Incomplete boot, Any help much appreciated Options

[katalyst]

I'm in a world of hardware hurt. Hope this story's not too long, but I want to provide as much detail as possible.

A week back I was overclocking aggressively with the components listed in my sig below. I started losing mouse and keyboard, and getting random freezes.
So I dialed back a couple of settings, and pushed a couple more. Then it crashed completely. Upon reboot it wouldn't get past the primary boot screen, where
you have the option to press del to get into bios. No amount of key pressing, changing usb ports, different keyboards etc, would get me into bios.

Ok, I thought. I have fried something on the mainboard. Bit the bullet, and went and brought a new Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H.
Having brought it home and swapping it over with the old board, I found the same problem. Stuck at main boot screen unable to enter into bios.

Thinking that if it was the CPU, ram or GPU, it would not even boot that far and display the boot screen. It must be the PSU.
So I reluctantly, foolishly even, went and bought a Corsair HX650. Only to get home and experience the same old problem.

I have tried just a single stick of the G-skill ram in different slots. A 2gig stick of Patriot G2 1600 ram. Different USB and ps2 keyboards.

The new Gigabyte board has debug led codes, which stop at A3 (Activated all currently connected IDE devices).

I have tried google and the Gigabyte forums with no luck. It may be the CPU. But I don't want to buy a new one to find that's not it, and have another
piece of hardware, I can't afford, and don't really need.

Any info will be much appreciated. Ta.

[hutchpe]

Even though you have probably tried this did you clear CMOS?


[Edit] Wait never mind it couldn't have been that seeing as it was happening on the new board.

This post has been edited by hutchpe: Jun 4 2012, 06:14 PM

[katalyst]

Even though you have probably tried this did you clear CMOS?


[Edit] Wait never mind it couldn't have been that seeing as it was happening on the new board.

Sorry. Yeah I should of mentioned that I cleared the bios on the old board. Thanks for your response. :)

[ReapermanRS]

IIRC that board has onboard video. If so take your dedicated Gpu out unplug all your hard drives and try a single stick of RAM. If none of your sticks work then I would surmise it's probably the cpu.

[katalyst]

IIRC that board has onboard video. If so take your dedicated Gpu out unplug all your hard drives and try a single stick of RAM. If none of your sticks work then I would surmise it's probably the cpu.

Thanks. I gave this a shot. I'm pretty sure it's the CPU now. As everything else has been ruled out.

Looks like I'm buying an IVY bridge CPU. Just need to find a buyer for a new Corsair HX650, lol. Oh well.

[ReapermanRS]

IIRC that board has onboard video. If so take your dedicated Gpu out unplug all your hard drives and try a single stick of RAM. If none of your sticks work then I would surmise it's probably the cpu.

Thanks. I gave this a shot. I'm pretty sure it's the CPU now. As everything else has been ruled out.

Looks like I'm buying an IVY bridge CPU. Just need to find a buyer for a new Corsair HX650, lol. Oh well.

I would probably be interested in that :-) Trademart it.

[katalyst]

IIRC that board has onboard video. If so take your dedicated Gpu out unplug all your hard drives and try a single stick of RAM. If none of your sticks work then I would surmise it's probably the cpu.

Thanks. I gave this a shot. I'm pretty sure it's the CPU now. As everything else has been ruled out.

Looks like I'm buying an IVY bridge CPU. Just need to find a buyer for a new Corsair HX650, lol. Oh well.

I would probably be interested in that :-) Trademart it.

That's a good idea. I'm heading interstate for a week or so. Then I'll throw it up on Trademart, along with a couple of other bits. Ta.

[katalyst]

So yeah.

For anyone interested. You can completely fry a sandy bridge CPU, and still have it boot to the primary CMOS screen.

If I was to take a guess. I would say I fried the memory controller in the CPU. Yet it would still boot (partially). Who knows. But it was the CPU was at fault in this particular issue.

[NukeJockey]

In cases like this, its probably best to swallow your pride and take it to a computer repair place, at least they have parts they can test with that you don't have to pay for.

[katalyst]

In cases like this, its probably best to swallow your pride and take it to a computer repair place, at least they have parts they can test with that you don't have to pay for.

Your right. It would have been much cheaper. And less time consuming and frustrating.

[p0is0n]

So yeah.

For anyone interested. You can completely fry a sandy bridge CPU, and still have it boot to the primary CMOS screen.

If I was to take a guess. I would say I fried the memory controller in the CPU. Yet it would still boot (partially). Who knows. But it was the CPU was at fault in this particular issue.

Damn, that is a shame, however, don't forget all CPU have great warranty from Intel, so I hope you didn't chuck it out :)
(Even if you overclocked it to death)

This post has been edited by p0is0n: Jun 29 2012, 05:00 PM

[katalyst]

So yeah.

For anyone interested. You can completely fry a sandy bridge CPU, and still have it boot to the primary CMOS screen.

If I was to take a guess. I would say I fried the memory controller in the CPU. Yet it would still boot (partially). Who knows. But it was the CPU was at fault in this particular issue.

Damn, that is a shame, however, don't forget all CPU have great warranty from Intel, so I hope you didn't chuck it out :)
(Even if you overclocked it to death)

Mmmm. I didn't even consider that to be honest. Thanks. I'll take it back along with the mouse that just died.

[p0is0n]

So yeah.

For anyone interested. You can completely fry a sandy bridge CPU, and still have it boot to the primary CMOS screen.

If I was to take a guess. I would say I fried the memory controller in the CPU. Yet it would still boot (partially). Who knows. But it was the CPU was at fault in this particular issue.

Damn, that is a shame, however, don't forget all CPU have great warranty from Intel, so I hope you didn't chuck it out :)
(Even if you overclocked it to death)

Mmmm. I didn't even consider that to be honest. Thanks. I'll take it back along with the mouse that just died.

If you're taking it back to a shop, don't say you overclocked it. They will make you apply direct to intel (Intel use AAE in australia, so its actually really quick) still, just say it stopped booting and you've determined the CPU is at fault, and you require it replaced.

:)