Breadboard boot failure

[Imacflier]

Hi,all,

I think I have a MB failure, but I sure hope you can show me something else.

CPU: I7-4790K. Known history, I pulled it from my neighbors working system (I had built it originally)

MB: GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK Rev 1.2. This is a service part replacement so it may well have been refurbished by Gigabyte. No bent pins or other visual damage to the CPU socket.

PSU: New Corsair RM750x

GPU: On board video

Test setup:

MB supported with a full set of nylon stand-offs over spread out mylar shipping envelope. MB Beeper installed. External Power Switch and Reset Switch with Power and Disk Access LEDs....not part of case assembly. CPU installed. HSF installed.

Memory: 1 stick of Adata 8 GB (1/2 a 16 GB kit) Memory is on Gigabyte QVL.

Symptons: Upon touching external power switch: Power LED illuminates, HSF spins. Error code LED display scrolls though error codes. MB Beeper generates approx. 30 seconds of rapid short beeps. Error code display stops on C0. Computer shuts down for about 1 minute and reboots. No display at any time via onboard HDMI.

MB is a dual bios board with two copies of the bios. There are two leds for the bios: one for the primary copy of the bios and one for the secondary copy of the bios. Led for the primary bios copy is illuminated.

Reboot is an exact repeat of the initial attempted boot with one exception: the led for the secondary copy of the bios is illuminated. If allowed to continue each led for active bios copy toggles.

Done so far: Pulled HSF and CPU, cleaned and examined under magnification socket and cpu appear undamaged. Reinstalled CPU and HSF. Attempted to post with no change to the above loop.

Tried other half of memory kit....and in all 3 accessible positions. Identical looping behavior.

Put PSU on PSU tester: all good
Measured board voltages on motherboard test points with digital multimeter. all measurements within .05 VDC.

Folks, I am out of things to try. The toggling of the bios from primary to secondary makes me suspicious of the motherboard.

Oops, forgot to mention I did reset the bios a couple of times with no effect.

I am at a loss as to what to do other than to rma the motherboard.....but that seems odd on a new motherboard.

So, help me out here: what am I missing or have not tried.

HELP!

And may you all who slogged all the way through this thing, have the most joyous and peaceful of holiday seasons!

Larry



Symptoms: SHF runs.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Check the monitor cable at both ends AND the motherboard video out socket, for bent pins. I've seen boards come directly from RMA with bent video out pins.

Try a different video cable.

HOW exactly did you reset the bios. Like this?

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. During that five minutes, press the power button for 30 seconds. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system.


Try that WITH a single stick installed in the A2 memory slot. For two modules you should ONLY EVER need them to be in the A2 and B2 slots. If known good memory will not work in those slots then there is ALWAYS something wrong with either the board or the memory. The A2 slot is the second slot over from the CPU.

 

[Imacflier]

Darkbreeze,

You have described exactly the process I used to reset the bios.

Now, as to the video cable: since it will not post even when no video is attached, doesn't that eliminate the video cables/sockets as potential problem sources? (They look good in any event!)

Larry

 

[Darkbreeze]

No, it doesn't. Many BIOS/CMOS configurations are designed to halt as soon as the system recognizes that there is no mouse, keyboard or display attached. So if there is no monitor connected, the system won't POST. It's equally of importance that it would be impossible to KNOW whether or not it had been able to POST or not with no display attached UNLESS you were running this as a monitor-less server and were able to connect to the system from another system.

For most systems, how could you know if the system was able to POST if you have no display aside from on boards that have Q code displays, which a lot do these days so I'll give you that, or a system speaker, which many people don't even realize they should get or use. Plenty of boards out there still that don't have either of those or at that they've failed to connect the speaker to thinking that it would be ON the motherboard, which of course it's not.

Yours obviously has that, so most of that is moot and you'd know if it had posted or not by what the display was reading in most cases.

Since the cables are ok, you might try using a PCI graphics card if you have one, or can borrow one. Perhaps something is wrong with the integrated graphics on the CPU or motherboard. Was the previous owner using that CPU with integrated graphics or a discreet graphics card when you pulled it from that system?

Short of that, I'd just about have to agree that there was a problem with the motherboard AND it would, by far, not be the first board I've seen come back from RMA and either be the exact same board that they did not repair or another board that also didn't work correctly. I think if possible I'd try to find some DIFFERENT memory to try in there aside from the kit you already have, just to be sure, and after that if you get the same result I'd send that board back to them.

 

[Imacflier]

No, it doesn't. Many BIOS/CMOS configurations are designed to halt as soon as the system recognizes that there is no mouse, keyboard or display attached. So if there is no monitor connected, the system won't POST. It's equally of importance that it would be impossible to KNOW whether or not it had been able to POST or not with no display attached UNLESS you were running this as a monitor-less server and were able to connect to the system from another system.

For most systems, how could you know if the system was able to POST if you have no display aside from on boards that have Q code displays, which a lot do these days so I'll give you that, or a system speaker, which many people don't even realize they should get or use. Plenty of boards out there still that don't have either of those or at that they've failed to connect the speaker to thinking that it would be ON the motherboard, which of course it's not.

Yours obviously has that, so most of that is moot and you'd know if it had posted or not by what the display was reading in most cases.

Since the cables are ok, you might try using a PCI graphics card if you have one, or can borrow one. Perhaps something is wrong with the integrated graphics on the CPU or motherboard. Was the previous owner using that CPU with integrated graphics or a discreet graphics card when you pulled it from that system?

Short of that, I'd just about have to agree that there was a problem with the motherboard AND it would, by far, not be the first board I've seen come back from RMA and either be the exact same board that they did not repair or another board that also didn't work correctly. I think if possible I'd try to find some DIFFERENT memory to try in there aside from the kit you already have, just to be sure, and after that if you get the same result I'd send that board back to them.

Darkbreeze,

Out of sheer desperation, I went to Microcenter today and bought the only 16GB DDR3 kit they had in stock...It is not on the QVL either. And, sure enough, it WORKED!

All up and running and tomorrow I have the joys of reconnecting all the cables I disconnected to breadboard.....but well worth it!

Thank you so very much for your patient assistance!

Warm regards, and a
Joyous Holiday Season,

Larry

 

[Darkbreeze]

And that is EXACTLY why the very last thing I said in my previous post was this.

I think if possible I'd try to find some DIFFERENT memory to try in there aside from the kit you already have, just to be sure, and after that if you get the same result I'd send that board back to them.

So it's good for us both that you actually listened. A lot of visitors don't listen, and end up running in circles for days and replacing hardware that wasn't even faulty to begin with, like the motherboard.

Glad as can be that you got it sorted out man. Best of luck to you.