TR Forums

I just built a new machine and it won't post, no bleeps, nothing. All it does is spin up the CPU fan and that's it. I've tried the CPU, RAM, PSU with another motherboard and they all work fine. I've also had a very close look at the pins in the socket and they're all fine too.

Now normally I'd just go straight to RMA and get a replacement. In fact I've already started the ball rolling on that. However while packing the board up I noticed that the bios version that's installed doesn't support the CPU (it's an Asus B85M-G with bios 0706 (I think that's the version, obviously I can't actually boot it up to be sure and the stickers on the board aren't clear... there isn't even an 0706 listed on Asus's site)).

Normally I'd expect a mobo with an unsupported CPU to still do something, usually say you've got an "unkown CPU" or something, but I wondering if I'm out of date. There are lots of phrases in the later bios notes like "*Note: Must apply the attached BIOS updater tool first before using the new Intel 4th Gen Core processors."

Would you expect it to run or do you think I'll have to buy another CPU and flash the bios first or is it just a dead board?

I would hope you can borrow a CPU that the board supports since you cannot flash the bios without a CPU. It might be hard to find a free CPU to borrow since Sandy/Ivy Bridge still are plenty fast and I see less whole PC upgrades since the 1156-1155 socket change. Now the switch from 1155 to 1150 along with Devils Canyon and it's acompaning CPUs released with it leaving the older 8 series motherboards ham stringed.
You would think It should do something with the new CPUs but too bad all motherboard bios can not be updated without a CPU. I think the chipset should control the post but that's me.
Could buy the cheapest supported 1150 CPU available or just get a board that supports your CPU.

With a bit of searching you can find a new BIOS chip on Ebay with the latest BIOS already on it.

For example - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BIOS-CHIP-ASUS-MAXIMUS-VI-HERO-Z87-PLUS-B85M-G-P8H61-I-LX-R2-0-P5G41T-M-LX-/380659398451

Bugger

Well I've just ordered a G1820 which is supported by a much older bios version. I suppose it can go with the spare board I've already brought.

Is it just me or is it pretty stupid that you can get a situation like this?

Yes it is stupid. I remember getting away with upgrading Intel CPU's in the past (Pentium 2/3 era) and they worked but were not detected properly but I got into windows just fine and it was easy to flash to a newer BIOS and get the CPU detected correctly.

The reason I know you can get BIOS chips brand new pre-flashed is because I had a flash fail on me several PC's ago and it saved me from spending a lot of money on a replacement board.

I ran into the same issue back when I upgraded my Pentium E21x0 to Pentium E6300. Good thing I lived in a metropolitan city and there were still computer shops. I had to pay an hour labour for them to flash a new BIOS with whatever chip they had on hand.

well I'm sure I'll find a use for the extra chip and board so it's not the end of the world. Might even be worth keeping them around for future trouble shooting.

Of course it could still be a dead board... whatever happened the bios bleeps for faulty cpus

i remember reading here on TR about an asus motherboard that allows one to update their BIOS without a cpu...

found it here (4th paragraph from the bottom): http://techreport.com/review/25310/asus ... d-reviewed

"See that little BIOS button in the cluster? That's for USB BIOS Flashback, a feature that lets you flash the firmware with only a thumb drive and a power supply attached to the motherboard. Pretty slick."

and after more research it appears that MSI offers a similar feature called "m-flash" which does the same thing, maybe?

http://us.msi.com/product/mb/FM2A55ME33 ... o-overview

should be standard on all motherboards but i guess we aren't that lucky yet.

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1150/B85M-G/E8522_B85M-G.pdf

ASUS B85M-G
ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 utility
The ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 is an auto recovery tool that allows you to restore the BIOS file
when it fails or gets corrupted during the updating process. You can restore a corrupted BIOS
file using the motherboard support DVD or a USB flash drive that contains the up
dated BIOS file.

Before using this utility, rename the BIOS file in the removable device into
B85MG.CAP.

Recovering the BIOS
To recover the BIOS:
1. Turn on the system.
2. Insert the support DVD to the optical drive or the USB flash drive that contains the
BIOS file to the USB port.
3. The utility automatically checks the devices for the BIOS file. When found, the utility
reads the BIOS file and enters ASUS EZ Flash 2 utility automatically.
4. The system requires you to enter BIOS Setup to recover BIOS settings. To ensure
system compatibility and stability, we recommend that you press <F5> to load default
BIOS values.

Page 33 of the manual references the motherboard supporting the above feature. The only issue is does it work without the cpu?
Edit: Didn't quote all important information so if you decided to try you might want to read that page.

This is really weird.

I put the G1820 in, powered it up and it ran just fine.

I updated the bios (it was 0705, now on the latest 2104) and rebooted to make sure it had gone OK, all good so far.

So I shut down, swap the CPUs and nothing, no POST, zilch.

Swap the G1820 back in and it POSTs fine, put the 4150 in my second board and that boots up just fine.

So I've got a working CPU with a working board that won't work together

Did you clear the CMOS when you changed the chip?
It could be remembering the wrong vCore voltages etc. I'm surprised but it's one thing worth trying first.

I've been building PC's for 20 years, and never had more trouble than with Intel's latest haswell refresh. I've not had to RMA anything yet, but the board/cpu combination seems to be unpredictable and it's not reliably repeatable either. Call it nothing more than a hunch, but something is up with intel's most recent Haswell refresh and I can't put my finger on it.

It wouldn't be the first time Intel had screwed something up....

Clearing the cmos was the first thing I tried.

Well after a long phone call with the supplier he agreed to accept the RMA on the Asus board as an "unwanted item" and I've now built the PC with the replacement board I'd brought (though I'd never normally use a Biostar mobo) so in a sense this is case closed. However I'm thinking that the next machine I build like this will be AMD based...

Ugh. I hate flaky issues like that, where logic has no power. For what it's worth, AMD's not any better, it doesn't seem to follow any particular OEM or brand.

I almost had the same thing happen with my current MSI setup, the firmware on the board didn't support the CPU I ordered it with, luckily in my case the board would boot fine, and I could flash the supported firmware.

biffzinker wrote:

Page 33 of the manual references the motherboard supporting the above feature. The only issue is does it work without the cpu?
Edit: Didn't quote all important information so if you decided to try you might want to read that page.

Not all ASUS Z97 boards have it, it's a high-end feature at the moment but "USB BIOS Flashback" is the feature that allows BIOS flashing without a CPU or RAM installed. Wouldn't expect it to show up on a "business" class chipset, but yes it'd be nice if the ability became standard. That said I'm pretty sure it requires the built-in co-processors ASUS uses on high-end boards to function.

Some great info in this thread, I guess things really have improved since my failed BIOS flash all those years ago.

Hi, what biostar mobo did you buy? I ended up in same situation as you did when buying same CPU and Asus board. So now I need to find a replacement board. I was thinking about GIGABYTE Z97-D3H. What do you think based on your experience? Is your new mobo also based on 97 chipset?
Thank you.

Has anyone come up with a solution to this that doesn't involve RMA'ing the board ?

I REALLY don't want to do that, but I've got an ASUS B85M-G board that does the exact same thing as the OP. I updated the bios with a cpu that was supported, but when I swap in the i3-4160 that I want to use with this board, it just sits there, no beeps, no video, nothing...very frustrating...

Hey, in case anyone finds this thread in a search the way I did, and has the same problem that at least a few of us have had, I got my board to boot !

I updated the bios using the built in utility, but just in case, I also updated it through Windows, the way ASUS says to do it...it still didn't boot after that, but then I cleared the CMOS using the jumper with the recognized cpu installed, pulled the battery, waited, then with the battery still out, removed the recognized cpu and installed the i3-4160 that up to now wouldn't post...After installing the new cpu, I replaced the battery and tried to boot.

SUCCESS !!

So, I don't know if it will work for anyone else, but its worth a try to remove the battery and allow all energy to dispel, then change the cpu, then re-install...pain in the butt, but I'm glad it worked !

Gn2,
Great that you posted your fix. I know the thread is 3 months old but it might help someone with the same problem down the road. Thumbs up to ya for posting.