No POST.

[Schneeder]

Alright so I've had this rig for some time and everything has been great. The worst part of it was just the 760 sitting in it that I was planning on replacing with the newest generation of cards after I saw what AMD had to offer. Mostly use this thing for gaming with some video editing.


I updated the driver for my graphics card the other day and started experiencing driver crashes. Some times they would recover other times the whole pc would restart. I had not gotten the chance to downgrade the driver which I was in the process of doing and it is like my computer realized that and said nope. Thing crashed again and now I haven't been able to get it to POST at all. I'm just looking to rattle your guys brains to see if what I am thinking is correct before I just go spend money.


The current issue I'm having is that the DRAM LED light comes on and stays on. The MemOK! button doesn't help anything. It will just blink for eternity after pressing it. I can't get a POST message.


Things I've done:
Reseated CMOS battery.
Reseated RAM.
Used only 1 stick in different slots. Used both sticks of RAM I have.
Tried a different stick of RAM which didn't help. Same kind just a 2GB stick instead of 4GB.
Reset jumper.
Tried different PSU.
Tried different GPU.
Reseated CPU.
Bought new RAM.


I'm guessing my motherboard is dead?

Appreciate any help.



FX8350
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB
H100i
Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
Seasonic 650W
GTX 760

 

[caddi daddi]

no post beeps or anything?
did you do a full cmos reset, pull the battery, move the jumpers for an hour?
did you try another battery?

 

[trents]

Sounds for sure like the motherboard since the check DRAM light is on and you have swapped out the RAM and also the GPU. How old is motherboard? Was the system overclocked? We all know the terrible amount of power draw the FX 8 core CPUs produce when overclocked. And it's a good idea even with the Sabertooth series to add spot fan cooling to the VRM sections when overclocking those FX beasts.

 

[Schneeder]

no post beeps or anything?
did you do a full cmos reset, pull the battery, move the jumpers for an hour?
did you try another battery?

No post beeps or anything. Completely black screen. DRAM LED is just on. The cpu led will come on then off for a second. I've pulled the cmos and let it sit for 15 minutes. Haven't moved the jumper for an hour. Is there any other part to a full cmos reset?

If you're talking about another cmos battery then no I have not.

Sounds for sure like the motherboard since the check DRAM light is on and you have swapped out the RAM and also the GPU. How old is motherboard? Was the system overclocked? We all know the terrible amount of power draw the FX 8 core CPUs produce when overclocked. And it's a good idea even with the Sabertooth series to add spot fan cooling to the VRM sections.

Um. It's probably around a year and a half maybe 2. It was overclocked. I don't remember what the exact clock was but it was decent. Nothing too extreme.

I'd assume the crash that happened caused something to fail.

 

[EarthDog]

Try each stick individually and in different slots.

 

[Schneeder]

Try each stick individually and in different slots.

Did that already. Same thing with the DRAM LED.

 

[trents]

Okay, long shot here and don't mean to insult you but did you remember to connect the power leads from the PSU to the video card?

 

[Schneeder]

Okay, long shot here and don't mean to insult you but did you remember to connect the power leads from the PSU to the video card?

Don't worry. Not insulting in the least. I'd rather miss something stupid simple as that and have everything working instead of spending money on new stuff. But yeah everything is connect and where it is supposed to be.

 

[caddi daddi]

lets try a forced bios reinstall, just for grins, I've corrupted a bios or two, see page # 2-12 of your manual to see how.

 

[Schneeder]

lets try a forced bios reinstall, just for grins, I've corrupted a bios or two, see page # 2-12 of your manual to see how.

Doesn't look like it will work. Just flashes and then goes solid. According to the manual it means it isn't working. Can't use the disk because no POST or anything.

 

[trents]

Very cute little girl in your avatar.

Sounds more and more like a dead motherboard. May or may not have anything to do with your putting in the new video card and new drivers. Probably coincidence.

 

[EarthDog]

You have a couple of choices to me...

1. Buy a cheap arse CPU and drop it in to see if if that changes things.
2. Try that CPU in a known good system...
3. RMA/buy another motherboard.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Caddi and ED are correct. Bios is corrupted and if it won't take the flash then you'll have to RMA the board.

 

[Schneeder]

You have a couple of choices to me...

1. Buy a cheap arse CPU and drop it in to see if if that changes things.
2. Try that CPU in a known good system...
3. RMA/buy another motherboard.

1. I do have an old AMD Phenom II. Don't know if that will fit.
2. Don't have access to a known good system at the moment.
3. Sounds like what is going to have to happen. :/

 

[caddi daddi]

what cpu do you have that you can try?

 

[Schneeder]

what cpu do you have that you can try?

Just tried the Phenom II. it was a 965. Didn't fix the DRAM LED though.

 

[EarthDog]

Is the cpu compatible with the board? If its on the list, then its board rma time.

 

[Schneeder]

Is the cpu compatible with the board? If its on the list, then its board rma time.

Had the wrong one in my last post there. It's a AMD Phenom II X6 1055T. But yes it is on the list as compatible. RIP mobo.

Appreciate all the help guys. Any recommendations for a new board? Should I just go with the same one?

 

[Dlaw]

I mean, you could go with the same board, but they're like $180, and that's old tech. Depending on what you do, you could grab a new board and CPU. The CPU would likely be a place holder until you have money to upgrade it, or you could grab the 4690K or 4790K right off but spend more money. I just wouldn't put that kind of money into 5 year old tech, though Z97 is EOL as well.

Those Pentiums are known to overclock heavily fairly easily and with minimal cooling, so you could likely get 4GHz easy which would help with the loss of cores coming from the 8350, but with less heat and an upgrade path. First, though, I would see what Asus has to say about it.

 

[trents]

The Sabertooth is one of the few motherboards that can stand up to the heat and power draw of an overclocked FX 8 core. I would go with the same. And if this is an RMA you will get an identical replacement anyway. I would look at putting some spot fans on the VRM section and/or the backside of the socket even at that.

There were some problems initially with Asus enthusiast motherboards when they came out with the R.2 revisions but I was under the impression they were corrected with bios updates.