Computer Issue

[Tacoeaterguy]

I'm having some problems with my computer and I need some help/advice.

My graphics/computer in general have been acting up within the last couple of days. I had some minor artifacting in a few games, and then absolutely nothing while in others. This made me assume it was game related and not hardware related.

Around 2 days ago I was talking in mumble and playing a game. I started seeing some artifacting and then my screen went completely black. I waited for awhile, and it never recovered, so I manually shut down my PC by holding the button down. I turned my PC back on, and the screen wasn't making any connection. After about 15 seconds the computer automatically rebooted. It continued to reboot every 15 seconds or so until I decided to shut it down for good and make sure the power was properly plugged in. After messing with the power cord, I turned it on and everything booted as normal. I decided not to play any more of the game that night.

The black-screen/rebooting occurrence happened two more times. In one occasion I was alt-tabbed out of a game looking for a podcast to listen to and my screen went black. I manually shut down and then it went into reboot-seizures. I fixed it eventually using the same method as above.

The last occasion left me with a computer that just wouldn't stop rebooting. I was testing to see how my graphics card was reacting to games. I had major artifacting at the menu and loading screen of Garry's Mod, and alt tabbed to see my temps which were normal. I also opened my case to see if the GPU fans were working (they were) and if my graphics card felt hot to the touch (it didn't). I tabbed back in-game, walked around for awhile without any artifacts, and then my screen went black and I was forced to shut down. This time was different, however, because I couldn't get my PC to stop rebooting. I was forced to leave it off and go to bed.

It think it's worth noting what the characteristics of the reboot sprees are. My case fans and lights all turn on, but none of my accessories light up such as my mouse or mic lights. Furthermore, my monitor doesn't receive any connection.

I couldn't get it to turn on all of yesterday, but when I turned it on today it worked perfectly fine.

If you guys could help determine what you think my issue is, that would be great. Thanks.

 

[Viperidae]

When we first talked I thought it was the video card. Now it sounds like RAM to me. Unfortunately, the only way to test this is to get some known, working RAM and try it out. You can also just try booting with one stick at a time in case not all your sticks are broken.

Failing that, it could be your PSU that's broken, but the artifacting doesn't mesh with that theory.

Failing that, it's the unlikely possibility that your motherboard is broken.

Failing that, it's the insanely unlikely impossibility that your CPU is broken.

It would really help if you had some working backup components so you could eliminate some of the culprits.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

I think I do have 2 sticks of 2gb around here somewhere, I just need to find it.

Edit: I have 2, 4gb ram sticks in my PC. I shut it off and took out one stick. It booted up as normal and had no problems. I proceeded to start Garry's Mod. When I was on the loading screen to get into a server, I had some really crazy artifacting going on. I tried my best to alt-tab and see what my temps were, but I wasn't really fast enough. I made it to the desktop but then my screen went black, and then grey about a minute after. I gave it a longer wait than usual, and my computer restarted. It booted up to the welcome screen before the desktop and then went black, and I was forced to manually turn it off.

After this, I put the other stick back where it used to be and took the one I had just used out. Also I felt my graphics card and it was sort of hot this time. So far I haven't been able to get my computer past the 15 second reboot bullshit with this stick.

 

[Krynn72]

You don't need other ram to test. Just download Hiren's BootCD, or just make a memtest86+ bootcd and you can test the current ram. I can give you more detailed instructions if you can't figure it out.

That said, RAM, while causing no-display issues sometimes, very rarely causes display artifacts. If I were to bet, my money would still be on the GPU.

Try this, run HWMonitor and just watch the temperatures on the GPU. Maybe play a game for awhile while HWMonitor is running in the background and alt-tab every now and then to check the temps. Post back what you see as the peak temps and average temps.

 

[Vegeta897]

Any good temp monitor should have an OSD option.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Still can't get the thing to boot up properly, so I'm not sure what I'm gonna do.


If it is GPU related (which I was hoping not to be the case) then this issue will take a while longer for me to fix.

 

[Krynn72]

Do memtest damnit.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Do memtest damnit.

I made this thread on my family's Mac. The monitor won't make a connection and my PC keeps rebooting, so how can I possibly do a memtest? I can't even get to my desktop/see it without my PC shutting itself off.

 

[Krynn72]

You don't run memtest from windows. If you can't even run dos programs then yeah, its probably your video card.

 

[Viperidae]

You don't run memtest from windows. If you can't even run dos programs then yeah, its probably your video card.

Exactly why I recommended using known RAM. There's more to RAM issues than memtest. Black screen/rebooting system can be a variety of things, not just a graphical problem.

Also, memtest is not foolproof. I've tested DDR3 before that passed memtest but would crash the system every single time on a simple 32-bit software test. Switching the RAM fixed it.

 

[Krynn72]

No, its not foolproof and I have had issues like that before myself, but its fast and catches 90% of the problems. Switching RAM requires you to use it for some time to see if its still stable. There's no reason not to run memtest, because if it does find a problem, you see it in a few minutes. Then there's no more guesswork, you already know for a fact there's a problem with your ram. Then you do memtest on each stick by itself and will find out which one is bad. If it doesn't find any problems, then that doesn't mean its not the RAM, but any time you suspect RAM to be a problem you should run memtest because it could save you hours of hit-or-miss diagnosing.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

It has been a little over a week since I've been on my PC. The thing still won't stop reboot looping. How could the graphics card be responsible for this? Is it worth replacing my power supply at this point just to try something?

There's no way I can buy a graphics card in my current financial situation, but I can afford a power supply.

I'll also buy some new RAM I guess.

 

[bobtheskull]

It has been a little over a week since I've been on my PC. The thing still won't stop reboot looping. How could the graphics card be responsible for this? Is it worth replacing my power supply at this point just to try something?

There's no way I can buy a graphics card in my current financial situation, but I can afford a power supply.

I'll also buy some new RAM I guess.

I'm probably gonna get some heat for this, but am gonna throw it out there anyway.

I had a very very very similar problem a few years back and thought it was my Graphics card. I even went as far as to cook it in the oven(!?) and nothing changed. I changed RAM and tried all sorts but kept getting the reboot loop with no display signal. It turned out it was the Mobo's battery. Changed it at the cost of a couple bucks and it was back to normal. Very weird situation, and almost everyone I've mentioned this to have argued that it shouldn't happen/isn't possible/wouldn't manifest like that. But it did.

The battery costs pennies so it's not going to cost you to try it out. And if it doesn't work then, hey, you've discounted the 'improbable'...

 

[Krynn72]

It has been a little over a week since I've been on my PC. The thing still won't stop reboot looping. How could the graphics card be responsible for this? Is it worth replacing my power supply at this point just to try something?

There's no way I can buy a graphics card in my current financial situation, but I can afford a power supply.

I'll also buy some new RAM I guess.

You can buy generic replacement graphics cards for like $40 so if that is the issue, you could do that so you could at least use the computer for normal purposes. As for your question, a failing graphics card could cause this issue in a number of ways, the most common being the system shutting itself off to prevent damage to the card in situations of overheating. If the card is bad, then there could be a number of reasons why its overheating so quickly, and it could be that it just overheated so bad already that the chipset is already failing, which could cause this issue by itself too.

Is it possible for you to take a good quality picture of the motherboard? It could be blown capacitors causing this, strange power cycles are sometimes caused by them. If this is a custom built system you probably used a better motherboard than that, but it happens.

CMOS Battery, while not my first instinct, could cause weird shit like this too, so you're not totally nuts Bob.

This rebooting issue, when does it actually reboot? After it starts loading windows?

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

You can buy generic replacement graphics cards for like $40 so if that is the issue, you could do that so you could at least use the computer for normal purposes. As for your question, a failing graphics card could cause this issue in a number of ways, the most common being the system shutting itself off to prevent damage to the card in situations of overheating. If the card is bad, then there could be a number of reasons why its overheating so quickly, and it could be that it just overheated so bad already that the chipset is already failing, which could cause this issue by itself too.

Is it possible for you to take a good quality picture of the motherboard? It could be blown capacitors causing this, strange power cycles are sometimes caused by them. If this is a custom built system you probably used a better motherboard than that, but it happens.

CMOS Battery, while not my first instinct, could cause weird shit like this too, so you're not totally nuts Bob.

This rebooting issue, when does it actually reboot? After it starts loading windows?

If I could get a cheap temporary graphics card, then I'll give that a shot first then.

I took a look at all the capacitors on my board and none are bulging/blown, so I think I'm good in that concern. Based on what Bob and you said about the motherboard battery, I'll just replace that too to be safe.

My monitor isn't recognizing that my PC is on basically, so I can't see anything when I turn it on. It roughly stays on for about 10-15 seconds and then shuts off, turns back on, and does it again. I can't imagine it gets to loading windows because it would be on that black screen that gives you the option to load windows normally by pressing 'enter'.

 

[Stigmata]

Do you mean the computer itself power-cycles every 15s, or the monitor? [edit] nevermind i re-read the thread, it's your PC fo sho

Does your motherboard have integrated VGA? It really sounds like your GPU got damaged.

 

[Krynn72]

GPU or RAM, quite sure at this point.

Take out the Ram, disconnect the power cable, and hold down the power button on the computer for about 20-30 seconds. Once you've done that, put in one of the sticks by itself. If you have extra slots for RAM, use one that is currently not being used. Plug it back in, and power it on. Let me know what happens.

 

[Viperidae]

Remove the video card, power on the system without it. Still power cycling?

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

GPU or RAM, quite sure at this point.

Take out the Ram, disconnect the power cable, and hold down the power button on the computer for about 20-30 seconds. Once you've done that, put in one of the sticks by itself. If you have extra slots for RAM, use one that is currently not being used. Plug it back in, and power it on. Let me know what happens.

Remove the video card, power on the system without it. Still power cycling?

I just did both of these things. Krynn, the exact same thing happened, no change whatsoever.

Viper, oddly enough, it is still power cycling. The graphics card is completely removed and out of my PC. Does that rule out the GPU or not?

 

[bobtheskull]

Honestly, it sounds exactly like the problem I had now. I swapped out RAM, swapped out for a different GFX card, even booted to a different hard drive (i kept the previous one with windows still installed for some reason). When all of these didn't work and I was completely stumped, one of my techy mates mentioned the battery as a last resort.

I hope you get to the bottom of it soon though. Must be driving you nuts! I really do hope its the battery, for your sake as it is the cheapest fix of all the hardware mentioned.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Honestly, it sounds exactly like the problem I had now. I swapped out RAM, swapped out for a different GFX card, even booted to a different hard drive (i kept the previous one with windows still installed for some reason). When all of these didn't work and I was completely stumped, one of my techy mates mentioned the battery as a last resort.

I hope you get to the bottom of it soon though. Must be driving you nuts! I really do hope its the battery, for your sake as it is the cheapest fix of all the hardware mentioned.

I'll try anything and everything, and if it is just the battery then I'll be happy as shit.

 

[Viperidae]

Remove the battery, turn off power supply until standby light turns off. Turn PSU back on and power on without battery. Still cycling?

Also yes, your graphics card is not the cause of the cycling, in this case. If it's not the battery, then it's your PSU or your mobo.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Remove the battery, turn off power supply until standby light turns off. Turn PSU back on and power on without battery. Still cycling?

Also yes, your graphics card is not the cause of the cycling, in this case. If it's not the battery, then it's your PSU or your mobo.

Well, it's still cycling after removing the battery.

How can I test whether it's the PSU or the motherboard? Should I just go buy a replacement PSU/Mobo and test it?

 

[sixteenth]

Does your motherboard have LED's that code for issues? I know some mobos have this feature to help with troubleshooting. If you can't even POST though, I'm not sure if you'd get that far. If it does, you can find what the codes indicate in your mobo's manual.

But as Viperidae indicated above, I concur. It's likely your mobo or PSU at fault (possibly CPU as well). My guess is mobo since you had a range of problems that sound like overheating issues.

 

[Krynn72]

Well, it's still cycling after removing the battery.

How can I test whether it's the PSU or the motherboard? Should I just go buy a replacement PSU/Mobo and test it?

Yeah, try a new PSU. Buying a new motherboard is a pain in the ass to test, so usually that's the last thing to rule out. If its still happening with the PSU, you can try reseating and reapplying the thermal paste on the CPU. If its still happening, then there's little left beside the MB that could be causing this.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Yeah, try a new PSU. Buying a new motherboard is a pain in the ass to test, so usually that's the last thing to rule out. If its still happening with the PSU, you can try reseating and reapplying the thermal paste on the CPU. If its still happening, then there's little left beside the MB that could be causing this.

Well, I just installed my new PSU. I plugged my PC in, without having plugged anything else in, and it booted normally and stayed on. I powered it down so I could plug everything else in (mouse, monitor, ethernet). It started cycling again after that point.

I'd reseat and re-thermal the CPU but I don't really feel like it. I'm really sick of testing things on this pile of trash. I'm just gonna go buy a new case and motherboard in a few weeks after my next paycheck. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Krynn72]

I powered it down so I could plug everything else in (mouse, monitor, ethernet). It started cycling again after that point.

Whoa whoa whoa. You might have a broken USB port causing a short circuit. First just look in the back and make sure you don't see any metal pins. Look at this pic, top is obviously good, bottom is ****ed. Even if its not totally jacked up like in the bottom one, just one bent metal pin touching something its not supposed to can cause the whole system to short. If you don't notice anything wrong visually, just plug things in one at a time and see when it starts happening again.

 

[Bad^Hat]

I'm just following this thread for the mystery now tbh. Such suspense!

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Whoa whoa whoa. You might have a broken USB port causing a short circuit. First just look in the back and make sure you don't see any metal pins. Look at this pic, top is obviously good, bottom is ****ed. Even if its not totally jacked up like in the bottom one, just one bent metal pin touching something its not supposed to can cause the whole system to short. If you don't notice anything wrong visually, just plug things in one at a time and see when it starts happening again.

I can't see anything wrong visually with any ports on the back. I actually did test them one by one after my computer ****ed up again and I couldn't find a clear suspect. It just cycled every time after that point.

On an unrelated note: After putting my PSU in, I realized that my case is disgustingly small and has little to no room for cable management. I figured that I might as well start from scratch with a new case and motherboard and then put all my other existing components in. Having to deal with a motherboard replacement in my computer's current cable-state would be tragic and possibly disastrous.

 

[Krynn72]

I assume you know how to match up your CPU with a new motherboard?

 

[Vegeta897]

He's had practice.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Well I was convinced to give my PC to this one person my mother works with, and it actually turned out to be the GPU.

The guy put in a replacement temporarily, and hopefully I'll have a nicer one in the coming weeks. Thanks for everyone's help and shit in this thread though, much appreciated.

 

[Krynn72]

Thanks for posting the results, not many people do that.

Still confused by the whole thing, since the issue persisted even without the graphics card installed, but **** it, sometimes computers just don't make any god damn sense.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Final Update

I'm currently typing this on my now working PC! I picked up a GTX 760 today and got my system working within minutes.

Hooray!