This is the second Z77 Extreme4 mobo that I've purchased, and the second to display the same error code: 53. The first motherboard had a couple broken pins where the CPU is supposed to go, so that was likely defective (my two sticks of BLT8G3D1608ET3LX0 RAM were brand new and I tried them together in A1 and B1, then tried each individually in all 4 slots) and no dice.
This time around, I didn't see any broken pins and it's still not detecting either stick of RAM. I highly doubt that they're defective, because I tried another type of RAM in my last Extreme4 and that still didn't work. I also know that these are guaranteed to work in this mobo by Crucial.
So the question is: Is it possible that I got another defective motherboard? Or could it be the CPU? (I bought an i5-3570k OEM on eBay used and attached a Cooler Master Hyper 212, and the fan is spinning, but I'm not sure how to tell if the CPU is working). Could the error code 53 be from a defective CPU? I really would hate to take it apart again because I worry about breaking the board each time I take out the screws and cooler parts. I never thought that building a computer would take weeks and be this frustrating.
This time around, I didn't see any broken pins and it's still not detecting either stick of RAM. I highly doubt that they're defective, because I tried another type of RAM in my last Extreme4 and that still didn't work. I also know that these are guaranteed to work in this mobo by Crucial.
So the question is: Is it possible that I got another defective motherboard? Or could it be the CPU? (I bought an i5-3570k OEM on eBay used and attached a Cooler Master Hyper 212, and the fan is spinning, but I'm not sure how to tell if the CPU is working). Could the error code 53 be from a defective CPU? I really would hate to take it apart again because I worry about breaking the board each time I take out the screws and cooler parts. I never thought that building a computer would take weeks and be this frustrating.