Maximus VIII Hero won't power up

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Sam1981

Sam1981

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Feb 6, 2016
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Just bought a Maximus VIII Hero with Core i5 6600K. The motherboard doesn't boot. Sometimes the on-board Start and Reset buttons are lit, otherwise they don't. When they do, if i plug in any USB peripheral in the USB Bios Flashback port, the Start and Reset buttons start to blink. Tried pressing the Bios flash button for 3-10 seconds, nothing happens. There is no Q-Code on the digital display no matter what. There is no on-board LED lit up no matter what. The CPU fan doesn't start. The ROG logo doesn't light up.

I tried everything I found on the web, nothing worked. What I have tried includes:
- CMOS battery plugged out for few mins and then put back in
- Used a screwdriver to short the CMOS battery connectors
- Switched the CMOS reset jumper and powered on
- Checked CPU socket pins, they are not bent or anything
- Took out the board out of the case
- Only CPU, Cooler, 8-pin CPU power and 20+4 power and CPU fan connected
- Took out the CPU and tried booting the board only
- Tried with 1 DIMM in proper slot
- Tried without DIMMs - no beeps
- Tried USB Bios flash (with BIOS update appropriately named)
- Tried on-board buttons for Start, Reset, Bios reset, MemOK

With the mobo and CPU included, my build is:
Skylake Build

Before, and currently, because the new board isn't working, my build is:
Old Core 2 Quad Build

I know the PSU isn't great, and should have been replaced for the upgrade. But it has no problems whatsoever with Q6600 and a GTX960 installed, even when I let it run thru the night or when I play games. One thing to note though, my old board requires only 4-pin CPU power. I'm thinking it might be a PSU issue (maybe the other 4-pins aren't working).

So my question is:
1. Is there something else I can try before returning the mobo
2. Is there any part in my build that requires attention, other than mobo problem

Edited: I types 970 instead of 960. I just have one GPU GTX960.

Points to consider (if it comes to buying/replacing parts)
I live outside the US
After spending this much on Hero and 6600K I'm really tight on budget
 
Solution
ko888


That would seem to indicate an unstable +5Vsb (i.e. +5 Volt stand-by) circuit in the PSU. The motherboard will not tell the PSU to turn on its main switch mode portion that outputs the +3.3V, +5V and +12V rails if it detects any problems with the PSU. That's why the motherboard is not powering up.

The Cooler Master Elite Power 460W (RS-460-PSAR-I3) that is made by Solytech is only a 400 Watt PSU that has a 460 Watt peak rating. A horrible PSU made by a horrible OEM.

Try troubleshooting with a better quality PSU.
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Looks like a toasted power supply. Here's a tip: Never spend less than 70 bucks on a power supply, cheaper ones fail very quickly
 
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The PSU is running my old build right now. So it is not toasted or anywhere closer to that :)

Good tip! I will keep that in mind when buying the new one soon.
 
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That would seem to indicate an unstable +5Vsb (i.e. +5 Volt stand-by) circuit in the PSU. The motherboard will not tell the PSU to turn on its main switch mode portion that outputs the +3.3V, +5V and +12V rails if it detects any problems with the PSU. That's why the motherboard is not powering up.

The Cooler Master Elite Power 460W (RS-460-PSAR-I3) that is made by Solytech is only a 400 Watt PSU that has a 460 Watt peak rating. A horrible PSU made by a horrible OEM.

Try troubleshooting with a better quality PSU.
 
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Solution
- Only CPU, Cooler, 8-pin CPU power and 20+4 power and CPU fan connected
Click to expand...

Do you even have a system motherboard speaker attached? If not, there wouldn't be any beeps.

- Switched the CMOS reset jumper and powered on
Click to expand...

This is a problem. First of all, there should NEVER be any power connected when you switch the clear CMOS jumper to the reset pins, and you should certainly never power the unit up that way. I'm not positive whether any damage would result from that, but I'm fairly certain it's possible.


You do not need to spend 70 dollars to get a good power supply, but obviously, to get a really decent one with higher capacities you'd need to spend upwards of 60 bucks. Spending more does not necessarily equate to getting a better unit. There are plenty of really good units between 50-70 dollars and a whole bunch of really lousy ones that are more than a hundred. Use the tier list to select a unit.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html


And the Realhardtechx guide to determine capacity:

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm


Overall, it sounds to me as if the board is dead. It's pretty uncommon for it to be dead right out of the box, but it happens.
 
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Thanks for the insight. This gives me hopes that all is not lost :)

I bought the PSU long ago when I had no intention of running a gaming rig. And as I upgraded gradually, it never had a problem so never thought of replacing it until now. I will list my options below, lets see if you guys can find a good quality PSU from them.

 
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Check with friends and see if you can borrow a better PSU, for a 960 rig, it calls for a decent 400 PSU with 20 AMPs on the 12 volt rail - this is a split 12 volt that maxes at 324 watts - how are you hooking it up to the 970 - molex connectors to a PCI-E 8 pin?
 
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Do you even have a system motherboard speaker attached? If not, there wouldn't be any beeps.
Click to expand...
Yes I had the system speaker attached. Still there was no beep.

there should NEVER be any power connected when you switch the clear CMOS jumper to the reset pins, and you should certainly never power the unit up that way.
Click to expand...
Oops. I think I read it somewhere on a tech forum, and was too desperate to try anything to get it working. Hope it didn't damage the board. However, it was at a very later stage when I tried that. The board had been behaving the same before I did. By the way, the power was of when the actual switching of the jumper was carried out.

I have been reading the Tier lists since the problem occurred. It seems only a couple of reliable brands are available where I am located. Let me list a few units here. Extra wattage should be ignored, because I would go for a good unit even though if it costs a little more.

1. Thermaltake SMART SE 530W, 630W, 730W
2. Cooler Master B500, B600, B700 (all ver.2)
3. Cooler Master Silent Pro 850W
4. Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 550W
5. Antec 850W
6. Corsair VS 550, 650
and some Zalman (didn't find much info about these in the tier list):
7. ZM600-GV, ZM700-GV
8. ZM750-HP PLUS
9. ZM600-HP, ZM850-HP

Overall, it sounds to me as if the board is dead. It's pretty uncommon for it to be dead right out of the box, but it happens.
Click to expand...
Let's hope its not.
 
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Not an option. No friends with gaming rigs. I'll have to buy one to test.


Haha... nope. It actually has a 6-pin for PCI-e and my 960 only needs a 6-pin. The GPU seemed to work fine with it along with a Q6600 (105 TDP), 3 HDDs and a bunch of case fans.
 
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What model of 850w Antec? There are many.

The Corsair VS units are meh, but better probably than anything else on that list except the Antec, depending on the model of the Antec. I wouldn't buy any of those units except possibly the Antec, again, depending on the model. The VS in a serious pinch might be ok, but I'd really look for something better and avoid them if you can help it.


Reading your post a little more closely, I'd have to agree with these guys that the PSU is definitely the place to start.
 
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Antec TPQ-850
But here's the catch, it is a used unit being sold on a website like ebay. Should I still consider it? They would give a weeks warranty to check the unit.

 
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Found some more used ones:
Antec TruePower TP-550
Antec EarthWatts EA650
Antec NeoPower 650 Blue
Antec NeoPower 550
Thermaltake Toughpower XT TPX-775M
FirePower Fatal1ty 550W
Cooler Master V700
Cooler Master Extreme 2 - 725W

I know CM V series is tier one, how are the others as compared to CM V and Antec TPQ-850. Plus Zalmans I posted above arent any good at all?

Could some of you please take time and rate them as to which is the best and then the 2nd and the 3rd and so on... and the ones to stay away from.
 
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Buying a used power supply or graphics card is a bad decision IMO. You have no way of determining how much of it's useful lifespan is already gone or what's it's history of abuse is. Unless you're buying it from somebody who will guarantee it's going to have some longevity, and you trust them well enough to invite to dinner at your mother's house, it's throwing money away. Graphics cards and power supplies are consumable components in that due to the nature of the internal components, there will be a point at which it will no longer function as was intended and the older it is, the more likely that is.

And that doesn't factor in any potential abuse. A power supply that has been run on a system that needed more capacity, so it was always near it's peak, or was installed improperly and run under hot conditions or even just run under high duty cycle loads for extended periods over a long period of time, may have very little life left in it. Considering the already high rate of power supply and graphics cards failures, those are two items I'd never consider buying used for my personal and primary machine.

 
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I totally agree. But in my case the only new ones available aren't the recommended ones. The new ones include:
1. Thermaltake SMART SE 530W, 630W, 730W
2. Cooler Master B500, B600, B700 (all ver.2)
4. Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 550W
6. Corsair VS 550, 650

Some of the sellers claim they are selling boxed pack ones, especially the Antec TP, NP and EA but I cannot be sure until I receive them. I think I'll have to take a chance and get an originally reliable unit so that even if it has been used improperly, there is a better chance of it still being stable.

Meanwhile, I checked my PSU voltage with Speedfan and HWiNFO. They seem pretty stable.
Volts


 
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What country are you in and are you looking to purchase from an online vendor in your region or are you having to purchase from a local vendor? Do you have any web links to places you are limited to purchasing from? Sometimes there are less known "jewels" that may be available but are not represented on the Tier list.
 
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Pakistan. I'll give you the links for online stores.
Galaxy
CZone
Shingpoint
Homeshopping (a bit over priced)

 
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The Corsair HX and Thermaltake Toughpower are good, but they're expensive.

The Cooler Master G750M is I think a better choice than the VS by a bit.

Of the used ones, the Cooler Master V series, Antec Truepower and Thermaltake toughpower grand would be the models I'd look to.

The Toughpower units are a, cough, "tough" sell though, because depending on the particular model and whether they are just Toughpower, Toughpower grand or Toughpower gold, all of those series I think have both good and "meh" units.


 
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I got a used CM V650, got it cheap ~$30 so I went for it. They are giving one month warranty so it is a safe deal. I actually wanted to get Antec TPQ 850, but read reviews that said it has a smaller 80mm fan which can be loud at times. And TPQ was ~$70.

Anyways, I checked the PSU (V650) with my old setup. It worked fine. I installed it with Maximus and turned it on. The ROG logo lit up :) that was a relief. So the board wasn't dead after all :). I upgraded the BIOS using USB Flashback. But still the board didn't turn on when pressing start button. Felt my heart sinking again. While trying things I pressed the clear CMOS button, and Voila!!! It was alive :) So it was a PSU issue after all.

I am truly grateful to darkbreeze for all his time and help. And hats off to ko888, you were the one who gave me hope that it might be a PSU issue rather than a dead mobo. And all others who took out time and looked into it. Without you all, I wouldn't have fixed it :) thanks a lot guys.

Now the V650 was making a clicking sound every time i started it or when it turned off. Then in the middle of Windows installation, it turned off itself. Now the power button only flashes the lights for a sec, and that clicking sound from PSU and then it goes dead again. I'm going to return it and get another V650 or Antec TPQ 850. But that's another story. I finally got my mobo working. Thanks again guys.

 
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Spend the extra money. Get a better unit. Your power supply is the MOST important component in your computer. If IT doesn't work right, NOTHING works right. If something is wrong with IT, it can seem like something is wrong with any other component. Invest as much as you can reasonably afford to into a worthwhile PSU, so you don't have to worry about it again for a good long time.

When somebody is selling a used PSU, you have to ask why they got rid of that unit in the first place. Most people don't discard hardware that is working correctly. Shops buy these all the time, clean them up, blow them out, and sell them as if they were factory refurbished or barely used units. Save a few extra bucks and get a NEW quality unit. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches if you do.
 
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Duly noted! I put in the extra money and got the Antec TPQ 850. It is a good unit for medium load as per onilne reviews and I have no intentions of putting extra load on it. What are your thoughts?


I bought these used ones from shopkeepers as well. The one I got before is what shopkeepers import in bulk quantity. Might have been the case where an organization upgraded to better units. The Antec TPQs, they say, were pulled out from branded (HP I guess) high-end performance/gaming machines they bought in bulk. Can't verify if that's true, but it is kind of an old model PSU and they have at least 4-5 units in stock, so it is safe to say it wasn't a unit that an individual discarded because of malfunction. I would go for a new unit but all the quality ones seemed too expensive for now (especially after putting in about ~$600 into mobo, CPU and DDR4).

I hope it works flawlessly for a couple of years until I'm ready to put in some more money into PSU. Will wait for your thoughts about this specific unit though :). Thanks
 
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The True power classic is an older platform, but it was a very solid one when it was new. You could do much worse.

I've never seen HP or anybody else include high end power supplies of ACTUAL high quality, in their gaming builds. They usually try to keep costs down by including lower end, flashy looking units, by brands that DO make good enthusiast models, but don't actually include THOSE models in their gaming builds which is why I also have a hard time recommending any prebuilt gaming systems. Hopefully you have more luck with this one than the last one, but I still have serious doubts anytime a used power supply or graphics card is involved.
 
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Yep, this one looks solid, and so far running without a problem.


My thoughts exactly. They wouldn't go for high end parts and always try to keep the costs as low as possible. Anyways, lets hope it lasts for a couple of years.

 
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