Troubleshooting Help on Asrock Z170 Extreme 7+ Not Posting

Artuero

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Jan 28, 2016
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Hi, I am building a new desktop and I am unable to POST. I would appreciate help with troubleshooting.

System:
Asrock Z170 Extreme 7+ (bios is marked on chip as 1.70)
6700k processor with Coolermaster 212 Evo heatsink
2 sticks of G.Skill 16 GB 2400 DDR 4 RAM (F4-2400C15D-32GVR), which are on the Asrock QVL.
Corsair HX850i power supply.

I do not have anything else plugged in right now (will use 950 pro SSDs, a GEForce 970 and an optical drive). Case is a Fractal Design Define XL R2.

The motherboard has never posted. With no memory in, Dr Debug shows number 53. With memory plugged in (one stick or two, regardless of location) Dr Debug shows number 32. When the board first starts it runs through a number of codes on Dr Debug before resting on 32 (or 53, as the case may be).

Do the codes help at all? I feel that the codes in the motherboard are not all that useful. Both of them say the same thing—problem related to memory, re-install the memory and memory then clear CMOS, if the problem still exists install only one module or try others. But I feel that error 53 should actually be error 55 (no memory installed).

I installed the memory as indicated in the motherboard guide (slots 2 and 4 for two sticks). I have also tried the memory sticks individually in each slot. I also previously tried two faster sticks that I returned when I was having problems because they were not on the QVL. I reset CMOS whenever I retry to boot.

I have a monitor plugged into the DVI on the motherboard. It remains blank/in power save so no video signal is being output.

I believe the power supply is good. I used it to POST another motherboard a week or so ago. I don’t have that to test anymore but the case fans and CPU fans spin up. The keyboard lights up when I turn the power supply on. The board does power up (it has its own power switch/reset switch that glow red), and the Dr Debug codes come up.

I followed the motherboard’s guide installation steps. The CPU connector is plugged in (I keep checking this connection and the mobo power connector). The standoffs are all installed. I am not using the video card for now, I believe the Z170 has onboard video and figured using it rather than the GeForce GTX 170 I have standing by would be better for troubleshooting.

Can anyone help me troubleshoot? I think my next step would be to re-install the processor and HSF but I am nervous about that part of it—I have the least confidence and I don’t want to ruin these things. How will I know if I installed it correctly? Should I check this part out now or are there other steps I should try first?

Thanks for suggestions.
 


Thanks for the suggestion. I took off the cooler and CPU. Here is a photo of the socket.
i-Xks7ZvL-L.jpg


For what it's worth, here is one of the bottom of the chip.
i-NMrqqBd-L.jpg


I hope those photos will post and not be too big, we'll see.
 
Do you have any access to other DDR4? Have a feeling the BIOS isn't up to snuff for 16GB sticks, it's 1.7 and there are 4 newer versions most all mentioning DRAM (which is unusual as most all BIOS updates are filled with DRAM UDs but seldom ever mentioned
 
Thanks Alexoiu. I did as you suggested and got a code 53, although the manual says that is a memory code the Asrock tech told me that code 53 meant there was no memory.

From here I tried a stick of memory in various places (have not gotten through all possible combinations yet. I have generally got a code of 32. But once I left it on for awhile and code 55 came up after a minute or two on 32. I usually shut it off before that so that may happen other times as well.
 


That's interesting and entirely possible. I do not have any other DDR4, unfortunately-- I had used other ones that were not on the support list but they were 16GB as well and I had the same problem. The new ones are on the support list but I think I can't update the BIOS unless I get some working memory. I hate to go out and buy some memory just for testing purposes but it may come to that.

 
I returned my motherboard and got a new one (same). I am getting the same result. I also was able to come up with two sticks of 4 GB DDR4000 that were on the QVL for this motherboard. I have tried them in all combinations and generally get error 32, although there were a couple of error 55s which may be that I did not have them seated correctly or something.

This motherboard also has two BIOS chips and I tried using BIOS B, same result. I take it I can't update the BIOS if the system is not POSTing.

At this point I am thinking it is the power supply although the power supply did work at one point (it is a new Corsair HX850i). I have an old Dell PC and will try the power supply from that.

I am doing all of this outside the case-- motherboard on static bag on motherboard box, power supply plugged into a power strip and then the 24 pin and 8 pin into the motherboard. It is a modular supply and had a second CPU connector so I swapped that as well. I think only one 24-pin so I can't test that separately. I have a monitor connected and nothing is showing up at all. I do not have any graphics card (using the onboard) or hard drive installed.
 
I tried a different power supply to the same result. I also tried a different power supply cable.

The only other thing I can think of is the CPU. I will try to remove and reinstall it in case I did something wrong there (but if I did I keep doing it wrong since the same thing happened on the other board).

Maybe something has to be installed for me to POST (like a hard drive or a video card). It should not be that way-- I think it is simpler to have fewer on-board items. But I am running out of variables, so I may just try that. I mean, there is the power cable-- swapped that, the power supply, swapped that, the motherboard, swapped that, the RAM, swapped that with four different sticks all on the QVL. Is there something else I can try? I presume I cannot update the BIOS until I POST.
 
Yes, I tried as I am running out of things, that didn't work.

Asrock is going to send me an updated BIOS chip (their tech support has been attentive and accessible) and that may help. I am thinking of bringing it to Microcenter and asking them to build it, maybe they can do some diagnostics that I can't. I also ordered a motherboard speaker but have not gotten that yet. I really don't know what else I can do.
 
I brought it into Microcenter and they did the further troubleshooting for me. They told me that I had a defective CPU. In this day and age!

Since I bought the CPU there, they swapped it for a new one, and that got everything to work. I guess that is a pretty unlikely (and therefore maddening) event but that's what it was. I do really appreciate Microcenter's help, they are a great store if you have one near you.
 
I have an ASRock Z170 Extreme 4+ with 16GB corsair vengeance 3000 memory and my machine refuses to post when XMP 2 profile is selected and onboard video is enabled. If I disable on board video and use the nvidia card it posts at the 3000 speed, but if I enable onboard video to have additional monitors it refuses to post with anything but 2133. Is there any way to tell there is cpu problems besides just switching out the cpu?
 


I am not going to be terribly helpful, as a lot of people know more than me. But my take on this is that if you can POST with the CPU and the CPU works under all of those conditions then it is probably not something wrong with the CPU, which is a relatively low likelihood event (outside of bent pins) in any case. It seems like a problem somewhere between the memory/GPU/motherboard and I would be inclined to guess at a memory incompatibility because that comes up more than just about anything else.

I actually don't think that a Corsair 16 GB 3000 stick is on the QVL list for that board. I actually had to go with lower speed 16 GB modules because I wanted eventually to fill up all four slots and most of the higher speed 16 GB modules were only validated for 2 sticks not 4.
 
Hi,

I have exactly the same symptoms with my GA-Z170X-Gaming 5 and the Intel Core i5-6600K LGA1151
Was only getting error 55 with G.SKILL F4-2400C15D-16GVR no mater what stick/slot; i bought some F4-2133C15D-16GVR and now all I'm getting is error 32.

Do you have any update ?
 


Hi, Try leaving single RAM module (G.SKILL F4-2400C15D-16GVR) and starting the board. Test each slot. See if 55 in each case.
 
yep:
slot 1,2,3 & 4 : error 32

also tested with 2 sticks : error 32 as well.


This is strange because at first I had error 55 with 2 sticks. Now I only have error 32 no matter what ...

EDIT : just for reference : I test this with no GC, just a keyboard and a hdmi display (from MB )