Help troubleshooting asus p8z68 v pro / testing i7 2600k processor

[nbixr]

First, the overveiw... A buddy recently gave me his gaming rig to see if I can figure out what's wrong or fix it. It's pretty dead right now. It's custom built, with an asus p8z68 v pro motherboard and i7 2600K processor, 750W SeaSonic X750, no extra graphics card and no hard drive at the moment. Just 1gb ram I grabbed from my own system to test with (in the outer blue slot, but tried in both blue slots). CPU pins all look good.

I only minimally poked around at it so far.

The symptoms, when pushing the power button: all fans start, lights on mobo come on - TPU & EPU leds show green if their switches are moved to 'on', the "reset" button is lit green, the mobo power button next to it is lit up red, "MEM OK" led is red, and I get a 0.5 sec red led flash on "CPU LED" . I hear the dvd drive search for a disk. No beeps at all, nothing on the display (plugged into mobo vga). After ~30 sec, the fans turn off , and the red mem-ok light goes off, and I see one more 0.5 sec flash on the CPU LED. On a couple occasions, after this point, it restarted one more time by itself after ~5 seconds and repeated that above process. And, that's as much life as I can see in it right now.

I'm not to sure how to test the power supply, but that's top on my list of suspects for now. Any hints how to do that? I never tried before, but I suppose I can youtube it.

I hope that's all it is, since that's an easy fix. I did check that all plugs are seated well on the mobo, but that's all. Any other guesses for troubleshooting where to go from here?

And another question... My own system now is a dell xps8300 with an i5-2400. Since the i5-2400 and i7-2600k are both compatible, I imagine I could swap the 2600K into my computer to test it? ... BUT... if my friend's mobo got toasted from a power surge or bad power supply, etc, and it fried or shorted the cpu (it looks visually fine at least), might I risk my own system if I insert a bad cpu?

Thank you for any help.

 

[alexoiu]

Try starting the board with only CPU and CPU fan installed. If there's an internal speaker connected to the motherboard, you should get 1 long 2 short beeps. Did the system use to work?

 

[nbixr]

Try starting the board with only CPU and CPU fan installed. If there's an internal speaker connected to the motherboard, you should get 1 long 2 short beeps. Did the system use to work?

I just tried, and yes, I get the 1 long and 2 short beeps, over and over. Also, it doesn't shut itself off after 30 sec then either, but just kept going till I couldn't stand the beeps any longer.

The system used to work at some point, but it has been shelved for a while. Not sure what all changed from then till now.

 

[alexoiu]

Now insert single RAM module, connect a DVD drive, monitor to the onboard and start the board. See if the DRAM led goes off. Test each slot.

 

[nbixr]

Now insert single RAM module, connect a DVD drive, monitor to the onboard and start the board. See if the DRAM led goes off. Test each slot.

Ok, I'm back again.... I tested the ram in each slot, and I still get the same behavior described in my first message. Except, each time now the system turns itself off in only ~10 seconds, and then restarts once and repeats. The DRAM led stays on while the fans are on.

 

[alexoiu]

I'd say that's either a board or CPU issue (the memory controller). Probably the CPU, but... I can't be 100% sure.
Have you tried clearing the CMOS (unplug the power cord and remove the CMOS battery for a minute)?

 

[nbixr]

I'd say that's either a board or CPU issue (the memory controller). Probably the CPU, but... I can't be 100% sure.
Have you tried clearing the CMOS (unplug the power cord and remove the CMOS battery for a minute)?

I left the CMOS battery out for a while, just restarted again, and no change, still the same pattern as before.

Also, don't know if it matters too much in this case... just noticed I misstated the motherboard model... it's the p8z68 vpro, not the p8p67 as I had originally in the title. It helps to read what's stamped on the board!

 

[alexoiu]

The CPU is supported.
Board or CPU. I can't say which one.

 

[nbixr]

Is it safe to try swapping this cpu (2600k) into my own system, which has an i5-2400, to test if it's working? Or does this pose any risk to my own system if the 2600k is bad or shorted, etc.?

 

[alexoiu]

Since the CPU fan does spin, there's no short involved, so I'd say that you can swap the CPUs. But... don't blame me if things go wrong.

 

[nbixr]

Since the CPU fan does spin, there's no short involved, so I'd say that you can swap the CPUs. But... don't blame me if things go wrong.

So, I went ahead and did some switching and swapping with my own system...

I put the 2600k into my own system and put back the stick of ram ... and... nothing. Power and fans, but nothing else, no post. So ok, maybe the cpu is bad after all. I put back my original cpu.... and... nothing. So, oh crap...

But just in case the broken system killed my stick of ram, I pulled that stick and its paired partner, and rebooted my system, and , it's still alive! I'm very relieved, and happy that the 2600k is all good. Perhaps I'll hang onto it as an upgrade for my services .

Unfortunately it looks like I'm down one stick of ram for my efforts though. I wonder, how do I run memtest to verify it, if my system won't even post with the stick installed?

Anyway, as for my buddy's system, it seems thus far like the motherboard is toast. I'll see if I can test the PSU, since it's a really nice unit, and hopefully it's ok to salvage that too. And then the decision... rebuild or part out...

 

[alexoiu]

I'd say rebuild. Motherboard, CPU and RAMs.
Since not working, you can't test the RAM module other than checking if the system does POST when it is inserted.

 

[nbixr]

I'd say rebuild. Motherboard, CPU and RAMs.
Since not working, you can't test the RAM module other than checking if the system does POST when it is inserted.

Well well, more good news! I didn't kill my ram after all... it just wasn't seated right apparently, even though it clicked in and everything. So, since that bodes well for the other motherboard not frying components, and since the cpu checked out, I had another go at it.

I unplugged and removed everything that could be removed from the motherboard and removed the motherboard from the case (all looked visually ok), put it back, reseated all attachments, removed the power supply, tested voltages on all the pins on the plugs (all checked out), reassembled everything, put the ram and cpu back, started it up, no error leds on the motherboard ... and it boots to bios!

I have no idea what I might have done to get it to start working again, but hey, it's working again. Although the bios showed the cpu temp going up really fast, to 73C in about 30 seconds, so I shut it right down. I think I need to get myself some new thermal paste at minimum - there's just a little tiny bit left on the cpu and heat sink.

Still, isn't that odd for the cpu temp to rise that fast just sitting in bios? I did reset the CMOS battery. I wonder if some setting got messed up being reset to default?

 

[alexoiu]

No, it's normal for the temperature to rise as long as the CPU is not properly cooled.
Glad you've fixed it eventually.

 

[nbixr]

No, it's normal for the temperature to rise as long as the CPU is not properly cooled.
Glad you've fixed it eventually.

I'm glad too. Thanks for your advice along the way.

 

[alexoiu]

No problem.