MOBO install problem ASUS M5 A97 r2.0

Hello,

HISTORY;
a day or two ago I noticed one of my case fans had stopped working. Stupidly I decided to just nudge the connector while the machine was on. When I touched the connector at the fan head, the speakers gave a noise spike - although the fan started running again. Once I looked up my display was corrupted & the machine had locked up. I reset & the LEDs on the MB (Crosshair IV formula) indicated it was failing a the VGA initialisation. I removed & resat the gfx card (GTX970) and on the next reboot. It got past that but then failed to find a boot device - I assumed I had nudged the SATA cable loose - made sure all connections were firm & booted again. This time it would fail on (which is before the VGA or boot disk errors) RAM & loop back to CPU try RAM again & fail. Reseated the DIMMs but the same problem occurred.

So because the fail points during boot were all over the place I assumed it was the motherboard that had failed.

MY CPU was/is a Phenom II x6 1090T black which is AM3.

PROBLEM:

I bought a M5 A97 R2.0 & rebuilt the machine transferring the CPU but it is not working & the mobo doesn't seem to be giving my any feedback.

The power supply works (to the extent all the fans are spinning & the power light is on on the MB)

The manual says the memory LED will light if there is a problem with the memory.

The other diagnostic clues are BIOS beeps like so...

1 beep = VGA detected, quickboot enabled, no keyboard detected
1 long, two short, pause & repeat = no memory
1 long, 3 short = no VGA
1 long then 4 short = hardware component failure

When I turn it on all fans spin, but none of the error conditions occur.

I tried using the MEM OK button to see if it would configure the memory - the LED flashes as described in the manual but after waiting 10 minutes it was still just flashing - no error condition & no success either.

Since then I removed 1/2 the RAM (Corsair XMS3 4 x 2gb for 8gb total) no luck & no error

SO the I thought I would see if I could provoke any error response (no VGA, no RAM etc..)

removed all the RAM - no error condition.
unplugged all drives except the system SSD
disconnected the power from the GTX970

Nothing makes a difference. The lights come on the fans spin but other than that, nothing.

I could easily believe the CPU is dead - but I would expect some kind of diagnostic response from the machine, but I get nothing.

Does anyone have any experience with diagnosing this board or suggestions of what I can try?

I have very little money at the moment as we just bought a house & are renovating it which is why I am just trying to replace the MB rather than do a full upgrade.

Thanks in advance for your time!

Have a close look at the power connectors for the mobo on the psu, see if any connectors look burned. I had a nasty psu which caused this kind of problem. Short of trying another cpu I cannot think what else to try. You could look for the cheapest AM3 cpu on flea bay [less than £15] to try.

I've since tried every ram stick individually, confirmed there are no risers under the MB that shouldn't be there.

@Midlife Crisis - thanks for the suggestion. The Modular PSU is in good nick & all the connectors look clean & new.

I've asked around all the computer repair shops in a 10mile radius if they have an AM3 board I can check the CPU in, but no one can. Although they all think it is probably the MB as none of them have seen a CPU fail in years apparently.

I found one instance on the net of someone with a similar problem with the same MB. He had another board he could confirm the CPU was OK in & RMA'd it.

I have an RMA number now, just waiting for a response from ASUS support about what behaviour I should expect from the MB if the CPU was faulty.

ASUS were no help, just asked me to make sure my cpu & ram are on their QVL!

So I returned it.

Thank you Overclockers for processing it as soon as it arrived & dispatching a replacement the same day. I'm typing this from a machine built from the working replacement.

Great Service!