[SOLVED] I need help with broken computer

Alan Alan

Prominent
Aug 9, 2022
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Thanks guys, I was playing a video game for 8 hours everyday for 4 days straight. Then the video came stopped and said waiting for no mans sky (the game). It starting to repeat the above several times but then it was fine with now problems. The next day the motherboard would not boot and stopped on the yellow led indicating a memory error. So I pulled all four modules and tested them one at a time. Of course I reset the bios and the power was completely off when swapping things around and I did use the slot for a single module. Yet the memory problem persists on all four modules.

I can't test the modules in another machine as I don't have one. I'm assuming the motherboard has a problem but maybe not. For starters the mobo normally indicates a good processor then moves to a memory check, then it tests the graphics and boots. Currently the lights indicate a good processor but never makes it past the memory test. There is a memory cal button on it that flashes at two different speeds about 20 seconds slow the 20 seconds fast. At this time it is trying to calibrate the memory. Then it restarts checking the processor and stops at the yellow light again. So it seems the memory is not working.

So, what should I do, order another mobo or check the memory elsewhere. However I look at it this way, If none of the memories are working it means they are all bad or the mobo is bad. So if they are all bad it would indicate the mobo damaged all four of them. So obviously it needs to be replaced.

I want to order a new mobo at this point and see what happens. It doesn't seem likely the processor has a problem as it passes the test and it has to be used to run a memory check. But who really knows how thorough the processor test is.

Keep in mind I performed the above with no peripherals attached. Only the power supply, mobo and memory. The power supply tests good. So what do you guys think my best course of action is? I don't want to upgrade, just replace the defects.

Mobo is the Asus Z370a
Power is EVGA Super Nova 750
Memory is Corsair Vengeance Lps 16gig (4x4) ddr4 3000 (pc2400)
Processor is Intel Coffee Lake, 8th gen .
 
Solution
I agree. Good luck and let me know how it goes. The G3 is a good unit.

The memory couldn't MAKE the motherboard give it 5v. That could only be a voltage regulation problem on the motherboard.
Very unlikely for four memory modules to all suddenly just "go bad". Much more likely to be the motherboard, especially since it's now likely around 5 years old and at 5 years many motherboards begin showing problems if they've been in frequent heavy use or in some cases even if they haven't.

What model is your CPU?

What is the EXACT model of your power supply AND how old is it?

What is the model of your graphics card and have you tried removing it from the motherboard completely and running off the integrated graphics from the CPU at all?
 

Alan Alan

Prominent
Aug 9, 2022
218
9
595
Very unlikely for four memory modules to all suddenly just "go bad". Much more likely to be the motherboard, especially since it's now likely around 5 years old and at 5 years many motherboards begin showing problems if they've been in frequent heavy use or in some cases even if they haven't.

What model is your CPU?

What is the EXACT model of your power supply AND how old is it?

What is the model of your graphics card and have you tried removing it from the motherboard completely and running off the integrated graphics from the CPU at all?
Mobo is the Asus Z370a
Power is EVGA Super Nova 750
Memory is Corsair Vengeance Lps 16gig (4x4) ddr4 3000 (pc2400)
Processor is Intel Coffee Lake, 8th gen .


And yes, the only graphics were onboard. The startup stopped with bad memory and never made it to the graphics test. It's all 5 years old. Personally I think the memory was worked hard from the video game. I have a VR headset and the memory is constantly changing with a lot of movement. So I think the main voltage regulator that drives the memory is dead. Possibly a cold solder joint but there are no visual signs although they do fail a lot in all electronics. The only other possibility is that the memory voltage to a rise towards 5 volt and bam, they're all gone. I wish I could get a schematic and find out. I also thought the bios had been corrupted and raised the adjustable ram voltage. I doubt that as the bios should detect a checksum error during boot and jump into the bios. Whatever i think points to the motherboard. I would assume if the memory is bad that it should not damage a new mobo. Any thoughts on that?
 
Ok, so "Super Nova 750" isn't the model. There are MANY different models within the "Super Nova" family. Need to know if it's a GQ, G2, G3, G5, G1, G+, etc. The model will be listed on the specifications label on the side of the power supply.

Intel coffee lake 8th gen isn't a model either. i7-8700k is an example of a model. i5-8600k is a model.

Corsair Vengeance LPS isn't a model either. It's a series. The exact model of the memory is very important here as is knowing if ALL of the memory came in one SINGLE kit, or if what you have is made up of multiple kits.

What are you talking about "memory rise towards 5 volt and bam"? Your memory voltage shouldn't magically "rise". It should stay almost exactly the same at all times and it should never exceed at the very most something around 1.5v because DDR4 memory is pretty much ALL designed to operate at XMP values of somewhere between 1.2v for most 2133mhz kits to as much as 1.4v for a few kits and the vast majority being exactly 1.35v. That should not change, not if you are playing games for 1000 years straight, unless somebody manually changes it or there is a problem with the motherboard.

Faulty memory COULD damage a motherboard but it's unlikely. It's also very unlikely for memory that was working fine to just suddenly "go bad". It's highly possible for a motherboard to go bad or to damage installed memory.

Try this. Remove all of the memory. Install only ONE DIMM, in the A2 slot. Then, do the following. Do not assume you know better or change any steps. Do them EXACTLY as outlined and do ALL of them.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

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 about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. 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.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the BIOS to fully reset and force recreation of the hardware tables.
 

Alan Alan

Prominent
Aug 9, 2022
218
9
595
Ok, so "Super Nova 750" isn't the model. There are MANY different models within the "Super Nova" family. Need to know if it's a GQ, G2, G3, G5, G1, G+, etc. The model will be listed on the specifications label on the side of the power supply.

Intel coffee lake 8th gen isn't a model either. i7-8700k is an example of a model. i5-8600k is a model.

Corsair Vengeance LPS isn't a model either. It's a series. The exact model of the memory is very important here as is knowing if ALL of the memory came in one SINGLE kit, or if what you have is made up of multiple kits.

What are you talking about "memory rise towards 5 volt and bam"? Your memory voltage shouldn't magically "rise". It should stay almost exactly the same at all times and it should never exceed at the very most something around 1.5v because DDR4 memory is pretty much ALL designed to operate at XMP values of somewhere between 1.2v for most 2133mhz kits to as much as 1.4v for a few kits and the vast majority being exactly 1.35v. That should not change, not if you are playing games for 1000 years straight, unless somebody manually changes it or there is a problem with the motherboard.

Faulty memory COULD damage a motherboard but it's unlikely. It's also very unlikely for memory that was working fine to just suddenly "go bad". It's highly possible for a motherboard to go bad or to damage installed memory.

Try this. Remove all of the memory. Install only ONE DIMM, in the A2 slot. Then, do the following. Do not assume you know better or change any steps. Do them EXACTLY as outlined and do ALL of them.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

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 about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. 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.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the BIOS to fully reset and force recreation of the hardware tables.

Tried all of that, still the same. never makes it past the memory test. Like you said the voltage should never go above a certain level. Chance are it collapsed due to a faulty component like the memories adjustable regulator. So the memory has no power to function. But who knows with out a schematic to pin the problem down. The chipset that strobes the memory could be bad and on and on.
I found another mother board, It's not an Asus 733A but is a tuff gamer that's hyped up because it uses military specs capacitors. Yeh they can take the heat and degrade less over time but what ever happened to the dry electrolytics that don't evaporate their electrolyte and dry out causing instability. I have a 12 year old quad core that's never had a problem with dry electrolytics. After this, I'm beginning to think they have encorporated planned obsolescence. Five years is nothing for transistors yet machines have that average life expectancy. This machine has 8 fans and is plenty cool. I wonder if gigabyte makes better board than Asus. Any data on their stuff? They gave me a four year warranty on a video card so I'm thinking they may have better grade parts or engineering who can calculate the power used by memory. This is pretty much a crappy deal. I guess look into pro models like the Asus Tuff series that claims it will work 24/7. Yeh right, and still a 3 year warranty.
 

Alan Alan

Prominent
Aug 9, 2022
218
9
595
Ok, so "Super Nova 750" isn't the model. There are MANY different models within the "Super Nova" family. Need to know if it's a GQ, G2, G3, G5, G1, G+, etc. The model will be listed on the specifications label on the side of the power supply.

Intel coffee lake 8th gen isn't a model either. i7-8700k is an example of a model. i5-8600k is a model.

Corsair Vengeance LPS isn't a model either. It's a series. The exact model of the memory is very important here as is knowing if ALL of the memory came in one SINGLE kit, or if what you have is made up of multiple kits.

What are you talking about "memory rise towards 5 volt and bam"? Your memory voltage shouldn't magically "rise". It should stay almost exactly the same at all times and it should never exceed at the very most something around 1.5v because DDR4 memory is pretty much ALL designed to operate at XMP values of somewhere between 1.2v for most 2133mhz kits to as much as 1.4v for a few kits and the vast majority being exactly 1.35v. That should not change, not if you are playing games for 1000 years straight, unless somebody manually changes it or there is a problem with the motherboard.

Faulty memory COULD damage a motherboard but it's unlikely. It's also very unlikely for memory that was working fine to just suddenly "go bad". It's highly possible for a motherboard to go bad or to damage installed memory.

Try this. Remove all of the memory. Install only ONE DIMM, in the A2 slot. Then, do the following. Do not assume you know better or change any steps. Do them EXACTLY as outlined and do ALL of them.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

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 about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. 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.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the BIOS to fully reset and force recreation of the hardware tables.

Well, I tried everything, and no luck, ordered a new motherboard thru new egg, it's coming from corn in hong kong. They claim it's new and it better be. It's this is you care. https://www.newegg.com/asus-tuf-z370-pro-gaming/p/N82E16813119041?Item=9SIA4REJEM5692
Seems I have no choice, It's basically the same mobo but a later revision. I had the first version a. Hopefully they discovered the flaw in version A that caused my problem. I guess I'm thankful we both agree it's not likely the mobo damaged all 4 memories. It's possible one went down and damaged the chipset driving the rams but that's not likely as most driver lines are current limited. But who knows. Personally I think it will fix the problem but all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and return it if it doesn't. BTW, the super nova is the G3 and the processor is the I7- 8700k.
Thanks for the response.