990FXA-GD65 Was working, then stopped

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botreaper10

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 25, 2004
Messages
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I was using my system in rig for some good gaming sessions. I had recently started playing guild wars 2 and was having no issues at all. Last night while I was running some quests, the computer instantly powered down. It simply won't power up anymore. I've tried the simple stuff to rule out: power cable, outlet, and even tried a new power supply. Nothing worked.

Heat shouldn't be an issue as the processor is watercooled and the only overclocking i've done was multiplier based. Resetting the CMOS did nothing FYI. I've been building computers for years and never had one pull a stunt like this.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Possibilities:
Dead motherboard
Dead CPU
 
botreaper10 said:
I was using my system in rig for some good gaming sessions. I had recently started playing guild wars 2 and was having no issues at all. Last night while I was running some quests, the computer instantly powered down. It simply won't power up anymore. I've tried the simple stuff to rule out: power cable, outlet, and even tried a new power supply. Nothing worked.

Heat shouldn't be an issue as the processor is watercooled and the only overclocking i've done was multiplier based. Resetting the CMOS did nothing FYI. I've been building computers for years and never had one pull a stunt like this.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Possibilities:
Dead motherboard
Dead CPU
Click to expand...

Do you have the full system specs? Your sig only has a few parts.
 
Sure, here it is:
1x 300 Gb WD Velociraptor
1x 1tb WD Caviar Black
1x LG Bluray player (SATA)
Watercooled with a DTEK Fusion V2 waterblock, reservoir, pump and 3x120 Radiator. (heat leaves outside the top of the case and I run with the side panel off)
1x Case fan
Antec Neopower 650 Powersupply.
System was OC'd to 4.4ghz
Video card not OC'd at all.
Using onboard audio
Running the latest bios as well.

The other power supply I tested it with was an antec earthpower 620 watt PS. It is literally less than 2 months old and working perfectly in my girlfriends computer.
 
It's probably the motherboard, but just to rule out some strange short, you could take the mobo out of the case, put it on it's own cardbox, install only VGA, CPU and RAM and see if it powers up. Also to rule out bad power switch cable, you can power the mobo by passing a screedriver tip (with plastic handle) at the power switch pin area of the mobo.

It's probably dead mobo, but sometimes some weird short happens (it happened to me once).

It's very improbable that it's the CPU. I had a damaged CPU (a Thunberbird that i forgot to uninstall from heatsink during house moving, making the heatsink to clip and break an angle of the CPU), but it still POSTED, only to give BSOD soon after.
 
Well I have managed to rule out power switch. If I changed outlets on the wall, the system blips on for a split second 1 time. After that, I have to change outlets for it to do that again. It simply will not turn on and post.
 
Well, beats me... Never heard this outlet-changing routine. I 'd also try:
1) only 1 RAM module (and swap it)
2) Borrow a compatible CPU from a friend and see if it boots.

If also this fails, then i think the mobo is fried beyond doubt.

Good luck!
 
Watercooling keeps the cpu temps down, but then typically there is almost no air flow over the VRM components around the cpu socket. Maybe this was your issue. Also a few years ago MSI boards had lots of failures because of the VRM designs and parts they used on AMD boards. This could also be part of the problem. If it was still under warranty I would RMA and then see if you can add some fans to cool the VRM area, northbridge, and southbridge.

Good page for more info:
http://www.overclock.net/a/about-vrms-mosfets-motherboard-safety-with-high-tdp-processors

"Over Current Protection (OCP) is something I have recently been examining. Protection features exist against VRM overheating/overloading depending on motherboard model and brand. I believe it is a crucial feature on motherboards today, because this is the function that will protect your VRMs from a catastrophic failure. This is why I have never seen ASUS boards fail even if people take a lowly 3+1 ASUS boards and try to overclock a Phenom II x6 on it; ASUS boards feature this technology, it is a part of the PWM controller design. OCP can work in various ways; one of the ways it works is it downclocks the CPU speed & voltage - via cool'n'quiet or it's own function - if the VRM temperatures are detected as too high (similar to if CPU temps are too high), until they can recuperate and lower in temperature. As a result, it can reduce performance during a full load scenario. It is also how ASUS gets away with rating a few select 3+1 phase AMD motherboards at 125W, though at times the OCP may kick in too often at load even at stock speed/stock cooler and the rating would've been slightly improper for the board (there are few if any 3+1 phase board ready for 125W processors). Another common way is a full board shutdown; if MOSFETs are overloaded suddenly to the point where immediate shutdown is needed for protection (i.e. beginning an OCCT run on a 3+1 power phase on a Phenom II x6 OC'ed and at 1.5V), then OCP will kick in and the board will shut down to protect itself. ASRock boards and some Gigabyte boards are known for this. Some boards will do this past a certain point. Others don't. OCN members and I have found that most recent MSI AMD boards feature NO protection of any sort against VRM failure/over current/over temperature, and this is likely why a majority of the catastrophic failures in the horror stories list are MSI boards."
 
pgaster said:
Watercooling keeps the cpu temps down, but then typically there is almost no air flow over the VRM components around the cpu socket. Maybe this was your issue. Also a few years ago MSI boards had lots of failures because of the VRM designs and parts they used on AMD boards.

ASRock boards and some Gigabyte boards are known for this.
Click to expand...

Good catch about watercooling. These things bring more headaches than solutions. Other people had their entire computer destroyed after a leak. And for no gain over air??? MSI is supposed to have solved the "VRM on fire" problem that had in 8xx chipsets, but i guess, compared with what you say in watercooling, may have been fatal.

I can confirm about Asrocks. Some people with bad airflow often complain about Asrocks "throttling down their CPU for no apparent reason". The solution is always: Put a fan to blow on your VRM.
 
Suggestions are very appreciated, but with the cooling, the 1 case fan sits right above the VRMs pulling are out, over them. With the side panel off, it has an endless supply of fresh air to pull from. I cannot, however, rule out heat from the VRMs. Anything is possible with this motherboard.

If it helps at all, this IS a replacement one from MSI already. My original one had all sorts of issues, so I RMA'd it. This is that new board. If it turns out to be the mobo, I'm swearing off MSI altogether.
 
botreaper10 said:
If it helps at all, this IS a replacement one from MSI already. My original one had all sorts of issues, so I RMA'd it. This is that new board. If it turns out to be the mobo, I'm swearing off MSI altogether.
Click to expand...

Oh, gee... If it's the mobo again, then i 'd say that this motherboard may have a design flaw and that's it.

The thing is, CPUs are very difficult to die. I 'd think the PSU is the culprit, but as you said, you already changed that, so , this makes things for the mobo look really bad... Unfortunately...

I am really sorry for you, because it looks like an expensive motherboard with all bells and whistles and having 2 die on you would be really frustrating.
 
botreaper10 said:
Suggestions are very appreciated, but with the cooling, the 1 case fan sits right above the VRMs pulling are out, over them. With the side panel off, it has an endless supply of fresh air to pull from. I cannot, however, rule out heat from the VRMs. Anything is possible with this motherboard.

If it helps at all, this IS a replacement one from MSI already. My original one had all sorts of issues, so I RMA'd it. This is that new board. If it turns out to be the mobo, I'm swearing off MSI altogether.
Click to expand...

I have a fan near my vrm's pull air with my kuhler, but i also have a 120mm fan blowing over the kuhler cpu part and the vrm's at an angle. Cheap insurance that the vrm's stay cool.
 
UPDATE: It seems that after replacing the motherboard with an Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0, the computer still wouldn't post.

The FX 8120 died. From launch to now and it crapped out.
 
Amazing. It's very rare to have the CPU die... Out of curiocity, were you overclocking?
 
Yes I was overclocking, but I do suspect the MSI board to be the culprit. Even with the voltage set to a max of 1.43 volts, it would spike upwards of 1.55 volts. Both board exhibited the same behavior when it came to power to the processor.

I'm amazed at the difference in quality between a top of the line MSI board and a mid-tier Asus board. It took 6 different BIOS revisions to get a working mouse in the bios on the MSI board. From the box, the Asus board gave me mouse support. The sheer number over options in the Asus bios, is easily double what MSI offered me.
 
Yeah, it could be that it overvolted the CPU till it fried it. What can i say... Shame.
 
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