Need advice being sure this board is DOA?

[SpartanSpurs]

Alright, so in summary I'm helping my brother upgrade his build, it was previously:

• 
  ■ Intel E6600
  ■ Some socket 775 motherboard (not really important)
  ■ Mushkin Volta 500W PSU
  ■ MSI Nvidia GTX 660
  ■ 2x2GB Mushkin Silverline DDR3 ram @1333Mhz

Obviously this was really lacking some processing power, all of this, bar the GPU actually came from my first build though so it's done well. Anyway I recommend he buy the Gigabyte GA-Z87-D3HP and an Intel i3 4160 as he was conscious of his budget.

So they arrived today and although I was a little worried the PSU may be wearing thin bearing mind it's age and brand I decided it'd be fine since this new CPU uses less power than the old one. Getting a bit ahead of myself though I was lazy and didn't bother bench testing the new setup so after a couple of hours replacing the old stuff I was pretty annoyed at myself when it wouldn't boot.

I have since though gone back and tried bench testing it and the results are the same. It turns on briefly, all fans spin (bar the cpu cooler but I'll get to that in a minute) and then within a few seconds is off. There is no beeping when I connect the case speakers either. I was confused about the CPU cooler being the only fan not to spin though, especially since it did the same thing on the system fan headers, but it turns out the cooler is dead as when I unplugged the stock fan and plugged in the old one lying to the side it span. I am aware this was silly because the new CPU could overheat but I figured with the inbuilt safeties now I'd be fine.

This didn't help with the main problem though. So I decided to try my own PSU to rule out that possibility. Mine is a 600W Corsair gaming PSU so more than enough for my brothers rig, especially since it's currently comfortably running my far more power hungry parts. Being as it's in my PC though I was lazy and just sat my brothers motherboard on the top of my cube case (with the lid half off) pulled through the 24pin cable and the 2 4pin cables and tried again. It did the exact same thing though, half start, but immediately go into a restart loop, turning on for 1 second, turning off for 3 or 4, then on for 1 etc...

I'm really hoping there are no DOA parts here because I don't want to deal with the hassle of them and my brother on my back. So my main questions are: Is this all possibly caused by a lack of a working CPU fan? (my main doubt with this though is surely it would have go further with a different cooler plugged in, even if it wasn't attached)? Am I doing something stupid? It's been a while since I've been doing this stuff and I've never had to work with a motherboard with 2 4pin sockets by the CPU so I may be missing something key there.

If no-one has any other suggestions I'd be really appreciative of any advice on returns, particularly on Scan Computers.

Just a couple of added points.
I don't have any other 1150 socket components to test with.
I have tried changing the ram about and also without any.

 

[Paul NZ]

If you think you've connected everything, one reason its not working is the BIOS on that mobo doesnt support the CPU you installed on it

According to the gigabyte site it needs F6 of the BIOS to support that CPU

Intel Core i3-4160 3.60GHz 3MB 350 MHz / 1150 MHz Haswell Refresh 22nm C0 54W 100 F6

And since its a Haswell refresh, I dont think F6 will be on it. The mobo would have been made before these CPU's were released.

Thats the 2nd to last BIOS. So there's a possibility that this isnt on it

If this is the case if you got it from a local shop take it back and ask them to flash it with a lower spec CPU, then put yours back in. Then it will work

 

[terry4536]

Do you have case speaker?

 

[Eximo]

Mixing older power supplies with Haswell is not a good idea either. They can operate at such a low wattage that the PSU won't have enough to become loaded and turn on properly. Google 'Haswell Ready' power supplies to be sure.

 

[SpartanSpurs]

If you think you've connected everything, one reason its not working is the BIOS on that mobo doesnt support the CPU you installed on it

According to the gigabyte site it needs F6 of the BIOS to support that CPU

Intel Core i3-4160 3.60GHz 3MB 350 MHz / 1150 MHz Haswell Refresh 22nm C0 54W 100 F6

And since its a Haswell refresh, I dont think F6 will be on it. The mobo would have been made before these CPU's were released.

Thats the 2nd to last BIOS. So there's a possibility that this isnt on it

If this is the case if you got it from a local shop take it back and ask them to flash it with a lower spec CPU, then put yours back in. Then it will work

Interesting I now remember seeing this now when I double checked the CPU was compatible. Do you know if what I'm experiencing could be caused by this? If so I'll take it to my local PC shop and ask them about help doing it, unfortunately though I ordered from Scan so sending it back will be a fairly large inconvenience for my brother.

Do you have case speaker?

Yep but they made no sound.

 

[Paul NZ]

Well its either that. Or you'll have to buy / or borrow a mate's CPU / a lower spec CPU and do it.

Its possible thats why it doesnt work now.

It'll be compatible BUT the BIOS on the mobo when you buy it has to HAVE the right BIOS on it to support it

And if F6 isnt on it now, it doesnt know what it is

 

[SpartanSpurs]

If you think you've connected everything, one reason its not working is the BIOS on that mobo doesnt support the CPU you installed on it

According to the gigabyte site it needs F6 of the BIOS to support that CPU

Intel Core i3-4160 3.60GHz 3MB 350 MHz / 1150 MHz Haswell Refresh 22nm C0 54W 100 F6

And since its a Haswell refresh, I dont think F6 will be on it. The mobo would have been made before these CPU's were released.

Thats the 2nd to last BIOS. So there's a possibility that this isnt on it

If this is the case if you got it from a local shop take it back and ask them to flash it with a lower spec CPU, then put yours back in. Then it will work

Well its either that. Or you'll have to buy / or borrow a mate's CPU / a lower spec CPU and do it.

Its possible thats why it doesnt work now.

It'll be compatible BUT the BIOS on the mobo when you buy it has to HAVE the right BIOS on it to support it

Lesson well learned. Is there anyway I can work out of check what the current version of the Bios is without having to contact the seller?

And I'm also guessing there's no magic way to flash the bios without a CPU?

 

[Paul NZ]

Not with gigabyte mobos. I see this mobo supports Q flash and @ BIOS but I think it has to be going to do it

The only mobos that I know of that can flash a BIOS without a CPU are some of the more recent ASUS mobos.

That use USB flashback. All you need is the PSU

It MAY show the revision of the BIOS near the BIOS chip?? Not too sure. Never had a GB mobo

 

[SpartanSpurs]

Not with gigabyte mobos. I see this mobo supports Q flash and @ BIOS but I think it has to be going to do it

The only mobos that I know of that can flash a BIOS without a CPU are some of the more recent ASUS mobos.

That use USB flashback. All you need is the PSU

It MAY show the revision of the BIOS near the BIOS chip?? Not too sure. Never had a GB mobo

Okay well thanks for all the help. After looking into it a bit it seems I probably won't be able to. I'll confirm the bios version with the seller though and then if this is the problem I'll see if I can get help from anyone but I'll probably end up looking for help in the local computer shop/repair people.

Seriously though, thanks again for all your help, you've hopefully saved me a huge amount of time here!

 

[terry4536]

It may be a waste of time, but you could try breadboarding the motherboard. Reinstall the CPU, and verify that all of the motherboard electrical connections are secure. If you have a multimeter , verify that you are getting power to the motherboard. Reset the CMOS.

 

[Paul NZ]

Not with gigabyte mobos. I see this mobo supports Q flash and @ BIOS but I think it has to be going to do it

The only mobos that I know of that can flash a BIOS without a CPU are some of the more recent ASUS mobos.

That use USB flashback. All you need is the PSU

It MAY show the revision of the BIOS near the BIOS chip?? Not too sure. Never had a GB mobo

Okay well thanks for all the help. After looking into it a bit it seems I probably won't be able to. I'll confirm the bios version with the seller though and then if this is the problem I'll see if I can get help from anyone but I'll probably end up looking for help in the local computer shop/repair people.

Seriously though, thanks again for all your help, you've hopefully saved me a huge amount of time here!

No worries

 

[SpartanSpurs]

It may be a waste of time, but you could try breadboarding the motherboard. Reinstall the CPU, and verify that all of the motherboard electrical connections are secure. If you have a multimeter , verify that you are getting power to the motherboard. Reset the CMOS.

Okay thanks I will give that a go too.