Is my asus motherboard or psu faulty?

[dirkthedaring]

Hi Tom's folk
I just completed a new/old bare bones build and it is crashing:

1. sometimes during a BIOS screen (i.e. when I select advanced mode and select some things in the menus it randomly crashes to a multi-coloured screen and then after 5 minutes or so it shuts down)
2. sometimes when I am trying to install Ubuntu or w7 (from USB or DVD), it gets part way through the install and then crashes to either multi-coloured screen again or a black or white screen
3. sometimes when running Ubuntu from the DVD only, with the HDD connected and with it disconnected.

I have left it in BIOS Screen for 25 minutes to monitor temps and voltages - voltages are pretty stable although CPU voltage fluctuates a little, 5V moves between 5.12 and 5.14 a fair bit. CPU temp started out at 22C and moved up to 29C, then I started moving through the BIOS advanced menu and randomly when i selected the monitor screen it crashed to the multicoloured screen again and 5 minutes later it shut down again.

The build is a combo of new and old parts an old Sandy Bridge G860 CPU (working fine before I moved it) into a new Asus H61M-K motherboard, old WD HDD, DVD drive and stock Intel CPU cooler (with fresh paste of course!). I have 2 different RAM sticks a 1600MHz Kingston and a 1333 HP stick both of which I have tried, and both of which were working fine in their old machines?

I did put a reasonable amount of pressure on the CPU cooler to get it reseated onto this motherboard, could this be causing a problem?

I am also using an old CoolerMaster GX750W D model PSU (The Enhance Electronics version) - which I do suspect, but it was working fine in the last build it was in? I do not have a spare psu to try at this stage but will buy one if you guys strongly recommend that this could be the problem? otherwise I think I will return the motherboard - what do you think?

I would appreciate your input.
thanks

 

[imamon]

Hello there,

The problem seems to pertain to the mobo and/or ram but, since you have already gone through the basics, before you return the mobo, can you still check the PSU at your nearest computer repairing shop as a last resort?

Hope you sort it out,
Nomami.

p.s. - Did you try to upgrade the BIOS recently? The graphics drivers? If they are not compatible with your hardware, they will give you hell.

 

[dirkthedaring]

Hello there,

The problem seems to pertain to the mobo and/or ram but, since you have already gone through the basics, before you return the mobo, can you still check the PSU at your nearest computer repairing shop as a last resort?

Hope you sort it out,
Nomami.

p.s. - Did you try to upgrade the BIOS recently? The graphics drivers? If they are not compatible with your hardware, they will give you hell.

Hi

No, I have not upgraded BIOS or any drivers. I have not even managed to get an OS installed onto this pc! I ran Ubuntu for maybe 10 minutes from the DVD, and USB also. I managed to get windows to begin its install but then the pc crashed in the middle. This morning I let it run in UEFI BIOS screen for a while to see if motherboard/cpu were ok, but after maybe 20 minutes it also crashed. Screen went multi coloured for 5 minutes or so, and motherboard beeped different to post, then the pc shut down. I am not using a GPU, just the on die graphics via D-SUB.

 

[imamon]

Well, you have already verified the older parts were working before you assembled this new rig, and assuming that you did not damage the hardware components while installing, the only potential culprit is the new motherboard.

But before that...

You can perhaps remove the water cooler and see if that works?

And remove the ram and get some kind of POST code (your MOBO should come with the list of the codes) to see if the MOBO is working after all? It can well be a faulty ram or even bad memory controller (CPU).

I would still ask you to check the PSU since voltage readings don't really tell us the truth.

 

[dirkthedaring]

Well, you have already verified the older parts were working before you assembled this new rig, and assuming that you did not damage the hardware components while installing, the only potential culprit is the new motherboard.

But before that...

You can perhaps remove the water cooler and see if that works?

And remove the ram and get some kind of POST code (your MOBO should come with the list of the codes) to see if the MOBO is working after all? It can well be a faulty ram or even bad memory controller (CPU).

I would still ask you to check the PSU since voltage readings don't really tell us the truth.

Hi imamom

I got a new motherboard and switched parts out using all the other old stuff, and it works fine, so I guess it was the motherboard. I am going to return it as faulty.
thanks for your assistance.
dirk

 

[imamon]

You are welcome