PC won't boot; fans spin, no signal

[Albatross]

Hello,

 

For the passed few days, this has become a pretty big problem. I thought it was the turbo boost doing it as once I disabled it, it seemed to go away. But nope, found out this morning it didn't after one reboot and now the problem is worse. It started off not turning on with the power LED not (you know, case power light) working or a display appearing on my monitor. The fans would all spin fine though and continue on until I hard shut off. The keyboard would not light up either, only the mouse. But as of this morning, turning it back on not only does that, it also sometimes causes it to shut off and reboot to the same problem by itself.

 

I reset my BIOS* thinking that would help, but it did not. After a couple ons and offs, it started to boot and seems perfectly fine (no freezes, performance issues etc etc). The codes it gave was 99, 9C and AA (or A2; went really fast, gonna get it down next reboot) before OS selection screen. Of course I have no idea what any of that means, besides thinking 9C is fine. Anyone know what is happening, how I can fix it or if it is something more serious I cannot fix?

 

*Now I also noticed a problem that started this week; my clock kept resetting no matter how many times I readjusted it. I don't know if this is relative, but it might be so I'm including it.

 

BUILD:

• CPU: i5-4670k
• MOBO: MSI Z87-G55
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance (Blue) 4gbx2
• GPU: Sapphire R9 280 (newest part in build)
• PSU: CX600M (oldest part in build besides HDDs)

(no overclocks whatsoever. also, my pc never made beeping noises.)

 

 I really need this PC to survive for studying and whatnot, so I'd appreciate any help you might have to give guys.

 

Thanks!

 

[FAQBytes]

Try unplugging and plugging back in all the cords and reseating the RAM.

[StevenSensei]

Your clock resetting sounds like your BIOS battery may need to be replaced. Those codes are displayed normally when the motherboard boots...it only becomes an error if the board hangs on one of those errors (like 15 seconds or so). But if it runs through them quickly it's ok. 

 

Double check all the connections for your cables, fans, and remove and reinstall your memory (one stick at a time in the appropriate slot). 

 

You could also pop out that battery...leave it out for about 5 min and put it back in....

[Albatross]

@FAQBytes

@Papakuma

 

Thank you for the post guys! I will try all of the suggestions (except replacing the battery will have to wait until I get to the store lol).

 

I reset the CMOS with the button on my MOBO...should have thought about actually using the battery method. I will edit this post (or post again if someone else posts first) with whether or not it works.

[TrigrH]

I have the same CPU and a H87 board, repeated forced shut-downs causes this issue (no signal, not booting correctly) for me what I have to do is:

 

Remove GPU

Boot PC (for atleast 10 seconds)

Power off PC

reInstall GPU

Boot PC

 

and that gives me back my signal.

 

hope this works for you

[Roawoao]

Also try unplugging all devices especially starting with USB ones as those are easy to unplug/reconnect. I've had motherboards randomly refuse to boot due to a bad USB device causing basically every on-board controller to vanish sometimes even the GPU (causing a no signal problem). Get things down to the bare minimum and if possible swap hardware to other computers to test if say the GPU is bad or something like that.

[Unhelpful]

9 hours ago, Albatross said:

 

Try with all peripherals unplugged, no gpu, and only 1 stick of ram to see results. Then if it works, slowly add stuff. Even try with all HDDs out other than your boot drive. So try with just CPU, mobo, 1 stick of ram, psu, and the boot drive. Reseat CMOS battery, maybe even replace it. This seems like it's one of those "it could be literally anything" issues: http://www.manualslib.com/manual/680498/Msi-Z87-Mpower.html?page=54

[Albatross]

@FAQBytes

@Papakuma

@TrigrH

@Roawoao

@JoeyDM

 

Well...

 

I turned the PC off, flipped the switch, unplugged the power cord and then removed the battery. I also removed both sticks of RAM and my GPU, and hooked my DVI to my motherboard. After five minutes, I hooked it all back up and booted. Black screen. Turned it off, put first stick back in, booted super fast. Turned if off and put the second stick in, went just as well. I then turned my system off while I cleaned my GPU (because why not?) and put it back in. At first it wouldn't boot...but then I remembered I stupidly did not plug the power into the card. Once I did that, it booted very quickly, no problems (same post codes though). Now as I was just writing this post I also remembered I took off my CPU cooler and plugged it into CPUFan2, not 1, as I always had it before.

 

I'm going to turn it off and turn it on a few times right now to see if the problem is fixed or not, but that's the update so far. *crosses fingers*

[TrigrH]

2 hours ago, Albatross said:

snip

all fixed?

[Albatross]

4 hours ago, TrigrH said:

all fixed?

Nope.

 

I can get it to boot if I hard shut off and turn it on after about twenty times. The last time it got stuck on loading Windows, so I had to hard shut off again. Now my Windows seems to be corrupted (this is what it looks like upon  booting now; pre-boot screen and booted screen). I have since narrowed it down to the GPU, after trying its alternative BIOS (button thing). I took it out and it boots fine as long as the boot before it wasn't a hard shut down. I'm going to do a few more tests without the card though, to be extra sure.

 

The only thing I have tried testing: is the CPU and PSU. But I doubt they are the cause since removing the GPU seems to get it to boot. If my card is dead though I'm going to be so sad. I've only had it for less than a year, and I took real good care of it. I cleaned it out once every two weeks, carefully, and never OC'd it (software wouldn't let me) nor let it stay hot (never went over 60c for more than a second). It took me years to get a decent GPU, now I'm gonna have to do it all over again. That's just my luck though.

 

Any other suggestions to try guys?

 

EDIT 1

 

Okay, so I shut it off and turned it back up. All the lights went up, but about four seconds later it rebooted by itself and then got the no signal problem. I hard shut it off and turned it on, and it booted fine. Gonna try two more times.

[TrigrH]

24 minutes ago, Albatross said:

snip

have you tried the other pcie slots?

 

if it is your card it should be under warranty right?

[Albatross]

6 minutes ago, TrigrH said:

have you tried the other pcie slots?

 

if it is your card it should be under warranty right?

 

Nope, I haven't.  I'll try that next.

 

I don't know what Sapphire's warranty is when you buy through their Amazon store. I did register the product a few days after I got it though. On September, it will be 1 year old.

[TrigrH]

1 minute ago, Albatross said:

I don't know what Sapphire's warranty is when you buy through their Amazon store. I did register the product a few days after I got it though. On September, it will be 1 year old.

you should be fine: http://www.sapphiretech.com/support.asp?lang=eng , if you need to get another card to prove that, get the same one and go crossfire ^-^ 

[Unhelpful]

41 minutes ago, Albatross said:

 

Nope, I haven't.  I'll try that next.

 

I don't know what Sapphire's warranty is when you buy through their Amazon store. I did register the product a few days after I got it though. On September, it will be 1 year old.

Through amazon it's either a 2 or 3 year warranty. Should definitely be fine if you have to replace it.

[Albatross]

3 hours ago, TrigrH said:

you should be fine: http://www.sapphiretech.com/support.asp?lang=eng , if you need to get another card to prove that, get the same one and go crossfire ^-^ 

 

3 hours ago, JoeyDM said:

Through amazon it's either a 2 or 3 year warranty. Should definitely be fine if you have to replace it.

Then I will try the process just in case. I hope I don't have to spend $50 sending it though... haha

 

Oh, and update. I turned it off and on again, at least five times. No dice. It would boot, lights would go on, and then reboot by itself and then continue on to the no signal problem. So while different than the other problem, it is still one. However, if I flipped the switch to my PSU and held down the power to my case for ten seconds, lights would go on for half a second and then turn off. If I waited a few minutes before switching it back on and powering on the computer, the PC would boot not only fine but faster than usual.

 

That's without the GPU. I don't get what could be the problem and how it could cause so many symptoms that change. Could it be the PSU or the MOBO that causes a sudden reboot and need to be utterly powered down in order to work again?

 

(also, fixed my corrupt Win7 install with Ubuntu )

[TrigrH]

6 minutes ago, Albatross said:

That's without the GPU. I don't get what could be the problem and how it could cause so many symptoms that change. Could it be the PSU or the MOBO that causes a sudden reboot and need to be utterly powered down in order to work again?

 

(also, fixed my corrupt Win7 install with Ubuntu )

sounds like the motherboard is playing up to me, have u tried installing the latest A.7 BIOS? https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z87-G55.html#down-bios

[Unhelpful]

20 minutes ago, Albatross said:

 

Then I will try the process just in case. I hope I don't have to spend $50 sending it though... haha

 

Oh, and update. I turned it off and on again, at least five times. No dice. It would boot, lights would go on, and then reboot by itself and then continue on to the no signal problem. So while different than the other problem, it is still one. However, if I flipped the switch to my PSU and held down the power to my case for ten seconds, lights would go on for half a second and then turn off. If I waited a few minutes before switching it back on and powering on the computer, the PC would boot not only fine but faster than usual.

 

That's without the GPU. I don't get what could be the problem and how it could cause so many symptoms that change. Could it be the PSU or the MOBO that causes a sudden reboot and need to be utterly powered down in order to work again?

 

(also, fixed my corrupt Win7 install with Ubuntu )

It could be either the PSU or the MOBO as far as I can tell :\ Sounds like the mobo to me, 99 at least is a mobo error (in general). You flip the switch, power cycle, and then it works? Shit... Yeah that could be either, I'm leaning towards motherboard. Tried updating BIOS?

[Albatross]

3 hours ago, TrigrH said:

sounds like the motherboard is playing up to me, have u tried installing the latest A.7 BIOS? https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z87-G55.html#down-bios

 

3 hours ago, JoeyDM said:

It could be either the PSU or the MOBO as far as I can tell :\ Sounds like the mobo to me, 99 at least is a mobo error (in general). You flip the switch, power cycle, and then it works? Shit... Yeah that could be either, I'm leaning towards motherboard. Tried updating BIOS?

I don't know which would be better to have to replace, the PSU or the MOBO, but I sure am hell hoping it isn't the CPU. As for the BIOS, I do believe that's the last update I made during this thread. Would it hurt to flash the BIOS with the same update just in case I didn't use the A.7 update? As for the PSU and GPU; would testing them both in a different system be wise or even help determine the problem? I'd hate it if they ended up breaking the next pc or something.

 

Thanks Joey! I couldn't find what the 99 post code meant. Where in the world did you get that info? Could come in handy in the future. And yes, if I power it down completely and let it sit for a few minutes, it powers up just fine.

[TrigrH]

5 minutes ago, Albatross said:

 

I don't know which would be better to have to replace, the PSU or the MOBO, but I sure am hell hoping it isn't the CPU. As for the BIOS, I do believe that's the last update I made during this thread. Would it hurt to flash the BIOS with the same update just in case I didn't use the A.7 update? As for the PSU and GPU; would testing them both in a different system be wise or even help determine the problem? I'd hate it if they ended up breaking the next pc or something.

flashing the bios with the same update wont do anything, other than reset the settings (which is the same as flashing the cmos) but since you have touched all that alternate bios stuff, its possible you are back on the factory version (check within the bios usually on the main screen)

[Unhelpful]

6 minutes ago, Albatross said:

 

I don't know which would be better to have to replace, the PSU or the MOBO, but I sure am hell hoping it isn't the CPU. As for the BIOS, I do believe that's the last update I made during this thread. Would it hurt to flash the BIOS with the same update just in case I didn't use the A.7 update? As for the PSU and GPU; would testing them both in a different system be wise or even help determine the problem? I'd hate it if they ended up breaking the next pc or something.

 

Thanks Joey! I couldn't find what the 99 post code meant. Where in the world did you get that info? Could come in handy in the future. And yes, if I power it down completely and let it sit for a few minutes, it powers up just fine.

Oh I'm not actually sure if you can re-flash to the same version, never had to. And if you can I don't think it'd help much, if at all. I'll look into it. I'm not expecting it to be the CPU, if it is it's still easily under warranty though, it launched in Q22013, and we aren't in Q22016 yet (I don't think). Plus it goes from purchase date of the CPU, not launch date. However that would mean going without your PC :\ 

 

Yes. Absolutely test them in a different system. It's possible that the mobo fucking up can make it seem like the GPU is fucking up.

 

See my first post in this thread. It isn't for the exact same mobo, but mobo makers typically stay with the same codes throughout a generation.

[Albatross]

@TrigrH

 

Then I'll go do the BIOS flash right now. If the mobo is screwed, it won't matter anyways. haha

 

@JoeyDM

 

How in the world did I miss your link...good God. And wow...Intel has a warranty for their CPUs?! That's news to me. I thought I had to buy them myself. And okay, I'll test them in my spare HP PC. Here's hoping it is the PSU.

 

[TrigrH]

12 minutes ago, Albatross said:

 

Then I'll go do the BIOS flash right now. If the mobo is screwed, it won't matter anyways. haha

I just referenced the date of the BIOS release with the date of the thread you linked, A.7 came out two weeks after you updated your bios

 

Once the new bios is on, refrain from flashing the CMOS/taking the battery out and bleeding the mobo dry of power ect, since that clearly isn't fixing the issue. Try and troubleshoot in this state.

[Unhelpful]

10 minutes ago, Albatross said:

How in the world did I miss your link...good God. And wow...Intel has a warranty for their CPUs?! That's news to me. I thought I had to buy them myself. And okay, I'll test them in my spare HP PC. Here's hoping it is the PSU.

Everybody has a warranty  or they had better. If they don't have a warranty then don't buy from them.

 

Update BIOS, test PSU and GPU in another system if at all possible, smack the PC with a hammer, power-cycle with the psu unplugged, and retry.

[Albatross]

3 minutes ago, TrigrH said:

I just referenced the date of the post with the date of the thread, A.7 came out two weeks after you updated your bios

 

Once the new bios is on, refrain from flashing the CMOS/taking the battery out and bleeding the mobo dry of power ect, since that clearly isn't fixing the issue. Try and troubleshoot in this state.

Sometimes that's the only way to make it boot. But if this doesn't go well, I'll be needing a new mobo anyways.

[TrigrH]

4 minutes ago, Albatross said:

Sometimes that's the only way to make it boot. But if this doesn't go well, I'll be needing a new mobo anyways.

if its not booting give this another go:

 

On 23/03/2016 at 3:55 PM, TrigrH said:

Remove GPU

Boot PC (for atleast 10 seconds)

Power off PC

reInstall GPU

Boot PC

EDIT: then restart from windows if it worked

(dont plug anything into the integrated graphics when you do this) and when you mean it doesn't boot it still spins the fans right?