Asus Maximus V Formula not booting

[greggagnon]

I just can't figure out what is going on with this motherboard. I have built dozens of systems and never had issues like this.

The motherboard will NOT boot. It will try to startup but it stops on the boot device error light lit and error code A2 and I get 1 long beep followed by 4 short beeps.

This is the second board I have gotten with the same problem.

I have tried 2 brand new power supplies.
I have tried both 1600Mhz Gskill ram and 2400Mhz Gskill ram. I have tried in just A2 and A2& B2 (1600 is 4mb and 2400 is 8mb sticks)
I have tried 2 brand new hard drives.
I have clear the CMOS. I have removed all power and removed battery for 5 minutes.
The video card I am using is older Geforce pulled from a working system (waiting on my new gtx 670 to get here). I tried in all three slots.

I have the 24 pin, 8pin and 4pin motherboard connectors connected. I do not have the EZ plug connected, as I was told it was not necessary.

What else can I try before returning this board for something else.

Thanks
Greg

[Chino]

Welcome to the Republic of Gamers forums, greggagnon.

Can you list your full system specs as detailed as possible for us? Most importantly, does anything show on your screen?

[greggagnon]

System specs:
Maximus V Formula Motherboard
Intel i7-3770k CPU
16GB (2x8) GSkill Trident X 2400Mhz
600GB WD Velociraptor HD
LG Bluray DVD burner
EVGA Nvidia GTX275 video card
Windows 7 Pro

I never got anything on the screen. Nothing. I am assuming system was booting up (the codes were changing on the LED display) and then it would stop at A2 with the boot device error light lit.

Since posting this, I tried making a boot USB of my Windows 7 using WintoFlash. If I disconnect all sata devices, I can boot from the USB drive into Windows 7 setup. But as soon as I connect a SATA device (I have tried the 3G and all the 6G ports) it will not boot and goes back to the A2 and the boot device led is lit (does not matter if the usb drive still connected).

If a sata drive is connected, I never get anything on the screen.

I have tried two different NEW sata drives with no success. I have tried just connecting the DVD drive with the boot disc in the drive and it still will not boot.

Thank you
Greg

[Chino]

Ok. Disconnect all your SATA drives for now. Since you have another computer available, please go to the Asus website and download the latest BIOS for your motherboard. Format a FAT32 USB Pendrive. Then proceed to unzipping the file and put the file onto the pendrive. Now connect your pendrive to the MVF, power up the motherboard, go into the BIOS and update using the EZ Flash Utility.

After the update is completed (usually around 2 reboots), go into your BIOS and press F5 to load optimized defaults. Save and shutdown. Now connect your Velociraptor to the Intel SATA3 port. Power on the system. Does it post?

[greggagnon]

I already did that. Before the BIOS update it would not even boot with USB. After the BIOS update, only then could I boot to usb.

-------------------------
I have another question. Are both the 8pin and 4pin MB power connectors required? One of my power supplies only has the 24pin and 8 pin. My newest one, a Thermaltake Grand, had all three. But I was wondering if all 3 are required. I like to keep a backup P/S on hand, and I need to know if I need to get another one that has all three.

[red454]

I have both plugged in on mine. The manual on page 1-43 says that both need to be plugged in or it won't boot...

[Chino]

greggagnon wrote:
I have another question. Are both the 8pin and 4pin MB power connectors required? One of my power supplies only has the 24pin and 8 pin. My newest one, a Thermaltake Grand, had all three. But I was wondering if all 3 are required. I like to keep a backup P/S on hand, and I need to know if I need to get another one that has all three.

The 8pin power connector is required. The other 4pin power connector is optional but if you have the connection, it is recommended since it does no harm.

Have you verified that all your cables and connectors are properly connected to their respective headers. And if you have the mPCIe card installed, remove it for now.

[greggagnon]

I am not using the mPCIe card.

I seated and reseated the connectors. I have tried an OCZ that only has the 8 pin for the MB and I got the same results. That is why I asked about using both connectors.

I have got another power supply coming that also has the 8 + 8(4+4) Motherboard connection. I will swap out PS's when it gets here later this week.

I really believe there is a problem with the power being supplied to the board.

When I get the new PS I will update.

Chino, let me ask you this. I was going to put in a Cruical 256GB mSata as the boot drive and my Velociraptor as my data drive. Do you think that would be an unwise configuration. I have read about many problems with people using the mPCIe card with a mSata drive. Not sure if the performance would even be worth it. You two cents worth please?

Thanks for all the help.

Greg

[TenBlade]

mPCIe is PCIe speedl, it´s slower than 6gbps SATA, so why not use regular SATA?
My 1 cents worth untill Chino gets here 😉

[greggagnon]

Thanks TenBlade. I guess if I want to go SSD then I should just do a standard SSD and skip the mPCIe all together. The drive in there now is just for testing. The data drive is going to be a 1TB WD Velociraptor. Just dont know if I need to even spend the money on a SSD.