# Strange Issue with Motherboard



## topgear (Sep 26, 2015)

A little config details :

Phenom II 955BE @ Stock
Asus M5a97 R2.0
Corsair Vengenance 1x 8GB / Corsair VS 1333 Mhz 4GB /  Corsair VS 1600 Mhz 4GB
Corsair GS600 PSU
HD6850 GPU
WD Black 1TB and SGT 500GB

Problem Log :

1 .  Bios time would not update / reset. I hibernate pc usually to save on time and when the OS is back from hibernate [ after a complete shutdown /with main power off of spike guard ] the system time would stay at the last time of the hibernation. To check more onto this I hibernated pc. Powered it down completely. Started the PC after next day but instead of going into OS I entered bios. The bios time showed date and time of the previous day. It's like the bios is even hibernated.

2 . Suspecting the CMOS setting / battery I changed the battery and cleared the CMOS setting even by the jumper method but still the same issue of the above persist.

3. Now on a fine day the PC refused to boot [ the classical no post black screen with fan spinning and LED lights on ] with the Vengeance 8GB module installed on slot no. 3. First 2 slots can't mount vengenance because of Hyper 212. Pressed the memory reset button > Powered down pc from PSU button > Powered on again and pressed start switch. Now the PC booted successfully.

4. Suspecting Vengeance ram installed the 1333 Mhz module on the 2nd ram slot. PC booted normally every time but as 4GB is not enough for me installed a the 1666 Mhz module on the 4th slot. OC worked all ok for couple of days but still the bios date / time issue is there.

5. Then on one day pc refused to boot. Pressing mem ok button did nothing. So tested with 1600 Mhz ram on all slots [ I can use only slots 2,3 and 4 because of Hyper 212 ]. No success. Tested with 4GB ram on all slots and with slots 2 and 3 pc booted normally but on slot 4 pc gave 1 long and 2 short beeps [ AMI BIOS ]. Repeated the same with Vengeance and slot 3 worked OK but not slot 4. The 1600 Mhz module is working all right on another pc. The bios date time issue is still there.

6. Tried the 1600 Mhz ram on slot no. 4 and 1333 Mhz on slot no. 2 after couple of days. Both worked and pc booted. The pc worked all OK for a month. Bios date / time issue still not solved.

7. Again the problems described on Point 5 showed up. So unmounted both 1333 Mhz and 1600 Mhz and used the 1866 Mhz vengeance on slot 3. But PC would not boot even after pressing mem ok button.

8. Unmounted everything [ including cpu, cooler , gfx card motherbaord etc. ] and put them back again after a good clean up. PC not booted.Tested with 1333 Mhz module and pc booted. Again unmounted 1333 Mhz ram and installed the vengeance 8GB and pc booted successfully. Worked for couple opf hours and shut off the pc. switched off PSU. Then started it back again. PC booted normally. Shut it down again.

9. Next day - pc won't boot. pressed mem ok button, restarted pc and it booted. From now on I have to start the pc every time by pressing start button of cabby > then  mem ok button on motherbaord > then switch it off from PSU and on again > press the start button of cabby again. Otherwise I would get the classical black screen.

10. Flashed bios and everyhing went back to normal for couple of days. Then again the problem of point 9 showed up. So had to reflash the bios again.

So what to make of this ? If bios is bad the PC would not retain date and time. But the date and time issue is there always. If I power off the PC it would retain the time of last power off. If the motherboard battery not working then the date and time would reset but that's not happening too. It's like bios is going into hibernation state instaed of running always with CMOS battery to update date and time. Also the memory and start issue which can be fixed by flashing the bios only.


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## dekaron (Sep 26, 2015)

Re check if the contacts are touching the CMOS battery properly 

Your beep code suggests video card issue, or was it 1 long and 3 short?

Run Memtest86 using only 1 RAM stick at a time, then for each slot

Avoid multiple RAMs with different speeds + sizes especially in dual channel it stresses out the memory controller. 8GB is more than sufficient


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## Faun (Sep 26, 2015)

Try this.

Start your UPS
Press Start button on Cabinet
Switch off the PSU button
Press Start button on Cabinet for a while to drain the power in motherboard. Press for 5 seconds.
Then Switch on the PSU button and press the Start button on Cabinet.

Does it start that way ? 

(Pressing Mem OK button is not required if you follow above steps)

Then it might be your PSU. I have the same issue. Check this thread:
Computer won't start unless I flip power supply off and on again... [Solved] - Power Supplies - Components


> Krovonrock
> May 22, 2011 6:40:52 PM
> 
> Good news! It was not the Motherboard, but the PSU! I got a new Corsair 850w PSU that is known to be very good, hooked it up, powered it up, and my computer works like a dream! I guess 4 years of hard labor took the wind of my old PSU's sails. But the best part is it was only a $150 repair!


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## topgear (Sep 28, 2015)

dekaron said:


> Re check if the contacts are touching the CMOS battery properly
> 
> Your beep code suggests video card issue, or was it 1 long and 3 short?
> 
> ...



Video card is working fine on another pc, another mobo+cpu combo is also running great on the cabinet. Memtest86+ 2 pass  completed without any errors.

- - - Updated - - -



Faun said:


> Try this.
> 
> Start your UPS
> Press Start button on Cabinet
> ...



No, the motherboard is failing to boot. As for PSU it's powering another config very well.


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## dekaron (Sep 28, 2015)

Do you need to press Memok when only 1 RAM stick is used?

List the CAS Latency and voltage of all the RAM sticks


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## topgear (Sep 28, 2015)

The answer to the first question is yes.

Vengeance 1866 Mhz CL10.
VS 1333 Mhz CL9 / VS 1600 Mhz CL11

all are rated at 1.5v.


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## dekaron (Sep 28, 2015)

It is asking for trouble to use different RAMs with different latency and frequencies as the controller will need to adjust all to the lowest of the RAM used. And it gets worse when they are put in dual channel slots.

Memok does the job of getting the RAMs to be compatible but it seems the Bios is not saving the settings which is requiring the Memok to be pressed everytime after shutdown.


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## topgear (Sep 29, 2015)

1. Bios is not saving the date and time ? - actually it's not updating date and time. Bios will show the time of last shutdown. It's not like bios is not saving / resetting date and time. I've reflashed bios twice successfully but still the same issue.

2. I've tried running the motherboard with a single 8GB module but the start up issue never got completely solved.


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## dekaron (Sep 29, 2015)

Use a Single RAM stick manually set up the RAM details ( speed , timing and voltage) in BIOS save , restart and check.


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## topgear (Sep 30, 2015)

Motherboard submitted for RMA.


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## Faun (Sep 30, 2015)

topgear said:


> Motherboard submitted for RMA.



Create a thread in RMA subforum with detailed log ?


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## saswat23 (Oct 1, 2015)

What's the issue actually?


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## topgear (Oct 3, 2015)

Date / Time not updating properly [ actually going into a hibernation like state ]. 4th Ram slot not working and boot failure most of the time.


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