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Motherboard not Posting

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  • Power Supplies
  • Motherboards
Last response: in Motherboards
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October 11, 2014 12:21:28 PM

Hello all, just wanted to say thanks in advance for your time.

Little bit of background before I get into my problem:

Built this computer about a year and a half ago, and it's been working awesome until recently.

I just came home after being gone for about 3 months, and was excited to fire up my machine again. I went to plug it in (I generally unplug it to protect from surges while I'm gone) and found that it was already plugged in. Roommate said he didn't touch it, so either i forgot to unplug it, or he's lying, but whatever. I go to start it up, and it doesn't turn on. I check the power supply switch, but no dice. The motherboard LEDs are lit up (not any error LEDs) so I try the power button on the motherboard, but no dice. No fans, no disks spinning, just the motherboard LEDs.

I snag my trusty dusty multimeter, and find good power into the power supply. After some googling, I think I find bad power out of the power supply. Simple enough.

The next day I plug in my new power supply and expect my machine to come to life. No dice. I come to find out that I didn't test my old PSU properly (didn't realize I needed to jumper it with a paperclip) so I'm back at square one.

After some more thorough googling, I try a multitude of different things, and eventually end up breadboarding it on my kitchen table. I pull out my CMOS battery, leave it out for an hour, put in a brand new one, and try turning it on with just the processor and motherboard. Amazingly, after about 30 seconds of power applied, it starts to post!

Knowing that it isn't going to post properly, I wait for it to come to a stopping point, and then turn it off via the power supply. Then I plug in a stick of RAM, and go to turn it back on. No dice. I come to find out that I have to clear out the CMOS EVERY TIME I want to turn it off and turn it back on. This gets frustrating.

Eventually after working on it off and on for about 8 hours, I have all my ram plugged in, the video card, etc. and I'm able to log into windows. I conclude that the BIOS was corrupted, and needed to be reset. So excited am I, that I immediately put it all back into the case, plug in everything, and turn it on.

It then started a cycle where the fans would spin up, it would start posting, and then it would reboot (about 3 seconds per cycle). Immediately I know something is wrong and I turn it off. I unplug my front panel power switch thinking it may be stuck. Now the computer doesn't turn on.

I'm basically back at square one, intending to breadboard the machine again and go step by step. I suspect there may be a grounding issue, but I don't want to get ahead of myself again.

My question is this: Is there a faster way to clear out the CMOS? If I can speed that up, I can probably figure out what's wrong in a couple hours max... If you've got any tips on troubleshooting my system, that is most welcome too.

Here's my specs:

CPU: Intel I7-3960X
Mobo: Asus Rampage IV Extreme
PSU: EVGA 1KW P2
GPU: AMD R9-290
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws Z series 8x4gb

Thanks again for your time!

More about : motherboard posting

a b V Motherboard
October 11, 2014 12:34:59 PM

That motherboard is known to have reliability issues.. Just look at the reviews on newegg. I suggest you RMA it or get a new motherboard.
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October 11, 2014 12:43:51 PM

Thanks for the advice, but the board worked flawlessly in the past, and I'd rather not wait around for a month to get a replacement. Going back to my question: Is there a faster way to clear out the CMOS on this board?
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a b V Motherboard
October 11, 2014 1:08:32 PM

There's a clear cmos button where the I/O area is on the motherboard. It's black and it looks like the refresh button on google chrome.
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October 11, 2014 1:47:52 PM

Yup, that doesn't seem to work. Maybe by pulling out the battery and leaving it off for an hour, I'm doing something other than clearing out the CMOS, but whatever the case, that button doesn't allow the computer to turn on. Thanks anyways.
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a b V Motherboard
October 11, 2014 3:22:25 PM

I highly doubt there's anything you can do to fix that motherboard but let us know if you do happen to fix it. The best advice I can give to you is to RMA it or buy a new motherboard.
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October 12, 2014 11:52:33 AM

Successfully got my machine running on my kitchen table, with all my peripherals. I'm going to try to put the barebones in the case next to see if it comes up. If not, I suspect there's either a grounding issue, or an issue with the CMOS being corrupted at some point when it is unplugged (I have to unplug the mobo to put it in the case.) I'll update this as soon as I get everything back in.
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