Well this sucks
 

So recently I decided that my old compy needed some updating. I get all the parts needed and get everything setup and.... the motherboard won't start. At all. The led backlights came on but nothing else happened, no bios beeps, just a whole lot of nothing. I'm beginning to think that it might be a case of it being DOA. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong but it's just not working.


I've tried everything possible right down to doing a test with the motherboard outside the case with only the 8-pin 12V and the 24-pin connector but nothing works.:k_confused: One person on the ASRock forum suggested moving the jumper for the clear CMOS except that this motherboard doesn't seem to have that. It's got two clear CMOS buttons but not what they are talking about.



Build Specs
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X

RAM: HyperX Fury 16GB
MOBO: ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate

Was the CPU in the socket?
Some Ryzen motherboards need a bios update to boot newer Ryzen chips.
Most newer motherboards should have it, but this one may have slipped through the cracks.
Or it's one of the first boards, and was built before the bios update was released.


You might check the revision # on the board, and search the net for which bios version it has.


NOTE: Some boards were made to be able to boot to update firmware -WITHOUT- a CPU.
You might check if ASRock is one that can do this, I don't remember all of the boards that could.

Hopefully it's not DOA.



Barracuda

Is there any of the ol the old parts still being used? Is it a new mobo?
If it's the old mobo then try removing all the cards and use the old ones to see if it runs. If it is a new mobo the I would say an update is not the correct term!!
Is the power supply new or old?
If you have access to a multimeter I would check the voltages at the pins on the mobo, turn it upside down and check at the solder joints, this would at least check if power is getting to the mobo. Any burn smells? :hmmm:

Confirm the CPU was in the socket. I know the bios version is P1.50 which is what came with the motherboard. Only problem is it's not starting.


The only old parts that are being used is really just the hard drives, although two out of the four I have are over 5+ years and the power supply is 11 years old but still going strong. Negative on any burning smells.



Here's a basic rundown of what I did when I tested the motherboard outside of the case. This was done with ONLY the CPU connected to the motherboard.



Step 1: Shut off power to the PSU and disconnect the power cord.
Step 2: Place the motherboard on a clean surface.
Step 3: Connect the 8 pin 12V cable into it's slot and is well seated.
Step 4: Connect the 24 pin power cable into it's slot.
Step 5: Connect the speaker to it's place on the motherboard in order to hear any bios beep codes.
Step 6: Reconnect the power cord to the PSU and turn it on.



When the PSU is turned on the led lights on the motherboard do come on and will turn off when it PSU is off. But when I press the power button on the motherboard nothing happens. Even if the PSU was under powered and the motherboard worked correctly I would have gotten the beep code telling me so.


Think about it this way, you get in your car and it's got full gas, oil, water and a fully charged battery you go to start it up and the darn thing won't start, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with but no matter what you do it just won't start... That's kind of the situation I'm in now except it's a computer not a car.

Is the power button bad?
I've had several cases (old and new), where the power button would go bad.
Since they don't need to be held for a long time, I've used a reset button for that.

Barracuda

It's possible that the button is bad or there could be a short somewhere which I think is what's happening. I'm going to be picking up a multimeter today so I'll see what happens. I've often wondered if the manufacturers test their boards at the factory to see if they are working properly before shipping them to the buyer(s)?


Edit: I got the multimeter but I've never done this sort of test before. Could someone give me some pointers as to how I'm supposed to do this?

So I did some more digging and it turns out that this motherboard doesn't support my current OS which is Win 7 64-bit, but does support Win 10 64-bit. That might have been the real real problem.

I'm sure you have, but did you double check where you plugged in the power button?
I've had a few what were easy to read, but near impossible to actually connect correctly because of the way the pins were arranged.
Might be as simple as that.:hmmm:


It drove me nuts until I figured it out, then it drove me nuts trying to get them on the right pins.





I would do a close visual inspection (magnifying glass might be helpful, or use a high-res setting on your phone camera)...
Looking for anything on the motherboard that could be shorting the system.


I've never used one on a motherboard before, so I have no clue.


Barracuda

After testing, troubleshooting I finally decided to ask for an RMA. Nothing that I've done has worked at all. I'm still pretty certain that it was DOA but I wanted to at least try everything first before sending it back.


EDIT: I did some more troubleshooting and if I plug in the 24-pin power connector and install the CPU the board will start. If I plug in the 8-pin 12V and plug in the CPU fan it will start but if I seat and lock the CPU fan the board will NOT start up.

Sorry, I missed this post, was typing mine...:doh:

This right here is why I prefer to go to a store, open the box and inspect the Motherboard/video card/etc.
A visual inspection will not find bad components, but it will locate damage to said components that could result in a fried board.

This isn't always an option for everyone, but when it is... :up:



That is rather odd...:hmmm:




Barracuda

It is quite odd but thus far that's the direction the tests are pointing at, what I think is happening is that when the CPU fan is seated and locked in place it's putting too much pressure onto the CPU possibly creating a short in the system. If that's the problem then I came up with a solution for it which would be to make a shim out of electrical tape and placing it with the adhesive side facing up under each corner of the plastic parts that help hold the CPU fan in place. As long as I can get it to a point where the pressure on the CPU is reduced but is still in contact with bottom of the fan then it should work, in theory.

try running it with the default cpu fan/heatsink, as long as you have some sort of heatsink (without a fan) it will run fine for 5 minutes or so without over heating. :yep:

Subscribed :up:

So after some more tests yesterday I ended up loosing the screws on the plastic parts where the CPU fan gets locked in and now everything works. Expect I now have to update my OS to Windows 10 as I've been using Windows 7 forever but 7 has problems recognizing the USB ports data. ASRock has a tool to fix this but from what I've seen the tool is only good for when you are installing Win 7 not after it's already been installed...

Sort of good news, but windows 10!! :-?:dead::/\\!!