New built, no POST... Help?

[AnitaPeterson]

Hi folks,

I just built a new machine from parts, and the damned thing won't POST! It's the builder's nightmare come true - nothing on the screen, monitor goes to standby...

Here are the parts:


BOOT DISK: Crucial M4 SSD Micron C400 64GB 2.5IN Solid State Disk Flash Drive SATA3 6Gbps

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL 16GB 4X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V LE Z68 LGA1155 ATX

PSU: CORSAIR Builder Series CX430

DVD Drive : LG Combo

The whole thing is in a Thermaltake Bach case....

I installed the motherboard, added the CPU and the cooling fan, connected all the cables, made sure the SSD is plugged in the 6GB SATA port, but nothing happens.... I took out the GPU card, and tried to use the motherboard's own VGA, nothing...

What do I need to recheck?


*edit November 22 - The motherboard was the culprit, a replacement worked perfectly!*

 

[AnitaPeterson]

The machine starts, the CPU fan spins, there's nothing on the screen. After about 10 seconds, the machine seems to stop, the fan spins down, stops, then everything starts again... and there's still nothing on the screen...

 

[ElFenix]

pull the board out and put it in the box it came in. install just the cpu and ram, plug in the monitor, and then short the power pins.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I think what Elfenix meant was to do a minimal install outside the case with one stick of ram, GPU and no HDD. Make sure the one stick of ram is in the correct slot for that configuration. Try to boot, if no joy, try another stick of ram. If it does boot, add one more item and boot again. You need to do it stepwise. Once everything is connected and boots, install it in the case. Make sure all the standoffs are in the right spot.

 

[ElFenix]

with the z68 i'd plug the monitor into the board rather than adding a gpu to start.

 

[s44]

I've read a number of reviews suggesting Asus boards don't play well with GSkill...

 

[mfenn]

I've read a number of reviews suggesting Asus boards don't play well with GSkill...

Nope, it works fine in my experience.

That's not to rule out that there could be a bad DIMM or DIMM slot. OP, as part of the testing that ElFenix suggested, you should go down to 1 DIMM as well.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Holy crap!

your last suggestions were close on this one...

I eliminated everything, including the SSD, and if I use a single RAM stick, in any of the slots, the machine boots happily. Once I add the second stick, the motherboard "ram status" LED stays on, with the behaviour described above....


I tried another pair of DDR-1333 sticks, from Corsair. Same thing.

I tried a pair of Kingston DDR-1600, the precise model listed in the table in the motherboard's manual, which at least in theory guarantees compatibility. Same thing.

So there you have it: a single stick of RAM (4 GB) starts the machine... Any more than that, it just stays on, no POST...

Do I RMA the board?

 

[s44]

Yup.

 

[mfenn]

Holy crap!

your last suggestions were close on this one...

*bows*

Do I RMA the board?

Probably. Given that you have a lot of RAM on hand, you have pretty conclusively ruled that out as the problem.

Before you do the RMA though, remove the CPU and carefully inspect the socket for bent pins. It is somewhat common to accidentally bend one of the pins when inserting the CPU. I've had some luck with bending them back, but that requires a sharp eye and a steady hand.

If you're going to go through an RMA, I would probably do the mobo and CPU at the same time. It's less likely that the CPU is at fault, but can't really isolate it unless you happen to have another 1155 CPU or mobo laying around.

 

[vailr]

I'd suggest trying another power supply, if a spare one is available. It sometimes happens that only one of the PSU's power lines start to go bad, where the 3 volt line supplied to the memory slots degrades enough to display the described symptoms. The remaining PSU lines could still be OK, but only the 3 volt line became damaged and too weak to support more than one memory stick.

 

[blacktankofhopelessness]

I second what mfenn suggested.

OP, I had the exact same experience as you with first a P8P67 and then a Pro board in that series. The difference being my rig worked for 2 weeks before displaying that behaviour. In my case, it was a dead CPU/mobo and on the second board a single bent socket pin.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Thanks for the suggestions folks!

1) I already tried another PSU - same phenomenon.
2) I'll be looking at the socket pins, but I'm pretty sure I was very careful and gentle in setting the CPU in its socket, so I really don't think I'll find anything out of the ordinary...
3) I already contacted ASUS to see if they have any information or troubleshooting that might help... I'm calling them again this afternoon.

If these last two bring no resolution, I'm getting the mobo replaced...

And now I'm starting to get paranoid... what if the replacement exhibits the same symptoms?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Bleurgh... the ASUS phone tech support was only able to provide me with very basic advice, like:
- CMOS battery out for 60 seconds.
- Check BIOS version (under System) see if it's 0803 (latest); if not, update BIOS.
- If, after the above steps, the problem is still there, RMA the board.


This is NOT helpful...

 

[s44]

I would have called Newegg and RMAed it through them already.

 

[mfenn]

I would have called Newegg and RMAed it through them already.

:thumbsup:

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Done. Got a replacement board - same brand, same model. One hour later I was finally up and running at full speed.

Now I need to see what I can do about the hard drives getting too warm (50 degrees Celsius)... probably will remove one of them....

 

[mfenn]

Glad you got it up and running. I agree that 50C is a little too toasty for an HDD, might want to try moving it to a different bay if possible.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I might have to change the case altogether, which may lead to a radical repositioning of the whole lot... Now I have to figure out if that's possible

 

[ElFenix]

seagate is spec'ing their drives at 60 C, fwiw

 

[AnitaPeterson]

seagate is spec'ing their drives at 60 C, fwiw

Good to know, since that's the brand that I use

 

[sm625]

How did you get a replacement in less than 12 hours?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

How did you get a replacement in less than 12 hours?

I went to the store

 

[mfenn]

How did you get a replacement in less than 12 hours?

There is this thing called the outside. D:

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Whoa!

I placed a single 9 cm fan behind the HDD cage, and the temperature dropped to 32 C... now THAT's what I call some serious cooling!