Asrock Extreme4 Z77 Rig powers off when trying to boot

[Chillburger]

Hello everyone,

I've been running an Asrock Extreme4 Z77 rig with an i7 3770K since July of this year. For the most part, it's been pretty stable, but i did have some weird RAM issues that were resolved by a bios update.

Today, when I came home from school, I attemped to boot up my PC. The case LEDs, case fans, CPU fans and GPU fans would all come on for about two seconds, then the system would lose all power.

Upon inspection, I checked for shorts in the motherboard mounting and found nothing. I removed all components (hard drives, GPUs, RAM) and have been testing the system outside of my case on a cardboard box for now.

The system continues to exhibit the same behavior with only the CPU, one hard drive and one stick of ram plugged in, with no chance for a short. I did the paper clip test on the PSU and it seems to be working.

After all of this testing, I am probably going to conclude that it is a mother board issue, since it seems to be the root of the issue. Has anyone had issues with this particular motherboard exhibiting this behavior? What do you think could be causing this?

Thanks for checking my post!

 

[robax91]

Don't count out a PSU problem. It could be sending the wrong amount of power on the motherboard rail. Is it modular? If it is (like mine) you have to really push that plug in for a stable power connection. That would be a shame if it came down to a mobo failure so soon. Try all your options before returning/replacing. Good luck.

 

[dodger46]

Best to post your full rig details. Sounds more like a PSU issue... check rail volts if it will power up with nothing connected. Even better try an alternative PSU...

 

[Chillburger]

My Current Rig:
Asrock Extreme4 Z77
i7 3770K
ThermalTake Frio
NZXT Phantom Full Tower
G Skill 8GB 1600MHZ RAM
PowerColor AMD 5850
Samsung 840 250GB

I would think because the paper clip test is working, that the PSU is okay. But it is around 3 years old. I would not think it was going bad already.

 

[dodger46]

If, with nothing connected, the PSU runs fine when started with Paper clip, it may mean it's OK, but connect one item at a time to see if it subsequently fails. Start with the two Mobo connections then add GPU, drives etc. Ideally have a voltmeter measuring Rail volts as you do so.
http://hardwarelogic.com/articles.php?id=5075

 

[Chillburger]

I've tried only connecting the motherboard power cables (8 pin and 24 pin) and it exhibited the same behavior as before.

 

[dodger46]

I've tried only connecting the motherboard power cables (8 pin and 24 pin) and it exhibited the same behavior as before.

Does the PSU continue to run with nothing connected? i.e. fan runs after starting with paperclip...

 

[Chillburger]

If I take the paper clip out, it stops running.

 

[dodger46]

If I take the paper clip out, it stops running.

Sounds normal, so what's causing it to fail after few seconds with the mobo connected... either a short on the board or the PSU failing under load. What make your PSU? No easy diagnosis, even with a meter it's hard to tell if the fault lies with mobo or PSU f there's a short involved.

 

[Chillburger]

I had tried the motherboard outside of the case, and I got the same results. So I don't think it's an issue with a short. It could very well be an issue with the PSU under load, I'm going to try to get my hands on a spare psu tonight and test it out.

 

[dodger46]

I had tried the motherboard outside of the case, and I got the same results. So I don't think it's an issue with a short. It could very well be an issue with the PSU under load, I'm going to try to get my hands on a spare psu tonight and test it out.

Sounds like a plan!

 

[Chillburger]

I ended up trying another motherboard last night, and everything is now working perfectly. Guess I'm no doing business with Asrock much in the future.

 

[dodger46]

I ended up trying another motherboard last night, and everything is now working perfectly. Guess I'm no doing business with Asrock much in the future.

Indeed, you expect them to last a bit longer than s few weeks!