Help with new build, won't boot (again) GA-870A-UD3

[evilferret]

Put all the parts together, booted up fine. Installed Win 7 was fine. Installed motherboard drivers and was fine. Ran prime for another an hr. I forgot to check temps but checking the motherboard during first boot CPU was reading 25 degree's C. The i7 with the Zalman was running around 35 degrees C.
 
Plugged in ethernet cable and system went down.

Tried starting it back up and motherboard doesn't seem to get power. CPU fan doesn't blow.

Put in motherboard speaker and nothing. Tried another PSU and nothing.

I'm hoping I don't have to RMA so any other suggestions will be great. I also tested the motherboard with a GT430 and no go either. Swapped RAM around and even tried running off one.

I'm going to try to reseat the CPU and reinstall the 212+ again but I'm at my wits end.

I breadboxed the system and can get into bios. The first PCI-E slot seems to kill the motherboard. So far no problems on the 2nd PCI-E slot.

Tested with two video cards GTS 430 and ATi 6870.

Does this mean the mobo is bad?

Specs below

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128443

Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model AD-7260S-0B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Enzotech MST-88 C1100 Forged Copper Heatsink
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708016

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150506

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

So what is the state of play at the moment?

Are the parts still outside of the case and on a non-conducting surface?

[evilferret]

Currently on the cardboard box.

I can get it to bios on the 2nd pci-e but as soon as I try any other card on the 1st it just hangs.

[Dark Mantis]

Exactly what is connected at the moment?

Have you fully run Memtest86+ ?

In the BIOS what have you got listed as the primary graphics slot?

[evilferret]

Motherboard, CPU, HSF, RAM, GTS 430  

running it off my backup PSU (didn't want to unattach it from my case yet)

Thats it, currently running memtest with video card in pci-e slot 2.

Can not get to bios with any of my cards on slot 1.

I'm going to get another PSU tomorrow just in case.

I hate when theres hiccups in new builds.

EDIT: Original PSU is dead, tested it on backup system. Still weird why I can only get to bios from slot 1.

Original PSU Cosair TX 650, backup PSU random Cooler Master 500w.

Thanks for the speedy responses, I really needed a sounding board.

[Dark Mantis]

Quite understand the feeling as you start going round in circles after a while.

Main problem is did the PSU take out something else when it went?

The Corsair TX650 should have been plenty big enough for what you have mentioned unless there is a lot of mother devices in hte build that you have not said about.

Have you got all your memory in or just one stick?

Is it in slot 1, the first white slot?

[evilferret]

I got both ram to boot so running memtest on both.

I'm using the 2nd blue pci-E slot from the top down.

Aside a DVD burner and the HD nothing else on the system. I'm passing out and testing tomorrow with a friend's PSU.

[Dark Mantis]

Well keep in touch and let us know how it goes.

[evilferret]

Woke up and system seems fine.

PCI-E 1 still having issues, hopefully picking up a new PSU tonight to test that before I RMA the motherboard.

[Dark Mantis]

You didn't say what BIOS you are running at the moment but if it is not the latest one it would be an idea to update it.
If you are unsure of the procedure just post again. Make sure that you use QFlash not @bIOS and disable the Keep DMI Data on the QFlash homepage.

[evilferret]

When I get home and the PSU I'll try updating the bios.

Thanks, updating the bios totally slipped my mind. Figured didn't need to check bios since I got the system running.

[Dark Mantis]

No it only just occurred to me that it was something we hadn't tried.

[evilferret]

Put in different PSU.

I can boot into bios with pci-e slot one now.

Now I get a CPUID something Patch ID during post. *edit* found out this is normal, I think?

I got back into windows and one of my Raid drivers can't seem to initialize.

Going to do bios as soon as I find the gigabyte instructions (and finding a extra usb).

[evilferret]

After getting new PSU was getting hangups with RAM. Put ram in a different system and it works.

Updated to the newest beta F5a and hangups with RAM disappeared and Sata5 was enabled again.

After bios update though things seem fine. Passed 1 hr of memtest, going to do it overnight.

Guess the lesson is 90% of the time the problem is the PSU. Though the bios issue freaked me out. Anychance the bios reverted during a short? I redid my IO shield since thats the only other thing I can think of.

Well will stress test till it dies or I know its a good system.

Thanks for all the help.

[evilferret]

I have one last q, does anybody know what tmpin2 is reading?

I'm getting 80 degrees C for it and I'm 99% sure that can't be right.

Searching says it might be a stuck/missing sesnor, but can anybody give me a definite answer?

Also anybody know the size of the northbridge heatsink? I'm going to just order one and put it on if the system stays up. Peace of mind is worth the extra hassle.