GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 unable to boot (boot loop)

[fonyat]

Hi folks,
I got a ticket at Gigabyte Brasil, but due to a possible delay for the holidays and the fact that my warranty expired (2 weeks before this issue :/), I decided to try my luck here and maybe get a feedback.

After 1 year (and 2 weeks!) working perfectly, my gaming pc started to fail a few boots, taking 2-3 tries before booting. Once started everything was fine and I could play for hours without a problem.
A few days later the problem escalated to this boot loop, where everything lights up (fans, drives, leds) and shuts down 5-10 seconds later, after 2 more seconds the cycle starts again.

My specs:
Proc: I5-4690K (@stock)
MB: GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 (Rev. 1.0 - BIOS F7)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz 2x8Gb (@stock)
VGA: EVGA GTX 970 SC (@stock)
HD: WD Black 2Tb
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 250Gb
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master 212x
PSU: EVGA SuperNova B2 750w

What I´ve already tried:
- Taking everything off the case, and testing it bareboned, only PSU, CPU, cooler and 1 stick of RAM (tried all 4 slots)... boot loop
- Same thing with no RAM... beeps then reboot
- Swapping parts with my HTPC (LGA 1155), tested everything except the CPU and motherboard... the parts from my gaming PC worked perfectly on the HTPC
- Took everything apart, cleaned, reaplied the thermal paste, reseated the RAM, CPU and power cables several times
- Carefully searched for scratches, bent pins, blown caps or any sign of damage
- Since the CM 212x have a backplate, I decided to go back to the stock cooler
- Cleared the CMOS by jumper and battery removal
- Tried to force a BIOS restore from the backup chip

After a couple of days fiddling with it I´m completely out of ideas and about to order another motherboard. :/

Any help would be much apreciated...

[fonyat]

Someone from Gigabyte please take a few minutes to read the whole post, there are TONS of similar problems reported on the forums.

I really don´t want to buy another board when I own one that should work flawlessly for at least 2-3 years more!

[SyncViews]

I actually just reported what sounds like almost the same issue in a support ticket in the hopes of a resolution/repair (bearing in mind that socket LGA 1150 has been replaced, so its a bunch of money to then not be able to upgrade with if have to buy a new board at this time).


Out of interest, is this always the case?

where everything lights up (fans, drives, leds) and shuts down 5-10 seconds later, after 2 more seconds the cycle starts again.

I found in many attempts either nothing on the MB lit up (e.g. that red LED lighting), or sometimes I get the light and CPU fan but no system fan (back of case on whichever MB header is nearest), and then sometimes like you said it goes 5 seconds to almost boot. It worked eventually (5 or 6 attempts, but never seems to fail past the OS load screen) and runs stably for days/weeks.
It sounds like it fully resets the PSU as well, but once it booted have not dared power off again to investigate that...

Restarting the OS has been fine, just long as never power down the MB...


One other thing, were there any beep codes if you had a sys speaker connected? I dont have one on this case, so have no idea if the MB sounded some error or not.

[fonyat]

I found in many attempts either nothing on the MB lit up (e.g. that red LED lighting), or sometimes I get the light and CPU fan but no system fan

In my case it is a constant, everything powers up for a few seconds, every time... hdd, red led and all the fans, including the ones on the vga.

One other thing, were there any beep codes if you had a sys speaker connected? I dont have one on this case, so have no idea if the MB sounded some error or not.

Except when i tested without any RAM, there were no beeps at all, including the normal 1 beep when the POST finishes correctly, which probably isn´t happening.

And yes, I forgot to mention: indeed, after a successful boot I could do as many warm reboots as I wanted, the pc performed normally until I switch off the power.
But now it´s been 2 days since the last successful boot, I was hopping to be able to troubleshoot some more inside de BIOS.
   

[fonyat]

Now I´m going through all the forum related posts... and man, there are LOTS!

[SyncViews]

Just cant get it to start however many tries now, or not risked powering off? I didn't dare last night, but cant keep that up forever, maybe until after new years... It reset quite a few times last time I tried after swapping parts...

I've never seen it reset after a POST/BIOS screen, so might still be related even if lights/fans are slightly different. Not sure what the timings on those things are anyway, and the effect of SATA/PCI/etc. devices that need time to power up.

Post at Toms hardware suggested post diagnostic failure (e.g. failed RAM test), but I swapped most parts around now so seems unlikely, seems you did as well. Only things I didn't since have no spares at hand is PSU, CPU, and a different model of RAM (I guess ideally Gigabyte certified http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4966#memory%20support%20list ).

Not sure what happens without RAM (or CPU) normally. I guess it wont be able to post / do anything at all?
Just to be clear, when you do have all components, you do get the single beep every time?

Id say a related CPU problem seems unlikely because it never crashes while running, but then could say almost the same for an MB, so who knows...

[fonyat]

Have you tried flashing the BIOS again using Q-Flash from inside de BIOS itself?
Apparently @BIOS, the windows app, is crap and may inform a successful flash when it wasn´t...

[fonyat]

Since your PC is running, a warm reboot shouldn´t hurt.. I think it´s worth a try

[SyncViews]

I never tried a BIOS update from Windows, or any update before, so cant have been that gone wrong. I got the latest one now, but am avoiding a reset until new year is out of the way if possible (in case I get stuck, since don't have the time to deal with a new MB/etc. right now).

Will see how it goes then.

Hopefully Gigabyte support will come back with something useful during the week as well.

Are you going ahead with a replacement MB? Be interested to hear if that solves everything and can be sure its not say a CPU thing. The toms hardware people are still saying maybe the PSU as well (I guess taking time to stabilize the voltage or something)...

[fonyat]

Yeah, good point... a response before you need to shut down/restart would be perfect.

In my case, the CPU is out of the equation, I took everything to a repair shop for further testing and it is definitely the mobo.
I should hear from them by tomorrow, hopefully it´s just a corrupted BIOS (or both BIOSes). If not, since my warranty already expired, i´ll probably go with an Asus motherboard... never had problems with them.

Don´t worry, i´ll keep you posted.

[fonyat]

Well, here is the follow up, as promised...
The chipset was damaged, from what I have no idea, and the cost to replace it is way too high!
So I bought an Asus Z97M-Plus, simple board, smaller form factor and less features, but everything is working fine.
I don´t know if it was bad luck, but it was my first experience with Gigabyte and it´s impossible not to feel disappointed, Asus never failed me in 20+ years.

So, that´s pretty much it... good luck with your case, if I can help with anything just let me know.

[SyncViews]

The Intel Z97 chipset? I was talking to someone else who said they had this same boot loop on a X99 motherboard (not one of Gigabytes). They had a cap that looked bad to me, but is over in the segmented audio stuff so wondering now if its an Intel issue...

Then on the Gigabyte front I've had an AMD AM3 system for ages without problem (went Intel after bulldozer happend).
 

Support got back to me and had no resolution to offer, and an RMA could take weeks after I send it (to either them or the retailer).
So going to end up getting a brand new board after all, and send back through the retailer, hope they say not repairable and offer a refund instead (they no longer stock this board so cant direct replace).

You sure yours is only 1 year for you though? Gigabyte gave me "Please contact the location where the original order was placed." when I tried to find warranty info, but then the retailer said 3 years are covered (UK).