XFX mobo won't post - A0 error

[Senior Chang]

I am currently building a new system with the following specs:

CM Stacker 832
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply
XFX MB-N680-ISH LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
XFX PVT80FSHE9 GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP
Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series Sound Card
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm Silent UFO CPU Cooler
Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
2 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives

Right now, I can't even get the motherboard to post. Instead, I get an 'A0' error code on the motherboard's post code LCD screen. I've tried everything I can think of. I've got the motherboard up on the required spacers. I've checked the conections on the main 24-pin power connector and the 8-pin connector. I've reseated the q6700 processor and re-attached the heatsink and fan. Right now, I just have the 24 pin and 8-pin power connectors attached, the CPU is seated, and the heatsink and fan are installed. When I power up the system, I get power through the motherboard and the heatsink fan and LED spring to life, but the motherboard LCD post code readout displays an A0 error code and doesn't beep at all.

I'm thinking that I'll probably have to RMA the motherboard back to Newegg, but I was wondering if there was anything else I could try or if there was a way I could determine if it's just a bad CPU or if the heatsink isn't properly installed.

 

[jsc]

Google "680i a0 post code". Several of the hits take you into the eVGA forums. It seems to indicate some kind of a video problem.

 

[Senior Chang]

I've looked those up, but I should be able to get the mobo to POST with just the CPU and heatsink installed, and the 24-pin and 8-pin power connectors, as well as the 4 pin power connector on the mobo for the video, right?

 

[Arctucas]

Have you tried resetting the CMOS?

I believe the XFX 680i is basically the same as the eVGA, so you might get some better advice on the eVGA forum: http://evga.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=13

 

[Senior Chang]

I've reset the CMOS by switching the pins, but I haven't yet been able to reset it by completely removing the battery. It is being a complete pain to get out. I'll give the eVGA forums a shot too.

Thanks

 

[jsc]

I've looked those up, but I should be able to get the mobo to POST with just the CPU and heatsink installed, and the 24-pin and 8-pin power connectors, as well as the 4 pin power connector on the mobo for the video, right?

I went to the XFX website, and looked at the picture of the motherboard. It looks like an nVidia reference design, so my comments should be valid.

If you mean the drive type power connector beside the IDE connector, you should not need that unless you are running SLI.

But the answer to your question is "Yes", sort of. It will not POST successfully. With only the CPU and HSF installed and mainpower and 12 volt EPS connectors (4 or 8 pins) plugged in, you should hear a series of three second long beeps indicating a memory problem.

I breadboarded my parts before installing them in a case and played "What happens if ...". Here's what happened:
1. With only CPU/HSF and power, I get the long beeps (forgot to check the LED's).
2. Add memory, and I get a "one long, three short beep pattern " indicating a bad or missing GPU.
3. Add video card & monitor and it successfully POST's (one short beep), LED's indicate 7F, and the monitor
indicates a boot failure.
4. Add a bootable drive, it POST's (single short beep), and as it starts to boot, the LED's go to "FF".

Hope this helps.

 

[Senior Chang]

Awesome. Thanks much for the "what if" incremental approach. Once I RMA the board and get a new one from Newegg, I'll definitely have to add components piece by piece so that I can easily catch any more problems. I can only hope that it's just the motherboard and not the CPU too.

BTW, I emailed the folks at xfxforce.com, and the technician who responded back said he had never seen an 'A0' error code before and would have to ask one of the other technicians. I'm still waiting on his reply. Once he gets back to me and tells me the board is FUBAR, I'll RMA it and pray for the best.

 

[Senior Chang]

Ok, so according to the XFX technician, the A0 post code has to do with how the CPU sets the multiplier.
So I popped out the battery for the CMOS and set the CMOS jumper to reset. After 5-10 minutes, I put the battery back in. Plus, I re-attached the heatsink and fan to the CPU (after making sure it was seated properly). Then, I made sure to double-check the Power-ON, Hardrive Light, and Reset pin connections between the motherboard and the chassis. After that, I seated one stick of RAM in slot 0, plugged in the 8-pin and 24-pin power connectors, as well as the 4-pin molex connector for the Graphics power. After hitting the power switch, I still got the A0 POST code, but after I hit the power reset button, I got the 20 POST code.

From what I've read on the EVGA forum, the 20 post code stands for a PCI intialization error. So, I seated my 8800GTX graphics card in the primary PCI-e slot and connected both PCI-e power connectors to the graphics card. I then turned the main power on, saw the A0 post code, and then like before hit the power reset button and still got the 20 error code.

The one thing that has me concerned is that even though the fan is running on my graphics card, the top of the graphics card pins towards the back of the card seem to be slightly visible, while the pins towards the front are not visible above the PCI-e slot. Is it possible that the graphics card is not fully seated, and hence the problem with the 20 error code? Maybe the back plate of the card is a little too long and does not allow all of the pins to seat properly?

 

[Senior Chang]

Ok, so I seated only the CPU and the heatsink+fan (no memory). I hit the power switch, got A0. I hit the reset button, and I got an F6 error and a long single beep, which I'm pretty sure indicates a memory problem. So, I sunk one memory stick into slot 0 and hit the switch, got the 20 post code. So, I reseated the graphics card, making sure it was fully seated and had the two necessary PCI-e 6-pin power plugs in. Hit the power switch and still got 20 post code (with no beeps). I hooked up an LCD monitor and still no signal. I'm just gonna declare this board DOA and RMA it to Newegg, that is unless anyone has any suggestions.

 

[07734]

I got this code last night, after completing an entire new rebuild, well not entirely new, still using old mobo which is a xfx 780I, but installed everything in a new chasis with a new psu, more ram, more hd's. After having everything installed and cables placed just right with zipties, I powered my comp on to have this A0 code. So like you I proceeded to tear everything back out and reinstall 1 piece at a time. I also reset my jumpers and took out my battery. With just 1 hd, 1 stick or ram, with sound card unattached my comp posted. It posted until I reattached everything and I got the A0 code again. I was like wtf. Then just to make sure, I made sure all comonents were seated as snug as they could be to mobo, and then the comp posted. Theory: to avoid the A0 POST code, make sure all components are seated correctly. A visual signal to tell if you are going to get the A0 POST code w/o turning your computer on is to look at the light(s) that are on w/o the power being on. If only the blue light is on, your mobo is gtg. If the amber light is on, you are going to get the A0 POST code. Hope this helps. Seriously, I thought I fried something because I forgot to restore my bios to default settings before rebuild. I had my 8500 wolfdale oc'd 3.8 with I think 3.54v iirc, and my OCZ 6400's at 4-3-3-15 2T at 2.2v.