Motherboard issues

[Wingo]

I installed a new heat sink today. The first applicatioin of thermal paste didn't go well so I re-did it. When I went to start the computer back up it wouldn't boot. I'm not getting a POST screen or any other sign of activity bar the fans running. If I leave the CPU fan unplugged the computer doesn't shut down by itself. There is also a little light near the RAM that usually turns on during start up and it doesn't light any more and there's no power or connection from the USB ports. From what I can tell there is no damage to the motherboard and no bent pins. I did get a blue screen before shutting down and changing the paste again that said something like too long receiving something from a secondary core. I googled it and most people said it pointed towards a problem with the CPU or motherboard. Should I be assuming my motherboard has died and get in contact with the warranty people?

[ozzy72]

Have you checked the jumpers on the board and all connectors are okay and there are no bent pins?

[wsciutti]

Wingo,

I just had to RMA an ASUS P6T that slowly went bonkers after adding a new cooler. The same issue, would not POST, blue light near DIMM channels would not come on. I tried the new Mushkin memory(1600) annd for a while it would boot as dual channel with mem in slots 1,2 and 5. Tried the original Corsair 1333 mem but no go so I will be installing a new P6T this week.

My PSU is a new PC Power&Cooling 750 which I do not believe is the problem. Nick N said Mushkin may have released bad mem but that would not have fouled the board.

I think I just got a defective ASUS.

Also, I will use a recomended OCZ 1600 RAM this time.

Hope this helps.

Jack

[NickN]

Sounds like RMA to me.. assuming all power plugs are installed correctly, PSU is correct for the system, and as long as no compound got smeared in the wrong place or the contacts on the back of the processor were touched with it or contaminants I would say its probably a defective motherboard

You can check to make sure a RAM stick is not bad too... you can just install 2 sticks instead of 3 and swap them around but the light indicates a board

[Wingo]

I've got a 850W OCZ GameXstream PSU, all connections are correct and no pins are bent. There's no contaminents on the back of the processor or in the motherboard slot. I've tried with and without the CPU in the slot to see if there is any difference in behaivour (i.e. possibly rule out the CPU) and nothing changes. When the CPU is in though the heatsink does warm up as if the CPU is connecting OK. I'll give the different memory slots a go.

[Wingo]

I posted my motherboard back to Queensland yesterday for them to inspect. Before sending it off I inspected the board myself and found on the bottom left hand side, below th I/O panel, a few scratches across the circuits that appeared to lead to/from the I/O panel. What I found of interest is they appeared to have been pre-existing when I purchased the unit as they had been covered over/coloured in with something like texta. Needless to say I'm a little peeved and noted it down in my fault description. If I don't get a satisfactory response from the retailer or Asus themselves I'll be asking for a refund or switch to a Gigabyte board.

[NickN]

I would say that was a distributor possibly rotating product around and not a Asus issue

Asus has the best rep in the world for consistant quality boards

Giga is hit and miss

My money is always with Asus

[Wingo]

The warranty went through at the retailer without a problem. I received an email just over an hour ago confirming that it had been sent through their warranty channel. It appears as though whether the scratches were the problem or not, they aren't trying to pin it on me. I'll hoepfully have the board back in 2-3 weeks.