Suddenly my computer has begun to power cycle continually with no end in sight until I physically remove the power cable from the PSU. This has begun spontaneously and not on the back of any hardware or software changes.
The PC will "boot" for about 3-5 seconds – fans start spinning and LED's come on, and then turn off abruptly. After about another 3-5 seconds, fans start spinning and LED's come on, and then turn off abruptly. This cycle continues to infinity.
Immediately I thought the PSU was to blame, but upon swapping it out for a brand new one the issue persists.
I have tried a myriad of hardware troubleshooting combinations to diagnose this issue:
- Motherboard with just CPU
- Motherboard with CPU / RAM
- Motherboard with CPU / RAM / GPU
- Motherboard with CPU / RAM / GPU / HDD
(Both in and out of case to negate any potential shortages)
None of these have had any effect whatsoever on the issue.
Also, when I remove the 6 (or is it 8?) pin connector which powers the CPU and attempt to boot, the cycling stops and the fans stay on. Obviously, however, the system will not properly boot without this plugged in.
The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R. From googling it seems that this is quite a widespread issue particularly among Gigabyte mobo owners, but nobody seems to nail down a cause.
I've taken the CMOS battery out for tonight, but I'm not hopeful!
Edit
The CPU input I'm talking about is here:
Best Answer
Just by looking at your trouble-shooting steps it looks like a MoBo issue. It's the only constant in all of the different things you have tried. There is probably a short somewhere, bad solder, or a faulty power connector on the MoBo. I'd try swapping it out and keeping everything else the same, see if that fixes the issue.
It especially seems apparent that the MoBo is the issue because you say that a number of people with the same or similar MoBo are having the same problem. So that is likely your point of failure.