Motherboard Post Issues

[X240]

Hey everyone!

So here's the issue I am having.

My nephew ordered a board, it didn't post, so we sent in for a new one. Second one comes in same thing wouldn't post, so we sent in for a different model all together. The first one was a ASRock, then the second was a GIGABYTE. We went with two GIGABYTES and they had the same issue. Now we are on a MSi board. AM3+ 990 board (the ASRock and GIGABYTE were 970s). Same problem, no post.


Here's what we know. By the way everyone of these is brand new out of the box from newegg.

- CPU, Ram, PSU, Graphics Card, HD are all good. How do we know, we tested it all on his old motherboard. When everything is connected to his old Biostar 870 everything runs.

- We have since gotten new ram, cpu, and Graphics card. Still nothing. Yes tested all the new components in his old motherboard except for the new CPU since that's a AM3+ and his old board only supports AM3.

- I tested one of my power supplies on the new boards, just to triple check that it was not his power supply going bad. Still nothing.

- His old CPU is an AM3 Athlon so it is compatible with the new boards and the new CPU is AM3+ FX-4100.



So does anyone have any ideas what might be going on? Or is it really possible that he has had bad luck and gotten 6 boards in a row that will not post.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thank you all in advance.

 

[EarthDog]

The chances of one person getting 6 bad boards in a row is astronomically off the charts.

I would imagine that something is shorting out the board in the new install. Have you tried the build outside of the case, say on the box?

 

[X240]

Yes. We have tried it both in the new case, old case, and just it sitting out on a test bench. Also the old board with the items on them were in the old case and now they are in the new case till we can figure out this mobo issu. But yes I completely agree with you and said the same thing to him that it is completely impossible that all 6 boards have been bad.

 

[EarthDog]

Lights on? Fans spin or just 'dead'?

 

[X240]

Lights on, fans spin yes everything is going, just a blank screen and no beeps on the mobo speaker.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Forgetting to plug in one of the power cables on the Mobo?

 

[X240]

all cables that connect to the motherboard are connect securely.

 

[EarthDog]

I feel like Im just throwing darts at the dart board, with my off hand, LOL

What about trying the GPU in another PCIe slot or using the onboard video? Different monitor? Monitor cable?

Oye.. Im spent.

EDIT: When you say 'blank screen' is the monitor getting a signal or no?

 

[X240]

no signal. Checked with a two different monitors. Tried two different cards and nothing. Like I said cards are good. Also yes tried the different pci-e slots.

BTW Thanks guys for replying so fast! Much appreciated!

 

[I.M.O.G.]

How sure are you that all mobo power cables are connected? I don't mean to treat you like an idiot by harping on this, but I've made this mistake before - upon going from an older AMD platform to a newer one, the newer board I was using required MORE power connections from the PSU than the older one. If all of them weren't connected, I had enough power to make some fans spin, but it wouldn't actually run.

I wouldn't say that again, except you've done most all the troubleshooting already (nice work on that). And you can't get 6 bad motherboards in a row. So this is a bit of a tough one, just not many stones left unturned.

I feel like there's an X factor, and one of the troubleshooting steps must have missed something... Otherwise the rig would be running by now!

Did you try onboard video? Do any of the boards you have display post codes?

 

[X240]

No, no post codes at all. I always triple check my cabling to the motherboard just because I know that it can fry it if its not fully connected correctly and also always make sure that all connectors that are needed on the board for power are in before i even turn on the psu. Non of the boards that are being purchased have onboard video.

Trust me before I got involved I told my nephew the same thing. There is no way that you can have that many boards that are bad (this is when he had only three in a row). And then I thought maybe it was his cpu that was not being accepted by the boards so I got him the 4100. I've been going nuts trying to figure this out.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Tried different monitor cables? Maybe it is posting, but you just can't see it.

Do you have a multimeter, or can you pick one up for cheap? Sears has their cheapest ones for about $20 I think. I'd take readings on the board to see if its getting proper power on vcore, ram, etc - hopefully one of the boards you have has convenient read points as more boards are including those now.

Do you have a hard drive activity light on any of the boards? Some boards have these lights, and they flash with sata port activity. Like the multimeter readings, this would be another indication of what level of functionality you have, and maybe narrow down where the failure is.

The easiest thing might be to return the boards you have, then just pick up the cheapest board you can find that has a post code LED display. Otherwise, most boards have pinouts for case speakers, and if you connected one maybe you'd get audible error codes that way.

I'm trying here. Hard. lol Don't know what to tell you really, but I wouldn't give up - its too frustrating to not figure it out!

Have you tried one memory stick at a time, and connecting no fans other than the CPU fans, to reduce the number of variables as much as possible? Probably have from the rest of what you've said.

 

[X240]

The only light on this board which is the MSi now is the CPU power light. Supposedly it is suppose to show the amount of power your cpu is getting from my understanding and those all light up.

Yes different monitors and cables have been tested.

No volt meter I could get one and check. But like I said I have tried another PSU just to verify. But won't hurt to try.

Thanks again for the reply's.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I edited the post a bit after my initial post, you may want to look at my previous reply in case you missed part of it I snuck in there later as I was thinking.

As for the volt meter, taking readings from the board may give surprising results even if the PSUs are tested good... It would confirm if the proper components on the board are getting the power they should, so you might be able to diagnose if the board really is defective or not.

I know the light you mean, thats a pretty accurate description. My understanding is the number of lights indicate how many phases are enabled in the VRM of the board, which delivers the CPU power.

 

[X240]

Yes I have also tried one stick at a time. And tested the memory in memtest.

I have connected a motherboard speaker and not getting anything out of it.

Once again much appreciated for the replies.

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

I know I'm going to get a lot of people that won't agree with me but here goes.

How do you handle each of the parts (MB, GPU, HDD, memory), are you using a ground strap when installing everything? It takes 1500 volts of static electricy to feel the spark when you touch something that is grounded, 100 volts you won't feel but can still kill or shorten the life of any electronics.
And judging from having 6 bad MB's, I would look into a ESD ground strap and a ESD mat.

There are youtube videos you can check out on ESD safety.

 

[EarthDog]

But all the other parts work in other pcs.

Im at a loss for this one..

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

I agree, this is weird. I wish I could be there to better see what is happening and get this PC going, I have put together 8 PC's

2xABit AV8 MB, Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
2xGigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H Rev 2.1 & 3.1, Phenom II 1090T CPU
2xGigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3, FX-4100 & FX-6100 CPU
1xGigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, FX-8150 CPU
1xSabertooth 990FX, FX-8120 CPU

I did have 1 bad CPU (FX-6100) got it replaced and all working.
It may not be static, but everything points to it, hope you get it working.

But all the other parts work in other pcs.

Im at a loss for this one..

 

[X240]

I know I'm going to get a lot of people that won't agree with me but here goes.

How do you handle each of the parts (MB, GPU, HDD, memory), are you using a ground strap when installing everything? It takes 1500 volts of static electricy to feel the spark when you touch something that is grounded, 100 volts you won't feel but can still kill or shorten the life of any electronics.
And judging from having 6 bad MB's, I would look into a ESD ground strap and a ESD mat.

There are youtube videos you can check out on ESD safety.

I agree, this is weird. I wish I could be there to better see what is happening and get this PC going, I have put together 8 PC's

2xABit AV8 MB, Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
2xGigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H Rev 2.1 & 3.1, Phenom II 1090T CPU
2xGigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3, FX-4100 & FX-6100 CPU
1xGigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, FX-8150 CPU
1xSabertooth 990FX, FX-8120 CPU

I did have 1 bad CPU (FX-6100) got it replaced and all working.
It may not be static, but everything points to it, hope you get it working.

Yea, I ground myself every time before handling the motherboards. I've built myself about 15+ computers, so that's why I'm in a loss as well. This beyond weird to me. He is waiting on a replacement board as of now.

I told him to make sure he does ground himself on this last attempt, and just to be as careful as he can since I'm not by him anymore.

Thanks again everyone for all the help.

 

[PolePosition]

Here is my take, but just a hunch.
I think it has something to do with the shipping, meaning the boards may have been passed through some sort of device or been mishandled by the particular courier, which has done something to one or more of the chipsets or the CMOS battery.
It would interesting to know where the OP lives to further think about this, but seems to be the only common denominator between all 6 boards. This just doesn't happen on this scale.