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Sabertooth 990FX GEN3 Post only with CMOS Cleared

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FabioMC

New Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2013
Hi guys.

Please. I need your help. I can boot my system only with BIOS CLEARED or MEMOK button pressed.

My rig is:

MOBO: ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX GEN3 R2.0
CPU: FX-8350
MEMORY: 32GB CORSAIR CMZ32GX3M4A1866C9 (USING 1 STICK ON SLOT A2 FOR TESTING)
COOLER: CORSAIR H70
VGA: NVIDIA 560TI
PSU: CORSAIR 850W
OTHER: MINIMUM HARDWARE, ALL USB AND SATA DISCONNECTED FOR TESTING

TESTS I HAVE MADE:

1) VGA IN DIFFERENT SLOTS
2) DIFFERENT VGA (6870)
3) USING ALL 4 DIMMS AND 1 SINGLE DIMM IN DIFFERENT SLOTS
4) DIFFERENT MEMORY KITS (corsair dominator)
5) RAISE VOLTAGE CPU/NB, NB, DRAM
6) FLASH LATEST BIOS
7) REMOVE CMOS BATTERY AND WAITING 1 HOUR
8) DIFFERENT CMOS BATTERY
9) DISABLE FASTBOOT
10) ECC Disabled
11) Reseating CPU
12) MEMTEST

Whenever I clear CMOS or press MEMOK button I can POST and BOOT my system (win8 stable) via boot menu (f8) but when I restart or try to save the bios settings the system doesn't boot anymore. I tried changing all values to AUTO, LOADING DEFAULT VALUES and manually loosing settings but no luck. DRAM and CPU led blink alternately and then the VGA led stays lit and the system doesn't boot.

Here's my CPU-ID sshot with CMOS CLEARED:

CPUID_zps7092c9b2.jpg

If I use these settings manually on bios the system doesn't POST.

Apologizes for my english. I'm from brazil :)
 
:welcome: to the forum FabioMC
I seen your post over at TPU and you're not alone. You said you tried looseneing the timings and that didn't help.
My first suggestions would be to up the NB voltage a bit and the ram voltage. Maybe even try the NB around 2500 and 1.3v. Also try taking the llc off auto and set to high for both the cpu and NB.
You're not the first to have these problems witht he gen3 sabertooth. We'll try what we can but ........:bang head
 
I had the same issue with the Gen3. I even tried a second, brand new Gen3 and had exactly the same problems. The only way I could fix mine was to swap it for a Gen2. Problem fixed and I couldn't be happier.

If you have the ability to unload that board and get a different one I'd stop wasting your time and do that.

Sorry I haven't provided much information to help you...just speaking the truth in hopes to save you a bunch of time and headaches.
 
Thank you all for the help.

Johan45: I'll try that :)

Zebodog: You really had the same issue ? Our rig is identical. Thanks for the clarification.

I'll ask the same question I made at TPU:

Assuming that Gen3 are having troubles and that's the reason ASUS pulled it from stores until they have a fix (new revision?), don't you think I should wait for the new batch and only at that time do an RMA ? I can use my system with bios cleared until there. I can't set timings, overclock, change anything in bios, I have to clear cmos every reboot but I can survive until there's a revised board. What's your opinion ?
 
If you send your board back where you bought it and get something else or "nothing" and a refund, you will then be able to buy a working motherboard if the 990FX R2.0 GEN 3 ever gets to really working. Otherwise if you wait until you think they have it fixed you will be outside of the RMA for refund and purchase new with the refund. And outside the sellers return for refund or whatever, then you will likely get a repaired motherboard unless the fix requires a new PCB. That is about what will happen if you live in the Usa and buy from NewEgg as most of us do now.
RGone...

EDIT:
By the way if it were a simple bios fix then they would have done that sort of fix already. It may be such that the fix may require a complete new PCB and that will take a while.
END EDIT.
 
Last edited:
If you send your board back where you bought it and get something else or "nothing" and a refund, you will then be able to buy a working motherboard if the 990FX R2.0 GEN 3 ever gets to really working. Otherwise if you wait until you think they have it fixed you will be outside of the RMA for refund and purchase new with the refund. And outside the sellers return for refund or whatever, then you will likely get a repaired motherboard unless the fix requires a new PCB. That is about what will happen if you live in the Usa and buy from NewEgg as most of us do now.
RGone...

EDIT:
By the way if it were a simple bios fix then they would have done that sort of fix already. It may be such that the fix may require a complete new PCB and that will take a while.
END EDIT.

I bought the mobo outside my country. So unfortunately returning to the seller is not an option for me. Do you think I could RMA and ask for a r2.0 ver ? The difference is only the pcie 3.0, right ?
 
Do you think I could RMA and ask for a r2.0 ver ? The difference is only the pcie 3.0, right ?

You can ask anything. What you get maybe different. You really got yourself in a sort of bad spot. Out of country with a brand new board that has not done well for anyone so far as we can tell.
RGone...
 
I bought the mobo outside my country. So unfortunately returning to the seller is not an option for me. Do you think I could RMA and ask for a r2.0 ver ? The difference is only the pcie 3.0, right ?

You lose nothing by asking the question. I would.

Yes, the only difference I'm aware of is PCIE 3.0 which is of limited value unless running a very high end GPU, a.k.a Titan or GTX 690 perhaps.

I did find that the Gen3 was most usable with the stock, original BIOS 0226 but i would still try my best to unload it in favour of a Gen2 or CHV.

Good Luck!
 
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