Boot loop on pc, H80i + video :/

Hi over most of this year my pc will start and after about 5 seconds restart, in a loop for at least 3-4 times before finally booting. No input on the screen when it restarts. Occasionally it passes bios post and just before boot menu select it will cut out and restart then.

It was quite random and used to boot fine for several days before the restart loops occured. But lately its every single turn on

I have a corsair H80i and an overclocked 4690k cpu.

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I am considering buying a new H80i to replace the current one which was bought in December 2014. --

-- Is a replacement worth thinking about, or do these coolers have lifetime warranty?

I have uploaded a video today to show what happened when I took it out of the computer case.

I have tested the psu with the paperclip method and plugged in a fan and it had no restart issues. I have tried new bios batteries, disabling the overclock completely. Checking stand offs on motherboard, plugging and unplugging the CPU Fan cable, unplugging h80i fans.

Memtest with ram for 4 passes over 2-3 hours with no errors. Issue remains with no ram installed.

And today reseated the cpu with new arctic silver 5 compound and the restarts continue.

I think that the back plate of the h80i is touching the metal of the case behind the motherboard. I considered putting some masking tape over the metal backplate but haven't yet.

Also when I took it out in the video it wouldn't of shorted at all on cardboard but the reboot cycle occurred.

I am only guessing that a pc outside of the case with nothing connected to it should stay on permanently as i've not tested it outside like that before.

Do you know if corsairs warranty is lifetime, and also do you think a new corsair h80i might do the same on my system.

I am preying to get the system to turn on first time fine all the time

Thanks for reading, Jake

The ambient room temperature is 20 degrees C.

This is how i have the corsair link setup. Occasionally i increase the fan speeds or slow them down in the summer slightly.

Does anyone know if there is a way to flash the H80i so it would be back to factory defaults or another firmware?

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Thanks, Jake

Wow, look at that shiny, silver version of Link 2(?). Ah memories.

Answer to the original question of "do coolers go bad" and the answer is yes. There is a definite shelf life for a water cooler, used or not. The sealed liquid cannot stay stable for ever. The normal warranty is 5 years and you would need a copy of the purchase invoice. Unfortunately, I do think that is a current issue and not a hypothetical.

Your coolant temp is riding at 38C. If this was just after some kind of load (especially GPU load), then there is a rational explanation. If not, then you are 18C over ambient and that is way out of bounds. That is an effective 15C penalty right from the start. Most likely the flow through the cooler is not what it once was. If one hose feels hot and one cool, that is a warning sign. Another thing to check is your H80i radiator exhaust should be approximately equal to the coolant temperature. In effect, you should feel 38C air coming off the radiator. That is plenty warm on your hand. If it feels cool, heat (and fluid) is not getting to the radiator.

I am not sure if your CPU is shutting down/restarting because the CPU temp. Usually the board will give a BIOS warning after that happens, but I can't swear that for every board ever made. I would normally trouble shoot this like a PSU issue, but you've already started that and it seems highly likely you have a cooler problem unless there is another explanation for the the 18C over ambient. Given your PC doesn't want to stay on for more than a few minutes, I don't see a lot of other logical explanations where it can naturally build up this kind of heat in that environment.

Hi thanks for your thoughts :)

Yes that coolant appears warm! and may have got warmer overtime (I haven't noticed temp increases much to do with the cpu). *This winter feels mild in the UK compared to prior years thats for sure so far.

The air out of the radiator is warm and both pipes at an equal warmth when the pc is running so it appears to operate ok. (once the bootloop restarts have occurred each day)

I went for an air cooler this time ::pirate:: and ordered a new noctua D15 which is massive. And until thats in i'm still not entirely sure (but am preying) that the corsair cooler is the issue...

Unfortunately i don't have a spare 1150 board to try it on. The 850w bequiet psu I feel is pretty under utilised with my system,

Temps right now after remounting the cpu to the H80i are around 5 deg hotter and idle at 45degC with the arctic silver 5 which was expected

Ah its corsair link 2.7 yep quite silvery

Hi i've installed the new noctua heatsink and the problem remains unfortunately.

So the H80i wasn't causing the restarts. Although now I do have cooler cpu temperatures at idle which stay around 35-40 degreesC which I think was due to the hot coolant inside as you mentioned thanks :)

I think the restart problem lies with the motherboard and could be anything from a loose capacitor, to a bios that needs flashing. I have tried a lot of removing parts to locate the cause of the restarts after 5 seconds before any screen output, but no luck so far still.

If I do buy a new motherboard I may aswell go all out and get a new cpu, ram and basically new computer. But thats a lot to spend on a computer that once it does turn on, it stays on fine all day with no issues.