ASUS Z170 motherboard no POST

[alexry]

Hi,

I have recently ran into a problem with a brand new ASUS Z170 motherboard. It just doesn't POST. I've went through a big amount of advices online and none worked. I've went down to basic motherboard-CPU-PSU-RAM-monitor build and yet nothing shows on the monitor.

My build is:
ASUS Z170 motherboard
Intel Core i5-6400 CPU
Zalman 600W PSU
Kingston HyperX DDR4 16gb RAM x2

Previously there were also GeForce GTX970 video card and two old HDDs but I've removed them during debugging the issue.

The LEDs are showing that the motherboard is in normal/standby mode. Monitor behaves like my PC is in sleeping mode (it tries to get signal on HDMI but then switches to standby.

Frankly, I have no speaker to get beep code.

I had exactly the same problem before on my old PC. After working on this for a while I switched to new hardware (listed above). The only thing that remained from old build are the HDDs. At first my new motherboard and all other hardware worked well aside from Windows hanging during boot due to new hardware and old HDDs. At the point when I wanted to reinstall Windows and switched the HDDs between SATA channels - the PC just stopped working and wouldn't POST.

Please advise.

Thank you.

 

[Multipack]

Have you tried resetting CMOS?

 

[alexry]

Yes, I did. About five times. 🙁

 

[Multipack]

Yeah, 5 times is probably enough 😉 So now you are not even able to get into your BIOS? You cant even access them with no HDD attached? What exact model board is it? Are you sure it doesnt POST? How do you know?

 

[alexry]

Ok, I'm unable to get to BIOS. The following happens when I start the system:

* motherboard LEDs indicate that it's working
* CPU fan starts

and, basically, that's all that happens. I get no video signal (I understand it would look stupid if the monitor would be the case but I've tried that on two monitors and all possible video outputs), the motherboard doesn't react at all to reset signal (tried this both by shorting the pins and in case), the motherboard behaves completely the same both with RAM stick and without one.

The same happens with other hardware on board and without it, both in case and out of it.

The model is ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming (revision 1.04).

Yes, I'm unable to access BIOS with no HDDs. In fact, I'm currently trying with only mobo+RAM+PSU+CPU+monitor left.

 

[Multipack]

How did you reset the BIOS? Have you tried the clear CMOS button method? this? https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1012219 Have you checked that all graphics outputs are not working? Also the ones on GPU if you attach that? If you really cant even get a display then you need to try to find a way to access the onboard speaker to make sure its not a bricked board.

 

[alexry]

I did try what was listed in manual (removing the battery and shorting the CLRTC pins).
https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1012219 - I can't try that - I don't have an optical drive for the motherboard disk and plugging in USB drives doesn't produce anything.
On the graphic outputs - I've tried HDMI, DVI and SVGA cords with two different monitors and all the outputs. No signal.
Frankly, I don't have a speaker. Probably there are no other options left from trying to find one.

 

[Multipack]

Sounds like it may be stuck in fast boot, which disables USB's, or is failing to POST as you say. In which case those beeps are all you have left for diagnosis so yeah ask around and see if u can get a speaker

 

[alexry]

Ok, so I went to the store and got a speaker. Plugged it into the motherboard and started it without RAM onboard - it beeped correctly that no RAM was detected. I plugged in RAM again and it worked. It just worked all by itself. After I tried it with RAM and without RAM for about ten times.

I don't know what was going on with it but ok. It seems that either something happened overnight when I didn't touch the PC for about 8 hours or I have been setting RAM in some wrong way. I have no other clues on what was on. If any problem would raise again I will get back to this thread.

Multipack, thanks for your help.

 

[Multipack]

Just glad u could fix it. Maybe the PC fairy visited in the night! Lol

 

[polarismelon]

Ok, so I went to the store and got a speaker. Plugged it into the motherboard and started it without RAM onboard - it beeped correctly that no RAM was detected. I plugged in RAM again and it worked. It just worked all by itself. After I tried it with RAM and without RAM for about ten times.

I don't know what was going on with it but ok. It seems that either something happened overnight when I didn't touch the PC for about 8 hours or I have been setting RAM in some wrong way. I have no other clues on what was on. If any problem would raise again I will get back to this thread.

Multipack, thanks for your help.

I literally just created a tom's hardware account to post and thank you for this. I was shuffling RAM sticks between my rigs and ran into exactly the same issue. I also tried the shorting jumper and removing battery method, it did not work. I then removed all the RAM and waited for the warning beeps like you did. Then I put the RAM back in and the board POST-ed! Maybe the No-RAM warning cleared some lingering bits on the board. Thank you again! Whoever is having a similar issue should try removing all RAMs and trigger the beeps!