Asus P5K-E/WIFI boot problem

[tieton]

Help, only 4 days left to return this to Newegg! :Q

Finally built my system last week and thought all went well (first time builder). Have since realized motherboard wont boot consistently. When it fails to boot, it doesnt even make it to the BIOS screen, no video signal, no beeps. At least one fan comes on. Resetting never fixes it. Hard off does, though not every time. Sometimes I have to power off multiple times. P5K-E motherboard, Q6600, 3 SATA drives, SATA DVD player.

Looking around, came across similar complaints about the motherboard but havent found any fixes. Am running the original BIOS. Horror stories of failed flashing for this board made me think twice about updating.

Any suggestions to fix this? If not, can someone suggest a good P35 motherboard for a Q6600 in the same general price range? Dont need the WIFI. I'm leaning towards returning it before my 30 days is up in 4 days.

 

[PianoMan]

Have you checked your standoffs to make sure your mobo isn't grounding to the case? Newer motherboards do have metallic borders around the screw holes that prevent this, but never hurts to check if you're experiencing erratic power/boot issues.

AFAIK, the newer BIOS only add CPU tables - so flashing to a new may not fix your problem. If you can't find the culpirt any easier, I'd RMA.

PM

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Model of RAM? Manually set Vdimm and timing per mfr's specs.

 

[StriperMike]

Try only connecting the minimum components to boot. Disconnect hard drives, PCI cards, disable components you will not use in the BIOS (WIFI) and see if you still see the problem after trying to boot several times. Maybe another component is your culprit. Have you tried running memtest on your memory chips?

 

[tieton]

thanks for the advice. Have tried reseating most things, didnt help. Problem is a little different than I first thought. Turning power supply off doesnt help after all. Its simply a numbers game, turn it on/off or reset often enough it will boot. Problem is difficult to troubleshoot because its so intermittent. When I turned it on tonight, it didnt boot for first 4-5 attempts. Then it booted once or twice. Then wouldnt. Then it started for 3 seconds or so, shut itself down and repeated this 3 times--I thought it was in a death loop, but it righted itself. It can boot 15 times in a row without problem, then not boot for 5 times, or boot every other time for a few rounds. Real PITA. Means you have to turn it on 15 plus times to check the effect of a change unless it fails before that. From what I gather some of the ASUS P35 boards have this or variations of this problem. Will RMA it and go with a different motherboard. Too bad, would be a nice board but for this.

Didnt have time to run memtest or pull it out the case to check for a short because of the looming RMA deadline. But given the similar reports in the ASUS forums, suspect its neither of those issues.

system: Q6600, Asus P5K-E WIFI BIOS v302, Samsung 500 GB SATA, Seagate 320 SATA x2, Samsung SATA DVD drive, EVGA 8600 GT, Enhance ENP-5140GH 400W PSU (highly recommended by Johnny Guru), GSKILL DDR2 800 5-5-5-15 1GBx2, Auzentech Xplosion PCI soundcard, Rosewill USB card reader, USB mouse.

 

[RFV]

yup ... loads of issues on that particular model on the Asus Offical forums, my advice RMA!

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topi...iFi-AP&SLanguage=en-us

 

[rickon66]

Your power supply may be a little weak for all the stuff you have in there-when drives, fans and anything else with an electric motor start up, they pull about double the amps than they use when just running.

 

[tieton]

How would I check whether my power supply is insufficient? I've RMA'd the ASUS and ordered an Abit PRO P35 instead. I also am going to put in a TV tuner card shortly and probably eSATA drive(s) eventually. Dont know whether eSATA run off PC powersupply or have their own. Need a lot of storage because I want to edit and store HD camcorder video. May also try a mild overclock (whatever I can get on stock cooler), add another fan and add more memory once I have a working baseline system. The review http://jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=24 said this power supply would outperform many 500 watt supplies. Since I wasnt planning on running 8800 series etc video card(s), hadn't thought power would be a problem or considered the initial draw. Will upgrade PSU if need be. Thanks for the input.


system: Q6600, Asus P5K-E WIFI BIOS v302, Samsung 500 GB SATA, Seagate 320 SATA x2, Samsung SATA DVD drive, EVGA 8600 GT, Enhance ENP-5140GH 400W PSU, GSKILL DDR2 800 5-5-5-15 1GBx2, Auzentech Xplosion PCI soundcard, Rosewill USB card reader, USB mouse.

 

[tieton]

Update: Installed a new Abit Pro P35 board. Fixed the problem, so the issue was indeed with the Asus motherboard. Some things I like better about the Abit Pro layout. My 8600 GT doesnt block a PCI slot for one, whereas it did on the Asus. But overall, I'd say the Asus was a bit easier to work on; easier access. The side orientation of the SATA slots on the Abit is a PITA. Unless you have small hands, connect the SATA cables to the motherboard before putting it in the case.