Maximus Impact VI Failure-Where do I start?

[dmotowylak]

Hello. I've had a working and reliable Impact VI since February of 2014. Last week, after attempting to wake the machine from sleep, the system turned off and will no longer POST.

On the motherboard itself, the START button is lit. There is NO Q-CODE display and the only item lit on the back is the CMOS RESET button. Hitting START will spin the fans for 1 second and then nothing. I see lights on my graphics card, but none of my drives are spinning or appear powered on.

I'm trying to narrow down the failure to the MB, or power supply. Being somewhat new to this, I am wondering if this looks like a fried board or power supply. Any advice?

[Nate152]

Hello dmotowylak and welcome

If you are not getting a code from the LED readout you are on the right track, it is one of those two you mentioned, mobo or psu.

[Retired]

Still today the system Hibernation function isnt solid, its a plague..

Dont enable it next time..

start the computer in the morning, and turn it off at night, or leave it on for a week or so..

monitor sleep and HDD sleep, yes.. but thats it..

disable hibernate in windows7>

CMD then type powercfg -h off then hit enter

And you gain space on the C drive by doing this also

Keep it simple, keep out of issues..

1. Check CPU EPS 8 pin connector, check ATX 24 pin connector that they are sitting properly in the sockets

2. Full power down, and then try to re-flash bios, if clr cmos isnt working for you..

3.clr cmos and remove all the connected devices, USB sticks, sata, USB devices, lan, audio, gpu's and so on.
And from the PSU use/connect only the EPS 8 pin, and ATX 24 pin modular cables to the motherboard (dont remove the cpu/cpu cooler or the memory modules ).. and then hit then start button, same issue? or do you get debugs this time?
note> Check that the modular cable connectors are sitting properly in the PSU, especially the 24 pin ATX connector

In dont think this is the case, but>. Have the PSU ever been jump started in the past, green+black wire? or have you sleeved any of the PSU cables yourself..

sometimes when people jump start a PSU, they manage to fck up the green-black ATX pins (by using hard metal objects inserted in the ATX connector), and that can lead to a loose connection.. so the board wont start up

wiggle the connector in the socket, while pressing onboard start button..

good luck, whatever the problem is.. i dont think its something wrong with your HW, i just think your overseeing something simple/crucial here.. its a easy fix!!!!!! HW DIE HARD........ 98% of the time, its us, the users, who dont understand, or kill the HW..

Out of my last 20-30 brand new motherboards, one was faulty.. and i cant blame the vendor for that, it was my own fault (i spilled liquid on it)..
And i have manged to **** up the socket pins on 3 of the boards...

Zzz

[dmotowylak]

Thank you! I will try these suggestions today - I hope it is something simple as you mention 🙂

[dmotowylak]

Today, I tried the following:
-reflashed BIOS using 2 versions using USB stick (seemed to work, slow blink followed by fast blink)
-cleared CMOS

Nothing.

- removed everything from the MB - all cables and graphics card
- only plugged in the ATX 24 pin and the EPS 8 pin to the MB and PSU (modular cables)

Nothing. Also removed memory and no change.

Symptoms remain the same. START button is lit, CMOS button is lit. Pressing START spins the CPU and PSU fan for less than 1 second.
No Q-Code (blank)

I'm still feeling I cannot narrow down between motherboard and PSU, although my bet is on motherboard. Any ideas on where I should go from here?

[Nate152]

If there is a pc shop close by you could have them test your psu and motherboard or you could RMA them both if they're under warranty.

[Retired]

slow blink followed by fast blink)

for how long did it blink?

5 sec or +30 sec

[dmotowylak]

WhitePaw wrote:
slow blink followed by fast blink)

for how long did it blink?

5 sec or +30 sec

The whole process took around 30+ seconds. Once the red light went away I assumed it was done.

[Nate152]

That sounds like you did it correct.

If you are not getting a code on the LED readout, you either don't have power to the motherboard or you have failure with the psu or motherboard.

[Retired]

Nate> but on the other hand..

No power to the board, and he would not be able to update bios successfully..

TS> Do you have pictures of your setup?