# Possible dead mobo/CPU



## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 12, 2014)

I think either my motherboard and/or my CPU has failed. I was playing Borderlands 2 one minute, quit the game and left the computer for a couple of minutes, when I came back, the computer was off and CPU-led was red. Furthermore, all the fans getting power from the motherboard weren't spinning, but the ones hooked up to the PSU were still running. The fans on the GPU-cooler were also running. I find this weird, since my rig is very new (built in January 2014), and I have not done anything crazy at all: my CPU voltage is running a tad bit over stock, and I haven't touched my GPU's voltage, just maxed the power limit out (+20%). 

What I've done thus far is remove and put back the CMOS battery, re-install both GPU and CPU + cooler. Nothing happens, no beep. I don't really have any chance to swap parts to troubleshoot. Would really appreciate any help.

Parts can be seen in the sidebar thingy, but here they are anyways.

AMD FX-8320
ASUS M5A97 Evo R2.0
8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600MHz
Club3D R9 280X
Corsair CX600M
CM Hyper 212 Evo
Kingston 120GB SSD
WD Blue 1TB


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 13, 2014)

It sounds as if it's the motherboard.  CPU's rarely die.  A big clue is the fans still running that are hooked direct to PSU. 

What you should probably do (because the motherboard manufacturer will likely require it first (and it's a royal pain), is try another PSU if you have access to one (see last sentence since you said you can't swap).  Also, pull the motherboard out of the case and set it all up on cardboard using just the minimum of cpu, cpu cooler, and first one stick of RAM, then the other, and try in all slots., just to see if you get Anything. 

If no action at all, it will likely confirm it's the motherboard.  Ideally, if you have access to another PSU that is powerful enough that you can just borrow, you should try that too.


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 13, 2014)

Take your motherboard out of case with psu and video card and hook only monitor keyboard and mouse to it.


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 13, 2014)

rtwjunkie said:


> It sounds as if it's the motherboard.  CPU's rarely die.  A big clue is the fans still running that are hooked direct to PSU.
> 
> What you should probably do (because the motherboard manufacturer will likely require it first (and it's a royal pain), is try another PSU if you have access to one (see last sentence since you said you can't swap).  Also, pull the motherboard out of the case and set it all up on cardboard using just the minimum of cpu, cpu cooler, and first one stick of RAM, then the other, and try in all slots., just to see if you get Anything.
> 
> If no action at all, it will likely confirm it's the motherboard.  Ideally, if you have access to another PSU that is powerful enough that you can just borrow, you should try that too.



I will try the cardboard box trick. Should I just keep the hard drives in the case and but still have them connected to my motherboard? The only other system I have access to is an old one, with an Athlon II X3 430 and a 400W PSU, with not enough connectors to power my current system. What I think I'll try is to throw my current PSU in the old system. If it powers up, that means the PSU is working. Then I can try putting the Athlon II X3 in my current system (Asus specs page lists Athlon II's as compatible). If I get nothing, I can then be sure of that the motherboard is dead. Can't really verify if the CPU is dead though, but as you said, it should be unlikely.



eidairaman1 said:


> Take your motherboard out of case with psu and video card and hook only monitor keyboard and mouse to it.



I should still have my hard drives in the case and connected yes?


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 13, 2014)

This is to test those components i specified first, you should be able to get to bios screen. Just make sure your cid card is fully seated in the first pcie 16x slot





Yellow&Nerdy? said:


> I will try the cardboard box trick. Should I just keep the hard drives in the case and but still have them connected to my motherboard? The only other system I have access to is an old one, with an Athlon II X3 430 and a 400W PSU, with not enough connectors to power my current system. What I think I'll try is to throw my current PSU in the old system. If it powers up, that means the PSU is working. Then I can try putting the Athlon II X3 in my current system (Asus specs page lists Athlon II's as compatible). If I get nothing, I can then be sure of that the motherboard is dead. Can't really verify if the CPU is dead though, but as you said, it should be unlikely.
> 
> 
> 
> I should still have my hard drives in the case and connected yes?


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 13, 2014)

eidairaman1 said:


> This is to test those components i specified first, you should be able to get to bios screen. Just make sure your cid card is fully seated in the first pcie 16x slot


Alright, will be trying that. I also need at least one stick of RAM in the mobo to test this right?


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 13, 2014)

Yellow&Nerdy? said:


> Alright, will be trying that. I also need at least one stick of RAM in the mobo to test this right?


 
You should, yes...however, it should power on (if the motherboard is good) with just cpu, power supply and motherboard, and then beep, indicating there is no RAM.  You will not get to POST w/o RAM though.  If the motherboard is bad, you probably won't get anything powering up.

And the purpose for pulling out of the case is to exclude the possibility the case is causing a short somewhere on the back of the motherboard.


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## Sasqui (Mar 13, 2014)

A faulty PSU killed an older Gigabyte board I had.  Pretty much the exact same symptoms.  The PSU seemed fine, but the system had acted flakey for months before that.  No beep, but the fan on the GPU worked, simply nothing from the motherboard.

I cannot tell you how much time I spend finally figuring out it was the PSU, it was the *last* component I checked over a period of a MONTH!  I even bought (and killed one of the PCI slots) on an ASUS Maximus Formula in the process.


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 13, 2014)

Sasqui said:


> A faulty PSU killed an older Gigabyte board I had.  Pretty much the exact same symptoms.  The PSU seemed fine, but the system had acted flakey for months before that.  No beep, but the fan on the GPU worked, simply nothing from the motherboard.
> 
> I cannot tell you how much time I spend finally figuring out it was the PSU, it was the *last* component I checked over a period of a MONTH!  I even bought (and killed one of the PCI slots) on an ASUS Maximus Formula in the process.


How would you go about testing the PSU? I do have an old rig I could access that I could put it into, but I'd rather not kill that too...


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 13, 2014)

Yellow&Nerdy? said:


> How would you go about testing the PSU? I do have an old rig I could access that I could put it into, but I'd rather not kill that too...


 
That's why I suggested also hooking up another PSU to that motherboard.  With nothing but the board and cpu, that other (400watt) PSU you have should be just fine.  If it starts up (not POST- we're just checking power delivery at this point), you'll know your other PSU is the problem, and likly not the motherboard.


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## n0tiert (Mar 13, 2014)

The 600W PSU is to weak (my opinion)
And yes follow the stets as mentioned
Minimal setup


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## Sasqui (Mar 13, 2014)

Yellow&Nerdy? said:


> How would you go about testing the PSU? I do have an old rig I could access that I could put it into, but I'd rather not kill that too...



Exactly!  It wasn't until I plugged a spare PSU I had kicking around into the Maximus Formula, and BAM... everything worked perfectly (except for the PCI slot).  I was kicking myself, mad any happy all at the same time.  lol


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 13, 2014)

Interesting update. Took the rig out, and am now able to boot normally. Huge relief. So I guess it had a short in the case? How can I know where it shorted, and how can I avoid it when putting stuff back in? Thanks for all the input btw.


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## sneekypeet (Mar 13, 2014)

install the board and all that into the case, but don't wire the front panel wiring. If it boots fine here, plug wiring in one at a time to see what causes the issue.

It is not impossible that the audio, USB or the switches and LEDs will short. I have personally connected cases and seen front I/Os go up in a glorious puff of smoke and the nasty smell of burnt plastic!


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## FX-GMC (Mar 13, 2014)

Yellow&Nerdy? said:


> Interesting update. Took the rig out, and am now able to boot normally. Huge relief. So I guess it had a short in the case? How can I know where it shorted, and how can I avoid it when putting stuff back in? Thanks for all the input btw.





sneekypeet said:


> install the board and all that into the case, but don't wire the front panel wiring. If it boots fine here, plug wiring in one at a time to see what causes the issue.
> 
> It is not impossible that the audio, USB or the switches and LEDs will short. I have personally connected cases and seen front I/Os go up in a glorious puff of smoke and the nasty smell of burnt plastic!



In addition to this if you have a multimeter it wouldn't hurt to test the motherboard mounting screws and around the case panels for ground.


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## sneekypeet (Mar 13, 2014)

I have rarely seem standoffs being a real issue, however, if there is an extra one installed touching the back of the board, that would do it for sure!


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 13, 2014)

sneekypeet said:


> install the board and all that into the case, but don't wire the front panel wiring. If it boots fine here, plug wiring in one at a time to see what causes the issue.
> 
> It is not impossible that the audio, USB or the switches and LEDs will short. I have personally connected cases and seen front I/Os go up in a glorious puff of smoke and the nasty smell of burnt plastic!





FX-GMC said:


> In addition to this if you have a multimeter it wouldn't hurt to test the motherboard mounting screws and around the case panels for ground.



Will try that out. The case I have is pretty shit to be honest, so it might as well be the culprit. If it is, I might end up just plunging some extra money in and getting a better case. I've been looking for an excuse to get rid of my current case anyways... lol


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 13, 2014)

Yellow&Nerdy? said:


> Will try that out. The case I have is pretty shit to be honest, so it might as well be the culprit. If it is, I might end up just plunging some extra money in and getting a better case. I've been looking for an excuse to get rid of my current case anyways... lol


 
Sounds like a great excuse for a new case!  Seriously though, I'm actually glad it was just a short, as that is alot less costly and (mostly) easier to deal with than a new motherboard.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Mar 13, 2014)

sneekypeet said:


> I have rarely seem standoffs being a real issue, however, if there is an extra one installed touching the back of the board, that would do it for sure!



I had an extra stand off, kill a usb controller on a board some years ago.


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## Aquinus (Mar 13, 2014)

sneekypeet said:


> I have rarely seem standoffs being a real issue, however, if there is an extra one installed touching the back of the board, that would do it for sure!



Or if there is something that is shorting the board to the standoff. It's worth visually assessing each standoff hole on the bottom of the board. It might also be worth while to use paper grommet if you have any. Several motherboards and cases I've ordered have come with them and should rule out that particular issue.


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 14, 2014)

Aquinus said:


> Or if there is something that is shorting the board to the standoff. It's worth visually assessing each standoff hole on the bottom of the board. It might also be worth while to use paper grommet if you have any. Several motherboards and cases I've ordered have come with them and should rule out that particular issue.


What should I be looking after at the standoff holes? I actually already had grommets between each standoff and the hole in the case. And there are no extra standoffs, 9 for the 9 screw holes on a standard ATX board.


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 14, 2014)

take a look at the back side and see if there is anything at the soldering that could extend far enough to touch the case.

Is the case totally flat, or are there slightly raised portions which are closer to the motherboard?

also, I normally put motherboard onto the standoffsz, and use the little grommets between the motherboard and the head of the screws, so they dont touch the motherboard.


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 14, 2014)

So I have actually managed to plug everything in while the system is outside, and it boots just fine. I think I know what was shorting the system now: the I/O shield. I/O shields that come with my mobo have been known to have the openings too high, so it blocks the lower ports and makes it hard to get the mobo in place. For that reason I had to "mod" it, and in the process I must of done something that had the potential to short the system. I won't have time to put the rig back together until Sunday, but when I do, we'll see if my guess is correct.


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 14, 2014)

That's good to hear!  I'm looking forward to finding out if that was the issue.  Question, though: Are the standoffs you are using the ones that came with the case?  Sometimes the issue is not that the I/O shield openings are too high, but that the standoffs are of the shorter variety.  A few years ago I had a case in which nothing seemed to quite fit high enough to fit well with the houtside of the case, from the I/O devices to the video card.

Turned out to be the standoffs I used were too short.  I brought over the ones from a previous case instead of using the slightly taller ones supplied with the case.


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 14, 2014)

rtwjunkie said:


> That's good to hear!  I'm looking forward to finding out if that was the issue.  Question, though: Are the standoffs you are using the ones that came with the case?  Sometimes the issue is not that the I/O shield openings are too high, but that the standoffs are of the shorter variety.  A few years ago I had a case in which nothing seemed to quite fit high enough to fit well with the houtside of the case, from the I/O devices to the video card.
> 
> Turned out to be the standoffs I used were too short.  I brought over the ones from a previous case instead of using the slightly taller ones supplied with the case.


I used the ones that come with the case, and my graphics card is a perfect fit. If I'd put taller standoffs in, I don't think I'd be able to screw my graphics card on. I have been Google-searching about my mobo model, and it turns out I'm far from the only one that has experienced this problem with their I/O shield. Must be a manufacturing error on Asus' side. Most people just ended up with not using one at all, I as said tried modding it, but I guess I'll end up not using one as well. I suppose it's not a big deal, where I live there are no bugs really, and the only other trade off is a bit more dust getting in the case.


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## FX-GMC (Mar 14, 2014)

Yellow&Nerdy? said:


> I used the ones that come with the case, and my graphics card is a perfect fit. If I'd put taller standoffs in, I don't think I'd be able to screw my graphics card on. I have been Google-searching about my mobo model, and it turns out I'm far from the only one that has experienced this problem with their I/O shield. Must be a manufacturing error on Asus' side. Most people just ended up with not using one at all, I as said tried modding it, but I guess I'll end up not using one as well. I suppose it's not a big deal, where I live there are no bugs really, and the only other trade off is a bit more dust getting in the case.



Have you tried to see if Asus will send you a new I/O shield?  Maybe the next one will fit better.  Couldn't hurt right?


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Mar 18, 2014)

So, finally had time to put the rig back in the case. Put washers between the mobo and the screws, didn't install the I/O shield, and it works just fine now. So I'm pretty sure it was the I/O shield that caused this. Luckily it's not too big of a deal to run the rig without one. Thanks to everyone for their input, I'm a bit of a newbie, so couldn't of solved this without your guys' help. 


FX-GMC said:


> Have you tried to see if Asus will send you a new I/O shield?  Maybe the next one will fit better.  Couldn't hurt right?


They won't send me a new one, because I didn't file a complaint within 7 days of purchase... Which is BS, cause I bought it on the 9th of December, but the store didn't ship my stuff until like the 20th of December because of some availability hiccups. Oh well, there are pretty much no bugs where I live so it's no biggie.


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## Vario (Mar 18, 2014)

Glad its working now.  IO shields are sometimes on eBay, however this depends on your geographic area.


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 19, 2014)

Vario said:


> Glad its working now.  IO shields are sometimes on eBay, however this depends on your geographic area.


 
You can usually find just about any IO shield you need on ebay.  If there isn't one for yours today, try again in a couple days.  PAtience will win you your prize!


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