GA-X79-UP4 can't boot, clear CMOS does not work

[SebGruch]

I have a system built on GA-X79-UP4 (v. F4) and for a year it has been working fine.
It should not matter, but just in case: I have I7 installed(CPUID 206D7h), 16 GB 1600MHz Kingstone memory, GTX 770, and few disks (one system SSD and 3 "normal" HDDs). All powered with Toughpower 1050W unit. Plus some other stuff.

The only odd behaviour I've been observing from time to time is that system (Win8.1 Pro) have been reporting 12GB RAM instead of 16 - without any particular reason that would suggest bad placement (I verified this anyway) - simple restart fixed this. I dunno - maybe it's Windows fault... But maybe you have some idea...

But to the point.

One day I put system to sleep. When back the next evening and tried to start it - I received boot message about invalid media or source. I wen't to the BIOS to check but found my drive perfectly visible, however it looked like all my custom settings have been reset, including UEFI ones... I was not able to see any UEFI-based device to boot from, so I've started tweaking with settings.
Still having failures I tried booting from Win disk and checking the drive. It was visible (only in partition selection), but somewhat "locked"?!?! I was not able to enter / clean / reset / autofix / reinstall OS on this... Now I think maybe I shall try "bootfix" command, but now it's too late...

I tried more advanced options in configuration and after changing some of them (I really did not know what were original ones - it was initially configured by someone else), but after some my mobo refused to boot properly:
- I received black screen, coolers spinning, GFX flashing it lights
- then coolers stop for a fraction of a second, and turn on again
- and again, and again - I've been waiting few minutes, but no effect. No post screens or logo
- cold or hot reset did not helped, unplugging power cord as well

I then decided to clear CMOS - with jumper. After powering the system I've heard (once) 1 very long beep and several short ones - I guess that mean ROM error? The signal did not repeated after consecutive reboots.
But system remained in the state - no successful POST.
I then tried resetting with battery removal (and BTW - battery under GFX? seriously? Thank god I do not have LC...) - according to manual I kept it ou for a minute and tried again.
The result was exact - one very long signal and several short ones. And then black screen with coolers frequently turning off...

So, my questions are:
- can I do something else / differently (take battery off for an hour?), or my MOBO has been bricked for good?
- if not - do such malfunction is covered by guarantee or not?

After looking into this:
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=12307.msg81386#msg81386

I've checked with older card (GTX 480) in two top PCIe slots. With same result.
Just after clear cmos i can now hear one-long 2-short beeps - I suppose it just fails to initialize PCI first, because it does not happen after consecutive reboots.

I also did 2 hour battery-clear CMOS to receive same results.

I tested both cards with my older mobo and my 2K monitor. Works like a charm, so there is all fine.

I wonder shall I try finding PCI card and try to reflash bios from there? Or it's a junk now?

Best regards
Sebastian

[autotech]

Try this

Remove all connected hardware, just leave the CPU, 1 x DIMM, Power supply and 1 x Keyboard connected.
Now start PC, and when power turns on press down power button and keep it pressed down even if machine is shut down.
 Now while still holding the button, cut the power to the power supply and hold the button for 20 more seconds.
Then remove CMOS battery and let it be outside for 1 minute.
Insert CMOS battery and boot up the system. If everything went ok, BIOS will recover itself from the BIOS_2 chip.
If it does not work first time, please repeat the steps once more.

[SebGruch]

Thanks. I tried it. but without success.
The only difference was that after reboot I've been able to hear several short beeps (like 3-4 slightly longer, and 3 shorter). Then it restarted, and there was again that very long beep (like 3-4 sec) and then 2 or 3 (I'm not really sure ) short ones.
What was different, is that power was stable now - system was not constantly rebooting. So I shut it down and inserted very basic card I was able to find (GT 210), and started system again.
And there it was - not able to pass the POST - no signals, just restarting every 4 seconds...

I tried it 2 times more with same output.

In the meantime I'd moved out the SSD and connected it to old Mobo (GA-X58A-UD7) and tried restoring it under Recovery console. Was not able do do anything with it - I've only seen messages about locked drive, not able do modify, nothing found etc (I tried bot boot rec and diskpart). There were no partitions / volumes visible.

Only one empty, unpartitioned drive. Then I started really worrying...

But maybe these are just bad BIOS settings? I suppose that my old MOBO after more than year of not using it might had return to factory defaults, and I first shall configure it into AHCI?
I hope it is - I will try again today...

[dmdilks]

I had two of those boards that the memory slots went bad. So it is more likely what the problem is. I did RMA them and they are still running today. Here in the states you have a 3 yr warranty.

[SebGruch]

Yeah. Definitelly I will return it. I just wanted to save one month waiting for services (this is leased machine...) fixing it on my own...

It's a sad moment, but I'm more worried about failed SDD now... From what I discovered is not recoverable (even $7000 might not be enough) and lost content is not worth for me more than $300...

Thanks, anyway.

[dmdilks]

The thing I would do is get another drive and clone it. That way if something happens to the SSD you have a backup.