Help ! GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R will not boot up for more than two seconds

[steve2470]

Hello all and thank you very much in advance for your help !

I allowed my (Mod edit) 15 year old son to install my GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R  motherboard, to replace the old one that died. It would not boot up for more than two seconds, then would die, then would restart for two seconds, then would die, etc. It NEVER posted a BIOS screen.

I have now removed the mobo from my Antec 1200 case and am totally starting all over.

AFAIK nothing on the motherboard was damaged.

Here is my components list:


Case - Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower

CPU - Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition Gulftown 3.33GHz

RAM- 6 gigabytes of CORSAIR DOMINATOR 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Graphics Card: Asus 590 GTX

RAID Card: 3ware 9650SE-4LPML PCI Express Lanes: 4 SATA II Controller Card

Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower W0133RU 1200W

SSD's: 4x RAID0 OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC

Please bear with me, I am very new at installing motherboards.

Questions: 1- How do I totally eliminate shorting out on the case ?
2- Electrical power wiring, how to eliminate mistakes in this area ?
3- Graphics card power, are the 8 pin connectors 100% mandatory ? I think they are but I'm open to correction.
4- Possibility that CPU is fried, how to eliminate this possibility ?

I have a BIOS beep speaker on the way from Newegg, it is not here yet.

Again, thank you kindly for your time and attention and energy.

Steve

[Tinker]

Just a little input will leave rest to professionals. As your old MOBO died are you using same PSU.
You can get the low power die yet fans etc will run. You need to know what pins on PSU to short
out to enable metre test for voltages.
Other thought check CPU against memory spec ECC non ECC. This could stop boot.

Also would have tested with minium cards in & booted without drives.


Regards tinker.

[steve2470]

Just a little input will leave rest to professionals. As your old MOBO died are you using same PSU.


You can get the low power die yet fans etc will run. You need to know what pins on PSU to short
out to enable metre test for voltages.
Other thought check CPU against memory spec ECC non ECC. This could stop boot.

Also would have tested with minium cards in & booted without drives.


Regards tinker.

Thanks. Do I leave the graphics card in ? Yes, same PSU.

I know the RAM is ok, it worked fine with my old mobo. AFAIK, RAM was ok but it's a possibility.

It's possible the cpu is fried because I never checked it explicitly with the old mobo.

[steve2470]

anyone ? I'd really like to fix this mobo issue today. Thank you again !!!

[steve2470]

anyone ? I'd really like to fix this mobo issue today. Thank you again !!!

Ok I put the mobo back on the six standoffs in the case and screwed it down carefully. Attached BOTH power cables carefully. CPU and cpu fun on ok, afaik. Power switch on securely. Graphics card in securely with proper 8 pin connectors.

Same problem. I think it's either the cpu or the mobo or both. Sigh.

[Tinker]

As no replies at present will try to add a bit. Have you replaced the MOBO with same model.
No way of knowing if CPU is ok or memory if you don't know why your old setup died.

The only way to test  PSU is find out what , think it's 2 pins to short out otherwise you cannot check
the voltage outputs. You need lower voltages to power CPU etc., Can you get hold of another PSU
doesn't need such high wattage to test board. The graphics needs power cable & also extra
power connectors to MOBO. Usually 2x4 pin to power CPU. were these fitted.

As  your using old components from other MOBO might pay just to lay board on protected surface
try to power up just with graphic card, keyboard, mouse & old memory try one stick then swop
for another one. You can only do this by elimination. If the board will part boot there is a chance
CPU might be ok. Very important that no pins in cpu socket were damaged. This for one causes
memory loss. I would start with sorting PSU always keep spare even if old one so long as it has
all the correct connections. You would need to reprogam drives if not a direct replacement board.
Hope I understand correctly that new board is part booting. Did you press del key at start to
get into BIOS to allow it to accept your CPU etc., Best of luck.


Regards tinker.

PS our posts crossed.

[steve2470]

As no replies at present will try to add a bit. Have you replaced the MOBO with same model.
No way of knowing if CPU is ok or memory if you don't know why your old setup died.

The only way to test  PSU is find out what , think it's 2 pins to short out otherwise you cannot check
the voltage outputs. You need lower voltages to power CPU etc., Can you get hold of another PSU
doesn't need such high wattage to test board. The graphics needs power cable & also extra
power connectors to MOBO. Usually 2x4 pin to power CPU. were these fitted.

As  your using old components from other MOBO might pay just to lay board on protected surface
try to power up just with graphic card, keyboard, mouse & old memory try one stick then swop
for another one. You can only do this by elimination. If the board will part boot there is a chance
CPU might be ok. Very important that no pins in cpu socket were damaged. This for one causes
memory loss. I would start with sorting PSU always keep spare even if old one so long as it has
all the correct connections. You would need to reprogam drives if not a direct replacement board.
Hope I understand correctly that new board is part booting. Did you press del key at start to
get into BIOS to allow it to accept your CPU etc., Best of luck.


Regards tinker.

1- No, my new mobo is a Gigabyte. Old one was Asus.
2- I don't have a spare PSU right now. I'll try to use one in a backup computer to test the mobo.
3- The new mobo won't even boot to the BIOS screen. It goes for 2 seconds, stops, restarts, goes again for 2 seconds, stops, etc. I really think either the mobo is bad or my cpu is bad or maybe both.

[Tinker]

I would start with different PSU had a couple go down on low voltage side. Might pay to look at
CPU pins as they are easily damaged. Unless a PSU voltage goes high CPUs don't go too often
unless they have really bad cooling. It's possible you have a bad board but as your using old
gear sort that first.


Regards tinker.

[steve2470]

I would start with different PSU had a couple go down on low voltage side. Might pay to look at
CPU pins as they are easily damaged. Unless a PSU voltage goes high CPUs don't go too often
unless they have really bad cooling. It's possible you have a bad board but as your using old
gear sort that first.


Regards tinker.

Ok I've been watching the LED's very carefully. The Phase LED indicates by red that the CPU is fully loading.

Northbridge phase LED seems to be going to yellow. It's either the NB LED or the DDR Phase LED.

I'll check the psu now.

[Aussie Allan]

   Stevo

 Sorry for the long wait mate ... on-suite renovation blues......Now down to it!.............Start with the bare board ....add CPU and cooler,.....one stick of memory in slot one,....add VGA (Video card) one drive and a DVD...........PSU....... keyboard and mouse (Ps2 keyboard if you have one kickin around) and try and effect a boot on the motherboard box if you have nothing else.

 Now things to look out for with the bench build prior to boot!.........with a magnifying glass and a good light ....the CPU nest for bent pins.........they can look almost like shadows if there's a few of them bent.

  Remember thermal goop........remember finger tight cooler........remember to connect ALL cables including both for VGA.........look for any FMO ( foreign metal object) strand of wire screw nut or scorch marks ..........it sounds like you had a short somewhere.......Lastly ,  explain to the boy......" The old bull/young bull story"

  report back with your findings..........Aussie Allan 

[Tinker]

If you have a 2nd PC try to swop graphics card if not PSU. That will eliminate something
else as you didn't mention any screen activity.


Regards tinker.

PS: our posts crossed Allan. Any chance you can take a look at my AHCI post reply.

[steve2470]

 Stevo

 Sorry for the long wait mate ... on-suite renovation blues......Now down to it!.............Start with the bare board ....add CPU and cooler,.....one stick of memory in slot one,....add VGA (Video card) one drive and a DVD...........PSU....... keyboard and mouse (Ps2 keyboard if you have one kickin around) and try and effect a boot on the motherboard box if you have nothing else.

 Now things to look out for with the bench build prior to boot!.........with a magnifying glass and a good light ....the CPU nest for bent pins.........they can look almost like shadows if there's a few of them bent.

  Remember thermal goop........remember finger tight cooler........remember to connect ALL cables including both for VGA.........look for any FMO ( foreign metal object) strand of wire screw nut or scorch marks ..........it sounds like you had a short somewhere.......Lastly ,  explain to the boy......" The old bull/young bull story"

  report back with your findings..........Aussie Allan

********************************************************************************

1- Thermal paste looks to be ok and not excessive

2- I did a "breadboard" installation with mobo out of case with 24 pin mobo cable plugged in securely and 8 pin cpu cable plugged in securely, both 8 pin vga power cables hooked up to the vga card, power on switch hooked up to mobo and one stick of RAM in white slot furthest from CPU. PSU was the same this time. I will swap out the psu next time as well as the vga card.

3- No foreign metal objects or screws, since I pulled it out of the case and laid it on a nice white clean and dry towel with no static electricity.

4- Dumb question, do I have to plug in a keyboard and mouse to test it ? I have not been doing that at all. Is that the entire problem ? If it is, I feel very foolish.

5- Pulled Intel cpu out, no bent pins to my naked eye and also with a flashlight. The only thing resembling pins are the very very short "pins" in the middle of the bottom of the cpu, unlike the old school intel cpu's where you could easily see the pins.

6- I did not use an optical drive or SSD this time.

Where have I made mistakes so far ? Thank you again.

Steve

[steve2470]

If you have a 2nd PC try to swop graphics card if not PSU. That will eliminate something
else as you didn't mention any screen activity.


Regards tinker.

PS: our posts crossed Allan. Any chance you can take a look at my AHCI post reply.

**************************************************************************

I will try to swap out the graphics card next.

[steve2470]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-boot-video-problems

I have found that link above to very helpful too, fwiw.

[steve2470]

OK, I think I've narrowed my problem down to one or two of two things:

1- a bad PSU

and/or

2- a defective motherboard.

Odd thing is, when I hold the CMOS switch in, it will run but not post video at all. Off to swap out PSU's......