# Big problem, new Maximus Formula



## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

I just received this "new" Maximus Formula motherboard. I've been trying to get the board to post ALL day. No luck at all. The board will light up, but when I turn the system on, it turns off in a matter of seconds. It will then restart this process all over again. I've tried everything I could think of. I've tried 2 different power supplies, 2 different cpu's (a e8400 and e4600), 2 different video cards. No matter what, it does the same thing. I've reset the cmos numerous time, by the clear cmos button and I've taken the battery out for varying lengths of time. This is really starting to piss me off. I NEED help!! I should have known better that to try asus again.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

come on guys. Someone has to have a clue...


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## WhiteLotus (Aug 31, 2008)

maybe a new bios chip is needed?


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## Jmatt110 (Aug 31, 2008)

Try replacing the battery with a new one? I've had nothing but clear sailing with all my ASUS products


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## Solaris17 (Aug 31, 2008)

pull it out of the case and boot it on a box.


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## WhiteLotus (Aug 31, 2008)

Solaris17 said:


> pull it out of the case and boot it on a box.



thinking shorting?


does it even get to the BEEP stage?


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## Kursah (Aug 31, 2008)

The Maximus should support 45nm cpu's out of the chute I would assume...do you have an older C2D/P4 775 processor to try maybe? I don't think that's the issue here tho...I do agree with Sol, you should try booting it out of the case on a box.


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## erocker (Aug 31, 2008)

What does the LCD poster say?


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## WCG12 (Aug 31, 2008)

Hey,I'm the person from e-bay,what brand and wattage are you power suppies,Also what video cards are you using?


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## erocker (Aug 31, 2008)

WCG12 said:


> Hey,I'm the person from e-bay,what brand and wattage are you power suppies,Also what video cards are you using?



System specifications are located underneath the avatar/personal info.


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## AsRock (Aug 31, 2008)

Kursah said:


> The Maximus should support 45nm cpu's out of the chute I would assume...do you have an older C2D/P4 775 processor to try maybe? I don't think that's the issue here tho...I do agree with Sol, you should try booting it out of the case on a box.



Not to sure about that,  mine did well long enough to update it but seen posts on ASUS forum that people have not been so lucky.

What the Poster say if any thing ?.

Tried booting with out v card ?.

Tried unplugging every thing except whats needed ?.


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## WCG12 (Aug 31, 2008)

Sorry didn't know,


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## Solaris17 (Aug 31, 2008)

WhiteLotus said:


> thinking shorting?
> 
> 
> does it even get to the BEEP stage?



ya i had 1 or 2 mobos that would cut out automatically because i forgot a spacer and one of the cards weighed it down enough to cause contact...


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## WCG12 (Aug 31, 2008)

Is the CPU fan spinning up when you do have somewhat of a starup before it shuts down?


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## Vagike (Aug 31, 2008)

First off, if this is a board that is right off the shelf or RMA, the BIOS revision will not be par to use an E8400.

Second, if your ram JEDECs to 800Mhz, testing with a CPU that has and 800MHz FSB (aka E4600) could cause you grief too. I have not had much luck matching my FSB speed to my ram speed right off the bat.
Try to find someone who has a 1333 or 1066 FSB in a E/Q6xxx series to test and flash bios for E8400.


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## WCG12 (Aug 31, 2008)

This is a brand new board,not a refurb,I sold it to him,Asus' website says try the following is board won't boot.
1. Please clear CMOS.

2. Please take out your memory cards and video card, try to clean their golden connectors with a rubber, then reseat them back.

3. Please take the CPU cooler out, add some thermal paste to the CPU surface, then reseat the cooler back and keep the cooler tightly installed.

4. Please keep the necessary components(CPU, one memory) onboard for a test.

Finally, we would recommend you to replace a BIOS battery to have a test.


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## Solaris17 (Aug 31, 2008)

my money is on a SC or a bad batt


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## WCG12 (Aug 31, 2008)

I'm thinking maybe he has the CPU fan working off a molex and the boards shutting off because its sensing no fan speed in the bios power management section of the Bios.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

erocker said:


> What does the LCD poster say?



cpu init. Got past that once during an early attempt, got to cmostest once.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

WCG12 said:


> This is a brand new board,not a refurb,I sold it to him,Asus' website says try the following is board won't boot.
> 1. Please clear CMOS.
> 
> 2. Please take out your memory cards and video card, try to clean their golden connectors with a rubber, then reseat them back.
> ...



I've done all of these things, except for switching out the battery, which I'll do in a couple of minutes.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

WCG12 said:


> I'm thinking maybe he has the CPU fan working off a molex and the boards shutting off because its sensing no fan speed in the bios power management section of the Bios.



Nope, it's a brand new AC freezer extreme, connected solidly to the cpu, and plugged directly into the cpu header. I've also switched the cooler out for the stock cooler, just in case it wasn't sensing the fan. Same damn issue.


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## WCG12 (Aug 31, 2008)

does the cpu fan spin up?


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

Kursah said:


> The Maximus should support 45nm cpu's out of the chute I would assume...do you have an older C2D/P4 775 processor to try maybe? I don't think that's the issue here tho...I do agree with Sol, you should try booting it out of the case on a box.



yeah, I tried using the e4600 from my back up rig. Same deal. About 4 seconds fans run, then shuts down, powers back on, shuts down...over and over.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

WCG12 said:


> does the cpu fan spin up?



Yes, sure does.


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 31, 2008)

This maybe a pain to do but it's worth a shot when trouble shooting.  

Take the motherboard out of the case and place it on top of the motherboard box (somewhere where you are in arm's reach of your monitor) then assemble the cpu, ram and video card.  Use the power on button on the motherboard itself to start it and see if the MB actually works.  If it doesn't RMA it.


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## WCG12 (Aug 31, 2008)

did you check if that bios supports your cpu type?I know you cant post but sometimes it says on the bios chip.I'm heading over to asus' site to see what i can find out.


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 31, 2008)

WCG12 said:


> did you check if that bios supports your cpu type?I know you cant post but sometimes it says on the bios chip.I'm heading over to asus' site to see what i can find out.



If he tried both E8400 and E4600 then one of the 2 should work.  Earlier MFs had problems with E8400s but that's long been fixed via bios update.

Edit:
I noticed he used the word "new" maximus formula.  What does that mean in particular?


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

EastCoasthandle said:


> This maybe a pain to do but it's worth a shot when trouble shooting.
> 
> Take the motherboard out of the case and place it on top of the motherboard box (somewhere where you are in arm's reach of your monitor) then assemble the cpu, ram and video card.  Use the power on button on the motherboard itself to start it and see if the MB actually works.  If it doesn't RMA it.



Yeah, I'm getting ready to take it out of the case now, and put it together on a box. I'm also going to try the cmos battery from my back up rig, as I know that one is good.


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## erocker (Aug 31, 2008)

erocker said:


> What does the LCD poster say?



^^^^


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

WCG12 said:


> did you check if that bios supports your cpu type?I know you cant post but sometimes it says on the bios chip.I'm heading over to asus' site to see what i can find out.



Some of the earlier bios did not support wolfdales out of the box. It should have no problem with the e4600 though. I'm going to try the box setup right now. I'll be back in a half hour.


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 31, 2008)

Paulieg said:


> Yeah, I'm getting ready to take it out of the case now, and put it together on a box. I'm also going to try the cmos battery from my back up rig, as I know that one is good.



Yeah, a quick voltmeter check to make sure it's putting out 3.3V will tell you if the batter is good or bad.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

erocker said:


> ^^^^



erocker, I did answer this in an earlier post. It reads cpu init. A couple of times it got to the memory test and cmos test, but no further.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

EastCoasthandle said:


> Yeah, a quick voltmeter check to make sure it's putting out 3.3V will tell you if the batter is good or bad.



Irony here. The battery in my multimeter is dead.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

be back in a few.


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## WCG12 (Aug 31, 2008)

I know we tried the memory switching thing but have you tried a different brand altogether,When I first got mine I used OCZ and also no post,so I tried corsair and never looked back,than at one point asus posted a new bios to update its ram compatibility issue.


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## WCG12 (Aug 31, 2008)

check this-http://www.asus.com/999/download/products/1889/1889_10.pdf


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## Solaris17 (Aug 31, 2008)

GL dude might be a socket prob CPU init either cmos batt...shorting or a new theory a few times iv seen the pins in the 775 socklet bent and stuff like 1 stuck under another id examine that and make sure non of them are touching.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

WCG12 said:


> I know we tried the memory switching thing but have you tried a different brand altogether,When I first got mine I used OCZ and also no post,so I tried corsair and never looked back,than at one point asus posted a new bios to update its ram compatibility issue.



I've tried the 6400 ballistix and a cheap set of PNY 5300's. Same exact issue.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

Solaris17 said:


> GL dude might be a socket prob CPU init either cmos batt...shorting or a new theory a few times iv seen the pins in the 775 socklet bent and stuff like 1 stuck under another id examine that and make sure non of them are touching.



I've check the pins with a flashlight. No bent pins in the socket.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

OK, just fired it up outside the case on a box. Same issue, so it's definately not a short issue.


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 31, 2008)

Take it back, RMA it  
Q: Are you able to see what bios version you are using?


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

WCG12 said:


> check this-http://www.asus.com/999/download/products/1889/1889_10.pdf



The Ballistix I have are on the campatibility list.


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## oily_17 (Aug 31, 2008)

I have the Maximus Extreme and no matter what I change in the bios I have to do a hard shut-down.hold the power button in for 5 seconds, as my board will not repost after making changes.
But after the hard shut down then the settings stick and I can carry on from there.

EDIT: sorry I see you can not get he board to post at all,so my info is useless as you are not getting any sign of posting.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

Just switched out the batteries. Still, no luck. I'm at a loss here. I've tried everything. I'm 99.9% sure the board is dead.


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## Jmatt110 (Aug 31, 2008)

Can you see any actual physical defects on the board? Cracks, scratches, something touch another thats shorting, blown cap or anything like that?


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I might give it another go, but damn I spent almost every free moment today trying to get this damn board going. This has been even worse than the crap I went through with my Black Pearl. I think I'll be staying away from ASUS.


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## PaulieG (Aug 31, 2008)

Jmatt110 said:


> Can you see any actual physical defects on the board? Cracks, scratches, something touch another thats shorting, blown cap or anything like that?



No, the board looks great. I believe the seller when he says it's new. I've checked it out thoroughly.


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## EastCoasthandle (Aug 31, 2008)

The only other suggestion is to remove the ram and turn it on.  That way you force it to give you an error.  Then place one ram stick back in and try to it again.


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## trt740 (Sep 1, 2008)

paul use one stick of ram put it in the first slot and see if it will boot the default on ram is 1.8v. Then add your ram again at 2.2v or whatever. These board are pickey as hell about ram. Are you just getting a black screen with spinning fans?


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## Ormoran (Sep 1, 2008)

yes it do .. all sounds like in a normal pc.. just nothing on the screen


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## wolf2009 (Sep 1, 2008)

is it possible that the board might be shorting , and to prevent further damage it shuts down


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## PaulieG (Sep 2, 2008)

wolf2009 said:


> is it possible that the board might be shorting , and to prevent further damage it shuts down



rebuilt the setup out on a cardboard box. Still no love.


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## trt740 (Sep 2, 2008)

Paulieg said:


> rebuilt the setup out on a cardboard box. Still no love.



send that crap back.


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## MarcusTaz (Sep 2, 2008)

Just do an anvanced replacment RMA, Asus has it available if you need the board quickly, otherwise RMA it. A dead Cmos battery? I do not think this would do it.

If you take out the all the ram and try and boot does it give you beep codes??


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