*SOLVED* Motherboard "popped" and no I'm in fear for my life

[Cr0nJ0b]

Hey Guys,

I've been wrestling with lots of issues in my main system for some time. I have an Asus Z68 motherboard that started failing...It had lots of strange peripheral issues and boot problems, and eventually stopped recognizing ram. I got it replaced and ASUS sent the wrong board. Then I got that replaced and the new board didn't work...Then I went to put the old-new wrong board back in and when I powered up I got the dreaded POP. Now I'm fearful that my PSU might be messed up, or that my CPU is hosed or something. All i had attached during the power up was the memory, CPU and 12V and main connectors. The board is 100% dead now.

What I'm trying to figure out is what happened. The board wasn't screwed into the posts when I powered up so I could have shorted something on a post, but I doubt it. My worry is that the PSU has been the issue all along and during the swap it finally just decided to go ballistic. I'm getting a new motherboard, but I'm afraid to use the old PSU. It was a Corsair 750TX.

I think because of my fear, I'll likely buy a new PSU, so would like recommendations, but I would also like to figure out if this PSU is bad or if it might be the CPU or something. The "pop" tells me that it's a bad PSU, but I wanted to get some advice while I'm waiting for the Xship.

thanks

Current system: 3570K CPU, 6780 GPU, 6 x Sata drives, SSD, DVD ROM. I use it mainly for gaming and media streaming.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

Hey Guys,

I've been wrestling with lots of issues in my main system for some time. I have an Asus Z68 motherboard that started failing...It had lots of strange peripheral issues and boot problems, and eventually stopped recognizing ram. I got it replaced and ASUS sent the wrong board. Then I got that replaced and the new board didn't work...Then I went to put the old-new wrong board back in and when I powered up I got the dreaded POP. Now I'm fearful that my PSU might be messed up, or that my CPU is hosed or something. All i had attached during the power up was the memory, CPU and 12V and main connectors. The board is 100% dead now.

What I'm trying to figure out is what happened. The board wasn't screwed into the posts when I powered up so I could have shorted something on a post, but I doubt it. My worry is that the PSU has been the issue all along and during the swap it finally just decided to go ballistic. I'm getting a new motherboard, but I'm afraid to use the old PSU. It was a Corsair 750TX.

I think because of my fear, I'll likely buy a new PSU, so would like recommendations, but I would also like to figure out if this PSU is bad or if it might be the CPU or something. The "pop" tells me that it's a bad PSU, but I wanted to get some advice while I'm waiting for the Xship.

thanks

Current system: 3570K CPU, 6780 GPU, 6 x Sata drives, SSD, DVD ROM. I use it mainly for gaming and media streaming.

Send on the Corsair PSU for warranty.........

 

[nightspydk]

Don't you have an old psu to try. It don't even need to be a 24 pin. A 20 pin should do if properly seated and just to try boot up the board.

Trial and error y'know and that would go for all peripheal devices as well even mouse and keyboard.

Just a thought.

 

[crashtech]

The board wasn't screwed into the posts when I powered up so I could have shorted something on a post, but I doubt it.

Actually, if you had the board down in the case, and powered it up while not attached to the standoffs, chances are quite good that it shorted out against a standoff. If you want to check a board without attaching it to the case, lay it on a flat non-conductive surface.

You may wish to carefully examine the bottom of the board for a burn mark.

 

[wirednuts]

check the motherboard for burns. study it carefully, you might not see it at first but a burn mark is probably there somewhere. it might be on a fet or something too, you just dont know.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

I looked over the board pretty closely and can't see or smell any burn spots, but that doesn't mean anything. I tried hooking both boards the old non-pro board and went pop and the new Pro board that just wouldn't boot to a new 600W PSU and neither worked. I figured that if the PSU was that bad, it could have fried both boards maybe? The pro board does this led light thing, checking CPU memory etc...but then reboots with the new PSU attached.

So I have 2 boards and neither boots to a brand new PSU. The popped board shows no life at all, and the other does a continuous reboot deal.

I'll get a new board, but I guess that I have to get a new PSU too, just to be safe.

So what PSU should I get? I'm thinking about a Corsair TX850M since the old one is COrsair and I need long, long cables.

Edit: I did some testing of the PSU -- All of the pins register within 10% of normal. ie, 5V+ = 5.05 on my voltmeter. Pin 8 showed 5V and pin 20 was blank. I mention this because the diagram I looked at said Pin 20 should be 5V and called pin 8 GP, but it's Pin 8 is empty.

The only other thing I'm thinking is the CPU??? no couldn't be. I checked the pins in the socket and they were all fine and the CPU is the CPU, but I'm going to double check those too.


thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

thanks

 

[wirednuts]

could easily be the cpu. i lost a few after power supplies dumped on me.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

Thanks for the suggestions and responses. After taking a night to sleep on things and let my head settle down a bit, I took another run at it today. I tested the PSU, and it checked out within parameters, so no big shorts there.

I then decided to swap CPUs out with another system thinking that the CPU might be dead, but my CPU worked fine in that system after it rebooted a few times while the BIOS adjusted to the newer CPU....which got me thinking....Was it possible that ASUS could have sent me a motherboard with an old BIOS that didn't support my CPU? hmmm

So i took the other CPU put it on the new motherboard and BANG...should use a different word...it worked. Booted up fine with warnings etc about new CPU...I then went in and updated the BIOS to the latest version which supported my CPU. I rebooted and replaced the CPU with the original 3750K that worked!! so I'm all set except for the PSU and the pop.

I tested the PSU as I mentioned earlier, which gave me the confidence to just plug it in...I cleaned it out first and then plugged it in and booted with fingers crossed...it worked! Booted fine to Bios and we are back on track...Now I just have to put everything back together which will be a bitch, but it gave me a change to blow the system out and get it all clean.

Lesson: Don't be sloppy and try booting a Motherboard in your box with the stand-offs not screwed down...I know better, just lazy and tired last night.

Lesson: Asus Support sucks bad. How could they send out a new board with such an old BIOS and why? It cost me hours, but they were ready to do another X-Ship on this board. and I spent like an hour on the phone with them this morning, what a waste. Tech support with these component folks is just horrible.

Anyway, thanks! I don't need a new PSU after all, so I'm good to go!

 

[crashtech]

Seems like utter foolishness to have a Z68 leave a factory or service center without the latest IB supporting BIOS in place. Good catch on your part, congrats. Guess we might have thought of it seeing it was a Z68, I did not even pay attention to that.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

That's only the half of it. This is the SECOND board I got from them to fix the initial issue. The first board was MISMARKED at the factory as a P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 when it was a non-pro board. The board was physically printed as a non-pro, but they put a Pro serial sticker on it. I've been working on this swap since the beginning of March. They are really messed up.

 

[crashtech]

I was an ASUS man exclusively until just a while ago. I've tried a few Gigabyte offerings and been really impressed so far.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Seems like utter foolishness to have a Z68 leave a factory or service center without the latest IB supporting BIOS in place. Good catch on your part, congrats. Guess we might have thought of it seeing it was a Z68, I did not even pay attention to that.

*shrug* That's why I love having a G645 around. Popped it in the MSI P67A-G43-B3 I got for -$0.10 at Frys, updated the BIOS, and its now happily running a 3570K @ 4.5GHz