# Intel DZ68BC, no boot no BIOS



## lorenww (Apr 9, 2018)

Hi all, hoping someone can help me here.

This is an odd issue, everything was fine using the onboard video adapter and then I installed a video card my son gave me.
I did not get any video so removed the card.

Went back to the onboard adapter and no video.

Checked the post codes, it goes from E4 (Entered DXE phase) to 08 or 0B and stops (I did see this 0x08 Starting BIOS execution after CPU BIST, not sure if I am reading the correct thing)

Board status LED's E and F are lit when it hangs,
E = CPU Initialization
F = Memory Initialization

This is the odd part, if I put the video card back in, the post code goes to E4 and then goes into a loop pausing at E4 and starting over again, never gets to the 08.

If there is any more info needed please let me know.

Back history, the board worked great UNTIL my Kuler water cooler leaked, then all my ram died.

I really don't trust this board anymore and want to replace it, just want to make sure my RAM and CPU are fine.

Here is a link to the specs,
intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/motherboards/desktop/dz68bc/dz68bc_techprodspec08.pdf

One last question, with the video, it is on the southbridge, is it possible for a video card to damage the CPU or RAM?

Thank you for any and all replies.
Loren.


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## sneekypeet (Apr 9, 2018)

Unlikely that the card did any damage to the PC.

A few bits missing....
What is the video card?
What PSU is used?

Have you tried something simple first like clearing the CMOS, either with the jumper/button or by removing the motherboard battery for a few seconds?
Also, a visual inspection may show something amiss. The fact the cooler leaked, who knows what it may have done. I assume you sorted the memory issue before putting a video card in?


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## lorenww (Apr 9, 2018)

Thanks for the reply,
The video card that made everything stop is Radeon HD 6850 black edition.
Here is my complete computer specs (I won this),
steves-digicams.com/news/dont_forget_to_enter_our_photography_computer_system_giveaway.html

PSU 1000 watt Cooler Master.

I changed the BIOS jumper (restarted and replaced to original) and removed the CMOS battery for twenty minutes.

I have double checked everything visually, nothing out of place.


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## sneekypeet (Apr 9, 2018)

lorenww said:


> Thanks for the reply,
> The video card that made everything stop is Radeon HD 6850 black edition.
> Here is my complete computer specs (I won this),
> steves-digicams.com/news/dont_forget_to_enter_our_photography_computer_system_giveaway.html
> ...



Ok, thanks for that info.

You did connect the power lead from the PSU to the GPU right?


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## lorenww (Apr 9, 2018)

I tried the card without the PSU cable, of course it did not work, went back to the onboard graphics and all was fine.
Then noticed the PSU plug on the card, I plugged it in and gave it another try, still nothing and then had the problems..


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## sneekypeet (Apr 9, 2018)

lorenww said:


> I tried the card without the PSU cable, of course it did not work, went back to the onboard graphics and all was fine.
> Then noticed the PSU plug on the card, I plugged it in and gave it another try, still nothing and then had the problems..



One last question....
Why are you changing from the card that was sent with the system, or what happened to it? Did it also die when the leak happened?

EDIT: did you try both of the PCI-e X16 slots or just the top one?


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## lorenww (Apr 9, 2018)

I gave that vide card to my son and he traded me (he is a network engineer).
I really want to replace the mobo assuming something is wrong with it, My conclusion is mobo bad, just want a second opinion.

I highly suspect the Kuler leak did damage to the board but that was a year or so ago.
I tried both slots.

My problem now is that BIOS will not even come up , something went wrong after plugging in the video card.
Post codes look rather odd.

When it leaked, all I got was the temp warning beeps, then went to air cooled, possibly a few months later my RAM, all 16 Gigs died.


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## sneekypeet (Apr 9, 2018)

It does appear that you went through all the basics to eliminate all of the potential issues. while I lean towards a motherboard issue, it is hard to say for certain. Cannot say as I have ever had an issue from trying to run a video card in the motherboard. I would hate to advise you throw money at it and hope for the best, just to find it wasn't the issue. Maybe someone else has run into a similar situation and will know for certain what went wrong.


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## lorenww (Apr 9, 2018)

I'm working on getting certified in cyber security, currently A+.
I tried everything that I can think of, that's why I came here, this forum gets answers.
Thanks for your help, I will bite the bullet and get another board, Just for the peace of mind, this mobo has had all kinds of issues, half the time I have no idea what fixed it in the past.
In a way you gave me my second opinion.
Thanks.

Will keep checking in to see if anyone else has ideas.
I think the post codes and status LED's hold the answer but I'm just not sure how to interpret them.


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## Protagonist (Apr 9, 2018)

@lorenww
I have read the whole thread, and you have been given good advice.

Now coming from some one who has owned this board Intel DZ68BC well this board is riddled with issues and the issues are all BIOS related, after intel released BIOS 0035 and above which were to enable 3rd gen cpus is when all the issues started.

I was in active contact with intel when it was under warranty back then, and got various revisions of the DZ68BC.

Shot story the board is not dead or bad, the BIOS is at fault and the GPU issue described could pop up every once in a long while, remedy was to flash the BIOS while on maintenance mode {Recovery Mode}, or if you are not getting any display output on monitor a blind flash can work too but only if you know how the led lights behave while flashing bios and when its done.

I still have the board at my shop somewhere working and it is running an intel i7-3770.

Another thing is if you do not have ,much time I would highly recommend just get another motherboard. On the other hand if you would like to get it back to working condition I would gladly help every step of the way.

BIOSes to look out for:
0042 is not stable causes many problems including issues you've mentioned above
0039 is where you want to be, mostly usable
0028 if you are on this then do not update BIOS


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## lorenww (Apr 9, 2018)

That's what I have, CPU, one ram stick and a PSU.
That is it.

@Protagonist.
I have no idea what BIOS version I have (I mindlessly saw it on every boot).
Any way to find out?


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## Protagonist (Apr 9, 2018)

lorenww said:


> That's what I have, CPU, one ram stick and a PSU.
> That is it.
> 
> @Protagonist.
> ...



At this point if no display on screen it will be difficult to know which version.

Something you can try is connect your display via HDMI cable and see if it shows anything on the screen, the BIOS issue at times mixed up the display priority and made the HDMI the primary


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## lorenww (Apr 9, 2018)

@Protagonist 

I really appreciate the help. I even thought of that and then nah.

Will give that a try, Its time for dinner here and will be on first thing in the morning.

I removed the battery and RAM and will let it sit overnight.


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## Protagonist (Apr 9, 2018)

lorenww said:


> @Protagonist
> 
> I really appreciate the help. I even thought of that and then nah.
> 
> ...



Ok, something I forgot to point out is you will do this using the onboard HDMI with no GPU connected

also check out this links
https://communities.intel.com/thread/39043
https://communities.intel.com/thread/117436
https://communities.intel.com/thread/57628

Links are many on intel community


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## eidairaman1 (Apr 9, 2018)

Have you attempted a breadboarding?


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## lorenww (Apr 10, 2018)

@eidairaman1 
All I have on the mobo is PSU, CPU, 1 RAM stick.

@Protagonist 
No video on HDMI
I only get 4 post codes before it hangs on 08 or 0B


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## Protagonist (Apr 10, 2018)

lorenww said:


> @eidairaman1
> All I have on the mobo is PSU, CPU, 1 RAM stick.
> 
> @Protagonist
> ...



Ok try moving the RAM stick to the slot next to the cpu, then check if it posts


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## lorenww (Apr 10, 2018)

I did try ram in all different slots, tried again, nogo, same posting sequence.


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## Protagonist (Apr 10, 2018)

lorenww said:


> I did try ram in all different slots, tried again, nogo, same posting sequence.



Could you try removing the BIOS jumper, then switch the board on that should try to force BIOS maintenance mode

If that doesn't work, with the BIOS jumper still removed, click the back to bios button then switch it on

Report back your findings


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## lorenww (Apr 10, 2018)

@Protagonist 
Reading your links.
My version is 401
I do get beeps if started without ram.
I have never updated my BIOS so what I have must be older.

With jumper removed it keeps cycling through post codes,
31, I think 28, 30, 21, 13. This is fast and may have some wrong codes. It just keeps repeating
No graphics on DVI or HDMI.
Same with back to BIOS button.

With jumper in normal and back to BIOS, stops at 08


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## Protagonist (Apr 10, 2018)

lorenww said:


> @Protagonist
> Reading your links.
> My version is 401
> I do get beeps if started without ram.
> ...



Ok that's good if its cycling through post codes with no Jumper, you might try with no jumper and BIOS 0028.BIO in a USB flash drive does not have to be bootable

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/20965/BIOS-Update-BCZ6810H-86A-?product=56461

See is that helps

If not then, this board also had some power issue with some power supplies, when it's no that state at times I switched power supply and it helped to boot up and re-flush BIOS


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## lorenww (Apr 10, 2018)

With the USB *BC0028.BIO* post goes back to hang on 08.
I see the USB light up.
Without the USB it cycles.

I dont have a spare PSU.


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## Protagonist (Apr 10, 2018)

lorenww said:


> With the USB *BC0028.BIO* post goes back to hang on 08.
> I see the USB light up.
> Without the USB it cycles.



The BIOS flush process takes a minute to several minutes depending on flash disk, so with the flash disk and no jumper give it like 5 minutes then shut down remove flash disk restore jumper and power on


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## lorenww (Apr 10, 2018)

Left it on for 15 min, no joy.
I have to run out for a bit and will check all of my voltages.

Verified with my Fluke that all voltages are good.

Something I should note. Normally if system is on the BIOS screen, just a quick touch on the power button turns everything off.
Now I have to hold down the start button for a few seconds as if an OS is loaded.

Just to make sure, I just put BC0028.BIO on my USB stick and the flash process looks for a *.BIO file, correct?


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## eidairaman1 (Apr 10, 2018)

lorenww said:


> @eidairaman1
> All I have on the mobo is PSU, CPU, 1 RAM stick.
> 
> @Protagonist
> ...



Ok is it out of the case?


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## lorenww (Apr 10, 2018)

Still in the case with everything disconnected.
I don't have a bench that I feel safe from static.


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## revin (Apr 17, 2018)

lorenww said:


> I tried the card without the PSU cable, of course it did not work, went back to the onboard graphics and *all was fine*.
> 
> Then noticed the PSU plug on the card, I plugged it in and gave it another try, still nothing and then had the problems..



Well it could be possible that if running or just a bad GPU,  a surge could have got thru to the CPU .... and the iGPU is on the CPU

As for update, You'll need to F7 to get it to do the BIOS update, but it may be an issue to know if it's asking "where" to find the file from,  not sure you need to reflash  BIOS tho

As  @Protagonist said Intel borked an Excellent board just to try to use it as a tie over from Sandybridge to Ivy, BAD move on their part ! So if the BIOS has been flashed past 028 you cant go back, if it has not then DONT! It's an Awesome 2600K board but not for 3770.

Using  my DZ68BC since Jan 2012 with the 2600K running 5 Ghz never had any issues with the system, other than when Dave discovered that 1866 Ram was Way faster than most 2133, the memory performance on it is outstanding. Currently using it with a Titan and cant more happy for this small investment

Also have you tried without ANY RAM installed?   See what code/beeps you get from that and even try pulling the CPU to make sure what codes/ beeps you can get.

I would certainly try a smaller/different PSU and maybe  see if you can use another Sandy to test with.


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## Caring1 (Apr 25, 2018)

Just my 2c, being an older Motherboard I would not use HDMI when testing different settings or resetting the BIOS.
If it has VGA or DVI use one of those connected from the on board graphics to the monitor.


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## Rbanh (Sep 17, 2018)

Registered to post here since I came across this thread in google. If you're still hoping to solve this OP, I believe I had the exact issue with being stuck on E4 when I got a new video card, AMD R9 280 which is just a refresh of the 7950. I managed to get my system to work by updating the bios to 0042, as when I discovered it's release notes this was one of the 'fixes' noted:



>  Fixed issue where system hangs when inserting certain graphic cards.



I'm thinking this could be the solution for you since our AMD cards are fairly similar, to which it also has the system hang at the same point.
I was surprised at the time that there was no other mention of this problem, but it got my computer to function relatively fine, until I got a 1070 and brought it back down to 0037.

Hope this helps


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