Help w/ Custom PC

Lets see if a fresh set of eyes can help

I have a GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 motherboard and decided to upgrade some components in order to begin virtual lab setup. I bought a core i7 3.4 ghz processor and 32 GB of RAM but when I installed them in my machine, it turns on and then immediately turns off. I've replaced my previously installed components that have been in there for years but that is not working as well. I've tried resetting CMOS and BIOS settings to but so far no luck. My hope is that my PSU shorted out so I can buy a new one and salvage this rig. I've already tried switching DIMM slots on my pc as well and still no luck.

If anyone can recommend anything I might be missing that would be great.
Thanks

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wd40

which core i7 3.4 GHZ and which type of RAM (DDR3 / DDR4) ?

Check the CPU and Memory Support lists for your motherboard

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 (rev. 1.0)

mzx380

Thanks, I did that before I bought the parts. The CPU is a core i7 3770 which is on the compatible list and the RAM was bought from crucial via mem tool

636-555-3226

if you put all of the old parts back in there and its still wonky, sounds to me like something in the mobo. did you break off a capacitor or a cpu pin or anything on the board? i don't like to upgrade machines (prefer a full replacement with newer/faster parts), but when I do I usually just replace one part, test it all out, replace another part, test it all out, etc. it does take a few more minutes, but in situations like this it helps troubleshoot a lot faster so in the long run works out better.

thomas_

Did you put thermql paste between you CPU and heat sync? If your heat sync has a fan, is the fan working?

mzx380

no heat sync fan. paste on, cpu fan works

quickman007

The Heat sync sits on top of the cpu and the fan sits on top of the heat sync. If there's no fan on your heat sync, your cpu is overheating immediately and the system is shutting down to prevent damage.

What's the wattage of your PSU?

mzx380

This was the configuration that has been running on this machine for the last few years and this only started when I attempted to upgrade.

I'm checking the power supply and it is a 620 W that I believe came with my antec case

wd40

Can you share some pictures, that will help.

quickman007

mzx380 wrote: »

This was the configuration that has been running on this machine for the last few years and this only started when I attempted to upgrade.

I'm checking the power supply and it is a 620 W that I believe came with my antec case

Another person suggested replacing the new parts with your olds ones if you still have them. I would try that if you haven't already. If it works fine with the old parts, it's almost certainly an issue with the new parts. You can run Memtest 86 on your new memory and check the CPU for bent pins. Can you list your entire build? Back when I built my PC four years ago, the bundled PSUs weren't all that great. A not so good 620W PSU isn't really the same as a quality 620W PSU, so it might have to much a load depending on the rest of the build.

Also, how far does the PC get before it shuts down? Can you get into BIOS? Do you see the Windows logo screen? If you can get into BIOS I would be curious to know the temperature it's running at. For some reason I'm really thinking it's a heat related issue...

mzx380

I'm not sure how to post pics via mobile site but I will try
I've already tried installing the old parts but the same thing happens. I get as far as my bios splash page until the computer restarts. I reset cmos setting s by removing the battery but that didn't work.
The build is the following
Core i5 2600
16 gab Gskill RAM
1 tb sata drive
I have an optical drive but the cable is broken and need another one

Wanted to install i7
32 gb ram
500 gb ssd

ksijur

PSU replacement sounds very likely. However, take the MOBO with everything out of the case and see if it works when not in the case. I had few machines that seemed to "short" something when inside computer case.

thomas_

What BIOS version do you have? I don't really think it's the problem, especially since the old parts aren't working anymore.

Mow

Reseat all connections to the motherboard.

Pseudonym

Does it power on with nothing plugged in besides the PSU? Gradually add components until it fails if it does. CPU, a single DIMM then onto others.. I'd say the PSU is a highly likely suspect. You should almost certainly discount incompatibility as te reason for not powering on too as he's already said it won't power on with the old parts in either! Logic people! I'm surprised people are mentioning bits flying off the motherboard, as this seems highly unlikely unless you're extremely careless?

Pseudonym

@mzx380
Hang on, so does it restart or power off? Cause the 2 are very different in an incident like this.

mzx380

First of all I want to say thanks for everyone offering me advice so far. I can sense a lot of people here are feeling what I feel when their PC goes down on that we take it very personal.

With regards to the behavior, I installed the previously installed RAM and CPU and it will boot but by the time it hits the bios splash page it will turn off and reboot again and again. It will do so 5 times and then turn off until I turn it back on for the same cycle.

Dollarhyde

By those symptoms I think that you have accidentally shorted your motherboard. Have you used ESD strap? I would recommend using that any time when working on electronics, I do know it is not really necessary, but sometimes it is not worth the risk of not wearing.

That issue tells you that POST fails, and it shuts off. Which is some component is faulty, and if you returned your previously working components, it is probably the motherboard.

Pseudonym

Do you have a known good working hard drive with a windows(or whatever OS) installation on it? If so, see if you the PC will boot with that in. Does the hard drive you're currently using allow you to boot into the OS if you plug it into a different PC? I'm thinking if you can get into the BIOS settings and edit them and save etc it's not a mobo issue.

cdx

PSU or RAM. Try swapping PSU with a known working PSU. For RAM, try using just 1 stick of ram. Could be mobo, but is much more rare.

mzx380

cdx wrote: »

PSU or RAM. Try swapping PSU with a known working PSU. For RAM, try using just 1 stick of ram. Could be mobo, but is much more rare.

unfortunately, I do not have another desktop machine available to test this on. This evening I tried testing parts one by one and ended up getting the machine to power on for 3 seconds before it restarted with nothing but power to the mobo. At this point, I am going to buy a new PSU online and have it shipped to me as soon as possible. Worst comes to worse, if it ends up being something else, I end up having a new PSU to put in the build of a new computer.

If anyone could make a recommendation as to a suitable PSU that would meet the power needs of my future build (core i7 32 gb) please let me know
Might actually buy one and have it shipped tomorrow because if not, I have to start returning stuff back

Dollarhyde

I would recommend getting a Corsair PSU, they have proved to be very good. You never specified which GPU you had so we can assume you will have one or already have one. Get a PSU that is at least 80+ bronze, betters are silver, gold, platinum. I would say get around 750+ W. You can go beyond if you wish.

mzx380

Dollarhyde wrote: »

I would recommend getting a Corsair PSU, they have proved to be very good. You never specified which GPU you had so we can assume you will have one or already have one. Get a PSU that is at least 80+ bronze, betters are silver, gold, platinum. I would say get around 750+ W. You can go beyond if you wish.

I'm using the onboard GPU with my board.
I'm probably going to order replacement parts to fix my pc as well as parts to build a brand new rig and return what I don't need.

Anyone want to offer suggestions as to what I should use. I don't have a budget because I will use this machine every day and at the very least want it to be

Core i7
32 GB Ram
Able to fit in my antec coolmaster case

Dollarhyde

That mostly depends on your budget, there are many variations in i7. It depends which kind of frequency, overclocking support, cores, hyper threading etc. I think you need to give us what kind of application your PC is going to serve.

I will give you some of my guidelines which I would recommend to follow.

Pick ASUS or Gigabyte motherboard
Depending on your budget either Samsung SSD and WD Black HDD or both
Corsair PSU
Pick for RAM either HyperX, G Skill, Kingston or Corsair, preferably Corsair
If you decide to go for GPU go for EVGA

Those are my recommendations that I recommend to everyone, those manufacturers of specific parts that I mentioned, I had very good experience with. You could go differently, but I would not recommend it.

If you have any additional questions, just ask

mzx380

Just ordered parts from new egg ($$$$)
I'll keep you guys posted

cdx

I always stick with Corsair PSU's. Try to find one that fits your budget. I am 90% sure its PSU. Used to fix this type of issue all the time in the shop

mzx380

First of all I just want to thank everybody for all the help that they provided me with so far on this forum. I received my replacement parts and at first I tried to restore my pc but unfortunately psu replacement did not work so it's likely the motherboard. I installed all my new components save my new fan heat sink because I'm having a problem with the clips so I used the one that came with my new cpu

Windows boots up now but the system is terribly slower than before which I'm attributing to incompatibilities with my previous install. Anyone have experience with thtis particular issue?

Also
If anyone has any tips on how to install the plastic push pin clips in an Intel cpu that'd be great (I'm bending the white part when trying to insert )

Gammaxx 400

Dollarhyde

That was my initial thought about the motherboard.

If it is the new cpu and new ram, I would say the only thing that might cause that would be the RAM. Did you mix RAM the one you had before and new ram. One slow and bad stick of RAM could cause your whole system to adjust to it and preform poorly.

When installing those on Intel stock heatsinks you push and then go in the other way of arrows. If arrows say go right you go left. That is meant for taking the heatsink of as most people just replace it with something different. If you have enough budget and ordering parts, you could order yourself a aftermarket heatsink, most of them preform better than stock Intel.

Pseudonym

Have you tried a known working good hard drive with a windows install on? It's something really simple you should check before spending any more money. I would definitely have tried that before replacing the PSU.

mzx380

Pseudonym wrote: »

Have you tried a known working good hard drive with a windows install on? It's something really simple you should check before spending any more money. I would definitely have tried that before replacing the PSU.

Thanks
But the problem was def not the hdd. Once I used my old one with a new motherboard and psu Windows is loading. I only shut the machine down to install a better heat sync and fan and I'm running into issues. I'm going to remove he board, try and install he hs and the put it back and try again

mzx380

First of all, thank you to everyone who chimed in during this whole ordeal where there were pluses and minuses abound.

I tried installing a Gammaxx 400 cpu fan and heat sink but it kept coming off resulting in my new CPU to overheat. What I did then was to use the stock one that came with my machine but during the switch the sata connection on my SATA HDD (which was my primary broke....ARGH) Now I need to find a way to get a handful of files from that drive that weren't uploaded to the cloud (figures)

Other than that, everything is running real smooth on this computer. I have two SSD at almost 1 GB with a new CPU > 4.0 GHz and 32 GB ram.

Will probably upgrade the case when I perform another build in 2 years. if anyone has suggestions on getting access to my data on that drive it would be great.