pc restarting ever 3 seconds

[Zabatakis]

Having some issues. The short of it is my computer can't make it to bios anymore, just loops reset every 3 seconds. Since I bought a new power supply and that didn't fix it my next step is to do the mobo but I am hoping for some advice or steps I can take besides driving all the way to micro center and replacing parts 1 by 1.


Problems leading up to this:
About 2 weeks ago I went to a friends house to sit while his family went to Disney land for a week. Brought computer, set it up no problems. His surge protector was one of those weird ones that required a certain slot order and he needed his comp to access remotely for work so I put mine in the next available slots. Random restarts started here, just playing wow for like 30 min to a hour and it would shut down. First thought was overheat, ran core temps and no issues there. More restarts so I plugged direct into the wall with no surge, fixed nothing. Bought new surge protector and used it, no more problems for the week.
Got home, first 3 days no issues at all. After that restarts started again, only when playing games. Core temps fine again. Messed around with power supply trying to fix it, after that it just restarts every 3 seconds on loop until I shut off power. All fans run, I can hear the disk drive engage (nothing in it tho), lights on everything are on until it restarts *except mobo* I can't find where the lights on that are and I skimmed manual to no luck there.

I figured since it was reseting during games and it wasn't fan related it would have to be faulty power, but a new PSU didn't help.

Some things I have tried:
Pulling everything out and putting back in, double checking connectors. no change.
cycle ram in each slot. no change
Replace entire PSU. no change (could be another bad one I guess?)
Cmos reset. No change


my mobo model is GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 if that matters. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

[Deleted]

This will probably sound ridiculous to you, but I've had an extremely frustrating and similar problem before, and it turned out to be the power button itself that had sustained physical damage and was triggering an endless power on/off loop. Worth checking.

[Mooklin]

This will probably sound ridiculous to you, but I've had an extremely frustrating and similar problem before, and it turned out to be the power button itself that had sustained physical damage and was triggering an endless power on/off loop. Worth checking.

Almost 100% sure its the power button i had the same problem, just change the jumpers and use your reset button as the new power button that fixed for me. It was a pain in the ass to figure it out

[Vash The Stampede]

This will probably sound ridiculous to you, but I've had an extremely frustrating and similar problem before, and it turned out to be the power button itself that had sustained physical damage and was triggering an endless power on/off loop. Worth checking.

Or just disconnect the power button from the board and turn on the PC with a screwdriver. Just be very careful not to short out anything. A steady hand is required.

[westom]

Having some issues. The short of it is my computer can't make it to bios anymore, just loops reset every 3 seconds. Since I bought a new power supply and that didn't fix it my next step is to do the mobo but I am hoping for some advice or steps I can take besides driving all the way to micro center and replacing parts 1 by 1..

You are confused and maybe frustrated because conclusions are made using wild speculation. First collect facts before replacing anything. What determines when a PSU can power on or off? Power controller. Your symptoms state bluntly where an investigation should begin.

Power controller takes many inputs. Then decides when a PSU can power on. Then decides if power is stable long before it lets the CPU even execute the BIOS. If it does not like something, then it powers off.

Power button is one of many inputs to that power controller.

Shotgunning is about replacing good parts until something works. It costs more time and money. Sometimes only cures symptoms. Fewer good techs find the defect before replacing anything.

For example, what happens when a front power button is pressed constantly. Eventually, a power controller see that as a request to power off. Is that power button stuck - does not disconnect for many seconds. Just another reason why even informed layman have a digital meter. Almost nothing can be discovered by observation. No tool is more necessary to first find and then eliminate a long list of defects.

Assistance from the better informed is possible only by using that meter, requesting additional instructions, performing minutes of labor. Resulting numbers means the fewer can identify a defect and probably also say why that defect exists.

[westom]

Step 1: Reset the CMOS by removing the battery for 30 seconds and replacing it.

Power controller does not even let the CPU execute until it decided power is stable and good. If a CPU does not execute, then BIOS does not execute. If BIOS does not execute, then CMOS is completely ignored - is irrelevant.

[Zabatakis]

ok sorry was in a hospital for aneurysm last 2 weeks. I stated I had tried a cmos reset above (its not irrelevant, has fixed this exact issue for others which is why I tried it), that didn't work. Just tried jumpstarting the pc with a screwdriver and the same issue. I even pulled out the reset connector hoping maybe it was just misfiring or something. Going to get a new motherboard today if the snow melts, will update later.

[Sturmbringe]

Messed around with power supply trying to fix it, after that it just restarts every 3 seconds on loop until I shut off power.

You should never, ever "mess" with your PSU, you should never, ever try to "fix" your PSU. It can kill you.

PSU's are not "fixable". If your PSU fails, replace immediately and do not tamper with it.

[westom]

I stated I had tried a cmos reset above (its not irrelevant, has fixed this exact issue for others which is why I tried it), that didn't work.

In the original post, you said, "The short of it is my computer can't make it to bios anymore, just loops reset every 3 seconds." Now you say, "has fixed this exact issue for others". Which is it? BIOS does not execute (first post) or BIOS does execute?

Meanwhile, the solution was posted.

Assistance from the better informed is possible only by using that meter, requesting additional instructions, performing minutes of labor. Resulting numbers means the fewer can identify a defect and probably also say why that defect exists.

[Zabatakis]

You should never, ever "mess" with your PSU, you should never, ever try to "fix" your PSU. It can kill you.

PSU's are not "fixable". If your PSU fails, replace immediately and do not tamper with it.

Ah yes sorry, by messed around with it I mean i swapped the cords and connectors. by no means am I foolish enough to try electrical or opening that.

In the original post, you said, "The short of it is my computer can't make it to bios anymore, just loops reset every 3 seconds." Now you say, "has fixed this exact issue for others". Which is it? BIOS does not execute (first post) or BIOS does execute?

Meanwhile, the solution was posted.

I don't mean to bother your ego or anything but the fact is the EXACT symptom I had is documented on youtube and fixed with cmos resets. You can say what you want but its not irrelevant in my case to try a cmos reset. Anyhow, The new mobo fixed the problem and after pulling the old one out you can see burning around the CMOS battery slot so I am guessing the hiccup was somewhere in that area, but I did not bother to confirm that.

[Vash The Stampede]

You should never, ever "mess" with your PSU, you should never, ever try to "fix" your PSU. It can kill you.

PSU's are not "fixable". If your PSU fails, replace immediately and do not tamper with it.

I've actually repaired some PSU's by replacing some capacitors. I've also dunked them in water to clean off the dust.

I don't mean to bother your ego or anything but the fact is the EXACT symptom I had is documented on youtube and fixed with cmos resets. You can say what you want but its not irrelevant in my case to try a cmos reset. Anyhow, The new mobo fixed the problem and after pulling the old one out you can see burning around the CMOS battery slot so I am guessing the hiccup was somewhere in that area, but I did not bother to confirm that.

Might mean the CMOS battery went bad the way of the Samsung Note 7. You can remove the battery and test it with a volt mater. Anything less than 3V means the battery is gone, and that would cause problems starting up a PC.