- Joined
- Aug 19, 2009
I'm STUMPED!!!
I have a Asus Formula II Maximus MB with Intel Quad - the board sits in an Tuniq case. I've had this rig for about a year and it's been rock solid. A few weeks ago I sat down, hit the case power button and nada - wouldn't start. The LEDs on the MB are lit but it just wouldn't start. I fiddled with a few things and couldn't get it to come to life. The electricity in the neighborhood had gone off momentarily a few days earlier and I thought "okay, something got fried." I walked away and two hours later came back to find the machine sitting there humming away! Okay, this looked pretty weird. So I ran checks on everything: mem, HDs, BIOS (even loaded the very latest from Asus), virus checks (AVG, Spybot, and a few others) - everything checked out 100%. I turned it off after a few hours... the next morning it wouldn't start again. I had other things to do and later that afternoon I went back to find it sitting there running again - everything was a smooth as silk.
Here's what I tried so far:
- Replaced power cord and tried different surge protector - nada
- Cleared CMOS and replaced battery (even tried booting without the battery) - nada
- Switched to Bios 2 - nada
- Checked continuity of case switches - perfect
- Tried powering on from START button on MB - nada
- Removed all peripherals, RAM, HDs, Video Card (3870X2), Audio Card and tried to boot - nada, not even a beep
- Replaced power supply - nada (and I checked it in another machine -okay)
A VOIP phone (Philips 321G) was hooked up and I sort of recall Skype doing an update - I thought that might have caused a WOL or WOR entry somehow - I deleted everything in software and checked all NIC and network settings to make sure the power on was not waiting for a network signal to start. I can't see how this would cause this behavior anyway, but none of this helped.
I went away for a week and whe I came back I tried to start the machine figuring nothing would happen - to my surprise it did start, but I had cleared the CMOS earlier so BIOS settings had to be reset; I reset things and made sure all WOL, WOM, WOF, and anything else I could find to remotely start the machine were all OFF. After saving and exiting BIOS the machine shut down to restart and never came back on. I haven't been able to get it back to life after that.
The MB power button LED is supposed to flash three times when the power supply is turned on (at least the manual says so), it does come on but it doesn't flash three times. Other than that the MB appears fine - no abnormal signs (blown caps, etc.).
What I can't fathom is the machine works perfectly other than this start up nightmare. I suppose something in the start circuitry could be whacko... I'm sure that the power going to the board is okay. And I'm pretty sure the BIOS chips are fine since it was starting (by itself) and posting without incident. It's almost like the BIOS is not getting CMOS settings and doesn't know what to do when you hit the oower button. Or I suppose some IC on the MB could have been fried.
Some other thoughts in my head:
- Intermittent grounding
- Take it to an exorcist
ANY IDEAS ARE WELCOME AT THIS POINT!!!!!
Cheers
TY
I have a Asus Formula II Maximus MB with Intel Quad - the board sits in an Tuniq case. I've had this rig for about a year and it's been rock solid. A few weeks ago I sat down, hit the case power button and nada - wouldn't start. The LEDs on the MB are lit but it just wouldn't start. I fiddled with a few things and couldn't get it to come to life. The electricity in the neighborhood had gone off momentarily a few days earlier and I thought "okay, something got fried." I walked away and two hours later came back to find the machine sitting there humming away! Okay, this looked pretty weird. So I ran checks on everything: mem, HDs, BIOS (even loaded the very latest from Asus), virus checks (AVG, Spybot, and a few others) - everything checked out 100%. I turned it off after a few hours... the next morning it wouldn't start again. I had other things to do and later that afternoon I went back to find it sitting there running again - everything was a smooth as silk.
Here's what I tried so far:
- Replaced power cord and tried different surge protector - nada
- Cleared CMOS and replaced battery (even tried booting without the battery) - nada
- Switched to Bios 2 - nada
- Checked continuity of case switches - perfect
- Tried powering on from START button on MB - nada
- Removed all peripherals, RAM, HDs, Video Card (3870X2), Audio Card and tried to boot - nada, not even a beep
- Replaced power supply - nada (and I checked it in another machine -okay)
A VOIP phone (Philips 321G) was hooked up and I sort of recall Skype doing an update - I thought that might have caused a WOL or WOR entry somehow - I deleted everything in software and checked all NIC and network settings to make sure the power on was not waiting for a network signal to start. I can't see how this would cause this behavior anyway, but none of this helped.
I went away for a week and whe I came back I tried to start the machine figuring nothing would happen - to my surprise it did start, but I had cleared the CMOS earlier so BIOS settings had to be reset; I reset things and made sure all WOL, WOM, WOF, and anything else I could find to remotely start the machine were all OFF. After saving and exiting BIOS the machine shut down to restart and never came back on. I haven't been able to get it back to life after that.
The MB power button LED is supposed to flash three times when the power supply is turned on (at least the manual says so), it does come on but it doesn't flash three times. Other than that the MB appears fine - no abnormal signs (blown caps, etc.).
What I can't fathom is the machine works perfectly other than this start up nightmare. I suppose something in the start circuitry could be whacko... I'm sure that the power going to the board is okay. And I'm pretty sure the BIOS chips are fine since it was starting (by itself) and posting without incident. It's almost like the BIOS is not getting CMOS settings and doesn't know what to do when you hit the oower button. Or I suppose some IC on the MB could have been fried.
Some other thoughts in my head:
- Intermittent grounding
- Take it to an exorcist
ANY IDEAS ARE WELCOME AT THIS POINT!!!!!
Cheers
TY