Inconsistent POST codes or no POST

[CzarFrog]

I was trying to set up a raid during a windows 10 reinstall and have somehow created a problem that seems unrelated to the changes to BIOS and SATA that I made during this reinstall.

 

 

Specs

 

i7 4790k @Stock (Cooler H105)

 

Gigabyte Z97 MX Gaming 5

 

16GB DDR3 

 

ASUS GTX 970

 

Drives: 3 1TB HDD, 1 240 GB SSD, 1 120 GB SSD

 

 

So I wiped all the drives on the old system other than the OS, changed the SATA controller mode from AHCI to RAID, then created a RAID 0 Volume from two of the HDDS. Then reinstalled windows 10 to the 240 GB SSD. The purpose of this was to change the BIOS SATA mode to RAID from AHCI, and everything seemed to be going okay. I then restarted to install some drivers and all hell broke loose.

 

At this point the system would make a clicking noise (which I later investigated to be the speaker). I believe that this sound comes from the system trying to restart and failing POST. 

I tried uninstalling each component (all the way to barebones and got one of three test cases)

 

1. The clicking noise of the system restarting and failing to POST.

 

2. Continuous short beeping (Gigabyte says that it a power supply error)

 

3. POST and then a graphics error (I had removed the GPU by this point) which I assume is a case where the system would work fine had a GPU been installed.

 

None of these happened consistently and it seemed to vary randomly with power cycles.

 

 

I have tried the system in all of the configurations and after all of the following configurations.

 

 

Full system caused repeated clicking (1)

 

Peripherals removed caused repeated clicking (1)

 

No GPU or SATA resulted in either Continuous short beeping or the clicking noise or the POST graphics errors (1,2,3)

 

Reseating the CPU and clearing the CMOS results in no difference.

 

Using my friends PSU made no difference either.

 

So the only consistent boot up cycle that I can create is whenever I change the memory configuration (add switch or remove a ram stick) the system will turn on, then restart and give a graphics error. 

 

All of this makes no sense to me and even switching up the ram with the GPU isn’t resulting in me getting to a BIOS screen.

 

Right now I am suspect of the BIOS and mobo, but the bootup where the fans run for half a second make me afraid for the CPU. I think I have pretty much ruled out the PSU as the problem

 

 

Here are some pics of the mess that this routine upgrade has become. Thanks for any help. 

 

[Master Disaster]

Strip the entire thing down, bench it (use the mobo box to rest the board on), remove everything except one stick of RAM and the CPU and Fan, reset the cmos again then connect the PSU power and boot it again.

Use the on-board video.

What happens?

[CzarFrog]

I had been running it for a while to see if maybe it was copying the bios, and when I rebooted the first time after resetting the CMOS it turned on then off then went into the infinite restart (at which point I turned it off to protect the CPU)

The second time (after moving a stick of ram which allows it to get a post code for some reason) it reached bios - I will update you if I get it working, but this is just magic so far.

 

EDIT: Went around in bios for a bit and wanted to test if it would work through the GPU before going back to making a computer as usual. When it restarted the system failed to boot (continuous restart clicking speaker). But it makes it to BIOS if I move the stick while the system is off.

What would make it so that I have to change the memory configuration every time I cycle power in order to POST.