- Nov 15, 2014
- 8
- 0
- 4,510
What's up people!
Computer is self built. I have built my own computer for the last 25 years or so - so I am pretty familiar with most of the thing you can run into. Almost all of the parts were aquired in December 2013 - so less than a year old. The RAM was from my previous computer - so it might be 2-3 years old.
I never overclock.
I have strange problem that I have been troubleshooting for over a month now. Basically, after flashing the BIOS on my ASUS Sabertooth motherboard, it stopped posting. This was around October 1st. When I power on the computer, I just see alternating CPU_LED and MEMOK lights. It will just sit there indefinitely. No monitor output at all. I have tried a ton of different things (I think):
1. Removed all connectors from the motherboard except the graphics card, 1 stick of RAM, CPU, main hard drive. RAM was in slot A2. No change in response.
2. Swapped the RAM in slot A2 with two other sticks. No change in response.
3. Tried clearing CMOS my powering down, moving the jumper to the clear position, removed the battery (just to be sure) and left it overnight. No change in response.
4. Removed the CPU and looked for bent pins, etc... didn't find anything that looked out of the ordinary (expected since it has been running fine for almost 1 year.
5. Contacted ASUS tech support. I explained everything above - and they said it "definitely seems like you corrupted your BIOS - you probably didn't wait long enough for it to boot." I disagreed, but asked them what I could do to fix the problem. They said I could send in the motherboard so that they could put in a new BIOS chip, or I could do it myself. I of course said I would do it myself.
5a. I was instructed to go to their website and order the BIOS chip. They would not pay for it because they said it was because of something I did. It was $15 bucks, I am an engineer so $$ isn't too much of an issue, so I didn't argue much and just ordered it. Of course with shipping it was about $35. I received it a week later.
5b. Now I had to find out where to install it. Nowhere in the manual does it show you where the BIOS chip is. No instructions were sent with it either. Not that big of a deal I guess, but a bit frustrating. I couldn't even find one screenshot online showing where it was for the z87. Ultimately, I had to completely remove the motherboard from the case, and then completely remove the "armor" crap just to be able to find the BIOS chip. Once I found it, replacing it was a breeze. Pulled it out with a chip extractor and replaced it with the new one. Put everything back...and....Same results.
6. I contacted ASUS again and they said "well, I guess it wasn't the BIOS. It is probably just the whole motherboard or your CPU. Swap out your CPU with a spare and let us know if that works." I explained that I do not have a spare processor - so after a bit of a discussion, they agreed to let me RMA the board. I took everything apart again, carefully box it up with padding, etc... and shipped it to ASUS. Cost of shipping was a little less than $30.
7. About 2 weeks later I receive a response from ASUS - the problem is because there are "bent CPU pins". They will not fix it under the warranty since I must be the one that bent the pins. I am fairly certain there were no bent pins (system was running for a year, I have experience building PCs, I checked the pins multiple times since the issue occurred, etc...). I guess it is possible that they got bent during shipping. In hindsight - I should have taken a ton of pictures before I shipped it. That being said, I just wanted my darn computer back. I forked over $160 to ASUS so that they could fix the motherboard and ship it back. So far I have spent over $200 to fix the problem - I think you can get a new ASUS z87 Motherboard for less than that...
8. The ASUS website showed that my Motherboard was in the "WAITING" status for another 2 weeks. Finally, it changed from WAITING (one of the first steps) to repaired - and it was on its way. I received the Motherboard, took pictures of it, ***VERY*** careful installed it back into the case, and powered it on. To my dismay - same results. The alternating CPU_LED and MEMOK indicators.
So...a couple things here: 1) I now dislike ASUS. 2)I'm not 100% sure what to do. I think the best next step is to either buy another i7 4770 or 4490 (maybe ~$350) and try that - and then send the bad one back through the warranty path if the computer works again.
I guess I am just looking for additional brainstorming. This problem has been frustrating.
Thanks for looking!
-Beau
Computer is self built. I have built my own computer for the last 25 years or so - so I am pretty familiar with most of the thing you can run into. Almost all of the parts were aquired in December 2013 - so less than a year old. The RAM was from my previous computer - so it might be 2-3 years old.
I never overclock.
I have strange problem that I have been troubleshooting for over a month now. Basically, after flashing the BIOS on my ASUS Sabertooth motherboard, it stopped posting. This was around October 1st. When I power on the computer, I just see alternating CPU_LED and MEMOK lights. It will just sit there indefinitely. No monitor output at all. I have tried a ton of different things (I think):
1. Removed all connectors from the motherboard except the graphics card, 1 stick of RAM, CPU, main hard drive. RAM was in slot A2. No change in response.
2. Swapped the RAM in slot A2 with two other sticks. No change in response.
3. Tried clearing CMOS my powering down, moving the jumper to the clear position, removed the battery (just to be sure) and left it overnight. No change in response.
4. Removed the CPU and looked for bent pins, etc... didn't find anything that looked out of the ordinary (expected since it has been running fine for almost 1 year.
5. Contacted ASUS tech support. I explained everything above - and they said it "definitely seems like you corrupted your BIOS - you probably didn't wait long enough for it to boot." I disagreed, but asked them what I could do to fix the problem. They said I could send in the motherboard so that they could put in a new BIOS chip, or I could do it myself. I of course said I would do it myself.
5a. I was instructed to go to their website and order the BIOS chip. They would not pay for it because they said it was because of something I did. It was $15 bucks, I am an engineer so $$ isn't too much of an issue, so I didn't argue much and just ordered it. Of course with shipping it was about $35. I received it a week later.
5b. Now I had to find out where to install it. Nowhere in the manual does it show you where the BIOS chip is. No instructions were sent with it either. Not that big of a deal I guess, but a bit frustrating. I couldn't even find one screenshot online showing where it was for the z87. Ultimately, I had to completely remove the motherboard from the case, and then completely remove the "armor" crap just to be able to find the BIOS chip. Once I found it, replacing it was a breeze. Pulled it out with a chip extractor and replaced it with the new one. Put everything back...and....Same results.
6. I contacted ASUS again and they said "well, I guess it wasn't the BIOS. It is probably just the whole motherboard or your CPU. Swap out your CPU with a spare and let us know if that works." I explained that I do not have a spare processor - so after a bit of a discussion, they agreed to let me RMA the board. I took everything apart again, carefully box it up with padding, etc... and shipped it to ASUS. Cost of shipping was a little less than $30.
7. About 2 weeks later I receive a response from ASUS - the problem is because there are "bent CPU pins". They will not fix it under the warranty since I must be the one that bent the pins. I am fairly certain there were no bent pins (system was running for a year, I have experience building PCs, I checked the pins multiple times since the issue occurred, etc...). I guess it is possible that they got bent during shipping. In hindsight - I should have taken a ton of pictures before I shipped it. That being said, I just wanted my darn computer back. I forked over $160 to ASUS so that they could fix the motherboard and ship it back. So far I have spent over $200 to fix the problem - I think you can get a new ASUS z87 Motherboard for less than that...
8. The ASUS website showed that my Motherboard was in the "WAITING" status for another 2 weeks. Finally, it changed from WAITING (one of the first steps) to repaired - and it was on its way. I received the Motherboard, took pictures of it, ***VERY*** careful installed it back into the case, and powered it on. To my dismay - same results. The alternating CPU_LED and MEMOK indicators.
So...a couple things here: 1) I now dislike ASUS. 2)I'm not 100% sure what to do. I think the best next step is to either buy another i7 4770 or 4490 (maybe ~$350) and try that - and then send the bad one back through the warranty path if the computer works again.
I guess I am just looking for additional brainstorming. This problem has been frustrating.
Thanks for looking!
-Beau
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