My Gaming PC is Down

[Kenadian]

Hey all, just to let you know I won't be gaming much over the next while until I can figure out what's wrong with my Main Gaming PC.

I finally bit the bullet and installed the parts I've been sitting on; XFX Pro 1000, EVGA GeForce GTX670 FTW, and 2 x 4 GB Patriot Viper Extreme and things were running great until I tried to put the sides back on.

I also installed a Cooler Master MegaFlow 200 on my side panel to keep air moving between the 2 x 670's in SLI and the Computer won't even post since then.

I've checked and re-checked all my cables and have found no issues. I've removed the new RAM, the PSU, and the video card and still can't post.

I'm not sure but it's starting to look as if the Mobo may be gone but since I can't post I have no idea really?

I'll go through all my hookups again tomorrow but if it's the Mobo I'm out of commission because I'm going to peter Asus about it in the meantime.

The only thing I can think of doing is swapping out the old RAM for the newer stuff and seeing if that works but it's a long shot at this point I think.

Anyway, if you're wondering where I am this is the answer.

 

[Shilka]

Darn, that sucks!

Think it is karma for making fun of little P installing his videocard?

 

[Ogami Itto]

Do the memory swap, seriously. Don't know how many times it's been memory for me with no post. Just my €.02!

 

[JohnnyK]

Agreed with Ogami; I'd also re-seat the old gfx card as it might have come lose just a little bit when putting in the second card.

 

[Kenadian]

I'll switch out the 2 sticks but they've been in the Computer since it was originally assembled and they've been perfectly fine the entire time.

I'll do it because it's all that's left to do but the chances that there the problem are very bleak indeed. The new sticks were the first things to be pulled out.

 

[Wapwap]

Does your computer power on at all? Like, is it starting up (fans running, etc). Does it beep, or nothing?

 

[little P]

Just the fact that our computers connected over the internet playing arma3 fried your pc due to sheer brit awesomeness... this sux d00d. Hope you get it sorted soon! I'm going to get those bits soon so i'll be up and running properly soon, hurry up!

 

[Kenadian]

Does your computer power on at all? Like, is it starting up (fans running, etc). Does it beep, or nothing?

All fans kick in and then nothing. It seems to want to start all devices but then reboots itself.

 

[Kenadian]

Actually, not all fans kick in just the CPU fan.

Just as I feared though, I tried the new and old RAM and even moved them to different slots and the problem persists. It may very well be a RAM issue but if so then it's the slots not the sticks.

However I can't see how it can be a RAM issue as it ran fine with all sticks in place for a good couple of hours and several reboots without issue.

The problem started when putting the sides back on which makes no sense to me. The only additional work done was I plugged in another fan at the time to help keep the SLI config cool.

I'm thinking that outlet perhaps fried or perhaps I shorted something out at the back when putting the sides on, not sure and can't see how that could possibly have happened?

 

[Ogami Itto]

And this is the dark side of DIYing it. You just don't have enough replacement parts to remove and replace until you find the issue. I feel for ya! Not to be dumb, but you did remove that last fan, unplug the power supply and try again, right? Do you have a power supply tester? I'm thinking 12V rail on the P/S is bad now, but that's just a best guess.

 

[Kenadian]

And this is the dark side of DIYing it. You just don't have enough replacement parts to remove and replace until you find the issue. I feel for ya! Not to be dumb, but you did remove that last fan, unplug the power supply and try again, right? Do you have a power supply tester? I'm thinking 12V rail on the P/S is bad now, but that's just a best guess.

No worries Ogami and I really appreciate the help. In fact I feel bad because I'm completely stressed out right now and I'm a bit "short" in patience so I'm sure my responses reflect it.

I did in fact unplug the fan as the first step and with/without it makes no difference. I actually thought the PSU was the issue initially so I plugged in my previous Antec Earthwatts 750 and the issue persisted.

At this stage with all the swapping in/out I've done I don't beleive it to be a PSU, GPU or RAM (stick) issue. In fact since it won't even make it to the POST beeping stages it means something else has to be wrong because devices aren't even loaded yet afaik.

If it at least made it to POST it would start beeping and give me some indication of the issue but it can't get that far.

So all I'm left with is MOBO or CPU and in all honesty CPU makes no sense at all.

BIOS however makes sense but I'll have to ask Asus Tech whether or not their USB Bios Flashback Method/CMOS reset is a possibility?

I found a few posts that are similar to mine around the net and one sorted it by a combination of above and reseating everything which I've done numerous times across multiple slots with different PSU's and leads.

His got working and one response as to why is as follows:

"sounds like the mb moved the irq or dma that the card was using to something installed on the mb and lock itself up."

Sound plausable?

I'm writing an e-mail now to Asus outlining exactly what I've done to this point to see if they have any insight. It is a 3 year warranty board so it would be nice if they could help me sort it or perhaps RMA it.

 

[Kenadian]

This is what I've sent to Asus Tech. Support:

Asus Tech Support:

Mobo Serial: C2MOCS347425

Purchase Day: 2012/04/18
BIOS Revision: No idea, won't POST

VGA Vendor: EVGA
Card Model: GeForce GTX 670 Signature 2 FTW Edition x2
Chipset: NVIDIA
Driver: 320.49 WHQL

CPU Vendor: Intel
CPU Type: I7 2700K Quad Core Unlocked Sandy Bridge
CPU Speed: 3.5 GHz

Memory Vendor: Patriot
Model: Viper Etreme PC3-1500 1866 MHz
Memory Capacity: 4 x 4GB

Problem Description:

Please read carefully because I'm describing all work done prior to e-mailing Tech Support. I hate adding this disclaimer but some Tech Support (*cough* MSI) only asks you silly questions you already answered in the original e-mail.

I also want to apologize for my demeanor in advance if I come across the wrong way. I run many Websites, am currently building a YouTube Channel (for Gaming) and rely on this PC for virtully everything so it being down has my Stress Level up well over 100%.

I hear Asus Tech Support is top notch (just like your MOBO's) which is why I only use Asus MOBO's when building PC's.

Problem: MOBO won't POST and immediately reboots within seconds of turning on power.

System has run flawlessly until upgrading last night. Upgrade as follows ran perfectly for 2 hours:

- 1 x GeForce GTX670 FTW (added to existing for SLI)
- Replaced existing Antec Earthwatts 750 PSU with XFX PRO 1000W SLI Ready 80 Plus Platinum PSU
- Added 2 x 4GB Patriot Viper Etreme PC3-1500 1866 MHz

Again, the upgrade worked without issue for 2 hours and several reboots to configure SLI, Lightboost (BENQ 2420XT) and Gaming Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Since everything went well I shut down the PC to re-install side covers on Thermaltake Chaser MK-1 and this is when the issue described above ocurred.

NOTE: I also added a side fan Cooler Master Mega Flow 200 to the side door to help with cooling on the SLI config. This fan was plugged into the lower right 4 pin fan connector marked CHA_FAN 4.

Immediately the PC would not POST and would not make it past starting up the CPU Fan. System won't stay powered long enough to beep so I have no idea what the issue may be?

Troubleshooting up to this point (reverse engineer):

1. Unplug Side Fan (Cooler Master Mega Flow 200) from CHA_FAN 4 and attempt Power Up: FAIL

2. Check and recheck all connections to all existing hardware from new PSU: FAIL
-- 1 x Crucial M4 SSD (OS Drive) - Grey SATA 3 6 BG/sec
-- 3 x Western Digigal Caviar Black 1 GB @ 7200 RPM - Grey and Blue SATA 3 6 GB/sec
-- 1 x Intel Sandy Bridge I7 2700K
-- 1 x Noctua NH-C12P SE14 CPU Cooler

3. Unplug all leads from new PSU and attempt Power Up via previous Antec Earthwatts 750 PSU: FAIL

4. Swap Video Cards and PCIEx16 Bays: FAIL

5. Remove new RAM: FAIL

6. Swap out existing RAM with new RAM: FAIL

7. Change RAM Slots with previous and new RAM: FAIL

8. Unplugged everything except crucial components such as System Drive SSD, CPU, CPU Fan, MOBO, Video Card (with and without), and still nothing.

PLEASE NOTE: I HAVE NEVER FLASHED OR UPDATED BIOS WITH THIS BOARD.

Recent Changes to System:

Windows 7 failed during an OS Update many months ago and has been having issues launching 32 Bit apps. A few weeks ago I completely wiped and re-installed Win 7 64 Bit without issue.

However, installing Asus AI Suite (I think it's called) caused some issues when running a minor OC (300 or 400 MHz if I remember correctly) via your software. It worked fine until a Windows Update then failed and was subsequently disabled running the system at stock speeds.

Normally I don't OC this early into the life of a System but I was curious as to how this Tool Worked and whether it would boost performance slightly in Guild Wars 2 and Armed Assault 3.

Disabling this Tool meant I was back at Stock CPU Speeds and ran without issues since. I don't believe it's part of this issue but just in case it bears some relevancy I thought you should know it did happen.

What I have not done but considered:

I've thought of removing the MOBO and seeing if I can power it up on cardboard just to isolate the chance of it being a short somewhere. This makes sense on a new build but on an existing upgrade that's worked without major issue for over 12 months it seems a bit silly.

I've also though of trying the USB Bios Flashback Method/CMOS reset but have never done so which is another reason for contacting Asus Tech.

Please advise at your earliest possible convenience as I need this PC up and running asap and can't afford another $700 for a new MOBO and CPU.

Kind regards,

Ken

 

[Kenadian]

Just an update to add to this absolutely nonsensical issue.

So, for whatever reason I thought that since I've tried everything else maybe I'll unplug the OS SSD and plug in one of my Slave Drives and see what happesn. The idea itself has no merit and makes no sense but since I've tried everything else to this point why not?

Well, the PC booted but I have no idea what it was booting to as I had no Video Card installed at the time? I plugged in the Video Card and sure enough, I got to the last step in POST when boot stopped stating the CPU Cooler wasn't plugged in.

This was true as the CPU Cooler was intentially moved to plug 2 (CPU_OPT) through this process of testing. Just to be clear, this wasn't part of the original issue which I'll explain later because getting to POST on a new HD is a completely new development.

So, I returned it to the rightful CPU_FAN outlet and made it to "Please insert disk to boot from"; typical on a drive with no OS installed.

Since I can't partition one of these drives (there all full with YouTube stuff) I thought I may as well try the SSD again and sure enough, Windows 7 loaded.

Why, I have no idea?

I do believe it to be BIOS as mentioned in this quote pulled from some other random website where a user has similar issues with a Video Card:

sounds like the mb moved the irq or dma that the card was using to something installed on the mb and lock itself up.

I've since re-installed everything including SLI and the addiitonal RAM and made it to Windows without issue.

I've also rebooted several times just to make sure and everything appears as normal. :icon_eek:

Since I've had to pull the Noctua Cooler several times throughout this process, I'm re-applying the Thermal Compound. I know it's only been on for one day but I'm too paranoid at this point to worry that a contaminant hasn't gotten on the grease and will cause heat transfer issues down the road.

I haven't booted since (waiting extra long to make sure ther is no Isopropanol left over) but I'll report back with status shortly.

Thanks for all the help folks!

 

[HaJa]

Isn't computers interesting or what !?

 

[Shilka]

I know one thing for sure, I never would have found out the problem the way you did (ok you havent found the problem, but you got things to work it seems), that's why I buy preassembled systems, and just bring m in for repairs when something's wrong
I would have been so stressed out that I just would have bought a tablet for internetz and would have stuck to console for gaming, lol.

 

[Kenadian]

Isn't computers interesting or what !?

As much as I hate it when there's issues, I always manage to learn something from the process. This time around I'm drawing a blank but I'm hoping Asus Tech Support can help me figure out what the problem actually was.

I'm still betting on BIOS but we shall see.

I know one thing for sure, I never would have found out the problem the way you did (ok you havent found the problem, but you got things to work it seems), that's why I buy preassembled systems, and just bring m in for repairs when something's wrong
I would have been so stressed out that I just would have bought a tablet for internetz and would have stuck to console for gaming, lol.

Thanks NT.

I have to admit that I was well beyond my stress comfort level much of the time. I didn't eat and what sleep I did get was not restful at all.

I can confirm that the PC is running as expected now. I've played Battlefield 3, Guild Wars 2 and Euro Truck Simulator 2 for several hours without issue. I've also restarted the PC several times all without incident.

Hopefully nothing mucks up when I put the side covers back on.

 

[Ogami Itto]

I have to firmly believe the side covers were purely coincidental at this point, BIOS seems to be at the root cause and basically is sounds like you rebuilt the IRQ/DMA's from scratch like an initial assembly and that seemed to solved the conflict. Quite frankly, this isn't supposed to be an issue anymore but for some reason it was with you, happy you got it solved.

There is a lesson to be learned for system builders: keep it simple stupid! Install the CPU/Mem/Vid first, get it to post, and then work on the storage systems.

 

[Kenadian]

Ya I realize the side covers are incidental but after close to 36 hours of panic one tends to be a bit paranoid lol.

I typically dry run new builds on cardboard prior to installing in the case similar to how you mentioned but on an upgrade it's not feasible. As you said, this just shouldn't have happened and I'm confident that's what Asus Tech is going to state.

They'll likely tell me to upgrade the BIOS as this potential issue must have been identified by now and the bug patched.

We shall see soon.

 

[Wotan]

Good for you the PC is back in working condition.