Having some major boot/BIOS issues at the moment. PC has been working fine recently but today it just will not boot at all... Running: 2500k ASUS P67 Sabertooth motherboard ATi 6950 2GB GFX card 8Gb Corsair Vengeance RAM SSD as my boot drive. 500Gb SATA The only thing I've changed is switching the BIOS setting from average to performace and then saving. BIOS closes and the PC reboots. Except it didnt... It booted back up but i get no signal or anything on my monitor. The fans start up quickly before settling down to idle speed and I hear my HDD come on but thats it, nothing else happens =/ I've tried resetting using the jumper on the m/b many times but no luck.... Any ideas on what the issue could be and how I can get back into the BIOS to change that setting back? Driving me mad now
power off computer unplug power supply move CMOS jumper from pins 1,2 to pins 2,3 wait 15 seconds move the jumper back to its first position plug in PSU power on computer If it still wont boot, you in trouble. Try unplugging all hard drives and DVD drive, remove all but 1 memory stick. Read manual to find which slot is supposed to be #1 for RAM. Remove all expansion devices except the graphics card. Then see if it boots
Already tried all that I'm afraid Enigma. Had a suggestion on facebook about taking the battery out and leaving it a while to reset. Going to try that and see what happens. Hopefully it fixes it. (The P67 manual also suggests the battery option should the jumper reset not work). Also found that the VGA LED stays on when its just sitting idle yet i dont think there is an issue with my GFX card as when i disconnect the DVI cable my monitor actually comes on and tells me signalnot detected :S Meh, going to see what this battery reset does. Will post back after unless you have any other ideas! Thanks
Well tried the battery out idea. No luck, left the battery out for a good hour and a half before putting everything back together again. Any more ideas?
I would say a piece of your hardware broke. Probably your CPU. Normally when things come on but you get nothing, especially no video, its a dead CPU. However, normally the fans dont slow back down if the CPU is dead either but just spin at their full 12v power Its why I dont like pre-made overclocks that you enable. Every piece of hardware is different and enabling some setting to auto do everything to specific values doesnt always work. Plus those Sandy Bridge CPUs are really finicky. I killed one almost the same way
Great.... Thats all i really need as I can't afford to go and replace it. Surely the 'safe' overclocks should not be the 3 main buttons in the bios then. They arent even in the advanced part but form main part of the 1st bios screen! Thing is though. it rebooted fine the first time, then i go back into bios to make sure it saved which it had so i closed bios again, it reboots and just sits idle. Im guessing if the CPU is screwed then it cant load bios no matter how many times i reset it. Also, why would the VGA LED stay on all the time... usually that means there is a problem with the GPU right? I tried a working GFX card from my sister's PC and still got exactly the same issues with that light on still.... Anyway, I've taken the battery out again and am going to leave it overnight and see what happens tomorrow. If still no luck I might try a return on the CPU and see what happens >.> Just tell them it died. I dont do overclocking anyway as I have no clue about where to start. (Thats probably pretty obvious anyway by my posts and knowledge - or rather lack of!)
CPUs at most have a 14 day return policy, no exceptions. You will have to RMA it with Intel directly. My friend says he thinks it is a problem with the Mobo or CPU. Dead CPU or blown capacitor. Although if it was a blown capacitor I think you would have heard it pop.
Well, tried piecing it all back together this morning with no success. - VGA_LED is still permenantly on. - Tried the jumper, battery and MemOK! button. All leave it in the idle state. - Tried another GFX card that i know works as its from another PC - no change at all, VGA LED still on with that. - Tried moving the RAM around and using just one stick in each of the slots - no difference with that. - Tried a out of case boot to make sure nothing was shorting on the case - nothing. Really am starting to think that the CPU is probably dead and maybe damaged part of the motherboard aswell since it doesnt seem to recognise a GFX card, even one that works. :'(
Also try another PSU as well. You have pretty much troubleshot everything else. Also make sure all of your connections are secure after all of the physical troubleshooting you did. Sometimes a plug can get lose without you realizing it.
Have you tried a different PSU? A PSU that isn't providing the correct voltages due to a problem could cause similar symptoms. I have this last year with my rig, where everything would appear to power up, but nothing would come up on screen. Turned out my PSU had kicked the bucket. You said your sister has a PC, try hooking her psu into yours and see what you get. Quick test. A funky PSU can do weird shit to your rig.
I tried the PSU earlier using my sister's and still get the same issue. My rig is only 2 months old and everything is new besides the case. Just really annoyed that something like this can happen when its not really supposed to -.- I guess my only option now is to try calling ASUS and Intel and see what they say about it.
Just dont tell Intel you overclocked the CPU or put it on the performance setting (same thing) as that void warranty and will deny your RMA. Unless you buy their overclocking insurance.
Well, after taking it to a local repair place for a diagnostics check, its been confirmed that the CPU is in fact fine and the issue is actually with the motherboard chipset. Right at the start of booting it runs a quick self check of the RAM, CPU and Graphics. It is completing the first 2 fine but then failing on the graphics check - hence the VGA LED is on. Tried with a working graphics card to rule my current one out but get the same issue. (Also tried with the graphics cards in the other PCI-E slot with the same results). Therefore from the above and the testing I've done the guy is 99% sure its the motherboard - whether its the actual PCI-E slots or the chipset tests. Next thing is to contact ASUS and get them to replace or refund under warranty. Not sure how long that is going to take though so I may just bite the bullet and order a new motherboard to replace it anyway due to the upcoming TERA test weekend... Just a shame that the motherboard is £35 more now than it was in January! >_<
mmm. dead mobo-the most evil of all. Makes sense though. It seems anymore, a slow death of a motherboard is gone. used to be, you could just tell something was slowly dying in your computer. Things are so integrated these day, one problem and its instant failure. oone day it works, the next it doesnt. i feel your pain.
Well, received my new motherboard this morning after ordering it last night (Exactly the same one - Asus Sabertooth P67) Dropped it in and plugged everything in. Booted up and it ran to windows straight away lol. I think that shows what the dead component was... Now to contact Asus and try get a refund under warranty
As a rule of thumb, the CPU is the last component I would ever consider replacing, especially if it's Intel. I've repaired a ton of laptops and desktops, and have very rarely seen a dead CPU. Glad to hear you got this sorted.
come to think of it Rubius, you're absolutely right. I've blown a cpu or two before, but it was very obvious what had happened. You can see it and smell it. Motherboard failures can be much more insidious in that they are a little more difficult to nail down.