ASUS 970 Pro Gaming not booting or beeping. Bad CPU or Motherboard?

skyfire322

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I recently purchased the 970 with an AMD FX-8350 processor, EVGA 1060, Kingston HyperX FURY and using my current PSU (EVGA SuperNOVA 750) for my new build.

I put everything together today (and triple checked to make sure everything was plugged in fully and in the correct spots). When I powered it on, the fans spin, the LED's light up but I don't get a beep from the speaker and the monitor will stay blank. At first I suspected the graphics card because the fan would try to spin, but would just stop. I re-seated that, and also tried the other PCI-e slot with the same result so I decided to try my old GT 640. The fan on that would spin, but still a blank screen. I also tried four different cables with the same result.

I then moved to the RAM. Tried all configurations, my current RAM sticks and even tried booting without any inserted with the same result. Lastly, I tried the new RAM, and PSU in my current rig and works perfectly. (Couldn't try the graphics card since it's not compatible).

At first I thought it might be the motherboard because the new graphics card fan kept starting and stopping. But then I noticed that quite a few pins on the CPU were bent, so that tells me it might be the CPU. Any ideas?

*Edit Original title had wrong motherboard listed
 

Zerk2012

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I hope you did not install that cpu in that board. If you did you probably just killed both of them.
The pins on the Z170 board are in the socket the pins on the 8350 are on the chip.
Those parts do not work together the board is made for a Intel processor.
 

skyfire322

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Whoops, I need to edit the title. It was the ASUS 970 Pro Gaming: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A33PHLA/ref=od_aui_detailpages01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

Tshifty

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I had a similar issue with a rebuild, if I recall correctly, booting with no video card should give you a beep code. If it does, and does not when the GPU is installed, then I believe it is a GPU problem. I ended up having to replace my GPU and my PSU after one killed the other. But, knowing that the PSU powers the other machine, the GPU seems the best bet.

EDIT: It could be a PSU problem though. I followed a troubleshooting guide similar to this http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000607.htm and ended up figuring it out.
 

skyfire322

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So I tried that, and still no beep code. Tried a different PSU, and still no beep code.
 

skyfire322

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If it helps, here's a photo of the bent CPU pins. Though it's a bit blurry, you can pretty much see that there are about 15-20 pins bent. I'm starting to think it's that.

2jzhwm.jpg
 

skyfire322

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It looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and buy another processor since they don't cover that many bent pins under warranty (there are a few that I can't get even with tweezers).

That being said, could the socket on the motherboard cause this? I did notice it was wobbling quite a bit even the first time I locked it in (before installing the cooler)
 

Tshifty

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There are several ways to troubleshoot this. A CPU being bad, from what I understand, is pretty rare. I would try taking the battery out of the motherboard for a couple minutes and replacing it to see if that does anything. I do recall having to do this a couple times when I was testing different PSUs.

If no fans are turning on then it might still be a PSU problem. You should be getting a post code regardless, unless the motherboard is bad or the PSU is insufficient to power the motherboard.

!EDIT: The bent pins are definitely not good though, I would try straightening before attempting anything else. A few quick searches suggested: running a credit card through, using the tip of a mechanical pencil (apparently the pins will fit in the tip), or a toothpick. Best of luck!

Here is a similar post that helped me:

Work systematically through our standard checklist and troubleshooting thread:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-postin...
I mean work through, not just read over it. We spent a lot of time on this. It should find most of the problems.

If not, continue.
The following is an expansion of my troubleshooting tips in the breadboarding link in the "Cannot boot" thread.

I have tested the following beep patterns on Gigabyte, eVGA, and ECS motherboards. Other BIOS' may be different, but they all use a single short beep for a successful POST.

Breadboard - that will help isolate any kind of case problem you might have.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboardi...

Breadboard with just motherboard, CPU & HSF, case speaker, and PSU.

Make sure you plug the CPU power cable in. The system will not boot without it.

I always breadboard a new build. It takes only a few minutes, and you know you are putting good parts in the case once you are finished.

You can turn on the PC by momentarily shorting the two pins that the case power switch goes to. You should hear a series of long, single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence indicates a problem with (in most likely order) the PSU, motherboard, or CPU. Remember, at this time, you do not have a graphics card installed so the load on your PSU will be reduced.

If no beeps:
Running fans and drives and motherboard LED's do not necessarily indicate a good PSU. In the absence of a single short beep, they also do not indicate that the system is booting.

At this point, you can sort of check the PSU. Try to borrow a known good PSU of around 550 - 600 watts. That will power just about any system with a single GPU. If you cannot do that, use a DMM to measure the voltages. Measure between the colored wires and either chassis ground or the black wires. Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%. If you have a white wire (many modern PSU's do not), it should be -5 volts.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=yout...

A way that might be easier is to use the main power plug. Working from the back of the plug where the wires come out, use a bare paperclip to short between the green wire and one of the neighboring black wires. That will do the same thing with an installed PSU. It is also an easy way to bypass a questionable case power switch.

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU.

If the system beeps:
If it looks like the PSU is good, install a memory stick. Boot. Beep pattern should change to one long and several short beeps indicating a missing graphics card.

Silence, long single beeps, or series of short beeps indicate a problem with the memory. If you get short beeps verify that the memory is in the appropriate motherboard slots.

Insert the video card and connect any necessary PCIe power connectors. Boot. At this point, the system should POST successfully (a single short beep). Notice that you do not need keyboard, mouse, monitor, or drives to successfully POST.
At this point, if the system doesn't work, it's either the video card or an inadequate PSU. Or rarely - the motherboard's PCIe interface.

Now start connecting the rest of the devices starting with the monitor, then keyboard and mouse, then the rest of the devices, testing after each step. It's possible that you can pass the POST with a defective video card. The POST routines can only check the video interface. It cannot check the internal parts of the video card.

I would suggest reading through before dropping money on a new CPU.
 

skyfire322

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Well I feel dumb.... I replaced the processor (I broke one of the pins when trying to bend it back) and still had the same issue so my brother asked me if I had connected the 4-pin power connector... Nope. I connected it, and it booted right up.

Moral of the story: Check ALL connections and refer to the manual! Thanks for the assistance, everyone!