R4BE will not pwer up

[Disraeli]

I have been trying to solve this problem since January and feel like I am going to lose my mind. My board lights up and fans spin for half a sec and then nothing, No POST, no codes no nothing. I have RMAed the board 3 times, RMAed the CPU, replaced case, replaced the ram by purchasing new ram listed on approved list, used the lates firmware, pulled the board out of the case, with only cpu, 1 stick of ram and heatsink and fans. The deal is sometimes I am able to get the machine to power, post, and boot into windows (was able to install when it did power on) once every 100 tries. The machine will run for days on end fine, temps look good, voltages look good, machine is stable. When I shut it off, same thing .....will not power on. Try 100 more times over the next week and finally it powers on. Since I have litterally traded everything out twice I would think that rules out the componenets for failure leaving either the enviroment (power at my house), or some sort of compatibility issue. Since it does this stripped down (bench test) compatibility doesn't seem likely. As far as the power at my house I have other computer that are running just fine in the same room. The outlet/ battery backup unit that I am currently using is one that I had my old computer on that I am replacing with this one. I am going broke trying to solve this problem. Just to cover all my bases I am going to buy one of those outlet testers and see if that sheds some light on my situation. Anyway close to scrapping this and part out and sell to recoup some of my loss if I cant get this solved soon. It's crushing my sole. The core specs of the machine are

Asus R4BE
Latest firmware as of today
i7-4930k
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-2133C11Q-32GZL
1200 watt Thermaltake PSU and a 1000W Cooler Master ( yes I am using the 4, 8, 24 pin conectors)

I can list the other components if you like but since I am not using them during a bench test and the problem is still present it seems they are irrelevant. The embarrassing thing about this is I was a pc hardware tech for 15 years before becoming a network admin and I cant get this fixed!!! Any help would be appreciated.

[jab383]

Should I take it that you use the Thermaltake or the Cooler Master PSU and that both produce the same result (rather than using both PSU simultaneously)?

The symptoms would be explained if the PSU did not produce a 'power good' signal soon enough -- the MB would shut down after kicking the fans and lights for that half second. It is also possible, but less so, that both high-power supplies are slower than the MB expects. The 1% successful boots would indicate that the 'power good' response is close to the limit enough to work sometimes.

I suggest trying the stripped down configuration with a lower power PSU that may respond faster.

Jeff

[Disraeli]

I am currently using the thermaltake 1200 watt. Bought the other one for trouble shooting, which didn't fix the problem. I don't know what you mean by a power good signal. I plug in, turn on power to the PSU, and the board lights up. I press the power up button on the case or board and the fans spin for a half sec and then stop. The board continues to stay lite up. The pulsing for the ROG thing above the 1st pcie slot stops but still stays lit. I did the Asus PSU calculator and it said I need 900 watts minimum. I guess I could buy a 900 watt but I seriously have my doubts

[jab383]

'Power good', also called 'Power OK', is one of the signals on the 24-pin EATXPWR connector. Your MB manual probably shows it on a pin diagram of the socket. It lets the MB know that the PSU is alive and well. Absent that signal, the MB quits trying to boot.

A quick check of the stripped down system you list above for troubleshooting should need under 400 watts to go through POST. It's just a troubleshooting step and I agree that the full power drain with some video cards will need 1000w or more. I'm thinking of a test with one video card idling that would drive the display in BIOS. The real thing being tested is signal exchange time between the MB PSON# command to start and the Power OK response from the PSU.

Jeff

[Disraeli]

Ok, not really sure what you are trying to communicate. One of the wires of the 24 pin atx connector is the power OK, got it. Now what? To go and buy a 3rd power supply when I have already spent 2k beyond the build (for trouble shooting) for a test is hard to swallow. If other people were having problems with 1000 watt PSU's being the problem, I think we might be hearing about it on this forum and I don't see one POST about that here (I looked at them all). I wish that ASUS tech support were people that actually new how to work on computers, seems like they are just reading from a script. I was told each time I traded something out that that was definately the problem. How can somebody diagnos something in a chat and say that is DEFINATELY the problem is beyond me!!!

[abvolt]

Have you talked to asus tech support it really sounds like you might have to rma the board.

[meankeys]

I read in your first post you use a battery backup. you did try to power the board with out it. I use a thermaltake psu with out a problem.

By the way Welcome to the ROG

[Disraeli]

Abvolt, I am on my 3rd motherboard. Meankeys, thanks for the welcome. Wish I would of come here a couple months back. Yes I have by passed the Battery Backup unit. My original post about the power at my house or room got me thinking. I rent a room in a house from one of my former clients. I took the computer to the opposite end of the house and plugged it in to a wall outlet. It fired up immediately. I repeated the power cycle about 20 times and 17 of those attempts the computer powered up. Took it back to my room, plugged into the wall outlet and tried again 20 more times. All 20 times failed to power the unit. This goes for all outlets in my room. My land lord will not pay to have an electrician come and test the outlets unfortunately.

[Disraeli]

I feel that this is most likely the case, but don't want to count the chickens until they are hatched. Getting an outlet tester tonight and see where that leads me

[Disraeli]

I am told that the outlet was tested and that there was a problem. They are going to put in a new outlet. I don't know what the problem was, but I am having the same issue on all of my outlets so not totally confident replacing the outlet will fix the issue. Now that I think about it I have had a lot of HDD failures over the last year. I have a Proliant server and another Computer in the same room and I have had probably 5 hard drive failures from the server and 1 from the other computer, which is a lot and has had me wondering what is going on. All of the computers have battery backups. I am not an expert on power. Does anyone know how the power could be causing all of these issues. I know that the wiring is old. I don't appear to have a lot of brown out issues.