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HELP!!! - ASUS M2F WON'T START

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traderyoda

New Member
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
 
Removed all peripherals, RAM, HDs, Video Card (3870X2), Audio Card and tried to boot - nada, not even a beep
Besides the CPU, install only one stick of RAM and the video card. Disconnect everything else (HDD's, opticals, etc.), and remove all remaining PCI / PCI-E cards. Also make sure that in addition to the 24-pin power connector, the 4-pin / 8-pin AUX12V power connector is also plugged in. Check all of the status LEDs (CPU, NB, Memory), and the LED Poster on the rear IO for any messages. And in addition to the MB, include the rest of your system spec's.
 
Thanks redduc900. Pulled everything and installed just the video card (AMD 3870X2) and a stick of Corsair 2GB DDR2 - still nothing. It just won't start.

The system is:
Intel Quad
Corsair PC2-8500 2GB (x2) 5-5-5-15
WD 750GB x 2
Corsair HX1000 PSU
MS Vista Ult 32 w/SP2

The last BIOS I flashed was 1204 or something close - it was junning fine with that latest BIOS update. The board has 2 BIOS chips and I tried starting on BIOS2 with no change.

Any ideas? I starting to think the only solution is pulling the motherboard.

Cheers,
TY
 
There should be 9 MB screws... check to make sure they're all installed. You could also remove the board from the case, lay it on something non-conductive, and w/ only 1 stick of RAM (try installing to each individual DIMM slot) and video card installed... see if it will POST that way.
 
I did check all the screws and they're all in and tight. I'll start removing the board now and see. I am using a Thermalright Ultra-120 cooler -- this thing is massive and while it keep my CPU cool I'm wondering if it's shear mass might be causing problems on the board, especially the CPU mount. I'll get started and report back --- thanks again for the assist!
 
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