[SOLVED] ASUS ROG Strix Z390-F Gaming not booting, no LED lights on

Jan 11, 2019
10
0
10
Hi everyone

Firstly, here is the list of components I am using

SSD: Samsung 970 EVO (500GB, M.2 2280)
PSU: Corsair RM850x *2018* (850W)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX (2x, 16GB, DDR4-3000, DIMM 288)
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix Z390-F Gaming (LGA 1151, Intel Z390, ATX)
CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K (LGA 1151, 3.60GHz, Unlocked)
CPU Fan: be quiet! Pure Rock (15.50cm) (will be changed to Noctua 16.5cm once mounting kit arrives, shouldnt be the problem now though)
GPU: ASUS GeForce ROG STRIX RTX 2080 O8G Gaming (8GB, High End)

It's been quite a bumpy ride to set up this machine and I have officially come to a dead end.
After building everything together, connecting everything and wiring the cabels through the case I was ready to turn it on for the first time. Unfortunately, no signal/image was sent to the monitor.

After checking all kinds of things, I decided to keep things as simple as possible. Took out the PSU from the case and only connect the pure essentials, so no gpu, SATA, etc.

I then noticed the LED lights and it kept having a problem with DRAM, see video below:
Status video of Day 1

Asus Manual Page

After a pretty restless night, I read something on a forum with regards to CMOS. So i took out the battery, waited 5mins and put it back in.

Tested with just one DDR4 in the correct slot, nothing - no LED lights, see video below
Status video of Day 2

Now I was loosing hope and just tried to use other 16GB DDR4 card and switch it out with the one i had in place. Pressed the Start button again and there we go, lights are flashing and actually going green, for the first time!

Green light to boot for the first time

Checked Bios, everything looking ok:
Bios Photo

Was on the phone with my mate at this point and we thought it might be a good idea to finish off the job now and get the GPU back in and the second DDR4 card in the correct slot of course. First however, I only did the second DDR4 slot and booted it again, bios started, checked the memory and it did say that 32GB RAM was ready to go. Alright, GPU next...

Clicked everything in, connected the 2x PCIe Power Cables to the PSU and the GPU, plugged in the display port to the GPU and ready to boot. Now, no LED lights again, nothing!
I couldn't believe it. Ok back to where things were still ok, GPU out again and simply starting it with just the two DDR4 RAMs in, now no LED lights as well! Took the one DDR4 (closer to CPU) out again and really go back to when it first worked, nothing - no LED lights on. Even though the RGB lights on the Motherboard are on, so there is power there and I never touched the PSU cables connecting the Motherboard and CPU in this time.

I am clueless now. The CMOS reset obviously helped at some point, but it's a mystery to me why this system isn't working! Does anyone have an idea and could help? I would greatly appreciate that!

Thanks a lot,

Sebastian




 
Jan 11, 2019
10
0
10


Thank you for your answer alexoiu, I will do that as soon as I get back home and i could imagine it might get into Bios again as I once did, but it wouldnt solve the overall problem that something seems faulty, not? Or what would I be looking for in Bios to be able to connect the other RAM card and get the GPU working smoothly?

I have a 7 day bring in guarantee to the dealer (i know asus's guarantee is 2 years), so I am debating just to return the Motherboard and RAM and get it replaced as it might take ages to figure out the problem as I am not so tech savvy.
 
Jan 11, 2019
10
0
10
Hey alexoiu, just tried that and it never worked, not once an LED that was on, very strange - feels like it going backwards as opposed to forward.

Any idea what i could try next? I checked the processor pins and the mobo pins for the processor, all looks good.
 
Jan 11, 2019
10
0
10
Tried to update the Bios, but that didnt work out either. Tried to reset Bios with Battery (5-10mins), now i dont get into bios again and no lights, nothing changed.

I see how the motherboard could be faulty, but how should the processor also be faulty do you think?