Bad Motherboard? Don't know how to troubleshoot this?

kirkdickinson

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Oct 22, 2015
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I ordered an ASUS A88XM-A motherboard from NewEgg. With it I ordered an AMD A8-7600 Kaveri Quad-Core, a Samsung 850 Pro 256GB SSD, 8GB DDR3, Windows10 Pro OEM, and a new 500W powersupply. The motherboard, cpu, memory was a NewEgg combo. I already had a case, a DVD drive, and a 4TB data drive.

I put the computer together and it booted up fine. I put the Win10 disk in the DVD, and installed Windows 10, no problem. After install, I rebooted, and it worked fine. Next I installed the included motherboard drivers. It failed to reboot into Win10 after that. Crashes on boot and just shuts down. Bios shows CPU running temps 40c and mobo at 30c.

I thought that maybe there was something wrong with the SSD and it not being recognized correctly, so I did a clean install and installed the SSD drivers first. Then the Asus drivers. Won't boot into Windows 10.

Next try, I installed a spare 750Gig SATA drive, removed the SSD and did a clean install on the 750Gig SATA. Rebooted fine, after installing Asus drives, won't boot at all.

I can get into Windows 10 in safe mode and the Event Viewer is filled with hundreds of critical error messages.

I have installed dozens of Asus boards over the years and have never had a similar experience. Is this a bad motherboard?

I don't know what to check next. I could try to load Windows 7 on it to see if it does the same thing or some variant of Linux?

The bios date is a year old, and I haven't tried to get a new bios yet.

Any recommendations of what to try next?
 

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
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If the BIOS are one year old they would be OK with Win 10.
I would suggest to Re-Install Windows and then check the Computer Management/Device Manager, ifevery thing is OK with the Installation and there are No errors there is probably No point in Installing the Asus Mobo Drivers.


:cool:
 

Dahak

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2000
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Next I installed the included motherboard drivers. It failed to reboot into Win10 after that. Crashes on boot and just shuts down?

Sound like one of the drivers that came on the motherboard cd is not compatible with Windows 10. Unless the CD specifically said Win10

Given the age of the motherboard, most likely most of the drivers are already installed.
I would just format the drive and re-install windows again, instead of trying to mess with the current install.

Once installed, ignore the driver cd and get the latest ones from Asus' website
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/A88XMA/HelpDesk_Download/
 

kirkdickinson

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Oct 22, 2015
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If the BIOS are one year old they would be OK with Win 10.
I would suggest to Re-Install Windows and then check the Computer Management/Device Manager, ifevery thing is OK with the Installation and there are No errors there is probably No point in Installing the Asus Mobo Drivers.
:cool:

Well, I did leave out one or two (or six) of the install attempts. I have hit this so many times in the last 2 weeks. I did a complete install and tried not installing the drivers. It will reboot. I installed Firefox, Thunderbird, Adobe Acrobat, and a couple other programs. Won't reboot after programs are added.

So... Will boot with bone stock Win10 install, Will boot into safemode, will not boot once things are added to bone stock install. Very weird. I had an old iWill Mobo years ago that was a dual CPU that caused me headaches like this and it was a bad motherboard.
 

kirkdickinson

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Oct 22, 2015
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It doesn't take long to do an install on the SSD, I will swap them back out and do another. I will report back. :)
 

VirtualLarry

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I did a complete install and tried not installing the drivers. It will reboot. I installed Firefox, Thunderbird, Adobe Acrobat, and a couple other programs. Won't reboot after programs are added.
That makes no sense. Those are application-level programs, and should not affect the bootability of the underlying OS.
Are you installing an AV program? Is it fully-compatible with the newest update to Win10?
 

kirkdickinson

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Oct 22, 2015
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That makes no sense. Those are application-level programs, and should not affect the bootability of the underlying OS.
Are you installing an AV program? Is it fully-compatible with the newest update to Win10?

Nothing major. No audio or video programs, just basic stuff.

After this next install. I will reboot and see what happens. And check the Event log before installing anything.
 

Valantar

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2014
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Have you tried booting from your disc/USB and "repairing" the Windows install after any of these failed attempts? Not that that tends to work, but it's worth a try.

Other than that: are you installing drivers off the disk, or downloading them? In general, always get the most up-to-date ones from the manufacturer's website.

Try letting the PC run its course with updates and the like, don't reboot until it asks you to. Make sure it's fully up to date through Windows update.
 

kirkdickinson

Member
Oct 22, 2015
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Have you tried booting from your disc/USB and "repairing" the Windows install after any of these failed attempts? Not that that tends to work, but it's worth a try.

Other than that: are you installing drivers off the disk, or downloading them? In general, always get the most up-to-date ones from the manufacturer's website.

Try letting the PC run its course with updates and the like, don't reboot until it asks you to. Make sure it's fully up to date through Windows update.

Yeah, repair failed. I installed Win10 again, and it has booted fine three times. Installed Adobe Reader just to see, and it rebooted. No device driver ! in system devices. I am going to go ahead and let it do a windows update next and then see where it goes from there. I am getting a lot of errors, but I think it may be because I haven't connected it to the internet yet.
 

kirkdickinson

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Oct 22, 2015
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I did a completely fresh install. Booted several times to make sure it worked. I installed Adobe reader, rebooted, installed the sound drivers, rebooted, then I connected it the internet and let windows update all its files and security fixes. Now it shuts down during boot.

Getting pretty sick of this computer.
 

Unico

Member
Aug 28, 2015
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Consider turning off the Windows 10 setting “Turn on fast startup”. This will force the computer to do a full shutdown when its turned off.
Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options -> System Settings.

When you can get into the BIOS, disable the ASUS Fast Boot feature. It may be preventing some drivers from being loaded.
 
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kirkdickinson

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Oct 22, 2015
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Consider turning off the Windows 10 setting “Turn on fast startup”. This will force the computer to do a full shutdown when its turned off.
Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options -> System Settings.

When you can get into the BIOS, disable the ASUS Fast Boot feature. It may be preventing some drivers from being loaded.

In Windows 10, there is no setting:
Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options -> System Settings

Under the Windows 10 Control Panel there is no Hardware and sound. If I muck around sometimes the old Windows 7 Control panel will show up, there is Hardware and Sound there.

Under Power Options, there is no System Settings.

I found something else out though. I realized that the computer is completely shutting down like I thought, it is immediately shutting down the monitor though. I went in in safe mode and set the network workgroup up and set the computer to share and then restarted. I can see it from my other computers.

I think that the built in video card is not compatible with Windows 10. I will dig through some boxes here to see if I have a spare video card I can try.

Making progress.
 

kirkdickinson

Member
Oct 22, 2015
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Yep, motherboard with Windows 10 compatibility sticker with Windows 10 compatibility drivers has a built in video card that doesn't work with Windows 10.
 

JackMDS

Elite Member
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Oct 25, 1999
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The above is the main reason why I buy GA Mobos. Unlike Asus they do not "mock" around too much hoping that they can get "Private" gains form "Augmenting" "standard" platforms.

That said you can get the old Win7 Control panel in Win 10 by left clicking on the Start Menu. That let you access to the "Old" Sound, Power Option, and almost all of other options in the old Control Panel.


:cool:
 

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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Yep, motherboard with Windows 10 compatibility sticker with Windows 10 compatibility drivers has a built in video card that does't work with Windows 10.
How are you connecting to the display? Could it be a cable problem? Using cheap HDMI cables? Not fastening the knobs on DVI or VGA cables? Not using a strictly VESA-compatible DP cable?
 

Valantar

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2014
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Yep, motherboard with Windows 10 compatibility sticker with Windows 10 compatibility drivers has a built in video card that does't work with Windows 10.
The motherboard doesn't have a built-in GPU. It's built into the CPU, making it what AMD calls an APU ("Accelerated Processing Unit"). Integrated graphics on motherboards died something like 8 years ago.

As for the iGPU on that chip, I use it in my HTPC in Windows 10, with no issues. It's perfectly compatible. My motherboard is an ASrock FM2A88X-ITX+. It has some minor issues (HDMI doesn't wake properly after sleep, well-known issue with ASrock boards due to some on-board HDMI driver component, apparently), but other than that it's rock solid.
 

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
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Maybe you should have a bought a motherboard with an Intel Chipset and Intel CPU (I3 / I5 / I7) ... I never did like AMD myself especially after that fiasco when XP SP3 would not install on AMD chipsets.
 

Valantar

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2014
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Maybe you should have a bought a motherboard with an Intel Chipset and Intel CPU (I3 / I5 / I7) ... I never did like AMD myself especially after that fiasco when XP SP3 would not install on AMD chipsets.
That's bull. AMD CPUs and chipsets work just fine. Posts like that just invite flame wars, and add nothing to the discussion (other than trying to imprint an irrational dislike of AMD in people?).
 

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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I never did like AMD myself especially after that fiasco when XP SP3 would not install on AMD chipsets.

XP SP3, from an actual MS disc, installs just fine on an "AMD chipset" board.

I think that the thing that you are talking about, is with OEM systems with AMD CPUs, that the OEM incorrectly configured, to load the Intel power-management driver. Which, when upgraded to SP3, caused AMD rigs not to boot properly.

That wasn't AMD's fault, nor Microsoft. It was an incorrect OEM image problem, that bit some of them in the butt when SP3 came out.

Edit: Bottom line is that XP SP3 was PERFECTLY COMPATIBLE with AMD CPUs and supporting chipsets. I should know, I was running one at the time.
 

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
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Yes, you are probably right. But nobody had any issues with Intel based boards and cpus .. And personally I think Intel is much better and for video I buy Nvidia cards instead of relying on onboard video.
 

Valantar

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2014
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Yes, you are probably right. But nobody had any issues with Intel based boards and cpus .. And personally I think Intel is much better and for video I buy Nvidia cards instead of relying on onboard video.
Different uses, different tools. If the OP saw a use/need for a PC with a lower mid range CPU and an integrated GPU, then it's probablu sufficient. Saying "you should have bought an Intel CPU, and I only ever use Nvidia dGPUs anyway" just shows a lack of ability to adapt your recommendations to the needs of the one asking.

"Personally I think Intel is much better" is also purely subjective. While they've been far superior in terms of CPU performance in recent years, this (at least based on available data from reviews and posts here) doesn't translate to superiority in reliability or compatibility. Don't let your bias colour your recommendations too much. AMD APUs have their uses - my HTPC is a perfect example of this.

Also, arguing that "In this one specific case, people had issues with AMD parts due to a specific OEM error, yet this specific error didn't affect Intel parts" is an argument against AMD products as a whole, well... I shouldn't have to point this out, should I? Again, you're quite actively promoting anti-AMD bias here. (Now, a disclaimer: I do like AMD, but I'm more of a "rooting for the underdog" guy than a die-hard AMD fanboy. I currently use an Intel CPU, and have done so since an AMD Duron back in the early 2000s.) Again, this doesn't add anything valuable to the discussion. Please stop.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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It is rather humorous that AMD has boards on the market that don't support the current Microsoft OS, and out of the OSs it does support, only one is still available for sale (8.1).

Correction: upon further inspection, this board has not been in wide circulation for quite a while (over a year), so the lack of Windows 10 support is justified.
 
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Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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Different uses, different tools. If the OP saw a use/need for a PC with a lower mid range CPU and an integrated GPU, then it's probablu sufficient. Saying "you should have bought an Intel CPU, and I only ever use Nvidia dGPUs anyway" just shows a lack of ability to adapt your recommendations to the needs of the one asking.

"Personally I think Intel is much better" is also purely subjective. While they've been far superior in terms of CPU performance in recent years, this (at least based on available data from reviews and posts here) doesn't translate to superiority in reliability or compatibility. Don't let your bias colour your recommendations too much. AMD APUs have their uses - my HTPC is a perfect example of this.
In this case, the OP is trying to install Windows 10 on brand new hardware that doesn't support the current Microsft OS. Intel isn't currently manufacturing any consumer desktop hardware that fits into that category. So I think Intel superiority is a valid statement in this context.

Edit, same as above: Upon further inspection, this board has not been in wide circulation for quite a while (over a year), so the lack of Windows 10 support is justified.
 
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Valantar

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Aug 26, 2014
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In this case, the OP is trying to install Windows 10 on brand new hardware that doesn't support the current Microsft OS. Intel isn't currently manufacturing any consumer desktop hardware that fits into that category. So I think Intel superiority is a valid statement in this context.
We can all agree that Asus should have updated the motherboard drivers, if that's what's at fault. But how is that AMD's fault? They don't make motherboards, nor do they tell OEMs what to do. I'll gladly join you in throwing shit at Asus for seriously dropping the ball here. But AMD really isn't at fault - all their current products are fully W10 compatible.

Edit: yes, the A8-7600 is fully W10 compatible, iGPU and all. As mentioned above, I'm using it myself.