- Jan 12, 2016
- 2
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- 4,510
Hi! A friend of mine had a PC (homemade) lying around which he said he couldn't make it work properly and I'm giving it a try.
I'm not an expert by any means but I have enough perseverance to google for hours for a solution and I'm kind of used to it. I've spent around 20 hours searching for a solution and nothing worked. I hope you have any idea of what's wrong with this PC.
I'll start with the components:
Motherboard: MSI H61M-E33 (B3) - (Which I think is the root of all problems)
Graphics Card: EVGA GTX 750 Ti - Works fine with my computer
Processor: Intel i5-3330 - Works fine
Power Supply: Cooler Master RS-600-ACAB-M4 (600w) - Works fine too.
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury Black DDR3 1333MHz PC3-10600 4GB CL9
and
DIMM Kingston 4GB PC1333 DDR3 CL9
Both work without a problem.
Operating System: Windows 7 64bits - Original, everything seems to work just fine.
I've entered all the models in pcpartpicker and everything seems to be compatible BUT it also indicates that a BIOS update may be required.
WHAT I'VE BEEN TOLD:
He said that when he put together the parts everything seemed to work except for the processor (I assume due to the BIOS version). He said he put his old processor (some Intel dual core I don't know any specifics) and it worked. He later called me to help him put the new processor.
WHAT I'VE SEEN:
I saw the computer work fine with the old processor. Everything was connected where it should be. We turned it off, went to lunch and when we returned and turned it on it didn't have internet connection. Wifi worked fine so I tried the Ethernet cable (which was my first thought) on my laptop but it worked as intended.
Later I started to download the board drivers with a wifi USB stick (since we had to do it anyways) and maybe installing the LAN drivers we would solve the problem.
I started with System and Chipset drivers, Audio, SATA and finally LAN.
It did NOT solve the problem but I had to go study and thought "Well if the internet problem isn't solved at least we'll update the BIOS and try to put the new processor".
We downloaded the BIOS and tried to update it, everything seemed to work fine but at one point it stopped working, PC turned off and didn't turned on again for 50 minutes. I never had to wait this long during the usual turn-off/turn-on during a BIOS update so I tried to turn it on manually. When I did on the bottom-right corner of the monitor it appeared the number "99" and then suddenly changed to "A3", after a while it turns off and on again on its own over and over.
At this point I took the PC and brought it to my house to work on it overnight.
MY LAST STEPS AND CURRENT PROBLEM:
Before doing anything I searched for people with similar problems. Almost every post on tomshardware, pcguide, techsupportforum and Reddit agree that the best course of action is to try to disconnect the HDDs, Ethernet cable and everything else not relevant for the current situation and leave the PC with the power supply, motherboard, processor, graphics card and just one stick of RAM connected to the first slot.
And here comes my first problem. It says "CPU or Memory Changed !!! Please enter Setup to configure your system." Press F1 to Run Setup. Press F2 to load default values and continue.
At this point the keyboard doesn't work, it doesn't matter if I press F1 or F2. I've tried with two aditional keyboards and had the same response.
I searched for any solution and most people solved it either changing the RAM or removing the battery for a while. I started changing the RAM stick but it didn't work.
I turned it off and on again and the "99" and "A3" came back. The PC resets on its own as before and I press DEL to access the BIOS. It seemed to work and a "Entering setup..." message appeared on the bottom-left corner of the monitor but after a while the PC restarted as if I did nothing. It tried it again and again with the same result so I went for the second course of action. Shortly after I removed the battery from the motherboard and l left it unplugged for about an hour.
When I reinstalled the battery, put on all the components and turn the PC on. Everything seemed to work and there was a message showing:
Intel(R) Core (TM) i5-3330 CPU 3.00GHz. Speed:100x30=3000MHz
DRAM Frequency for DDR3 1333 MHz(Dual Channel)
DRAM Size 8192MB
USB Device total: 1KBDs, 2 MICE, 0 MASS, 2 HUBs
Detected ATA/ATAPI Devices...
SATA PORT5: WDC WD6400BPVT-80HXZT3
SATA PORT6: TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-222AB
All settings were reset to default values
Press F1 to Run SETUP
Press F2 to Continue
I tried to press F2... and the keyboard didn't work, any of them.
So that's where I am right now, I hope I didn't leave any step I took and I hope I didn't make any unsolvable mistake. I'm seriously thinking about suggesting my friend to pick a new motherboard but I want to try everything I can before doing so.
The motherboard and processor don't look damaged but I'm gonna link some pics and let you judge: http://imgur.com/4bffTe2 http://imgur.com/TLGQvby
What are your ideas for a new approach? Thanks for reading the wall of text, all suggestions are welcome!
I'm not an expert by any means but I have enough perseverance to google for hours for a solution and I'm kind of used to it. I've spent around 20 hours searching for a solution and nothing worked. I hope you have any idea of what's wrong with this PC.
I'll start with the components:
Motherboard: MSI H61M-E33 (B3) - (Which I think is the root of all problems)
Graphics Card: EVGA GTX 750 Ti - Works fine with my computer
Processor: Intel i5-3330 - Works fine
Power Supply: Cooler Master RS-600-ACAB-M4 (600w) - Works fine too.
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury Black DDR3 1333MHz PC3-10600 4GB CL9
and
DIMM Kingston 4GB PC1333 DDR3 CL9
Both work without a problem.
Operating System: Windows 7 64bits - Original, everything seems to work just fine.
I've entered all the models in pcpartpicker and everything seems to be compatible BUT it also indicates that a BIOS update may be required.
WHAT I'VE BEEN TOLD:
He said that when he put together the parts everything seemed to work except for the processor (I assume due to the BIOS version). He said he put his old processor (some Intel dual core I don't know any specifics) and it worked. He later called me to help him put the new processor.
WHAT I'VE SEEN:
I saw the computer work fine with the old processor. Everything was connected where it should be. We turned it off, went to lunch and when we returned and turned it on it didn't have internet connection. Wifi worked fine so I tried the Ethernet cable (which was my first thought) on my laptop but it worked as intended.
Later I started to download the board drivers with a wifi USB stick (since we had to do it anyways) and maybe installing the LAN drivers we would solve the problem.
I started with System and Chipset drivers, Audio, SATA and finally LAN.
It did NOT solve the problem but I had to go study and thought "Well if the internet problem isn't solved at least we'll update the BIOS and try to put the new processor".
We downloaded the BIOS and tried to update it, everything seemed to work fine but at one point it stopped working, PC turned off and didn't turned on again for 50 minutes. I never had to wait this long during the usual turn-off/turn-on during a BIOS update so I tried to turn it on manually. When I did on the bottom-right corner of the monitor it appeared the number "99" and then suddenly changed to "A3", after a while it turns off and on again on its own over and over.
At this point I took the PC and brought it to my house to work on it overnight.
MY LAST STEPS AND CURRENT PROBLEM:
Before doing anything I searched for people with similar problems. Almost every post on tomshardware, pcguide, techsupportforum and Reddit agree that the best course of action is to try to disconnect the HDDs, Ethernet cable and everything else not relevant for the current situation and leave the PC with the power supply, motherboard, processor, graphics card and just one stick of RAM connected to the first slot.
And here comes my first problem. It says "CPU or Memory Changed !!! Please enter Setup to configure your system." Press F1 to Run Setup. Press F2 to load default values and continue.
At this point the keyboard doesn't work, it doesn't matter if I press F1 or F2. I've tried with two aditional keyboards and had the same response.
I searched for any solution and most people solved it either changing the RAM or removing the battery for a while. I started changing the RAM stick but it didn't work.
I turned it off and on again and the "99" and "A3" came back. The PC resets on its own as before and I press DEL to access the BIOS. It seemed to work and a "Entering setup..." message appeared on the bottom-left corner of the monitor but after a while the PC restarted as if I did nothing. It tried it again and again with the same result so I went for the second course of action. Shortly after I removed the battery from the motherboard and l left it unplugged for about an hour.
When I reinstalled the battery, put on all the components and turn the PC on. Everything seemed to work and there was a message showing:
Intel(R) Core (TM) i5-3330 CPU 3.00GHz. Speed:100x30=3000MHz
DRAM Frequency for DDR3 1333 MHz(Dual Channel)
DRAM Size 8192MB
USB Device total: 1KBDs, 2 MICE, 0 MASS, 2 HUBs
Detected ATA/ATAPI Devices...
SATA PORT5: WDC WD6400BPVT-80HXZT3
SATA PORT6: TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-222AB
All settings were reset to default values
Press F1 to Run SETUP
Press F2 to Continue
I tried to press F2... and the keyboard didn't work, any of them.
So that's where I am right now, I hope I didn't leave any step I took and I hope I didn't make any unsolvable mistake. I'm seriously thinking about suggesting my friend to pick a new motherboard but I want to try everything I can before doing so.
The motherboard and processor don't look damaged but I'm gonna link some pics and let you judge: http://imgur.com/4bffTe2 http://imgur.com/TLGQvby
What are your ideas for a new approach? Thanks for reading the wall of text, all suggestions are welcome!
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