreciated, have a good day

[nothingspecial]

Sounds like a power supply issue - everything needs more power when it boots, so it sounds like it isn't getting enough juice from cold, clicking over, then getting enough to start.

 

From what I've heard those Rosewill units are pretty unreliable. I'd always go for something from Corsair, Silverstone or BeQuiet.

[LessThanSatisfactory]

try using a different PSU, it doesn't even have to be as high a wattage.

[LogicalDrm]

The power on, power off, power on cycle is usually PSUs startup selftest which happens after changing clocks or cold boot (PSU switch flipped). Since its been constant I also think there might be some problem with PSU.

[Sihastru]

It's not a PSU issue, it's a motherboard behavior. Your PSU is FINE!

 

Most of the time it's related to memory settings. On cold boots, the motherboard does a RAM TRAINING test. It tries the XMP or JEDEC with optimal settings, no skews, no sizzling bits, no nothing. It then adjusts all the subtimings and subsettings and when it's satisfied it does a semi-warm boot. Shuts down and starts up again with the RAM settings locked. This is happening before POST information is displayed on the screen.

 

It does this because RAM has a strange behavior over time (a type of degradation) and it needs to relax some obscure settings. When the computer cold boots, it will do a NORMAL boot sequence instead of the QUICK boot sequence and this means retesting the RAM.

 

Before you ask, NO, this does not mean your RAM is defective. It's just something BIOSes had implemented a few years ago. Some boards will adjust these obscure settings, some will not.

[sebby490]

Huh, so it is my RAM then... If I was to use different RAM do you think it would stop? (I'm not going to go buy new RAM but it would be a nice thing to know) Also since it has to do with my bios and RAM do you think that there is a option in my bios to change this?

[RainColt]

Huh, so it is my RAM then... If I was to use different RAM do you think it would stop? (I'm not going to go buy new RAM but it would be a nice thing to know) Also since it has to do with my bios and RAM do you think that there is a option in my bios to change this?

That is essentially what he is saying, your RAM is fine but if it's what he is suggesting than maybe it you can tinker with it also maybe it's been addressed in a later bios update.

[legopc]

Huh, so it is my RAM then... If I was to use different RAM do you think it would stop? (I'm not going to go buy new RAM but it would be a nice thing to know) Also since it has to do with my bios and RAM do you think that there is a option in my bios to change this?

it can be the psu OR the memory but i would try cleaning cmos and reseating memory and when that doesnt work try one stick at a time and if that still doesnt work try loaning a cheap stick and if it still doesnt work its probably the psu fault BUT then there is also the issue mobo but i doubt that

i think @LoGiCalDrm 's explenaition made sense and that looks like the cause to me 

[Sihastru]

There's no way to be sure if you change the RAM that it will stop doing this, not until you actually do it. And if you want to tinker with the current RAM settings... it depends on how many memory settings your motherboard exposes inside the BIOS. But the sheer number of settings usually required to make this go away is not worth the effort. You have to test almost each setting and make sure that your system is stable. I would just leave it like it is now, it shouldn't harm your system.

 

One way to fix it is to revert all Advanced settings to their default value and do not enable XMP. At 1066/1333 MHz for the memory, whichever the system considers the default, this should not happen. But you usually want the memory to run as high as possible with an AMD CPU, as it's performance can be affected. With Intel CPUs the memory speed usually makes very little difference.

 

The power on, power off, power on cycle is usually PSUs startup selftest which happens after changing clocks or cold boot (PSU switch flipped). Since its been constant I also think there might be some problem with PSU.

 

i think @LoGiCalDrm 's explenaition made sense and that looks like the cause to me 

 

It can't be the PSU performing a self test because if a PSU cuts power in the middle of the POST process then that will trigger the BIOS overclock protection watchdog. The motherboard will interpret that as a FAILED OVERCLOCK and it will revert to default BIOS settings and ask you to "Press F1 to recover your BIOS settings" and so on...

Edited April 17, 2014 by Sihastru

[bbqsauce]

It should be the motherboard bios. what sahastru said.

I have the same board and my system does the same thing. Powers on, fans spin, leds light up no post yet, powers off then powers on and proceeds to post.