MSI NF980-G65 Power/boot issue

[knght990]

I need some help. Can you suggest any other troubleshooting steps i can take to solve this issue?
I have a MSI NF980-G65 with a Phenom 955 and Zalman 750w PSU.
After Moving 1000 miles: The board will not boot or post.
I apologize in advance if i don't use correct terminology for the connectors and their functions.
Please ask questions for clarification.

Issue:
Press the power switch, fans turn on, status LEDs flicker on then off, 2 seconds later power shuts off. Total cycle is 2-4 seconds. No image on screen. 5 seconds after it powers itself off, it powers on again and repeats the cycle. It will continue to reattempt a powerup until the power supply is turned off.

Troubleshooting steps i've taken:
1. Removed and tried a different power supply. Same result.
2. Reset BIOS via jumper. Same result.
3. Removed on-board battery. Same result.
4. Stripped misc fans, cards, and hard drives. Only the 24 main power, 8 pin cpu power remain connected. CPU fan, CPU and RAM remian on the board and attached monitor to onboard graphics. Same issue.
5. Reseated CPU. Same result.
6. Removed 8-pin CPU power connector. System remains powered, 3 status LEDs (one LED not illuminated indicating power phase control not working which makes sense). No post which i think makes sense since the CPU is essentially not powered.
7. Removed from case and reattempted a minimal configuration to be sure it wasn't shorting on the case. Same results as stated earlier.

Thanks
Knght

 

[abekl]

The only thing I see that you haven't reseated is the RAM. maybe it got dislodged in the move. Try reseating it.

 

[knght990]

Thanks

I did try reseating the RAM. I also tried using 1 stick, none, and placing it in the second set of slots. (to try and generate error codes) Same result.

Right now im trying to figure out if i can flash the bios during a boot before it posts, but i don't think it will work that way.

I suspect the power phase controller has died.

I noticed a few other people have had similar issues but they could all post after several attempts to boot.

 

[nenforcer]

Can you try throwing in the Phenom 9950 from your 2008 build just for shits and giggles?

 

[knght990]

The previous CPU was an AM2 socket. The newer one is an AM3. To my understanding i cannot mix AM2 and AM3 because AM3 cpus include a memory controller the AM2s do not.

I set up an RMA. Hopefully it goes ok. The last time i RMA'd with MSI it was a fail and i wasted the shipping.

 

[nenforcer]

The previous CPU was an AM2 socket. The newer one is an AM3. To my understanding i cannot mix AM2 and AM3 because AM3 cpus include a memory controller the AM2s do not.

I set up an RMA. Hopefully it goes ok. The last time i RMA'd with MSI it was a fail and i wasted the shipping.

My bad, you are correct, the MSI NF980-G65 has the DDR3 sockets which the older AM2 Phenom 9950 does't have a memory controller for.

I suggested that just to test the CPU. Maybe buy a $40 Sempron 140 and see if its the CPU before RMA'ing?

 

[knght990]

We have some sort of AM3 Athlon on order for a client but it wont be available to me for a few weeks and im trying to avoid having a ton of extra parts hanging around. I already have way too many.
So im going to risk the RMA.
Im pretty confident its the motherboard.

If it turns out to be the CPU im going to start from scratch and do an entirely new build.