Windows keeps rebooting on cold start

So i've spent the last 5 hours tinkering...

1) Booted in safe mode with network - no better.

2) Booted in safe mode - no better

3) Took computer apart, cleaned out all the dust, cleaned contacts, reseated ram, checked for odd lookiing capacitors etc - Didnt find anything unusual (not that I really know what im looking for!) - It didnt boot. At all! Turns out I hadnt reseated the ram properly after checking the reseating - reseated - Boots but no better.

To add insult to injury my Soundblaster Z stopped working properly after windows update.

Took it out since the computer is in pieces. Used onboard sound - works wonderfully...until the next time I restartet. Now I only get sound from one speaker/headphone. Uninstalled drivers, reinstalled. No help. Blew out/cleaned connectors - no help.

Sigh. I hate computers.

I have a similar problem for 4 years. Pc won't boot when cold. Then, it runs 24/7.

On my side, it's not the power supply, i don't think it's the RAM, the overclock. It's probably a bad chip on the mobo, a cold soldering or the hard drive.

expansion and contraction due to heat.

while its cold you have a lose connection. when its hot and expanded you don't.

usually it the ram as others have mentioned.

try the cpu next. its something with hundreds of pins that are not quite lining up till hot.

so RAM or CPU. most likely.

if its a new rig with a big cooler then they can get moved in transit... they get banged around.

so take off the cooler and reseat the CPU.

and swap all the ram into different slots.

and reseat the GPU.

when mine used to di it it was the ram and swapping the slots seems to fix it.

i don't like these quick release ram slots on my ASUS board. i think they are the problem. only one catch on one side..

I'm sure it's not the CPU. The RAM slots have been cleaned.

you can spot a cold solder crack pretty easily, just turn the mobo over and have a look at the connections with a magnifying glass. if you find a crack fill it with metal thermal paste as it will fill the hole and conduct electricity. and it will even handle any heat. just don't get it everywhere.

Power Supply or VRM on mainboard.

Also, try reflashing your BIOS. it's easy enough and at least you can rule that off the list. But it is looking more and more like you have a faulty piece of hardware. You can't swap out the MB, so at least try booting with one memory stick at a time. Also, remove all USB peripherals except the keyboard/mouse.

Start ruling out things as much a possible.

If your board is being intermittant I would advise that trying to flash the BIOS would be a risk not worth taking

After spending 5 hours with it this morning and finishing worse off than I started im pretty sick of the whole thing!

Ive been holding off an upgrade for a while so maybe its time! The thing that gets me is why has the onboard sound suddenly stopped outputing to the left speaker?! The speakers and headset work fine on a laptop. Pure conicidence???

Real quick, I dont see it mentioned and the wording kinda conflicts the title, but it's a big difference in trouble shooting depending what's actually happening.

Does your System:

A: SHUT OFF COMPLETELY (as in powers off).

B: REBOOTS To the Mainboard Post Screen and try loading Windows Again.

damn :(

the sound circuit might have voltage issues, or the jack itself is broken in one or the other way.

You did reset the board ? Batt -->out::-->in and short the pins ?

disconnect all SATA, SSD, USB Headers, aka EVERYTHING, leave CPU fan, ATX24pin, CPU8pin, GPU, RAM ( 1 module only, SLOT according to MB manual ).

Boot a USB stick witch Ubuntu, load prime for linux, run it. Verify against another OS to exclude driver conflicts that force sudden shutdowns or reboots.

Leave windows to verify that your failure is really not MS-OS bound but indeed a possible hardware issue.

If Linux has the same symptoms, while surfing or priming, your hardware is faulty somewhere, 99.9%. If Linux primes all night and day, your Windows drivers have an issue, 99.9%.

Thats easy to do and will give definitiv answers where to look further, hardware or windows.

*if you know how, add a GPU miner to p95, that loads the system pretty much max power usage.

At the factory, they use this microscope to detect bad soldering (inspection stage), then don't try too hard :D

What is your power supply? How old?

There is one repair shop around you? Ask for an evaluation/diagnostic price.

If your board is being intermittant I would advise that trying to flash the BIOS would be a risk not worth taking

I think the OP said that the PC reboots when starting windows. So going to BIOS didn't seem like it was an issue. That's how I read it, but I could be wrong.

It restart before Windows's loading. And don't start in safe mode.

On my side, the hard drive don't start. The HD led stays off.

Rage, turn it on, wait 2-4 minutes, then restart the pc. This is how i proceed.

After spending 5 hours with it this morning and finishing worse off than I started im pretty sick of the whole thing!

 

Ive been holding off an upgrade for a while so maybe its time! The thing that gets me is why has the onboard sound suddenly stopped outputing to the left speaker?! The speakers and headset work fine on a laptop. Pure conicidence???

You have removed the overclock and tried running at stock CPU speeds?

Can you get it to boot into windows at all now ?

If yes then try opening a DOS window as admin

sfc /scannow

^ this will verify your windows files are ok or not

That will at least rule out window having issues as the problem

I'm not sure in the past 6 pages if anyone has mentioned this or not...

CMOS Battery?

Whenever I have a CMOS battery starting to go, I get symptoms similar to what was described.

At any rate, its a cheap, and easy 5 minute fix and at least that can be eliminated.

Update

After trying all the above suggestions to no avail I was able to test with another PSU. Still no good. I was pretty convinced it was the motherboard and my mechanical hard drive then dying was the last straw.

Ive just finished a new build:

8600k @ 5.3ghz. Delidded. H115i cooler

Gskill 16gb ram @ 3200C14

Aorus 1080ti

960 EVO SSD

Corsair carbide 740 case.

My SB system served me very well. I was a little sad to see it go after so many years. I was hoping to go AMD this time round but unfortunately I couldnt wait without a functional PC any longer. I also had my doubts about AMD making up the clockspeed and IPC difference. For everything else Ryzen/Ryzen+ is a beast. But for DCS you still need raw clocks and IPC, especially for VR.