Is my P55-GD55 i5 mobo dead?

[ninjai117]

My computer is pretty new. Just build it maybe 2.5 months ago. It's got a P55-GD55 from MSI, an i5 cpu (can't remember which), 4GB of ripjaw RAM, etc etc.

Anyways, today I bought a gigabyte 5830 video card to upgrade my 9800GT. I popped it in and fired it up.

SIDE NOTE: ... but an important and somewhat shameful one. I changed out this card in my room, on carpet. I stood on a skateboard if that has any chance in hell in making any kind of static difference. My case is painted black so I figured a static wrist strap was irrelevant. I was *very* careful to not touch my motherboard or the face of the videocard (only the outside edges).

anyway, I started up my computer and this is what happens:

lights on, fans spin up -- but only for about a half a second, then it shuts off. It does this repeatedly until I shut off the power supply. I've used a power supply tester to verify the PSU is good.

I swapped everything back to what I had before (unless I missed something minor, which I am certain I didn't) to no avail. The final step to my adventure I removed the motherboard from the case, set it on cardboard, hooked up the PSU (both connectors) to the motherboard, removed everything except the CPU from the mobo and it does the same thing. I even tried removing hte CMOS battery for about 10 minutes. No success.

Am I screwed? I fear the answer, obviously.

EDIT:

My PSU tester doesn't test the extra 4 pins that are combined to make 1 big connector, and it does not test the other/separate 4 pin connector that goes somewhere else on the mobo (for this mobo, on the north west side)

 

[jsc]

That 4 pin connector that "goes somewhere else" is the CPU power connector if it has 2 black wire and two yellow wires.

Time to start some serious troubleshooting.

Work systematically through our standard checklist and troubleshooting thread:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-posting-boot-problems
I mean work through, not just read over it. We spent a lot of time on this. It should find most of the problems.

If not, continue.
The following is an expansion of my troubleshooting tips in the breadboarding link in the "Cannot boot" thread.

I have tested the following beep patterns on Gigabyte, eVGA, and ECS motherboards. Other BIOS' may be different, but they all use a single short beep for a successful POST.

Breadboard - that will help isolate any kind of case problem you might have.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

Breadboard with just motherboard, CPU & HSF, case speaker, and PSU.

Make sure you plug the CPU power cable in. The system will not boot without it.

I always breadboard a new build. It takes only a few minutes, and you know you are putting good parts in the case once you are finished.

You can turn on the PC by momentarily shorting the two pins that the case power switch goes to. You should hear a series of long, single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence indicates a problem with (in most likely order) the PSU, motherboard, or CPU. Remember, at this time, you do not have a graphics card installed so the load on your PSU will be reduced.

If no beeps:
Running fans and drives and motherboard LED's do not necessarily indicate a good PSU. In the absence of a single short beep, they also do not indicate that the system is booting.

At this point, you can sort of check the PSU. Try to borrow a known good PSU of around 550 - 600 watts. That will power just about any system with a single GPU. If you cannot do that, use a DMM to measure the voltages. Measure between the colored wires and either chassis ground or the black wires. Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

A way that might be easier is to use the main power plug. Working from the back of the plug where the wires come out, use a bare paperclip to short between the green wire and one of the neighboring black wires. That will do the same thing with an installed PSU. It is also an easy way to bypass a questionable case power switch.

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU.

If the system beeps:
If it looks like the PSU is good, install a memory stick. Boot. Beep pattern should change to one long and several short beeps indicating a missing graphics card.

Silence, long single beeps, or series of short beeps indicate a problem with the memory. If you get short beeps verify that the memory is in the appropriate motherboard slots.

Insert the video card and connect any necessary PCIe power connectors. Boot. At this point, the system should POST successfully (a single short beep). Notice that you do not need keyboard, mouse, monitor, or drives to successfully POST.
At this point, if the system doesn't work, it's either the video card or an inadequate PSU. Or rarely - the motherboard's PCIe interface.

Now start connecting the rest of the devices starting with the monitor, then keyboard and mouse, then the rest of the devices, testing after each step. It's possible that you can pass the POST with a defective video card. The POST routines can only check the video interface. It cannot check the internal parts of the video card.

 

[davcon]

Make sure you're using the 8pin ATX power lead and not a 4pin.
And have your ram in the the appropriate matched dimms starting farthest away from the cpu socket.
The MSI manual might have incorrect information regarding ram placement.
My P55A-GD55 manual included incorrect instructions.

 

[ninjai117]

UPDATE:

I shut down this box (550 watt ATX PSU in it) and hooked it up to the other motherboard. Same result.

My buddy had a similar issue, but in his case from a power surge. Apparently all he did was reset his CMOS and it was good. I tried this to no avail. Hell I thought it would at least do something eventful when I set the jumper to reset. When I press power it does nothing.

So I guess I'm screwed. Any chance this could have somehow fried my CPU? Or the video card I was installing whilst doing this?

Perhaps I'm just fishing for hope, but this might be a several hundred dollar repair. 🙁

EDIT:

Same thing happens with the CPU removed. I am hoping that means chances are that my CPU is still good. I figure if there was any ESD involved in my 'upgrade' of my videocard, that a capacitor or something may have taken a brunt of the hit.

 

[ninjai117]

New Update:

The video card I was sold definitely fried the *** out of the motherboard.

I purchased a new one today and everything was turning on and functioning what appeared to be properly (no monitor attached).

Now the fun part: As soon as I plugged in the 2 6 pin connectors for the Gigabyte 5830 and turned it on, the fans spooled up for a half a second and then the entire motherboard died. No power what-so-ever. Not even if I swap in my old video card. It's toast.

I'm livid. What a waste of money. Got the video card off a friend so I don't know WTF I can even do about any sort of warranty.

 

[jb6684]

What power supply model and wattage do you have? Sounds like you don't have enough juice to get that new 5830 going.....

 

[ninjai117]

nah, I have enough juice. IIRC it's 700W OCZ (only 3 months old). It was the video card that fried my motherboard... and the second one I bought as well. I left it at my local computer store in hopes for a warranty coverage of some sort. Fingers crossed.

 

[ninjai117]

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