PC will not POST and CMOS / BIOS will not clear after trying ASRock instant boot

[nhasibacsi]

CMOS / BIOS will not clear on ASRock z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3 motherboard after unplugging computer after enabling Instant Boot. PC is brand new & was working great (able to run programs) before this occurred. Now PC LED & fans begin to run for 3 sec then turn off completely. Nothing shows on monitor. Motherboard does not POST.

Ways in which I have tried to clear the CMOS / BIOS:

1.
Power off PC
Unplug PSU
Wait 15+ sec
Hold Clear CMOS button for 5+ sec
Plug PC back in
PC LED & fans begin to run for 3 sec then turn off completely. Nothing shows on monitor. Motherboard does not POST

2.
Power off PC
Unplug PSU
Wait 15+ sec
Switch CMOS jumper to clear for 5+ sec
Switch CMOS jumper back
Plug PC back in
PC LED & fans begin to run for 3 sec then turn off completely. Nothing shows on monitor. Motherboard does not POST

3.
Power off PC
Did NOT unplug PSU
Wait 15+ sec
Switch CMOS jumper to clear
Press power button on case (also tried a different time with power button on motherboard)
Switch CMOS jumper back
Nothing

4.
Power off PC
Unplug PSU
Wait 15+ sec
Remove BIOS battery for 30 min
Hold Clear CMOS button for 5+ sec/Switch CMOS jumper to clear (switch it back)
Put battery back in
Plug PC back in
PC LED & fans begin to run for 3 sec then turn off completely. Nothing shows on monitor. Motherboard does not POST

Tried contacting ASRock but there is no help phone number just an email form. HELP‼



Build:
i5-2500k (not yet overclocked)
Antec Kuhler H2O 620 liquid cooler
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68EVGA nVidia GTX 550 ti
Corsair Vengeance 16 GB RAM
OCZ Vertex 3 120 GB SSD
Corsair TX 650W v.2
Windows 7 Ultimate

 

[nhasibacsi]

Also, I have also tried these various options with all USB and SATA and PCI disconnected (but still in the PC case).

 

[FAUguy]

When you power the system on, try to press and hold the Clear CMOS at the same time.

I've tried the instant boot on my system a few months ago, and didn't care for it.
What happens is when you go to shut down the PC, it will power down, then restart and load everything up into the RAM and then power down again. So then when you press the power button, it reads everything up from the RAM.

Yo me, this is kind of useless, as it has to restart before entering into the instant boot mode. Also, Hibernation does pretty much the same thing.

 

[nhasibacsi]

Thanks for your reply FAUguy. Before you replied, I got the following advice from King107s on overclockers.com:


Those buttons are there for when you are benching on the board outside of a case, they act as the Power and Reset buttons on the case....

Get a cardboard box and take EVERYTHING out of the case. Put your mainboard on the box with one stick of RAM and hook up the powersupply and everything else. Check the seating of the CPU in the socket as well as the RAM and video card... Make sure they are all secure and snapped in al lthe way. Make sure the CPU doesnt have any TIM on the socket or contacts. Make sure the mainboard can not ground out to anything, put it all up on carboard boxes.

The above will elminate shorts to the case and seating issues.... if none of that works, check the powersupply's rails for faulty voltages that could be causing problems if youre still stuck, start swaping out hardware with borrowed working items untill you have nothing left to blame but the mainboard and the RMA it.

This technique worked. But I like your idea too. I will remember it if I ever encounter the problem again.

 

[FAUguy]

Thanks for your reply FAUguy. Before you replied, I got the following advice from King107s on overclockers.com:


Those buttons are there for when you are benching on the board outside of a case, they act as the Power and Reset buttons on the case....

Get a cardboard box and take EVERYTHING out of the case. Put your mainboard on the box with one stick of RAM and hook up the powersupply and everything else. Check the seating of the CPU in the socket as well as the RAM and video card... Make sure they are all secure and snapped in al lthe way. Make sure the CPU doesnt have any TIM on the socket or contacts. Make sure the mainboard can not ground out to anything, put it all up on carboard boxes.

The above will elminate shorts to the case and seating issues.... if none of that works, check the powersupply's rails for faulty voltages that could be causing problems if youre still stuck, start swaping out hardware with borrowed working items untill you have nothing left to blame but the mainboard and the RMA it.

This technique worked. But I like your idea too. I will remember it if I ever encounter the problem again.

So after you did all that, what turned out ti be the cause of the problem?

 

[nhasibacsi]

I'm not exactly sure what the problem was. As King107s referred to, it might have been a grounding issue with the board inside the case.

The original mistake was enabling ASRock Instant Boot and then unplugging the machine. I think there is even a small warning to not do that, but I forgot at the time. I have since removed Instant Boot from the PC.

 

[Soulkeeper]

so the problem is fixed now ?

 

[Soulkeeper]

I recently had a similar issue with asrock
and 3 or 4 other people had the same problem on the newegg reviews

I ended up having to purchase a replacement bios from asrock for $20
asrock is notorious for crappy bios/post design it seems.

one thing you can try is alternating display ports ie: vga, hdmi, dvi
see if it's just defaulting to or favoring one

I really miss the old nforce2 motherboards, where you could just hold down insert and it'd reset everything to default.

 

[nhasibacsi]

Yes. Taking the mobo out of the case and then turning it on did fix the problem. I think I will just shell out the extra cash for ASUS from now on. Lesson learned.

I didn't know you could purchase replacement BIOS. Good to know in the future...

 

[FAUguy]

Yes. Taking the mobo out of the case and then turning it on did fix the problem. I think I will just shell out the extra cash for ASUS from now on. Lesson learned.

I didn't know you could purchase replacement BIOS. Good to know in the future...

I've been fairly happy with my ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Gen 3 that I've been using the last 4 months with BIOS 1.30. But those add-on programs like the Instant Boot and the USB Speed Increase don't seem to work well and are buggy. I think that $20 may be for a new BIOS chip to replace the one on the board if its got a problem.