Maximus Impact VII Won't Post... Please help me.

[Opprobrious]

Build:
Motherboard: Maximus Impact VII
CPU: Intel I7 4790K
RAM: GSkill (F3-2400C10D-16GTX)
Video Card: AMD R9 290X Lightning
PSU: Silverstone SFX 600-G
Storage: Crucial M550 512GB SATA M.2, (2) Samsung 850 Pro 256GB, Western Digital 2 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB
Case: NCaseM1 2.0
Cooling: Custom Loop: EK Blocks and Radiator, Bits Power Fittings

So I just got done prepping my loop and bleeding it (pump powered only). Plugged everything in, and BEHOLD; NOTHING!!! There are no error LEDs lit on the board indicating faulty hardware, and the QCode reads 00. Reseated the RAM and still nothing. Thought about the fact that there were absolutely no LEDs on the board lighting other than the Start button, so I decided to remove the RAM entirely. Booted the system hoping to trip an error code of some sort and still nothing; the exact behavior as if I had the RAM installed. I'm at a complete loss here. I read about the QCode 00 can sometimes mean a problem w/ the CPU, but the motherboard is behaving as if it has it's own issues.

I am going to probably go to the place I bought the CPU and have them bench it to make sure it is functioning, in which case I'll know it is probably an issue w/ the motherboard.

Something else I have noticed when powering the computer on. I have my 4-pin PWM corsair radiator fans attached to the motherboard via the impact coolhub and they will not spin up. Just for kicks I attached one of the fans to the 4-pin cpu prong. It BARELY spun.

I have tried just booting on the motherboard w/ CPU only (no video card power) and there is no change in behavior. My HDD spins up, and my pump turns on, but there is no POST. In addition, I noticed when I was plugging the power into my video card, (2, 8-pin, and 1, 6-pin) 1 connector at a time, there are LEDs on the video card that indicate adequate power; 1 8-pin connector (LEDs RED; not enough juice), 2, 8-pin connectors (LEDs Blue; normal operation), 2, 8-pin and 1, 6-pin (LEDs Blue and Amber; OC mode unlocked). The video card seems to be getting enough power so I'm skeptical if the PSU is faulty however, I'm uncertain.

PS: Where the hell is the MEMOK button on this board? The impact vi it is located on the rear near the QCODE LCD however, the vii is a different story... (Originally I thought this may be my problem because of a RAM issue, but the system behaves exactly the same with or without the ram...

Please help me troubleshoot this no POST issue. Thank you in advance!!!

TLDR: QCode reads 00; there is no post, and there are absolutely no error LEDs lit on the motherboard; only thing that is lit is the start button. PLEASE HALP!!

[Opprobrious]

Okay so I took my setup to the place I bought my CPU from. They were able to test my PSU and there were no problems with it. After he inspected the CPU and motherboard socket it was pretty much conclusive that the motherboard was the problem. I did a return at amazon for a replacement and I should have a new board tomorrow. Will post up on the results once I get the CPU mounted to the new board.

[Nate152]

Hey great and fast too !

yes keep us updated please. 🙂

[Opprobrious]

Got the new Motherboard in. Benched it w/ the CPU mounted (stock cooler), a stick of memory, and the PSU. It posted w/o an issue. Got the whole rig up and running last night. OC'd my memory to 2400, got my two samsung 850 pros in a striped array. Computer is super fast. I did read that the PCIE 16x port is throttled to 8x when the m.2 port is used inside the impact vii which does not make me happy; that being said I believe I will return it. 512 gb should be more than enough ssd space for what I need. Time to OC the CPU now. Idle temps are 32. Couldn't be happier... well I could... If I had an OLED 30" 4K monitor running 120 refresh, but I'll have to wait another 3 years for that.

[Nate152]

Thanks for posting back and good to see you are up and running.

You won't notice any performance difference with the pcie lane running at x16 or x8. Just to confirm it is running at x8 you can check in the bios.

[Opprobrious]

UGH! So I did a burn in for 8 hours after clocking my memory to 2400. No problem, system was very stable. Playing dragon age for about an hour when all of a sudden BOOM the computer shuts off HARD. No alarms, no warning, just OFF. Went to power it back on, and nothing. Little blip of power and no post again. Felt all the fittings and radiator and blocks with my hand and they were hot to touch, but not where I wouldn't be able to keep my hand on it. If I was running critically high temps there would be no way I would be able to keep my hand on the blocks. My idle temp was 32-33'c with gpu and cpu in single loop, when I stressed my machine it didn't go over 68'c so I'm extremely confident this was not heat related.

Even before stress testing the computer I had installed my OS and apps, and a few games over the past day or so, and not even a hiccup. I decided to clear the cmos; after I did that the computer powered on but no post, no codes, no error leds, just the 00 on the back LCD. I also noticed that when the motherboard is not communicating to the CPU like it wasn't last time or the board was just faulty, the radiator fans would not spin, as I was using the dual 4 pin fan accessory that plugs into the impact vii. That is exactly what is occurring now.

I tell ya, I am not having a good turn out w/ these ROG Impact boards; I am RMAing for the second time now. Before I pull the trigger I'm going to tear down my system AGAIN (UGH!!!!) and remount the stock cooler on it with the stock syncs just to make absolutely sure it won't post. Then I'll do the same to the new board once it comes in after pull the trigger on the RMA. I'm expecting the replacement board to post.

Will keep this thread updated with my adventures in board failures.

PS: In case anyone is wondering I have been building computers since my first 286. Super old school gamer from the dos days. I know how to build a computer and mount things properly. More over, I'm a systems analyst and have been for 9 years now. I just seem to be having awful luck with this particular board.

[Opprobrious]

UGH! So I did a burn in for 8 hours after clocking my memory to 2400. No problem, system was very stable. Playing dragon age for about an hour when all of a sudden BOOM the computer shuts off HARD. No alarms, no warning, just OFF. Went to power it back on, and nothing. Little blip of power and no post again. Felt all the fittings and radiator and blocks with my hand and they were hot to touch, but not where I wouldn't be able to keep my hand on it. If I was running critically high temps there would be no way I would be able to keep my hand on the blocks. My idle temp was 32-33'c with gpu and cpu in single loop, when I stressed my machine it didn't go over 68'c so I'm extremely confident this was not heat related.

Even before stress testing the computer I had installed my OS and apps, and a few games over the past day or so, and not even a hiccup. I decided to clear the cmos; after I did that the computer powered on but no post, no codes, no error leds, just the 00 on the back LCD. I also noticed that when the motherboard is not communicating to the CPU like it wasn't last time or the board was just faulty, the radiator fans would not spin, as I was using the dual 4 pin fan accessory that plugs into the impact vii. That is exactly what is occurring now.

I tell ya, I am not having a good turn out w/ these ROG Impact boards; I am RMAing for the second time now. Before I pull the trigger I'm going to tear down my system AGAIN (UGH!!!!) and remount the stock cooler on it with the stock syncs just to make absolutely sure it won't post. Then I'll do the same to the new board once it comes in after pull the trigger on the RMA. I'm expecting the replacement board to post.

Will keep this thread updated with my adventures in board failures.

PS: In case anyone is wondering I have been building computers since my first 286. Super old school gamer from the dos days. I know how to build a computer and mount things properly. More over, I'm a systems analyst and have been for 9 years now. I just seem to be having awful luck with this particular board.

[Nate152]

Oh boy you're right, you're not having much luck are you. I'm sorry to hear this.

Well keep us updated like you did before when you get your board back. I guess there's not much we can really do to help you unfortunately.

If your stress temps were only 68c, your gaming temps were lower than that so I don't see it being your cpu. I will suspect psu or motherboard again.

[Opprobrious]

Nate152 wrote:
Oh boy you're right, you're not having much luck are you. I'm sorry to hear this.

Well keep us updated like you did before when you get your board back. I guess there's not much we can really do to help you unfortunately.

If your stress temps were only 68c, your gaming temps were lower than that so I don't see it being your cpu. I will suspect psu or motherboard again.

Yes I think so too. I tested the PSU already, and it's not that. I was praying it was, but of course not; wouldn't be my luck unless I had to tear down the whole thing again... 😕

Will keep you guys posted. I suppose this thread can serve as a "No matter how much you think your luck sucks during your build, and how arduous the tear down is for you, this guys was WAY WORSE!"

dual radiator, R9 290x lightning, impact vii, and full water blocks on gpu and cpu all fit into a super tiny ncase m1... It SUCKS!

[Puffnstuff]

I has been my experience that when a system does what you describe that the power supply is the issue. It can test fine on another system that doesn't stress it enough. My last system was running dual water loops and my ps, a corsair hx1000, started acting up causing instability until I replaced it with the Enermax in my sig. Unless you place the system under load with a digital multimeter monitoring the 12, 5 and 3.3v rails you will not know whether or not it is the ps unless you test it with a real power supply tester like the one anandtech or johnnyguru use. The little testers with lights that plug onto the 24 pin out are worthless.

[Nate152]

Yeah I hear you, with liquid cooling that makes it a little more painful.