Question MSI Z490 Tomahawk issues

[Jamiehamo]

Hi all,

first time poster and in need of help/advice. My new build is causing me some major issues which I’m beginning to think is mobo related. First the setup:

Motherboard: MSI MAG Z490 Tomahawk
CPU: I510600K
GPU: Gigabyte 1080ti
SSD: M.2 Samsung evo 1TB
RAM: Corsair Vengeance x2 8gb 3600mhz
Cooler: Deepcool L240T (water cooler)
PSU: 750W Corsair 750X

So, I managed to assemble the rig without a hitch, did it all by the book and it went smooth, iv done a couple builds before without issue and this was the same.

the problem I’m having is that the rig fails to post most of the time, I get a combination of CPU fault lights, DRAM fault and boot. There is no parcicular order in which the error leds come on out when booted it’s either CPU or DRAM 75% of the time. Occasionally “maybe 1 in 15 attempts” it will boot, il get into BIOs and it’s fine. I have tried the following:

1. Every combo of ram slots and swapped out for known working ram.
2. Reseated the CPU and throughly checked pins for condition (all looks good)
3. When finally getting into BIO’s I installed windows and managed to update chipset drivers and downloaded the latest bios version to flash it.
4. I installed/flashed the latest BIOs onto the mobo (no change in fault)
5. Took everything out of the case and bread boarded it with just CPU, Ram and SSD (no change)
6. Changed the psu with another 750w and 600w known working PSU
7. Tried it with the GPU in (no joy)
8. Checked all areas of the case for shorting issues (no issues found)
9. Cleared CMOS (no change)
10. Tried the M.2 in a different slot and when that didn’t work installed a known working 3.5”SSD (still no luck)

At this stage I think iv exhausted all my knowledge and efforts. Has anyone come across a similar issue and point me in the right direction. Failing that I think I’m going to send the Motherboard and CPU back.

Thanks