New Build Woes w/ Asus P9X79 Deluxe

[OxFACTOR]

So I made the mistake of falling for the Asus P9X79 Deluxe back in September, and as of now (December), I have yet to have a functional PC using this board. I am absolutely, totally, at a loss as to what the problem could be!


Build Detail:
Board: Asus P9X79 Deluxe (RMA'd x2)
Chip: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2 GHz (RMA 'd x2)
Cooling: Corsair H100
Power: CoolerMaster 1200W Pro 80 Gold (RMA'd x2)
RAM: 1st Try: 16GB of Corsair Vengence - 2nd Try: 16GB of GSkill Ripjaws Z
Vid: EVGA GeForce GTX670
Boot Drive: Intel 520 SSD 240GB
Data Drive: Hitachi SATA 6gbs 2TB HDD
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced

So on the first power-on, my system actually "did" show video & attempt to POST. It got about 1-min in & shutdown on it's own ... never to boot again. So I did all the typical system checks, ending with a bare bench test ... nothing. All the system would do is run in a continuous loop of spinning the fans for a second & flickering some LED's.

2nd board shows up from Asus; it was missing a heatsing lug out of the box ... so right back it went (no system test with this board).

3rd board shows up from Asus & looked good, so into the build it goes. Still, I get the exact same results ... "00" Q-Code, no beeps, a solid red CPU_LED, and NO POST. Yep, I even updated the BIOS.

A call back to Asus results in the attention now being on the CPU (Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2 GHz). So it get's RMA'd. New one arrives brand new in the box, install it, & same result.

Next call back to Asus results in the Power Supply being the focus (CoolerMaster 1200W Pro 80 Gold) ... even though my Thermaltake PS Tester says it's A-OK. So, I RMA the Power Supply. New one arrives, install it, & same result.

Call back to Asus results in yet another RMA for the board ...

 

[alexoiu]

Hi, Try buying a BIOS chip and replacing the board's one.
In US, from ASUS eStore, or from ebay.

 

[OxFACTOR]

Hi, Try buying a BIOS chip and replacing the board's one.
In US, from ASUS eStore, or from ebay.

Yep ... I thought of that, but what's wierd is that I've been able to successfully update both boards so far to the latest BIOS via the on-board flash utility.

I'd suspect that if the board was capable of updating its BIOS, then the chip would be OK?

 

[alexoiu]

You can't be sure that the BIOS was successfully updated. That's why I suggested replacing it.
What was the original version (last separate 4 digits on a sticker with a barcode on the motherboard) ?

 

[OxFACTOR]

You can't be sure that the BIOS was successfully updated. That's why I suggested replacing it.
What was the original version (last separate 4 digits on a sticker with a barcode on the motherboard) ?

Per the sticker, it was shipped w/ BIOS Version 2002. I updated it to Version 3009.

I just noticed Version 3203 is out now ...

Your right, I can't be sure that it updated. All I can say is that it appeared to process the update properly.

 

[smorizio]

have you tried building the system outside the case with one ram stick and a know good power supply. you could have had a bad power supply and is zap the system so you could have a bad mb..cpu and video card. or the mb is shorted to the case. i would also check the bottom of both cpu and the mb slots for bent pins. one of the boards could have has a bent pin and shorted out your cpu.

 

[OxFACTOR]

have you tried building the system outside the case with one ram stick and a know good power supply. you could have had a bad power supply and is zap the system so you could have a bad mb..cpu and video card. or the mb is shorted to the case. i would also check the bottom of both cpu and the mb slots for bent pins. one of the boards could have has a bent pin and shorted out your cpu.

Yes ... I've checked all of this ... 2-3 times over.

I received another RMA board from ASUS last week, and still the same result.

So Far I’ve tried 3-Boards, 2-Processors, 2-Sets of Memory (Corsair Vengeance, and now Gskill Ripjawz), & 3-Power Supplies. Tested, both in the case (Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced) & outside of the case (breadboard style). The only thing I haven't swapped that still touches this system is the Corsair H100 ... but I've pretty well ruled out any shenanigans that it could cause too.

I even purchased a new #3203 BIOS chip to assure that I would test with the latest BIOS.

I'm absolutely stumped ....

 

[alexoiu]

Is there a case speaker (beeper) attached to the motherboard?

 

[OxFACTOR]

Is there a case speaker (beeper) attached to the motherboard?

Yes, I do install the case speaker ... it's a standard one that comes with the HAF 932 Case.

It's nevver made a peep except for the very first build when the system actually "tried" to POST. It let out a series of beeps before it shutdown. Since then, all components have been replaced except the PC Speaker & heatsink.

Do you think the speaker could be shorting the board? (I'v tried the build at-least once w/o the speaker)

 

[alexoiu]

Try starting the board outside the case, only CPU and CPU fan installed, speaker, 24 and 8-pin power cables connected. Start the board by shortly connecting together the 2 pins corresponding to the power switch. Like in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=d_56kyib-Ls#t=1281s
If the CPU fan is spinning and no beeps from the speaker then it's either a board or a CPU issue.
Testing the components at a local shop would be also an option in your case.