ASUS P6X58D Premium Power Flickers

SOrlando

Honorable
Dec 18, 2012
3
0
10,510
I am having an issue where I push the power button on my PC and the power comes on for a half second, then off, then on, then off. After several seconds, it comes on and the fans spin up then regulate; but I never hear any POST acknowledgement and it goes no further.

I have had this same issue before and had replaced the power supply, but the same issue occurred. I then replace the motherboard and fixed the issue. So this is another copy of the same motherboard with the same issue. I am wondering if this is a known issue as this board is no longer available.

Instead of replacing the motherboard again, do you think it may be something simpler? Like a bad CMOS battery? I am not sure what would make the power flicker like that. If the motherboard is sending a signal back to the power supply that all is well and is letting power through, I can only think that the motherboard is bad again with the same problem.
 

SOrlando

Honorable
Dec 18, 2012
3
0
10,510
Ok, I noticed that the DRED_LED does stay on constantly. I pressed the MED_OK button and it restarted to refresh the RAM, but the light stayed solid.

I then removed all of the RAM DIMMS and restarted the machine. It came on with the DRAM_LED still red, which would be an obvious issue at this point with no DIMMs installed. However, there was no change. Fans spun up then regulated, and no POST beeps.

I removed the 24 pin main power cable and reseated it. Turned back on and no change.

I removed the 8 pin CPU power. Turned back on and no change.

I replace the 8 pin. Turned back on and no change.

I removed the two 6 pin power cables and the DVI cable from monitor #3 from the GPU in PCI-3 and removed the GPU to get to the CMOS battery, which left a GPU in PCI-1. I removed the CMOS battery and turned back on and receive POST beeps; which according to the AMI BIOS is:

1 long, 2 short Failure in video system An error was encountered in the video BIOS ROM, or a horizontal retrace failure has been encountered

Progress! POST and the internal speaker is working.

I left the GPU out and replaced the CMOS battery. Turn it back on and get same beeps.

Replaced GPU (not monitor cable) and the two 6 pin power cables to it (note: DIMMs still haven't been put back in, not even one). Same beeps.

Put one DIMM in. Back to no beeps and no boot.

Changed out the DIMM with a different one. No beeps.

Fill one entire channel with 3 DIMMs (6 DIMM slots, btw; two trip-channels). No beeps.

Removed the second GPU again, leaving 3 DIMMs in. No change.

Removed first GPU (disconnected two 6 pin power cables and two DVI cables from monitors #1 and #2), leaving 3 DIMMs in. No beeps.

Removed the 3 DIMMs. Getting the one long and two short beep again.

Replace the 3 DIMMs in the second channel instead of the first. AHA! Mem light passed. One long beep, three short beeps.

1 long, 3 short Memory test failure A fault has been detected in memory above 64KB

Then a pause followed by a short beep

1 short DRAM refresh failure The programmable interrupt timer or programmable interrupt controller has probably failed

I replaced those 3 DIMMs with the other 3 DIMMs, still using the second channel. Exact same beeps.

I placed the other 3 DIMMs in the first channel. Same long beep and three short beeps. Long pause then single beep.

Replaced the GPUs plugging in the power cables and monitors. Everything back together. Turned on. And is working.

::sigh::

Resetting BIOS settings. Loading OS. Black screen with mouse pointer. Right click; nothing. CTRL-ALT-DELETE; nothing.

Press reset. Same thing. Letting it sit for a bit. Three minutes later, nothing.

Restarting into Windows 8 Auto Repair. Nothing found. Rebooting into Safe Mode. Loaded to Safe Mode.

Restarting. Black screen with mouse pointer.

Ok, progress made after three hours of troubleshooting. Going to call it a night and maybe take a look again tomorrow.