Mobo Flickering On & Off

GSTARR · September 25, 2023

Hello,

New to troubleshooting...let me know if there's anything else I should add.

- 5820k @ 4.2 or 4.3...cant remember. But it was a conservative OC I thought, as everyone usually did 4.5

- X99 Deluxe 3.1 mobo

- 4070 dual (also a 1080ti on standby)

- Corsair HX1000 (also a Cooler Master V1000 on standby, but must be taken w a grain of salt bc it was replaced to fix occasional BSOD's during heavy gaming a year ago)

I was playing BF2042 for ~2.5 hrs. Game froze, no BSOD, straight to black screen with pc still on. I held the power button to force a shut off, and ever since then the pc will not only not post, but wont be on for more than a second before turning off, and turning on again, power cycling to oblivion.

I tried a different gpu, I tried a different psu with its own cords, I took the ram out, I hit clear cmos, I replaced the mobody battery with a new one (scratched it up a little bit but i dont think that it matters significantly in this scenario...), I tried taking the cpu out just to see if it would at least stay on but it still power cycles continuously.

However, a point to note here is if i clear cmos while the cpu is out it will stay on (no video bc gpu isnt connected...might try that after I post this), but there will be a soft zapping sound coming from the cpu socket, as if it was trying to provide power to a cpu that's not there...But im assuming its electricity making the sound, and for obvious reasons I dont inspect it for very long and power it off.

The mobo still has lights on, everything lights up as normal...just immediately shuts off before something tells it to turn on again.

Ive also inspected for burn areas, but see none.

I inspected the CPU socket, but it remains the same as it has for years. There has only ever been this one spot that catches my eye bc the prong's base looks different from the rest, but the prong seems centered...and I've had this thing for almost 4 years at this point. I dont think its worth pondering over.

Whats the next step before declaring it a goner? Sucks because I might as well save up for a year and get a new cpu+mobo+ram

Edit:

Forgot to mention, an hour after itinitially died, I was actually able to get into the bios again. Only thing of note was I saw the CPU was at 50C, and climbed into the 60's. I was relieved, as I thought it might be a cooling issue and needed new paste. I turned it off, purchased brand new paste, went to turn it on, and it has been power cycling ever since. Bizarre.