Asus RAMPAGE IV EXTREME mb won't boot up anymore! :( please can someone help me.

Kaos_vauxhall

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Hi Guys,

Hope some one here can help me out and save my mind... here goes

My machine was on unattended churning away at some number crunching and when I checked up on it later it was off, tried turning it on and nothing..lights on the motherboard are on but just won't boot, the GPUs fans that normally spin up on boot don't even spin up, nothing in the case seems to work, ALL fans in the case are dead and are not spinning up (Connected to the Scythe Kaze fan controller), except the Hard drives these seem to work fine and I can here them spin up, I am using 2 PSUs with a proper dual PSU adapter that my case came with see below for full spec of my hardware (The PC is 2 years old but had been in use recently for over 15 weeks constantly on, restarted here and there for updates etc)

RIG spec:

PC case SilverStone TJ11
Asus RAMPAGE IV EXTREME/BF3 Intel X79 Socket 2011 Motherboard - Water cooled
Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Running at 4.25Ghz OC - Water cooled
AMD XFX 7990 X3
GSkill Ripjaws Z Series 2133 CL 11.0 16GB Memory Kit - Red (4 x 4GB, DDR3, Quad Channel, Intel XMP Certified)
Tough Power 1200 Watt PSU X1
Silverstone Zues 1350 PSU X1 (NEW Only 1 and 1/2 Months old)
OCZ Vertex 3 SSD X 1
256GB Samsung SSD X 1
250GB Seagate X 3
1TB Seagate ST31000340NS Barracuda X 3
3TB Seagate ST3000DM001 Barracuda 7200 SATA III 6GB/s 7200rpm 64MB Cache X 3
Water cooling (Custom build)
Scythe Kaze Master Ace Black 5.25inch Fan Controller X 2

I individually tried each PSU but the Zues seems to have slight different 8 pin connector for the CPU connector, I originally was using the Tough Power 1200 watt PSU for the Main board and the Zues was just for the GPUs (3X XFX 7990s)

The system was not on a surge protector could BOTH of the PSU have been fried they spin up when testing with paperclip but could some of the rails inside the PSU lets say the just the CPU rails failed somehow?!?!? I hope its the PSU rather that the MB as the MB is water cooled and would be a headache to swap out!

It wasn't the usual... "lets upgrade this RIG with new RAM/CPU/COOLER WB/ GPU/ BIOS etc... Oh Oh that spark didn't look good" type of situation so naturally I am annoyed and baff'd as to what happened/caused this!

Just to add further tardness to the situation and To top it off I ordered new WB for the GPUs which were out of stock when placing order in December 2013 and waited all Jan 2014 and NOW Feb they are in stock and shipping :(

Please could someone shed some light on this dire situation, it would REALLY REALLY help me out.

Save me losing heart in custom PCs

Many thanks for anyone help in resolving this situation.
 
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I individually tried each PSU but the Zues seems to have slight different 8 pin connector for the CPU connector, I originally was using the Tough Power 1200 watt PSU for the Main board and the Zues was just for the GPUs (3X XFX 7990s)

That's definitely the way to go. In what way does the 8-pin connector differ? Given your graphics card setup I guess you're not confusing it with the PCI-E 8-pin connector which would be the common mistake
 
Hi EndlessWaves,

Glad to know I'm doing something right :)

The 8pin connector are shaped sliiiightly differently but still fit into the MB 8pin socket. (if that makes sense)

Yeah I'm definitely not confusing the PCI-e 8pin connectors especially as they are all labeled PCI-E... If I did that I would deserve this headache purely out of my own stupidity.

Thanks for the suggestion appreciated, sometimes it can always be the simplest of things. but the thing is the system was working perfectly and has been for over 2 years and only recently I have been using continuously and this happens.

Any other thoughts?
 
The 8pin connector are shaped sliiiightly differently but still fit into the MB 8pin socket. (if that makes sense)

Ah, having looked it up it appears to be a 4+4 pin rather than an actual 8 pin connector. If one half has all of it's pins with rounded-off corners then that's a common thing and doesn't specify anything special as far as I know: All about the various PC power supply cables and connectors

Have you tried taking the ram out and trying one stick at a time (in different slots too)? Although it's unusual for ram to die like that.
 
Your ASUS motherboard, does it have the two digit digital readout? If so, what's the code?
 
Ah, having looked it up it appears to be a 4+4 pin rather than an actual 8 pin connector. If one half has all of it's pins with rounded-off corners then that's a common thing and doesn't specify anything special as far as I know: All about the various PC power supply cables and connectors

Have you tried taking the ram out and trying one stick at a time (in different slots too)? Although it's unusual for ram to die like that.

That's correct, annoyingly the Zues PSU doesn't just have a good fitting 8Pin but it fits like you said. I'll check out the site you linked to too just to ensure all is good.

The Ram modules I did ponder this and ended up doing as you said but still no luck :) even though they have NEVER been removed or played with since first originally bought and inserted into the MB.
Plus there was no beep noise on boot up that normally occurs in memory issues cases as you would normally get.

Beginning to worry here now as my 7990 WaterBlocks should be arriving soon too and they will be useless if I cant get this working :(

Thanks for the suggestions though and the URL you provided for cabling and connectors is definitely useful :)
 
Your ASUS motherboard, does it have the two digit digital readout? If so, what's the code?

Hi Greg,

There are no codes being prompted on that little digital read out, that's the only thing that doesn't light up when the power button is pressed. As you may know that things goes apes on boot up normally and then rests on the FF (Which I think stands for Fully Functional) on final boot.

I've also tested the Power switch and as the TJ11 has 2 on/off buttons top of case and front of case I doubt that both could be faulty at the same time.
 
Get a PSU tester. Something like this: PSU Tester: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics. This will could help to indicate whether the PSU or one of it's rails is faulty.

I assume you have tried to reset the BIOS on the M/B?

I had a similar issue once with a ASUS Striker Motherboard I owned. I changed the GPU and it fired up! Have you got another rig you can try the XFX 7990's in?
 
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Get a PSU tester. Something like this: PSU Tester: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics. This will could help to indicate whether the PSU or one of it's rails is faulty.

I assume you have tried to reset the BIOS on the M/B?

I had a similar issue once with a ASUS Striker Motherboard I owned. I changed the GPU and it fired up! Have you got another rig you can try the XFX 7990's in?

Hi Jason,

I tried the M/B bios reset and also tried the secondary bios that the R4E has, still no luck there.

That PSU tester is actually a great idea I'm going to order one :) hopefully should confirm/eliminate the PSU as the culprit.

I wish I had another rig but to test the GPUs with. I really hope its not the GPU as they are hefty in price £££ and practically brand new (paid £400 for each card brand new)

Much appreciated for your help, will hopefully get some results with this testing.
 
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That will be fine. Cheaper option too! :D
 

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