CPU or Moherboard problem?

xxShinobixx

xxShinobixx

xxShinobixx

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20 Nov 2010
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I recently changed my cpu and motherborad from what is in my sig to 2500k and z68 AsRock Fatal1ty. Ever since then i have been having all sorts of problems.
To begin with i clean installed Windows on a new ssd after changing the components and the installation went fine. However after the first few restarts i started having problems to boot. It wouldn't even go to post let alone Windows. Sometimes after disconnecting the power, cleaning cmos i would succeed to get to UEFI bios and sometimes even to the windows logo black screen but no further. I tried running some diagnostics from bootable cd drive but every time the drive would start to spin the computer rebooted.
I had a old thermaltake PSU and even that i know Thermaltake normally are pretty solid i thought this was the problem as i thought the PSU has had its days. So i went ahead and got Corsair AX850. Connected and the pc booted from the first time. So i thought - great.
Now a few days later however, last night i was converting some video and the computer hanged up. I rebooted and it went to windows fine but it hanged up again after few minutes, when i wasn't really doing anything - just moving the mouse around. I rebooted again and the same thing happened. After this 3rd time now when i try to reboot the pc won't start, or rather it will, there is power and everything but it will hang before i can even get to the BIOS. Basically exactly the same as before i changed the PSU.
So my question is what is likely the problem? Is it the motherboard or the CPU?

I have ruled out RAM or graphic cards as it does the same with all components removed but only CPU installed.
Now this motherboard has digital error reporting but my problem is the reports vary and are pretty inconsistent. I get different numbers which include : 10, 19, 60, among others.

The weirdest thing just happened now when i cleared cmos and tried rebooting again - the pc would boot but get kind of stuck in a boot loop - it will show the logo then go to UEFI BIOS, i would press exit, it would reboot and again the same thing. Just stuck in that loop.

Am i correct to assume that it is the mobo and not the cpu? I have never overclocked the CPU but i did run prime (when i could get to windows) on it for about 5 hours and it reported no problems.

What do you guys think?
Thanks
 
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Is the SSD on the latest firmware?

Have you tried booting the OS in safemode? Providing the rig posts and it's struggling booting the OS, safemode can help show if it's a possible driver problem
 
Yes it is the latest firmware. It is hard to think its a ssd fault as most of the time it would not go past POST even with everything disconnected and just mobo and CPU left. I did manage to get it to boot after the boot loop it was stuck in but after it loaded windows it would just freeze again. Tried a safe mod and it would still do the same. Then rebooted again and can't get to bios now.
 
I would think it would be the mobo more than the CPU. I've never come across one that has failed.....well apart from one but that was down to ambitious overclocking!

You can only say it's definately not the RAM if you have tested it with software or tried a known working RAM stick in it's place. Try 1 stick at a time and see what happens
 
The ram is taken from my old pc where it was working fine. I did try takin the ram out and running one stick. I also ran prime and reported no problems
 
xxShinobixx said:
The ram is taken from my old pc where it was working fine. I did try takin the ram out and running one stick. I also ran prime and reported no problems
Click to expand...

I struggled to read your initial post if im honest. That's quite a block of text lol If you spaced it out a lil you might get more replies.

So what do the errors the mobo reported point to?
 
What voltage does that ram run at? I found I needed a big bump in qpi/vtt voltage when using old x58 ram compared with z68 vengeance ram,this could be your problem,it would just freeze up if left on default 1.05v qpi/vtt
 
The ram is low voltage 1600mhz 686-24 @ 1.65v (1.65v manual is set in BIOS)

Something new just happened. After the boot logo/BIOS loop i think i find a way to get to Windows. Basically after i'm in BIOS i have to cancel changes and exit instead of saving changes and exit.

But then it froze again. Now, after the above just froze whilst in UEFI bios as well.
 
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Hi there. It sounds like you may have a corrupt windows installation which sometimes happens when you have both a SSD and a HDD connected during install, please try these steps to solve your problem.

Firstly, remove the bios battery from the motherboard for about 5-10 mins and unplug your mechanical HDD.
Now reinsert your bios battery but leave your HDD unplugged.
Next you will have to reinstall windows, however you will want to format your SSD during installation.
Once installed shut down your pc and reconnect your HDD. When you get into windows you may have to re-initialize your HDD. If you are unsure how to initialize then please follow this guide (http://windows7themes.net/how-to-initialize-a-hard-drive-in-windows-7.html)

I hope this solves your problem. If not then maybe it is your mobo :(.



Edit: Also, make sure that your CPU cooler is correctly mounted to your CPU and is not overheating causing stuttering and freezing.
 
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No, i haven't tried downgrading. I did however re-flash, just in case it had gotten corrupted somehow. Will try downgrading now.
Left the PC off and unplugged since about 5pm yesterday and it booted all fine right now, when i used "discard changes and exit" option in BIOS. Otherwise it would just do it's loop thing.
See how it goes....



EDIT:
Just Ran Prime for 2 hours (13:05-15:05) - no problems.
The only thing is when i restart it auto goes to BIOS and if i want to get past it, i have to "Discard changes and exit". Will try flashing BIOS not to see if this would fix it.
 
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