MSI FM2-A75IA-E53 Mobo not posting and I refuse to let it die on my watch *repost*

[TooMuchMario]

I recently acquired a used FM2-A75IA-E53 motherboard, supposedly, pulled off a working system. When I tried turning it on for the first time there was no POST, not even a display came up, and any usb peripherals I plugged in didn't seem to be getting any power. I plugged in peripherals I was sure worked, as well as monitor and display cables. At first I had installed an A4-7300 cpu, but learned that the motherboard may have needed a bios update to support that cpu, so I bought an A4-5300B just to update the bios, still no POST or power to usb?

I do want to mention that the cpu fan turns on, the cpu is heating up, and the psu turns on. I know for a fact the psu, ram, peripherals, monitor, and cables work. There is a slight buzzing I can hear in the cpu socket even without the cpu installed but I'm not sure that is the problem. Apart from all this, the only weird thing is the 24 pin connector is difficult to plug in and unplug, but I don't see anything physically wrong with it.
Any help would be so greatly appreciated.

 

This is a repost of an earlier post I made which has gone unanswered. I am stumped and on the verge of giving up.

[BiotechBen]

is that painters tape holding a connector in?

[TooMuchMario]

1 minute ago, BiotechBen said:

is that painters tape holding a connector in?

Well...yes. But let me explain, that is only the cmos and I took the liberty of replacing the old one after I ran some voltage tests and found out it was dead. No exposed metal is touching the tape, just there to keep it away from any components.

[BiotechBen]

3 minutes ago, TooMuchMario said:

Well...yes. But let me explain, that is only the cmos and I took the liberty of replacing the old one after I ran some voltage tests and found out it was dead. No exposed metal is touching the tape, just there to keep it away from any components.

and its fully plugged in? without a cmos battery connection, the BIOS isnt going to load into RAM.

[TooMuchMario]

1 minute ago, BiotechBen said:

and its fully plugged in? without a cmos battery connection, the BIOS isnt going to load into RAM.

To my knowledge it seems fully plugged in. The manual is a little vague on how its supposed to go in but it seems to only plug in one way. Would the system not post at all without the cmos? I've read a lot of conflicting stuff about it online.

[BiotechBen]

the cmos is like the starter on a car. if you aren't getting BIOS, it is most likely the CMOS. while technically you could do it without the battery and just put the correct voltage and current through it, if you have damaged traces from the cmos to the ROM that the BIOS is stored in, it isn't going to kick on.

[Kilrah]

4 minutes ago, TooMuchMario said:

Would the system not post at all without the cmos? I've read a lot of conflicting stuff about it online.

Some do, some don't.

 

Maybe BIOS too old for that CPU as well?

[Heliian]

Did you try to reset the cmos with a jumper?  Cmos battery installed correctly?  Cpu power cable and plug are good? 

[TooMuchMario]

Just now, Heliian said:

Did you try to reset the cmos with a jumper?  Cmos battery installed correctly?  Cpu power cable and plug are good? 

I have tried resetting the cmos with the jumper and just unplugging the cmos for about 5-10 minutes. To my knowledge it is installed correctly as this type can only go in one way and the positive and negative leads are on the respective sides of the battery. The cpu power cable and plug are good and I checked continuity between all the atx pins with only the -12v pin not showing continuity. 

[TooMuchMario]

2 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Some do, some don't.

 

Maybe BIOS too old for that CPU as well?

I thought that for a while, but every source I found shows that the a4-5300b is one of the earliest supported cpus. Anything AMD trinity was supported out of the box.

[TooMuchMario]

4 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

the cmos is like the starter on a car. if you aren't getting BIOS, it is most likely the CMOS. while technically you could do it without the battery and just put the correct voltage and current through it, if you have damaged traces from the cmos to the ROM that the BIOS is stored in, it isn't going to kick on.

How could I check if those traces are damaged? Simple continuity test with a voltmeter?

[Heliian]

1 minute ago, TooMuchMario said:

I I checked continuity between all the atx pins with only the -12v pin not showing continuity. 

Continuity between which?   The cpu 4 pin should have 2 +'s and 2 -'s.  

[TooMuchMario]

1 minute ago, Heliian said:

Continuity between which?   The cpu 4 pin should have 2 +'s and 2 -'s.  

I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to continuity so forgive me if this makes no sense whatsoever, but I checked the continuity between each pin in the 24 atx connector and the 4 pin cpu connector and found that each pin no matter where I pointed the negative lead to read a closed circuit.

[Heliian]

What's the psu you're using?  

[TooMuchMario]

2 minutes ago, Heliian said:

What's the psu you're using?  

I've tried five different psu's as follows: an EVGA 400W, Apevia 800W, OCZ 700W, Logisys 480W, and a generic Dell Optiplex PSU.

[Heliian]

5 minutes ago, TooMuchMario said:

I've tried five different psu's as follows: an EVGA 400W, Apevia 800W, OCZ 700W, Logisys 480W, and a generic Dell Optiplex PSU.

Alright, that should rule out the psu.  

 

Did you try with 1 ram stick? 

 

 

[TooMuchMario]

1 minute ago, Heliian said:

Alright, that should rule out the psu.  

 

Did you try with 1 ram stick? 

 

 

I have tried it with just the 1 ram stick, as well as opting for a different brand of 1 gig stick. I am positive the Hyperx sticks work as I've had my personal pc turn on with them as well. 

[BiotechBen]

have you tried booting with non-integrated graphics?

 

[TooMuchMario]

39 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

have you tried booting with non-integrated graphics?

 

I have tried booting with two different nvidia cards and three different video cards that ranged from 20 to 10 years old.

[BiotechBen]

12 hours ago, TooMuchMario said:

I have tried booting with two different nvidia cards and three different video cards that ranged from 20 to 10 years old.

It sounds like it could be an electrical problem somewhere on the motherboard... And you've tried both the HDMI and VGA?

[TooMuchMario]

9 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

It sounds like it could be an electrical problem somewhere on the motherboard... And you've tried both the HDMI and VGA?

I have tried it with both of the onboard graphics...the problem is so elusive I've made it personal but I suppose it could just be some random component on the board that went bad.

[TooMuchMario]

On 3/18/2021 at 4:51 PM, Heliian said:

Alright, that should rule out the psu.  

 

Did you try with 1 ram stick? 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

It sounds like it could be an electrical problem somewhere on the motherboard... And you've tried both the HDMI and VGA?

Update, I just pulled off the CPU heat sink and fan and found that the CPU easily came off with it (using the thermal paste to stick to it). From my experience, the cpu should not come off so easily, but I am 1000% sure I installed it correctly into the socket. Could the socket not be clamping the cpu down in place correctly?

[Heliian]

Totally possible. 

[Kilrah]

The CPU coming out with the cooler is basically the AMD trademark at this point, very common.