Stuck in a loop of misery, HELP!

[Caddac]

On Monday I purchased my build:

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/Y8mW6h
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/Y8mW6h/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII FORMULA ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Kingston Fury White Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card
Case: Corsair 780T ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series White 2 pack 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series White 2 pack 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series White 2 pack 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan
Case Accessory: NZXT Hue LED Controller



Last night, I put it all together, and it started up with no problems. I was able to install 8.1 on my SSD, and got it running. Did a few updates, and it restarted to complete them no problem. I installed my GPU and liquid cooling drivers and then shut it down and packed it up. I had put it together at a friend's who lived about 5 mins away. I slid the case with everything in it back into the box with the styrofoam, and carefully packed it into my car for the short drive. I get home, start it up, and windows is taking longer than normal to start, especially considering it was installed on the SSD. I then get a blue screen that only stays up for a second, not even long enough to read it, and it restarts into "preparing automatic repair" which then goes to a black screen and stays that way. I checked all of my connections, and nothing was loosened or damaged from the short drive. I've tried reinstalling windows 8.1 but the installer freezes at 'starting setup'. I tried booting into safe-mode but the computer cuts power to the keyboard right after the BIOS finishes loading and therefore I can't get the shortcut to work. I also tried installing windows 7, but it gets stuck at the same part as the windows 8. Any ideas about what I can do or what may be wrong? The board shows no error as the code is A0.

[Nate152]

Hello Caddac and welcome

In the bios on the advanced tab, usb configuration, check to see that xHCI is set to smart auto.

[Puffnstuff]

The fact that it is losing power kind of tells me that your ps might be the issue. If it is bad do not run it this way as fluctuating power can trash a ssd controller. You also state that your system is water cooled. Are you using a non conductive coolant and have you checked for leaks? Leaking conductive coolant can short circuit your board and destroy your system so check and be sure. Check everything out carefully to rule out these things and if they aren't the culprit then systematically search until you find the issue.

[Caddac]

I'm not losing power to the system, only to the keyboard and usb. It's as if they get restarted by Windows as it starts up.

[nealosis]

Puffnstuff wrote:
The fact that it is losing power kind of tells me that your ps might be the issue. If it is bad do not run it this way as fluctuating power can trash a ssd controller.

I created an account here just to reply to this thread. OP, you are not crazy and there is nothing wrong with your build or your hardware. Me and countless other people are experiencing the same issues as you and there has yet to be a viable solution.

Here are the symptoms of this issue:
1. NVidia drivers install correctly in windows, they work, and are up to date
2. When the machine is rebooted the following occurs:
* Bios screen is displayed
* Spinning circle progress meter for loading windows is displayed
* Suddenly the keyboard and mouse flicker off and the machine is rebooted again
* The previous 3 bullets above are repeated until the second reboot displays 'Starting automatic repair'
3. At this stage the only way to restore to a working system is to go into Safe Mode and re-install the stock OEM NVidia driver

It is important to note that, in my case and most of the cases reported, IF you install the version of the NVidia driver that came with your GPU (in my case that is V344.11) then the system is stable, consistent, and reliable but IF you use any other driver version then the reported symptoms above will occur. You are essentially locked into the manufacturer nvidia driver version.

I have tested voltages and wattage, I've disable UEFI fast boot, I've enabled classic boot, and I've even rolled my GTX 970 back to my original ASUS Radeon HD 7870 OC and all produce the same results. The Gigabyte GTX970 (FW: 84.04.1F.00.FD) just cannot function with Windows 8.1 X64 with any driver other than the stock OEM driver included on the driver CD that came with the graphics card.

I've been at this now for about a week non-stop and at this point I'm convinced that there is a fault in the hardware design of this GPU. I haven't used an NVidia graphics adapter in 15+ years and this is going to be the last one I ever purchase as I've never had any issues what-so-ever with the AMD/ATI GPUs.

If you're curious here's the spec-sheet on my hardware. Note the bottom of the paste, which articulates the changes made to this build in January 2015 (notably, I replaced the ASUS Radeon HD 7870 OC with a Gigabyte GTX970 G1)

http://pastebin.com/Kp2Xib45

[Nate152]

After it says starting windows it's normal for the mouse and keyboard to go off for a second or two then come back on, mine does it too.

Other than that are you still having any problems?

[Caddac]

Yeah, the system still doesn't start lmfao. The keyboard and mouse wasn't my issue, it just stopped me from being able to try to boot it into safe mode in order to try to solve my issue lol

[Nate152]

What code is the motherboard stopping on when you try to boot?

[Caddac]

No code at all. Sticks to A0. Sometimes when in the BIOS is shows A2

[Nate152]

AO means everything is working as it should, A2 however does not.

It's possible a connection came loose when transporting it. Double check the pcie cables are fully connected on your gpu and check your sata cables are fully connected.