No POST, No Beep, NO CHRISTMAS, HELP !

[Drogoth]

Guys I need your help ! 

 

I finished a new build (my 6th so far) as a Christmas present but it won't post !

Even worst, the damn motherboard doesn't even show a power LED when connected to my power supply (I think there's no indicator on the motherboard honnestly), nor does it make any sound when I power it on. Back when it was in the case (it isn't anymore for troubleshooting purposes) all fans did spin and my PCI-e modules did receive power. The problem stays the same no matter what I try to do ! 

 

SYSTEM :

• Motherboard:   ASRock B150M PRO4S
• Bios ver:          P1.10 (shown on the sticker on the motherboard)
• CPU:               Intel Core Skylake i5-6400 (shown compatible here)
• RAM:              1x8Gb Corsair vengeance 2400Mhz
• Graphics:        Gigabyte GTX960 OC-2GB
• PSU:               Corsair CXM Series 80+ Bronze ATX 500W
• Case:              Corsair Carbide Series Air 420

 

TRIED SO FAR :

• Triple Checking the cables
• Every memory slot with my single 8gb DDR4 stick
• Re-installing the CPU
• Clearing CMOS
• Without GPU
• Without any USB
• Without memory
• Different cables for video
• No bent pins

IDEAS :

1. 1.10 Bios version needs a flash to a newer version shown 1.60 here, since Skylake CPUs are fairly recent (need confirmation)
2. Need your help !

 

If you need anything more that can help you narrow down what's wrong with the build let me know, I need your help to save Christmas otherwise someone's going to be really disapointed in me 

[Speedyv]

Did you switch the PSU on?

Did you try powering it on by shorting the power switch headers on the mobo instead of the case switch?

[Kobathor]

Sounds like a dead motherboard or a dead CPU. I'd RMA the mobo ASAP.

[Speedyv]

^^, but no point RMA'ing until you're sure what it is. If in doubt, RMA both i guess but is more likely to be mobo

 

do you have another CPU/motherboard with the same socket, good enough way to troubleshoot as long as you have spare thermal paste laying around

 

I doubt many people have too many 1151 CPU's/hardware lying around, but that would be  good.

He can call the manufacture and ask about BIOS updates for that board. It says it doesn't need an update so that may be evidence that the mobo or another component is dead. It should be working because those B150 boards are new and shouldn't need an update to support a CPU that is relatively the same age. 

[Drogoth]

 

Did you switch the PSU on? 

Did you try powering it on by shorting the power switch headers on the mobo instead of the case switch?

Yes, this is what I've been doing since I've had to take it out of the case to troubleshoot.

 

 

Do you have another CPU/motherboard with the same socket, good enough way to troubleshoot as long as you have spare thermal paste laying around

 

 

I unfortunately don't, there's a Chinese computer repair store down the street, maybe they could test my board and tell me if there's something wrong with it. But It's still within the 30days shipback Amazon policy so I don't want to spend unnecessary money What do you think ?

[Arc_Jester]

I seems like the board is dead. Btw the AMI BIOS,which is used in you mobo, doesn't generate a beep unless there is a problem.

 

P.S. I would suspect the CX PSU as those are made for "basic system builds" or in other words an office computer.

[Drogoth]

I seems like the board is dead. Btw the AMI BIOS which is used in you mobo, doesn't generate a beep unless there is a problem.

 

P.S. I would suspect the CX PSU as those are made for "basic system builds" or in other words an office computer.

 

Yes I think you are right about the power supply. Also thank you for the insight on the beeping sounds !

 

Anyone got ideas, troubleshoot I might want to go through ? It's depressing not knowing what to do 

[Benji_w]

Yes I think you are right about the power supply. Also thank you for the insight on the beeping sounds !

 

Anyone got ideas, troubleshoot I might want to go through ? It's depressing not knowing what to do 

 

You don't know a single person with a PC that has parts you can swap out with to troubleshoot?

[Counter-Strike Player]

Something worth mentioning for a working system: assuming you have the pc speaker correctly installed on the mobo, some cheaper Asrock B-series chipsets apparently won't issue the post "single beep" if the post passes. It will however, beep if you enter the bios and theoretically when there's problems with post. When I built a $200 B75M box a couple years ago, this was very strange to me and both tweaktown and Asrock support had no idea until I brought it up in a forum post.

[Drogoth]

You don't know a single person with a PC that has parts you can swap out with to troubleshoot?

No, the only other person with a recent PC is me and my CPU and mobo don't have the same socket. 

[Speedyv]

Something worth mentioning for a working system: assuming you have the pc speaker correctly installed on the mobo, some cheaper Asrock B-series chipsets apparently won't issue the post "single beep" if the post passes. It will however, beep if you enter the bios and theoretically when there's problems with post. When I built a $200 B75M box a couple years ago, this was very strange to me and both tweaktown and Asrock support had no idea until I brought it up in a forum post.

 

But a speaker wouldn't be useful if the BIOS is outdated or the mobo is dead. The BIOS would not recognize the CPU so nothing would happen (no boot). And the mobo being dead wouldn't lead to an error beep either. 

 

I'd bet the mobo is dead. Either RMA or go to a PC shop and test it out. But if you have another PC, you can try the PSU just to be %100 certain. 

[Benji_w]

No, the only other person with a recent PC is me and my CPU and mobo don't have the same socket. 

 

I didn't know PSU's where socket specific? The GPU? Ruling out those 2 alone will give you a better idea of the issue, also I'm putting money on the board being deaded as fuckery.

[Drogoth]

I didn't know PSU's where socket specific? The GPU? Ruling out those 2 alone will give you a better idea of the issue, also I'm putting money on the board being deaded as fuckery.

You are right, but at least I know the GPU isn't the problem. With or without it, I still get no post and no video since I tried pluging the screen on-board. I guess I'll have to go test out my PSU and mobo with a mobo speaker tomorrow.

 

Any other ideas or advices ? 

[Nena Trinity]

My guess is bad PSU! Actually the PC I built at work today had same issue and it was not booting because of the cheap as PSU I found in the junk...

(was making a test server for the new guys to play with)

[Counter-Strike Player]

But a speaker wouldn't be useful if the BIOS is outdated or the mobo is dead. The BIOS would not recognize the CPU so nothing would happen (no boot). And the mobo being dead wouldn't lead to an error beep either. 

 

I'd bet the mobo is dead. Either RMA or go to a PC shop and test it out. But if you have another PC, you can try the PSU just to be %100 certain. 

 

That's true but up until that point, I had always thought a working speaker with a "single beep" universally meant among all manufacturers that the post passed. Even Paul from newegg on his "how to build a pc" youtube video with over 3 million views in 2011 mentioned this as well. MSI later came out saying single beeps are no longer "the standard" since 2012 but that's about as official as I've seen. My Asus z87 Sabertooth still kicks out a single beep, and I like it that way.

[Arc_Jester]

-snip-

The meaning of the beep codes change depending on the BIOS type, In the OP's case his mobo uses the AMI BIOS(American Megatrends Inc) which doesn't generate a beep code unless there is a problem. For a full list of BIOS makers and the corresponding beep codes go here: http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

[Counter-Strike Player]

The meaning of the beep codes change depending on the BIOS type, In the OP's case his mobo uses the AMI BIOS(American Megatrends Inc) which doesn't generate a beep code unless there is a problem. For a full list of BIOS makers and the corresponding beep codes go here: http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

 

My bios vendor is also AMI, so I really think it comes down to the mobo's manufacturer on how they want to implement beep codes. Even that guide says:

 

"However, because of the wide variety of different computer manufacturers with this BIOS, the beep codes may vary."

 

And...since my ram is apparently working, I don't think "DRAM refresh failure" explains "1 short beep."

 

What's even worse, even my mobo manual says 1 short beep "can" mean the following:

VGA detectedQuick boot set to disabledNo keyboard detected

Well, I suppose "vga" is detected even though the display is on mini-DP...my keyboard is connected and quick boot is also enabled. So, obviously a ton of disorganization among manufactures...even among Asus.

 

My favorite code is way lesser known...but hilarious. "Computer Randomly Plays Classical Music" as described by a MS KB article, apparently used by DFI on an Award bios at one time to indicate a failing cpu fan. Here's a demo by some guy in 2007.

[Arc_Jester]

-snip-

My board uses the default AMI beep codes so I don't have to guess the issue if a problem occurs. That video was interesting, it would be cool if you could program your BIOS to play a sound clip when the PC POSTs

[ApolloX75]

My board uses the default AMI beep codes so I don't have to guess the issue if a problem occurs. That video was interesting, it would be cool if you could program your BIOS to play a sound clip when the PC POSTs

Asus A8V Deluxe had the ability to play midi files on boot up. Asus dropped the utility due to it being unpopular.

[ApolloX75]

IDEAS :

• 1.10 Bios version needs a flash to a newer version shown 1.60 here, since Skylake CPUs are fairly recent (need confirmation)
• Need your help !

Well according to Asrock your CPU is supported since release, the update is only for the later i3s and such.

That would suggest the motherboard itself is the issue. Have you checked the CPU socket for bent pins?

[Counter-Strike Player]

Asus A8V Deluxe had the ability to play midi files on boot up. Asus dropped the utility due to it being unpopular.

 

I would venture to guess that since so few people use pc speakers in the first place, that's probably why, and that makes me really sad because it's a quick-and-dirty way to diagnose mobo problems without models that have a 2-digit numerical code readout on them. Either the speaker is built right on the mobo, which is rare, or else only a shrinking number of case manufacturers provide them for free with the case. I remember some utilities allow you to play speaker tones directly from windows, but these are probably quite old.

[ApolloX75]

I would venture to guess that since so few people use pc speakers in the first place, that's probably why, and that makes me really sad because it's a quick-and-dirty way to diagnose mobo problems without models that have a 2-digit numerical code readout on them. Either the speaker is built right on the mobo, which is rare, or else only a shrinking number of case manufacturers provide them for free with the case. I remember some utilities allow you to play speaker tones directly from windows, but these are probably quite old.

Asus and I think Abit had a BIOS based utility for playing audio CDs at one point as well. It worked through the on board audio. Keep in mind most of these are from the Socket 754/939 era, they were throwing a lot of strange feature packages onto boards.

It was also very common for the speaker to be mounted directly to the board at that time or provided with the board. Now you're lucky if you get a hard copy manual.

[Drogoth]

Thanks Apollo for the insight on the CPU compatibility, and yes I checked and couldn't see any bent pins.

I'll try to see if the PSU is faulty tomorrow, if it isn't I'll probably send the Mobo back to Amazon since I'm still below 30days.

 

I'll ask you guys on your opinion for a different one ( < 100$ micro atx mobo) DDR4 & LGA1151 skylake compatible 

 

Cheers

[Drogoth]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEWS / UPDATE !

 

Okay so I went to the chinese store this morning, the guy had a motherboard speaker available (I didn't at home) and the beep code told us the motherboard itself was faulty. I'm returning it, a buying a new one you guys got any suggestions ? You can base yourself on the build show in the 1st post.

[0x1e]

I would venture to guess that since so few people use pc speakers in the first place, that's probably why, and that makes me really sad because it's a quick-and-dirty way to diagnose mobo problems without models that have a 2-digit numerical code readout on them. Either the speaker is built right on the mobo, which is rare, or else only a shrinking number of case manufacturers provide them for free with the case.

 

Having an on-board speaker is a must!