Complications

[Corey H]

Can only get my computer to POST after restarting it a dozen times or so. It's almost as if you have to prime it like some kind of lawn mower.

 

About around the time that started happening (3-4 weeks ago) my computer froze when I was playing a game and required me to hard-reset it. I did and everything booted up like it should but when I tried to play a game the computer would overheat and shut itself down to prevent any damage. My first thought was the CPU fan or maybe the thermal paste needed replaced. Well the fan is working fine and I've reapplied thermal paste several times after correctly cleaning both the heatsink and CPU with 91% alcohol.

The issue still remained. The CPU fan works, the case fans work, the case to my knowledge, has good ventilation. I've even tried leaving the side door off of the case. It was still overheating and shutting off.

 

So now, with the issue of having to restart the computer repeatedly to get it to POST I tested the PSU with a new/working one that I just borrowed from a friend since I thought it could of been a glitch in the PSU. The power supply doesn't seem to be the issue because now I can't even get windows to boot and now I'm experiencing other issues like the the BIOS freezing up when attempting to go into advanced mode or resetting the BIOS to factory default settings. I can just let the BIOS idle and it won't freeze and the temps won't go beyond the norm.

 

Something also worth noting is I'm not overclocking anything.

 

So what I've tried so far:

• Running memtest overnight to check for bad RAM, no issues found there.
• Reapplying thermal paste after cleaning both heatsink and cpu with 91% alcohol. Several times.
• Resetting BIOS to default settings several times. I'm not overclocking anything.\
• Unplugging the HDD and booting with it unplugged.
• Used a different, new PSU with the same specifications as the one I own.
• Tried re-seating everything several times to make sure it wasn't a connection problem.
  

 

List of all of the issues I'm experiencing:

• BIOS sometimes freezing when going into advanced mode.
• BIOS sometimes freezing when resetting BIOS to factory default settings.
• Computer not POSTing unless you restart it a dozen times+.
• After inserting a motherboard speaker to listen for beep codes I disconnected all the RAM and I'm still not hearing any beep codes. Which is really odd. (This is one of the things that made me wonder if it was the PSU that had gone bad)
• When getting the computer to POST windows won't boot. It will also sometimes in the middle of loading windows shut itself off or change to a dark screen and just hang there.
  

 

CPU: AMD A10-7870K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus A88XM-A Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory 
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

[another random person]

17 minutes ago, Wage said:

snip

 

Hmm....that sounds like a very severe issue. My first thought was that maybe the motherboard had suffered physical damage possibly from a manufacturing fault that slowly became apparent, like a blown capacitor. I checked a few webpages and came up with this: http://www.pctools.com/security-news/faulty-capacitor-test/ The issues as described are strikingly similar to the ones as described by you. So a good place to start is to look for any blown or dead capacitors on your motherboard. The Website has a list of all the physical signs of a blown MOBO.

[Spudbilly]

I think bad mobo. I agree with the blown capacitor idea. I have had a mother board sure before and it did similarity things to me as well. 

[Corey H]

On 5/6/2017 at 10:06 PM, another random person said:

Hmm....that sounds like a very severe issue. My first thought was that maybe the motherboard had suffered physical damage possibly from a manufacturing fault that slowly became apparent, like a blown capacitor. I checked a few webpages and came up with this: http://www.pctools.com/security-news/faulty-capacitor-test/ The issues as described are strikingly similar to the ones as described by you. So a good place to start is to look for any blown or dead capacitors on your motherboard. The Website has a list of all the physical signs of a blown MOBO.

Those are certainly the symptoms I'm experiencing.

 

After carefully looking over the motherboard I didn't see any signs of wear/tear or anything that looked out of place with the capacitors.

[vaiwalker]

well..usually when the board doesnt beep without ram, the board's faulty.

[Corey H]

Update: I've since replaced the motherboard on this system after it died on me completely. The new mobo solved every single issue, I'll likely never know what it was that went bad with that board but it was an experience let me tell you. I hold grudges.

[thedangerine]

Likely a bad board however a bios update may help. My cousin had a similar issue where his computer would get far to hot and shut off, ended up being that he needed to update his drivers and windows and that fixed everything for him

[Corey H]

On 8/9/2018 at 9:57 AM, AdvancedMicroDisapointment said:

Likely a bad board however a bios update may help. My cousin had a similar issue where his computer would get far to hot and shut off, ended up being that he needed to update his drivers and windows and that fixed everything for him

Unfortunately it was the end of life for that board, the problems that came with it persisted before and after a full update on the bios. I'm just grateful that it didn't ruin any of my other components. Good riddance.