Crazy Shutdown Restart Bootloop. My Cat did it?

[craydawg]

So everything started last Saturday when I swapped my setup over to my new Corsair 750d I had some issues getting it started at first because I wasn't hooking the front panel up correctly. (I had the arrows going to the positive pins) after I got that switched around it started running again with no issues until last night. 

I was working in Premiere and After Effects when the computer suddenly shut off, no sequence just straight to black. Then it immediately restarted itself and continued working just fine 4+ more hrs of editing. Today when I got home to continue my video work I woke the system up and before I could open anything it did the same thing that it did last night, except this time it wouldn't wouldn't stay on. It would start up, get into Windows then shut off again, start up load up turn off. On some cycles of on off it would try to run the Disk Check for my OS drive but it would shut itself off in the middle of that and try to run again. 

After a couple rounds of this I power cycled it, no luck. 

Pulled the RAM (all but 1 DIMM), no luck.

Checked all my connections twice, no luck.

Temps all stable. 

I was able to have it run in safe mode with no issues. From there I tried to research the issue but not much luck. I turned it off again and checked everything out one more time. Tried it again with no luck again. When it was off I hit the switch on my GPU which I believe is a dual BIOS switch? Anyways I hit that for the heck of it, tried it. Now I'm back in normal mode. Everything is fine for now. Could that have been it? I did notice that my cat was rubbing on my case at the time of both incidents and I do have plugged in USB cables for dumping footage could she have static'd one? There was a few hours from me browsing forums to actually trying the switch. Could thing have 'reset'? It doesn't make any sense and it's got me twitchy. 

I would to make sure I have fixed this so it doesn't turn into something worse down the road. 

Any input is appreciated. Sorry for the novel. 

System Specs

Win 7 Pro
Corsair 750D
FX-8350
990-FXA-UD3
MSI Gaming R9 270x
Kingston Beast 16gb 1600hz
HX850
SV300 120gb 
Intel 300 series 120gb
Crucial M500 240gb
x2 Barracuda 1TB drives
x7 AF140 Purples
NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller

[tbroadwater2010]

So everything started last Saturday when I swapped my setup over to my new Corsair 750d I had some issues getting it started at first because I wasn't hooking the front panel up correctly. 

It could very well be the switch. The fact that windows runs fine in safe mode is what erks me. Do a virus scan on your system. Use Malwarebytes just to be sure you catch everything. Report back with those results.

[craydawg]

It could very well be the switch. The fact that windows runs fine in safe mode is what erks me. Do a virus scan on your system. Use Malwarebytes just to be sure you catch everything. Report back with those results.

 

 

Malware bytes came back with just some values still left from old Conduit and Safesearcher infections, no actual files in the system and no malicious software. 

[tbroadwater2010]

Malware bytes came back with just some values still left from old Conduit and Safesearcher infections, no actual files in the system and no malicious software. 

Yeah well at least those are clean now right?

 

Lets chalk this one up to the BIOS switch. If it happens again, i would consider reinstalling windows as it could be corrupted as well. You can always run Memtest86 and see if your ram is bad but that is up to you. As of now i wouldnt worry to much!

[afluffehbunneh]

From the way you described it you said you pulled all but one DIMM when testing for what I assume you thought was a memory error. Did you try testing all the DIMM's one at a time to see if the boot loop goes away. Perhaps, the one you tried is the faulty one?

 

I would do a Memtest to make sure all of your RAM is good to go.

[craydawg]

From the way you described it you said you pulled all but one DIMM when testing for what I assume you thought was a memory error. Did you try testing all the DIMM's one at a time to see if the boot loop goes away. Perhaps, the one you tried is the faulty one?

 

I would do a Memtest to make sure all of your RAM is good to go.

 

I did not try that. But as of right now everything seems to running stable on it.

 

I just don't understand how it would go from running fine to crazy boot loop only to run fine again after flipping the bios switch on the GPU.

I will give Memtest a whirl on it too this evening to see if that tells me anything different. 

 

Other thing I tried was WhoCrashed and that didn't show me anything else either.

[craydawg]

So everything was fine for about a day then I went turn it on today I got thrown back into the bootloop. Same as last time I was able run just fine in safe mode but I can't get Windows7 to run at all. Downloaded and am running memtest86 at the moment. Been going soild for 15minutes now. I did look in the bios at everything again and it looks like my 1600hz RAM is running at 1333hz which seems odd. Bad board or RAM maybe? It still weirds me out because of the safe mode being fine. Win 7 janked up maybe? Please hallp I need to get this going again so I can work.

[craydawg]

Started doing it again Here's what I've done. 

Checked all power connections and made sure all cards are seated correctly.

Made sure CPU cooler was seated evenly. 

Ran 3 passes on MemTest86

Ran MalwareBytes. Came back clean aside from old Conduit values. 

Reset BIOS to Default.

Flipped BIOS switch on GPU 

Disconnected fans.

SpeedFan shows everything running nice and cool. 

Ran Windows repair from Install disc. 

Thought Windows was bad so I did a fresh install of it 

Reinstalled all drivers.

When I installed the Gigabyte "On/Off Charge" app from the driver disc i got my first restart issue. I uninstalled it and all files it left behind. 

When I installed the "LG software" to run split screen I got my second restart issue, 
Uninstalled it at all of it's remaining files. 

It's running now but with the same temperament as before. Tried to record happening so I could link a video but I couldn't get it to do it. (typical)

I have my doubts that it's anything software related anymore and I am thinking something was damaged when I switched cases. 

I would like to note that it has always double posted since day one (Push Power Button, Fans spin drives spin powers off. Fans spin back up drives spin back up powers off. Everything spins up again and it's off.) Could this be a PSU that's been bad since day 1 and is now failing? 

Also I want to note that when I speed up some fans with my fan switch, other fans will get darker while the one I'm speeding up gets brighter.

[Evil-Erthanu]

I have to commend your thorough troubleshooting efforts. If it's a software thing, go for a poke around in the windows event viewer and you might be able to find out what's happening just before shutoff. (Wendell from Tek Syndicate has a great video about that here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAbuZ_LQJCo).

 

Most people don't have spare power supplies laying around, but that seems like something to test next. Also check that all of your power cables are seated properly and aren't lose.

 

Good Luck

[craydawg]

I have to commend your thorough troubleshooting efforts. If it's a software thing, go for a poke around in the windows event viewer and you might be able to find out what's happening just before shutoff. (Wendell from Tek Syndicate has a great video about that here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAbuZ_LQJCo).

 

Most people don't have spare power supplies laying around, but that seems like something to test next. Also check that all of your power cables are seated properly and aren't lose.

 

Good Luck

 

 

Thanks, I'll give it a whirl. 

[Avcoor]

I'm having the same problem as you.

My MoBo is a h87-hd3 also from gigabyte.

I thought it could be some kind of short circuit, something between the MoBo tray and the MoBo.

But to be sure I'm getting another MoBo.

[craydawg]

I'm having the same problem as you.

My MoBo is a h87-hd3 also from gigabyte.

I thought it could be some kind of short circuit, something between the MoBo tray and the MoBo.

But to be sure I'm getting another MoBo.

 

I went into Windows and turned off "Automatic Restart" I am thinking this was one of the main issues I was having it would just restart with no BSOD at least now if it encounters an error I can see the error message. 

 

I don't know what the parameters for it to automatically restart are or why it would start the bootloop hell suddenly. I also don't know how automatic restart was re enabled because I recall disabling when I setup my PC so I could catch things like this. 

 

Everything seems fine.... For now. I'm sure I'll be back in a few days when it acts up again. Or hopfully with a BSOD code. 

[Avcoor]

I enter a bootloop with no BSOD.

It simply turns off and start restarting very fast. Sometimes it posts then resets sometimes it restarts even before the MoBo splash.

[tbroadwater2010]

You said your other fans get lower lit when others get sped up? It could be a PSU issue or a MOBO issue. Do you have anything spare laying around for either of these?

 

It sounds like power delivery could be at fault.

[craydawg]

You said your other fans get lower lit when others get sped up? It could be a PSU issue or a MOBO issue. Do you have anything spare laying around for either of these?

 

It sounds like power delivery could be at fault.

 

I do not have a spare in either. And My buddies all have PSU's that are quite small 450w-500w. Power seems to be the most likely issue, it's very odd that it's so inconstant to me though. And odd that shutting off Auto Restart seems to have kept it in line. Maybe dips in power delivery could have been enough to upset the system and sent it into restart mode? 

[tbroadwater2010]

Maybe dips in power delivery could have been enough to upset the system and sent it into restart mode? 

Yeah that was my exact thought. Dips in the power could cause the system to be unstable causing it to shut down to keep itself safe. That or the PC doesnt have enough power to run all the components all of a sudden and crashes out.

[craydawg]

I enter a bootloop with no BSOD.

It simply turns off and start restarting very fast. Sometimes it posts then resets sometimes it restarts even before the MoBo splash.

 

Are you able to get to the Windows recovery restart menu? If so Can you get into Safe Mode? If this doesn't try cycling through your RAM DIMM's pull all but one and see it works. If it doesn't change it for another until it starts or you've tested all DIMM's. If starts with a certain DIMM or all but one  you have some bad RAM if it doesn't start after testing all it's highly unlikely all DIMM's are bad. This will check RAM off the list.

 

2) Try cutting out everything that you don't need immediately that draws power. Extra RAM, secondary drives, case fans, expansion cards, etc. You're running Intel so you should be able to take the GPU out of the loop too and drive your display from the mobo. You might try all of these one at a time too this will tell you if something else in the system is having a power issue that causes instability and system shutdown. 

[craydawg]

Yeah that was my exact thought. Dips in the power could cause the system to be unstable causing it to shut down to keep itself safe. That or the PC doesnt have enough power to run all the components all of a sudden and crashes out.

 

 

Good thinkin' Abe Lincoln, You real smart cookie!

 

I'll see if I can cut a bunch of secondary components out and get a safe wattage under 500w and try a buddies. It probably wouldn't fall under Corsairs warranty being 1.5yrs old would it?

 

When I installed it all in the new case I cleaned each component with PC cleaner air just to pretty it all back up. Is there an improper way to blow out a PSU?

[tbroadwater2010]

Good thinkin' Abe Lincoln, You real smart cookie!

 

I'll see if I can cut a bunch of secondary components out and get a safe wattage under 500w and try a buddies. It probably wouldn't fall under Corsairs warranty being 1.5yrs old would it?

 

When I installed it all in the new case I cleaned each component with PC cleaner air just to pretty it all back up. Is there an improper way to blow out a PSU?

yeah maybe try another PSU just to be sure, I am not sure of Corsairs warranties but im sure you can find it on their site. I want to upgrade my PSU in my build but never got around to it. One i have is running strong so why fix what aint broken right?

 

As for cleaning a PSU, i would be careful if you use canned air. Hold the fan as best you can and blow gently into it. I dont know if i would even use canned air. DO NOT OPEN IT, but im sure you know that already.

 

On a side note, im using "Good thinkin' Abe Lincoln" from now on. Thanks for that!

[Avcoor]

Are you able to get to the Windows recovery restart menu? If so Can you get into Safe Mode? If this doesn't try cycling through your RAM DIMM's pull all but one and see it works. If it doesn't change it for another until it starts or you've tested all DIMM's. If starts with a certain DIMM or all but one you have some bad RAM if it doesn't start after testing all it's highly unlikely all DIMM's are bad. This will check RAM off the list.

2) Try cutting out everything that you don't need immediately that draws power. Extra RAM, secondary drives, case fans, expansion cards, etc. You're running Intel so you should be able to take the GPU out of the loop too and drive your display from the mobo. You might try all of these one at a time too this will tell you if something else in the system is having a power issue that causes instability and system shutdown.

Im have some experience in PC troubleshooting and repair.

I have checked GPU, RAM, HDDs and PSU. I just don't have the money right now to get a new MoBo. I just said my symptoms for you to link my problem with yours since we have Gigabyte boards.

[craydawg]

 i would be careful if you use canned air. Hold the fan as best you can and blow gently into it. I dont know if i would even use canned air.

 

 

...oopps.

 

 

 

That I did not do. Or know. . .

[craydawg]

Im have some experience in PC troubleshooting and repair.

I have checked GPU, RAM, HDDs and PSU. I just don't have the money right now to get a new MoBo. I just said my symptoms for you to link my problem with yours since we have Gigabyte boards.

 

 

Was just saying man. I didn't know if you were asking or what. It is odd that Gigabyte boards are having the same issue, Did you try the CMOS battery? That's a lot cheaper than a mobo.

[tbroadwater2010]

...oopps.

 

 

 

That I did not do. Or know. . .

Yeah i have seen the inside of a PSU and know some about what is in them. They can easily short with to much water vapor in them. I mean i wouldnt worry abut it to much just be careful!

[craydawg]

Yeah i have seen the inside of a PSU and know some about what is in them. They can easily short with to much water vapor in them. I mean i wouldnt worry abut it to much just be careful!

 

 

I say oopss because on the list of components i cleaned out the PSU was one. I just blasted it out with some big shots of air... Not sure if vapor got in it or not...

[0x1e]

I would say it's the PSU. It's rare if a motherboard is broken for it to limp along. If the motherboard is busted then it's 9.9/10 just not going to work at all.

Power supplies on the other hand are completely the opposite. They can limp for many months if not years.

 

You said you have two other PSUs that you can use but are not high enough wattage?

You could if you wanted to use both. Connect one to the CPU, motherboard and fans and jump start the other one that is connected to the GPU and HDDs. This way you'll share the load between them.

 

However before you do that eliminate your case. Take your computer apart and build it on a box and see what happens.