Question Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX V1.1 will not boot (new build)

[mraroid]

Hi folks...

This is a post I hate to make. It makes me sound like such a NUB.

I built a new desktop system using the Z790 Aorus Elite AX and a 12th generation i7-12700K . Oversized Heat sync and fan. Samsung PCI2 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD. Two 16 GB sticks of Corsair DDR5. The power supply I pulled from a working ATX case The power supply came from a working system of mine. The power Supply is a Cool Max ZU-800.

I have triple checked to make sure the three power cables from the power supply are plugged in firmly to the motherboard. I have a 2 pin plug which comes from the on/off button. I found the block where the power LED goes, the hard drive light and the power switch. My 2 pin power switch is not labeled + or - so I tried reversing it. Same issue.

I have built many desktop computers before for myself. So I know the basics, but I am not an expert.

I see the switch called REST_SW (Reset Button). I have not tried that yet. I read the manual but still puzzled as to what it will do.

On the motherboard, no fans, no lights, no nothing. The monitor lamp will not change color. Nothing on the screen. And yep, I made sure the external switch on the power supply was switched on. The computer power cord was plugged into an outlet that is live (other stuff is working from the same plug)

I thought I had done something stupid (and maybe I have), but I have gone over every single wire in this build and I can not find anything wrong.

I just noticed that the manual for this motherboard shows the pin out for the big main power connector. I have a VOM so I guess I can unplug that cable and see if I see any voltage coming out of it. But if the computer will not turn on, I guess I will not see anything, right?

Can I short the two pins on the motherboard for the on/off wires to see if that will start the computer?

Any advice appreciated.

Many thanks,

mraroid

 

[Lutfij]

The power Supply is a Cool Max ZU-800.
How old is the PSU?

Checked to see if the pins on the CPU socket are bent or broken How are you cooling the processor? Which slots are the sticks of ram populating on the motherboard?

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model.

 

[punkncat]

That power supply is a house fire risk AND old to top it off. (2014) It was never a good unit.

The motherboard should only need the 24 pin and 2x 8 pin for the CPU. Are you meaning that you used the 4 plus 4 and the 8 pin connector that are non-modular from that power supply?

 

[mraroid]

The power Supply is a Cool Max ZU-800.
How old is the PSU?

Checked to see if the pins on the CPU socket are bent or broken How are you cooling the processor? Which slots are the sticks of ram populating on the motherboard?

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:

Apologies for not listing all my specs. Here they are:

CPU: - Intel 12th Gen i7-12700K
CPU cooler: -Noctua, Model MH-U12A (120mm U Type CPU cooler)
Motherboard:- Gigabyte Aorus Elite AX V 1.1
Ram: Two 16 GB sticks of Corsair Vengeance DDR5, 5600Mhz
SSD/HDD:Samsung 980 Pro PCIe4.0 NVMe M2 SSD (under motherboard heatsink)
GPU:EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 (8 GBs of DDR6), PCIe-4
PSU:CoolMax ZU-800B
Chassis: Gigabyte Evolution (full size ATX case)
OS:Will try to install Windows 11 Pro
Monitor:ASUS VK 266 (26 inch, using the HDMI connection from the video out on the EVGA card.

This power supply was pulled from my other desktop. and installed in this new build. It was working last week when I pulled it. It may be 7 or 8 years old. Been working great when I pulled it. No issues.

I made *absolutely* sure the CPU was well seated with the arrow pointing the correct way. It dropped into the LGA -1700 slot with no bent pins. I applied thermal paste And installed the CPU cooler. No issues with the cooler install..

The two sticks of memory are in the first two slots called DDR5_A1 and DDR5_A2. This motherboard has two more memory slots which are empty and they are called DDR5_B1 and DDR5_B2

All the parts are brand new but for the power supply.. I bought everything for Amazon in the US. I tried to buy from Amazon itself, rather than an unknown vendor selling on Amazon. Everything came factory sealed.

Do you think I could use some long nose pliers and short the two pins that are for the power on/off switch?

I do not know how the Reset_SW (Reset Button) works. I did not understand the manual I downloaded for this motherboard.

Any tips or suggestions would be of great help..

I can buy a new power supply if need be. But as it was working great on another desktop I have, I think it is OK. But I can buy a new one if folks here think I need to.

Many thanks for any suggestions or help.

mraroid

 

[mraroid]

That power supply is a house fire risk AND old to top it off. (2014) It was never a good unit.

The motherboard should only need the 24 pin and 2x 8 pin for the CPU. Are you meaning that you used the 4 plus 4 and the 8 pin connector that are non-modular from that power supply?

Sounds like you believe I need a new power supply. I am using the 24 pin long connector and two 8 pin connectors. They are seated correctly.

How many watts do you think I should buy? What brands do you think are good brands? I can order one tomorrow if someone would give me some suggestions....

Many thanks,

mraroid

 

[mraroid]

I just went to Amazon and bought this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYQHWJXC?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp&th=1

Corsair is a good brand. 2023 model. All modular. 1,000 WATTS. It says "RMe (2023) ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0

Even if my old one worked, I should have bought a new power supply. I hope this makes this build work.

I will post here once it arrives and is installed. I sure hope this fixes the problem. If not, I will keep trying other stuff.

Thanks to all for the help!

mraroid

 

[punkncat]

Sounds like you believe I need a new power supply. I am using the 24 pin long connector and two 8 pin connectors. They are seated correctly.

How many watts do you think I should buy? What brands do you think are good brands? I can order one tomorrow if someone would give me some suggestions....

Many thanks,

mraroid

If the unit is working correctly, as in the other system, it is more than enough wattage to run what you mentioned. I didn't see a GPU listed, so assumptions are just the motherboard video out.

You can short the pins of the power connection instead of using the switch.

At this point it may be worthwhile to pull the parts from the case and breadboard on the motherboard box with minimal hardware to post to see if anything happens. Add parts until it doesn't, if it works at all.

Make sure that none of the pins in the connectors themselves pushed out as you plugged them in.

 

[mraroid]

Hi...

Thanks for the suggestions. I decided to buy a new power supply. I bought a 1,000 WATT Corsair:

Amazon.com

I pulled the old power supply. I did not find any issues. I installed the new power supply. I removed all the other connections to the motherboard so I could dress the wires up. I did not find any issues.

I plugged everything in and had the same issue. I have two pins labeled power switch and another two pins labeled reset. I removed the wires going to them and shorted the two power pins together. Nothing. I did the same thing for the reset pins. Nothing.

Re wiring everything all over again gave me the ability to see if I plugged something in wrong, or missed a pin someplace. I could not find any errors. I slowelly installed the new power supply and re installed all the wiring.

Is anyone here running this motherboard?

I guess I can pull the motherboard and power supply and try to power it up on some cardboard? I have not done that before, but I can see how it might be helpful.

I am at a loss. I just wish I could see something wrong,,,,

Thanks all for helping me. I guess with some coffee tomorrow AM, I will pull everything out of the case...

mraroid

 

[mraroid]

punkncat....This motherboard has a video chip on the motherboard. I have a video card in the PCIe slot. I can pull that video card and see if it will boot. Good idea. Thank you for the help.​

mraroid

 

[mraroid]

Update: I pulled the video card from the PCIe slot and tried to boot. Nothing. I think I need to sleep on this and try again in the morning.

Thanks to all for the help and suggestions.

mraroid

 

[mraroid]

Yet another update.

I had to create a user ID and password to get to Gigabite tech support. I posted a question to them reporting all that I have posted here. I received a very fast reply. I was told to pull the CMOS battery with the power off and the power cable unplugged from the computer. I was to leave the battery out for one minute, then re install it. I left the battery out for maybe 4 or 5 minutes, then installed it with the plus side facing up as I found it. No help at all.

I will hit it tomorrow after I have had some sleep...

Guess I will removed everything front the case and build it on a big sheet of cardboard... I am at such a loss...

mraroid

 

[JRRT]

When I have seen this before, back when I was in the repair business, which was a very, very long time ago, it was caused by one of a few things. A common cause, sometimes even new out of the box, is a bad part causing a short - which is a good reason to try what the earlier commenter suggested and do a minimum assembly - no video card if you already have it on the board, one stick of RAM at a time, etc. If it bolts, you can then very methodically power down and add one more component at a time until it stops working. Not the way you wanted to spend your weekend, but it might work.

Unfortunately, another possibility is that there is a short circuit somewhere else - which I am guessing is why you are thinking about assembling it outside of the case. It may or may not help, but please be warned that having a metal case to ground currents that should not be there is a safety benefit to you and in some cases the computer, so this is very much something that you do at your own risk. I am not telling you not to, just suggesting that you think about it first.
Personally, I would check what the CPU, motherboard, and especially RAM all say on the hardware themselves and not just the packaging. I have not used DDR5 yet, but if, for example, it is pin compatible with DDR4 and someone shipped you that accidentally, I could see something like this happening.
Also, while the battery is out of the motherboard, you need to press and hold the power button. The length of time varies, usually at least 30 seconds, but for some a minute or longer. This, if you are lucky, can clear corrupted settings. Some motherboards have jumpers or dip switches to do this for sure. See if you can find better info on the website or in a user group.
Good luck!

 

[mraroid]

Hi! I can now boot to the BIOS!

I took everyone's advice and removed the motherboard. I plugged the power supply into it, my monitor, and I even plugged in the video card. I can now boot to the BIOS.

However........

I have an ISO image on a flash drive. I have plugged the flash drive into the onboard motherboard USB ports (I tried all of them). In my BIOS, I select boot to:

UEFI: SanDisk, Partion 1 (SanDisk)

Which the BIOS sees. However, I can never boot to this.

I did change the name of the .iso file. Do I need to name is Windows or something?

I think I am almost home!!

But how do I boot to my flash drive?

Also, many thinks for talking me into pulling everything apart and booting the motherboard on some cardboard.

All of you have really saved my bacon! Many thinks!

mraroid

 

[mraroid]

I think I know what is wrong. It appears from reading the internet, I need to *burn* an iso image to my flash drive. I downloaded Rufis onto my windows 10 computer. But I can not get it to see the Windows 11 ISO on my desktop to burn to my flash drive.

Any other programs I can use (hopefully that are free?)

I think this is the issue......

mraroid