Inability to run 4th gen i5 on these motherboards

RBuczynski

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Apr 4, 2016
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Hello world.

Quick info about my current rig:
CPU - i5 4460@3.4 GHz AND i5 4590
MB - Asrock H81-M AND Gigabyte B85-D3H-A
RAM 12 GB (4+8) DDR3 1333 MHz Goodram & GoodramPlay (both set to be circa 1400 something in UEFI) OR 4 GB DDR3 1333 Goodram
Graphics Gigabyte GF GTX 750 2GB (+290 MHz GPU, + 690 MHz memory) - in both rigs I've used just this one card
Power Supply - OCZ ModXStream 600W Bronze, and now XFX XTR 550 Gold
Chasis - in both scenarios - Silentium PC RG4T
OS - Win 7 pro x64
Storage - 1TB SSD Samsung evo 860 + 2tb seagate barracuda sata III + 750 gb SATA II Spinpoint F1 + 2 external USB 2.0 and 3.0 transcend disks. Also - one dvd-rw writer from samsung (not sure, might check it, if necessary), one akasa all-in-one controller, 5x120mm fans, connected either to akasa or to internal chasis regulator.

Circa 2 weeks back, during playing Wolfenstein I've run into some weird problem with my PC - it suddenly turned off. After quick check if anything has been damaged, I've tried to restart it. My rig was unable to get even close to post, because my screen (Dell U2311h) went back in black. Also, my first mb (Asrock H81M) did not gave any current to keyboard or mouse (both of them react to 5V by lighting themselves, it does so on other computer stuff, like laptops). My screen is also working, so no problem there.
Anyway - trying to restart my pc back then ended with fail. Due to lack of pc speaker (got it now), I've search the web for possible cause of this, and after some thinking I've decided to bring both new cpu and motherboard (due to being unable to determine, which stuff ended up dead, without any spare parts).

Next days, when I've had the used, but fine Gigabyte's motherboard as well as i5 4590 (both new stuff is surely lga1150, I've checked it), no good news were founded. PC, either based on Asrock or Gigabyte and with either of the two CPUs wont start - reactions was totally the same as at the begging.

I've thought back then, that it might be an issue with PSU - OCZ is working for ~8 years now and it has been treaded rather normal and without filters (today, when I've opened it, it was fairly pumped with dust, so that might be the case. I'm not sure however if it's dead - no multimeter). I've brought to home new XFX together with new ddr3 (just to be sure).

When I've tried starting old config (asrock h81m + i5 4460 + gf 750) without putting it into the case and giving it new ram, somehow the whole pc (without any external drives, but with gtx 750) booted. I've recon it as sign of psu working propertly and wanted to connect it to gigabyte mb and better i5 (4590 one). After all the pluging and sutff, I've tried to test it. It failed to post once more. No matter which one ram I've used. no matter if it was on internal or external gpu - it failed. After that I've though it might be issue with i5 4590 itself, but swapping it for 4460 doesn't work either.

What's more, even taking back i5 4460 into asrock h81m and giving it newly opened ram - it failed to start. It also failed to start with different ram modules, different ram slots, different ram configs (I've tried only 1 at the time, but still). Also swapping cpus doesn't seem to solve the problem, as well as swapping motherboards. Also - combinations with internal/external gpu failed to bring some solution.

I've tried reseting both motherboards (gigabyte by both clear_CMOS and battery removal without current from power supply, asrock only by removing battery) - none of the tricks worked for me. All of the test were made without any external perihpals connected to motherboard (for my own sake I've left power connector plugged, but I've taken away sata cables).

All test on boards outside chasis were made on top of carton box for gigabyte mb without any spare metal elements that could have ended with short circuit. Both of my PSUs were also equipped with anti shourt circuit filters and before this problem my old OCZ doesn't even let me start pc after some 20+4 or 8 pin cables wovement without plugging them out, then plugging them in (as well as main power cord and switch in pattern on-off-on).

Is there actually any way to determine, what is wrong with this expensive hunk of silicon-based transistors? I've run out of ideas and would like very much to get pc back to work without buying a new one (I'll eventually do so, but I've spend already big cash on recent stuff, that refuses to work).

Could it simply be too much loose current on pcbs, not-sure-which bios on gigabyte motherboard (which supports lga 1150 4th gen since oldest bios, I'm 99,9% sure of it) actually destroying both of the cpus or some other mystery, that I'm unable to solve?

Thank you already for any kind of solutions. Also - sorry for any misspelled words, I prefer speaking english than wrote it down.
 


i5-4460 and 4590 are both haswell refresh CPU's. The board would need a bios update to support it. That's where I would start.
 

RBuczynski

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Apr 4, 2016
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Asrock seemed fine while working with 4460. I've bought this stuff few years back and don't remember that I had been forced to do some bios updates - I've reckon some weird stuff with installing windows and seeing hard drive storage, but besides that it was fine all the time. Also, when I've started to use it (before that my family uses that) - all of the process went fine.
From what I can gather, I cannot update bios with q-flash on gigabytes motherboard, because I can't get into post to select q-flash option. Also - I don't think that its possible to flash bios with incompatible processor.

I've got a thought, that I could somehow destroyed both CPUs by putting them into gigabytes motherboard, that might have some issues with supporting them. Could it be the case?
Oh, and also - yesterday Asrock booted after rig spend circa 10 days without external power - real time clock got reset due to lack of power and age of battery. I'm trying to repeat that process with 4460 and older motherboard to see, if that could be the case.
 

RBuczynski

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Apr 4, 2016
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Quick update - I've bought two new batteries (CR2032) for both my motherboards. I've replaced old ones, but still no success.
I've also made a quick check on my older power supply with multimeter. All voltages (except -12V) were a but over desired values (+3,3 was 3,42V, +5 was 5,15V, + 12 was 12 and something), but within the range of +- 5%.
Not sure if that voltage can damaged my motherboards, especially second one without any load (it won't post since I've got it :| ).
What else could be done to check it?
 


The only way to check a power supply is to swap it out, no multi-meter will truly tell if it's bad or not.
 

RBuczynski

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Apr 4, 2016
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I've done that, swapped OCZ ModXStream 600W Bronze to XFX XFT 550W Gold few days back. Since swapping psu does not helped (pc won't post still), I began to think that psu fried stuff.
I'll give it next week to one of the pc-enthusiast dude, I'm hoping that he will gave me final answer.
 
on the new mb check the bios rev sticker see what bios the mb has. a lot of new mb have bios recovery. try putting the newest bios on a usb stick with just onboard video leave it for 30-60 min see if the mb trys and update itself. on the new parts if they have a warranty i would rma them back for replacment.
 

RBuczynski

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Apr 4, 2016
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unfortunately, warranty run out from what I remember. Since I've bought stuff around 2013, only ram is still on warranty (since it's lifetime goodram's warranty). I'm still worried that my cpu's are fried because of overpowered power section.
Anyway - Since it's the motherboard with the "-A" on the end, there's only one version of it. Both my CPUs are supported since initial release of BIOS (F1 version). Q-flash, that is on this motherboard, requires a CPU inside, but I'm not sure if it's accessible without posting first.
Damn you intel :|