Hackintosh won't boot (fans repeatedly rev up and turn off)

[Gobias]

I recently moved, and when I got my Hackintosh set up again yesterday, it would not turn on. Whenever I try to turn it on, the case fans, CPU fan, and power supply fan repeatedly rev up and then turn off. The fans on my graphics card do not turn on, and I have no picture on my monitor (not even the POST screen, so I can’t get to the BIOS). I have to hold the power button to shut down my computer and stop this loop of fans revving up and turning off. My monitor still works fine with my laptop, so the issue seems unrelated to the monitor.

What I’ve tried so far to troubleshoot the issue:

• disconnecting and reconnecting everything inside my computer thinking that something must've come loose in the move
• connecting the graphics card to different VGA ports on the power supply
• booting with the graphics card removed and the monitor connected to the DisplayPort on the motherboard
• booting with just one memory card and then just the other one
• booting with memory cards in different slots
• clearing the CMOS by pressing the Clear CMOS button on the motherboard
• clearing the CMOS by removing the CMOS battery for 1 minute and reinserting it
• replacing the CMOS battery with a new one
• using the BIOS switch on my motherboard to boot from the backup BIOS (I've never touched this switch or used the backup BIOS before)
• using the SB switch on my motherboard to boot using single BIOS mode (never touched this switch before either)

None of those actions made any difference except for the last one (switching to single BIOS mode), which made the fans run constantly at full speed instead of revving up and down. However, I still get no picture, whether my monitor is connected to the graphics card or motherboard.

At this point, I think the issue is either with the power supply or the motherboard since removing graphics and memory cards made no difference, but I’m not sure how to determine which it is without replacing one (and obviously the motherboard can’t be as easily swapped out as the power supply).

Is there anything else I can do to diagnose or fix this issue?

My Build:
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5H ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell Processor
Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 580 8GB
2 x Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600 Desktop Memory
EVGA SuperNOVA NEX650G 650W PSU
YOUBO BCM94360CD 802.11a/g/n/ac BT4.0 PCIe Network Adapter
2 x Samsung 860 EVO 6Gb/s SATA 500GB SS
Seagate Barracuda 6Gb/s SATA 2TB HDD
BenQ DesignVue PD2720U 4K Monitor

(I've also submitted tickets with EVGA and Gigabyte asking about this)

 

[P1LGRIM]

Is there anything else I can do to diagnose or fix this issue?

Reseat every removable component and cable connector.

 

[Gobias]

Reseat every removable component and cable connector.

That was the first thing I tried, and it made no difference.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I recently moved, and when I got my Hackintosh set up again yesterday, it would not turn on. Whenever I try to turn it on, the case fans, CPU fan, and power supply fan repeatedly rev up and then turn off. The fans on my graphics card do not turn on, and I have no picture on my monitor (not even the POST screen, so I can’t get to the BIOS). I have to hold the power button to shut down my computer and stop this loop of fans revving up and turning off. My monitor still works fine with my laptop, so the issue seems unrelated to the monitor.

What I’ve tried so far to troubleshoot the issue:

• disconnecting and reconnecting everything inside my computer thinking that something must've come loose in the move
• connecting the graphics card to different VGA ports on the power supply
• booting with the graphics card removed and the monitor connected to the DisplayPort on the motherboard
• booting with just one memory card and then just the other one
• booting with memory cards in different slots
• clearing the CMOS by pressing the Clear CMOS button on the motherboard
• clearing the CMOS by removing the CMOS battery for 1 minute and reinserting it
• replacing the CMOS battery with a new one
• using the BIOS switch on my motherboard to boot from the backup BIOS (I've never touched this switch or used the backup BIOS before)
• using the SB switch on my motherboard to boot using single BIOS mode (never touched this switch before either)

None of those actions made any difference except for the last one (switching to single BIOS mode), which made the fans run constantly at full speed instead of revving up and down. However, I still get no picture, whether my monitor is connected to the graphics card or motherboard.

At this point, I think the issue is either with the power supply or the motherboard since removing graphics and memory cards made no difference, but I’m not sure how to determine which it is without replacing one (and obviously the motherboard can’t be as easily swapped out as the power supply).

Is there anything else I can do to diagnose or fix this issue?

My Build:
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5H ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell Processor
Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 580 8GB
2 x Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600 Desktop Memory
EVGA SuperNOVA NEX650G 650W PSU
YOUBO BCM94360CD 802.11a/g/n/ac BT4.0 PCIe Network Adapter
2 x Samsung 860 EVO 6Gb/s SATA 500GB SS
Seagate Barracuda 6Gb/s SATA 2TB HDD
BenQ DesignVue PD2720U 4K Monitor

(I've also submitted tickets with EVGA and Gigabyte asking about this)

Hi there.

I don't like to be the one who says this, but someone has to... I had something extremely similar recently.

Because you've removed all possible add-ons and drives, reset the BIOS etc., etc., but you still can't even POST, your situation does sound the same.

My motherboard had become faulty.

Nothing I could do would resurrect it. It might be possible to replace the BIOS chip(s) - if that's where the fault lies - but mine were soldered on so I cut my losses.

I really hope that's not the case for you, but an inability to even POST tells you the problem is not the operating-system.

Sorry.

 

[ajpwreng]

@Gobias A real long shot here, but, one time I had a similar issue and it ended up being an issue with the main processor. Somehow, some way, I had managed to break off one of the ground pins when I seated the main processor during the original build. I think I upgraded the CPU cooler (or some other mod like adding a card)--and in doing so the broken off pin moved enough that it touched another pin and no more boot--nothing. This was on one of my Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi boards which until I physically did things inside the box was working great. Like I said, its a long shot, but, from your list its the only thing you have not touched. I'm not saying its a broken off pin, but, the processor might have just shifted a tiny bit.

 

[Edhawk]

Are you using a Motherboard speaker, i.e. one connected to the front panel header, like this:

Motherboard speaker

If yes, are you hearing any beeps? If yes, how many and are they short or long beeps?

If not you might want to add one to your 8-series motherboard. They are relatively inexpensive, available from most online retailers. You may have one that is not being used, as most gigabyte motherboards of that age came with the speaker in the box.

The speaker is connected to the red 4-pin header highlighted in the cyan coloured rectangle in the image below:

Z87X-UD5H motherboard, speaker connector highlighted

 

[Gobias]

Hi there.

I don't like to be the one who says this, but someone has to... I had something extremely similar recently.

Because you've removed all possible add-ons and drives, reset the BIOS etc., etc., but you still can't even POST, your situation does sound the same.

My motherboard had become faulty.

Nothing I could do would resurrect it. It might be possible to replace the BIOS chip(s) - if that's where the fault lies - but mine were soldered on so I cut my losses.

I really hope that's not the case for you, but an inability to even POST tells you the problem is not the operating-system.

Sorry.

Ugh. I really hope the motherboard isn't dead.

But thanks for sharing your experience/insights.

 

[Gobias]

@Gobias A real long shot here, but, one time I had a similar issue and it ended up being an issue with the main processor. Somehow, some way, I had managed to break off one of the ground pins when I seated the main processor during the original build. I think I upgraded the CPU cooler (or some other mod like adding a card)--and in doing so the broken off pin moved enough that it touched another pin and no more boot--nothing. This was on one of my Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi boards which until I physically did things inside the box was working great. Like I said, its a long shot, but, from your list its the only thing you have not touched. I'm not saying its a broken off pin, but, the processor might have just shifted a tiny bit.

I upgraded the my CPU cooler years ago and haven't touched the CPU since then, so I don't think that's the problem.

 

[Gobias]

Are you using a Motherboard speaker, i.e. one connected to the front panel header, like this:
View attachment 527795 Motherboard speaker

If yes, are you hearing any beeps? If yes, how many and are they short or long beeps?

If not you might want to add one to your 8-series motherboard. They are relatively inexpensive, available from most online retailers. You may have one that is not being used, as most gigabyte motherboards of that age came with the speaker in the box.

The speaker is connected to the red 4-pin header highlighted in the cyan coloured rectangle in the image below:

View attachment 527796Z87X-UD5H motherboard, speaker connector highlighted

I don't have a motherboard speaker connected to the motherboard, but I'll check later if I have one that came with the motherboard.

 

[Gobias]

Are you using a Motherboard speaker, i.e. one connected to the front panel header, like this:
View attachment 527795 Motherboard speaker

If yes, are you hearing any beeps? If yes, how many and are they short or long beeps?

If not you might want to add one to your 8-series motherboard. They are relatively inexpensive, available from most online retailers. You may have one that is not being used, as most gigabyte motherboards of that age came with the speaker in the box.

The speaker is connected to the red 4-pin header highlighted in the cyan coloured rectangle in the image below:

View attachment 527796Z87X-UD5H motherboard, speaker connector highlighted

I couldn't find a motherboard speaker in the extra parts and cables I have for my hackintosh, so I just ordered one from Amazon.