Dead PC

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 9:14am #1

So every cloud has a silver lining and I bought myself a Haswell based i7K to replace the below but I wondered if you good people concur with my diagnosis.

The PC is the i5K Ivy Bridge on a Z77 Sabertooth

PC would only post when the mem ok button was pushed. It would let me into the BIOS asking me to save the memory settings, then reboot - wouldn't post again. Press mem OK process would repeat, cleared BIOS - no joy.

Changed:

RAM - no difference
CPU - wouldn't post at all CPU works on another machine.
Pulled GPU hoping it would default to the on board - no post

My conclusion: Dead Mainboard.

Thanks in advance guys, you're always very helpful in here!

Digital Solitude · 07-07-2015 9:26am

Does the i5 post in this board?

Kimbot · 07-07-2015 10:02am

Would you need a Bios update to take care of the new i7?

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 10:07am

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Does the i5 post in this board?

i5 will post with the process described. Works okay on another board.

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 10:07am

jonny24ie wrote: »

Would you need a Bios update to take care of the new i7?

New board and CPU (the i7) on way.

frozenfrozen · 07-07-2015 11:32am

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/SABERTOOTH_Z77/SABERTOOTH-Z77-ASUS-2104.zip

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/P8Z77-M/BRenamer.zip

That motherboard has usb bios flashback. Download that bios version stick it on a usb stick, plug it into the flashback port and hold down the flash button for 3 seconds until it starts blinking, it'll take a while so have a cup of tea and then turn it on after a while.

This doesn't require working ram or cpu, or the pc to be on.

sabertooth boards have a 5 year warranty or something anyway, why didn't you send it back before buying a new board!

Kimbot · 07-07-2015 11:36am

I would also suggest if the memory error is coming up to check your date and time in the bios, the bios battery could be dead aswell if the time and date arent in sync.

frozenfrozen · 07-07-2015 11:39am

I don't think it's a memory issue it sounds like a bios issue as it will only boot into the 'MemOK' feature on the board which is completely separate to the bios, it's what runs first to see if bad memory is stopping a boot specifically for the reason of not stopping you getting into the bios and bricking the board.

bios flashback works in the same way, it runs separately to everything and requires only standby power and doesn't need a cpu or memory AFAIK.

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 12:06pm

frozenfrozen wrote: »

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/SABERTOOTH_Z77/SABERTOOTH-Z77-ASUS-2104.zip

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/P8Z77-M/BRenamer.zip

That motherboard has usb bios flashback. Download that bios version stick it on a usb stick, plug it into the flashback port and hold down the flash button for 3 seconds until it starts blinking, it'll take a while so have a cup of tea and then turn it on after a while.

This doesn't require working ram or cpu, or the pc to be on.

sabertooth boards have a 5 year warranty or something anyway, why didn't you send it back before buying a new board!

No box being the biggest issue, also it probably would have taken them half an ice age to get it back to me. Also (probably number 1 issue) excuse for an upgrade

Thanks for the pointer! I'll give that a go as I have a funny feeling something funky is going on with the BIOS.

Kimbot · 07-07-2015 12:12pm

Well if you get it back working you can always sell it on

Im in the market for another mobo and CPU

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 12:26pm

jonny24ie wrote: »

Well if you get it back working you can always sell it on

Im in the market for another mobo and CPU

That was my intention

I'll PM you when it's up on adverts. Rather hopeful of this BIOS thing though. I'll just distance selling the other stuff back if it works. Almost hoping it doesn't LOL!

Kimbot · 07-07-2015 12:27pm

MarkAnthony wrote: »

That was my intention I'll PM you when it's up on adverts. Rather hopeful of this BIOS thing though. I'll just distance selling the other stuff back if it works. Almost hoping it doesn't LOL!

Haha no probs at all, my little lad needs a new PC so am hoping to put one together cheap for him at the moment and upgrade it over time

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 5:20pm

Frozenfrozen, I love you! BIOS flashback fixed it.

Incidentally this all started with a win10 install!

frozenfrozen · 07-07-2015 5:21pm

glad to hear it worked

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 5:54pm

Not out of the woods yet it seems.

Only seeing 8GB RAM - all 4 DIMMS and all 4 DIMM Slots seem to be working by swapping them around.

Any ideas?

Thanks again!

Mightydrumming · 07-07-2015 5:56pm

Turn it off and plug it back in again? :rolleyes:

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 5:58pm

It also seems to be hard resetting between bios saves, I could have sworn it was a warm reset before.

frozenfrozen · 07-07-2015 6:33pm

Are you able to boot into windows now though yeah? and it's just the ram issue?

take out all but one stick and see if you can boot. make sure you've it in the first dimm slot (you'll have to look at the little script on the board itself or in the manual for which one is slot 0) and obviously make sure you have it pushed in all the way so it's fully seated.

I presume you have no kind of overclock set at all? if you can get into the bios reset all to factory settings by pressing F5 I think.

also take out the bios flash usb stick when you have it off incase it's doing something weird and reflashing it every time you turn it on?

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 7:26pm

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Are you able to boot into windows now though yeah? and it's just the ram issue?

take out all but one stick and see if you can boot. make sure you've it in the first dimm slot (you'll have to look at the little script on the board itself or in the manual for which one is slot 0) and obviously make sure you have it pushed in all the way so it's fully seated.

I presume you have no kind of overclock set at all? if you can get into the bios reset all to factory settings by pressing F5 I think.

also take out the bios flash usb stick when you have it off incase it's doing something weird and reflashing it every time you turn it on?

Working great now, all back to defaults. All ram showing as 4GB in DIMM 0. Tried all sorts of configs to rule out slots etc.

I think it's the new BIOS with 16GB tbh - but at least its working. I'll step back a revision or two once everything is up and running.

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 7:48pm

Wont soft reset either

MarkAnthony · 07-07-2015 11:45pm

So,

won't shut down after selecting shut down from windows - monitor goes off nothing else.

won't restart via restart button (not the cabling) unless held for 5 seconds.

When it restarts it powers off for a couple of seconds then powers back on.

Very odd - I think it's borked

tried a different BIOS no joy, even down to a single DIMM.

When all 4 DIMMs installed BIOS SPD util can see 4 DIMMS but still only says 8192MB

frozenfrozen · 08-07-2015 8:24am

It could be something simple but I really have no idea what's wrong now

Kimbot · 08-07-2015 8:30am

Treat the board as a new build, take away all connections and add them as you need them.

Start with having your MB and HDD connected and make sure the MB headers are connected correctly (Power button/Reset etc).

MarkAnthony · 08-07-2015 11:08am

Thanks all!

I think there has to be something wrong with the board. I suspect the BIOS corruption was just a side effect.

Oh well credit card is going to take the beating after all! To be fair I'm going to need another computer in the house so I'll build it around the board and 3570K once the board is back from Asus.

Thanks again for the help guys, always very much appreciated!

Dead PC

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