Endless Boot Cycle

virtualTune

New member
I know, common problem but everything I know so far hasn't worked :(

Important System Specs:
Asus Sabertooth Z87
i7-4770K
Corsair H105
Corsair RM850
Corsair 750D

I was doing some good overclocking earlier tonight and finally broke my record (5GHz, 80 degrees) :) and thought this should be a pretty awesome day. Well after that I reinstalled some of the RAM and adjusted my CPU settings to get a Profile for Maximum system performance. I did about 20 different runs always changing some settings and adding/removing RAM until I got stuck in a boot cycle. Mind you that not once did I change the RAM voltage.
So the natural thing to do is of course to hit that little CMOS flash button and go into BIOS again. Worked fine!
In there, I decided I had done enough overclocking for today, and just wanted to go back to a quiet, 24/7 overclock. A stable 4.5GHz @ 1.200V that I used in the past as well. Sadly I got stuck in a boot cycle again. Nothing appears on the monitor, just reboots every 5 seconds.

So I was a little confused and figured I'll deal with it tomorrow as right now I just wanted to chill and not worry too much about it. So I flashed CMOS again and set everything to Default. So for the first time since I bought the PC, everything was set to AUTO.
Still no luck, stuck in a boot cycle just like before.

So it must be hardware related, right? I removed all but 1 memory stick and matters improved a little bit. The PC would now boot and run, but there would still be no Logo or anything else on the screen. Turning the PC off and pressing the CMOS Button, renders no change.
After one boot for about 2 mnutes with just a black screen, it restarted and went back to the 5 seconds bot pattern.
I have now removed all of the hardware and fans connected to the motherboard except for one RAM stick and the CPU and H105.

So now I call out to you guys! What should be my next move? I tried removing the battery, but it appears to be stuck pretty tight in the Sabertooth Z87.

I doubt/hope it isn't a majaor hardware failure, since I was still able to use it normally an hour after my highest overclock. If an overvoltage would have caused any damage, I assume it would instantly kill any components....

Any helpful ideas are greatly appreciated!

Thank you guys!

-vT
 
Sounds dumb but is the reset button stuck? A friend of mine had a reboot cycle endlessly and when i went to go help him, all i did was remove the reset cable from the board and it worked. Turned out the reset button was jammed. Maybe give it a try?
 
But the OP said that when he removed one RAM module, it improved, so dunno...

Anyways OP if the above didnt work for you, could you please provide the volatge you use to obtain 5ghz, also your blck OC if you did any.
 
Got any leftover RAM from an old system or something like that? If you pulled the RAM and it helped, sounds like you might've damaged it. Test it with a set of RAM sticks that were entirely unaffected.

Well, I guess you'd've done it already if you'd've had some RAM lying around. Still I felt obliged to post this.
 
unfortunately I don't have any old Ram :/
As far as Power wsitch goes, it is on the right header ;)
The problem started before I even unpluged everything so that would mean the power switch was always on the wrong header ^^
The reset cable isn't even connected. Just 24pin, CPU power and power switch :(
 
UPDATE
The problem definatly lies in the RAM. Either the Ram odules themselves (I really hope so ^^) or the motherboards RAM input thingy. I have a red LED constantly glowing when any amount of RAM is installed.
To test whether it might be related to another hardware problem, I took out all of the RAM. Voila, the PC works fine, except of course it never boots into BIOS since there is no RAM. I was hoping to see at least the TUF Logo on the monitor, but I guess that somehow requires RAM ^^
I'll try and find someone with a spare RAM module ASAP.
Still I wonder how one might remove the Battery on this board :/

PROGRESS
After several reboots without any RAM I decided to install one module again, and it actually booted properly...kind off. At least it didn't shut down after 5 seconds but the system stayed running. I had it connected through the HDMI Mainboard ouput to the monitor, which remained black. I then installed the GPU again, and now the screen is still black and I et a red LED at the GPU's PCI-E port. So now I am stuck again, because I have no idea what the problem is there ^^
 
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Not entirely sure why, but after some more unplugging of the power cord and clearing the RTC RAM the system is now back to normal. I am still confused as to how the problem occured in the first place and still a little unsure about any future overclocing :/
Anyways I am glad it is up and running again! Thanks everyone for your advice!
 
Just out of curiosity, did you unplug the power lead before? If not and it cleared after unplugging it, to me says one of the thermal fuses in PSU didn't reset properly when you some how inadvertently tripped it.
 
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