Asus Sabertooth X79 fails to boot

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necanthropeone

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Oct 7, 2015
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Hi everyone. :)

I built a system about two months ago, using an Asus Sabertooth X79 mobo. I used the proper cpu class and a ram kit that worked fine. It booted up, and I installed the OS without issue.

Because of varying reasons, I couldn't switch over to this system until last night, when I discovered to my dismay that it would not boot. The green power LED comes on and steady, and when I press start, the fans spin for about 3 seconds and then stop. During that time, the CPU and RAM LEDs flicker red then off almost immediately, which seems to mean no issue with those components, according to the manual.

I tried multiple things to diagnose the issue. I flashed the BIOS to the latest version using using Asus' rename tool, and it accepted the file and patched the BIOS. It behaved the same way when trying to boot.

I tried removing all but one of the RAM sticks in slot D1 (the bare minimum, according to the manual), then with no RAM. The behavior was identical.

I contacted Asus support, and they have suggested clearing the CMOS and RTC RAM, which I'm going to try next. This seems like boiler plate, however.

So, my question is: has anyone seen this behavior before in that model of board?

Thanks for your time!

 
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Epsilon_0EVP
That's eventually what I ended up doing, unfortunately. In my case it was bad RAM slots on the motherboard, and there wasn't much I could do about that. Hopefully you're able to get a replacement that works well soon; X79 motherboards are becoming rare, but there's still a few here and there. Good luck!
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Epsilon_0EVP

Epsilon_0EVP

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Jun 27, 2012
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I haven't used that particular model, but I did have some similar issues a while back on my X79 build. I would suggest trying different RAM sticks on several different slots; sometimes a combination of bad sticks and bad slots on the motherboard can cause issues.

Also, X79 motherboards are usually high-end, so there's a good chance it has an LED debug code. Check to see if it does, and it might give us more information.

Resetting CMOS should be an elementary step when getting these errors, too, so I strongly recommend you try that.
 
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necanthropeone

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According to the manual, the CPU and RAM LEDs are supposed to light and stay lit if there's a problem with the component, which isn't happening for me. There are no code tables for the LEDs in there, so I don't think there's a blink pattern for error states.

I'm going to try resetting CMOS today.
 
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Epsilon_0EVP

Epsilon_0EVP

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Jun 27, 2012
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Fair enough, so at least the motherboard is not detecting any errors from the CPU or RAM. Consider also that most computers will not boot without a GPU working, so if your graphics card is failing it might also be causing the problem. It wouldn't be a bad idea to check if it's working if the CMOS reset doesn't work.
 
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necanthropeone

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I tried two different graphics cards, and none at all. :)
 
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necanthropeone

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Thank you very much for your time :) I will update ASAP.

 
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necanthropeone

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Welp, Asus support is suggesting sending it in. Since its a 3rd party refurb board, I think I'm just going to replace it. Thank you for your help, everyone.

That being said, if anyone has any ideas, I'm still open to hearing them :)
 
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Epsilon_0EVP

Epsilon_0EVP

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Jun 27, 2012
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That's eventually what I ended up doing, unfortunately. In my case it was bad RAM slots on the motherboard, and there wasn't much I could do about that. Hopefully you're able to get a replacement that works well soon; X79 motherboards are becoming rare, but there's still a few here and there. Good luck!
 
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