New Maximus Formula won't POST!

[greenman]

Hi. I just built a new rig consisting of:

Maximus Formula
2x2gb OCZ Reaper
Zalman 9700
E8400
XFX 8800GTS 512
Corsair 750TX

I can't get the computer to POST. It starts with CPU INIT and finishes that, then it goes thru DETRAM and finishes that, but it always gets stuck on TESTCMOS. I've replaced the CMOS battery, and pressed the CMOS reset button, and nothing. Any ideas? I'm dead in the water here, and this is my first build.:down:


Thanks!

[crazyea]

are you running the latest bios? could be the e8400.

[A_Noob]

Update to the latest bios if you haven't already done it. New bios has support for Wolfdale.

[greenman]

That's a bummer. I just got the mobo, and I'm sure it doesn't have the newest BIOS. I don't have another intel CPU either, as I'm coming from an AMD. I guess I'll have to find one and put it in just to get the mobo to boot to BIOS then. Thanks for the help.

[ElectroM]

I just got one today and it is exactly the same. I have the e8400 chip also. Let me know if this fixes the problem. I thought the board would support the chip out of the box.

[Malik]

Here is solution ... bios 0907 support e8xxx :)

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/41/beztytuuwc0.th.jpg (http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beztytuuwc0.jpg)\

[CERO]

Yea it is like 99.9999% it is the E8400 causing. U need a other cpu , to make it boot, and flash it to 0802 or up, just flash to the 0907 like above suggested

[daniel.j]

I can't understand, why do they sell the board with these old BIOSes, when the 45nm support is written on the box... I got my one with 0505 and if I hadn't have another E6850, I wouldn't have booted up... So RMA would be the only solution.

[fordf250]

Can you flash to newer bios if the mb will not even post?

[greenman]

All right, I just borrowed a CPU from a computer salesman, I just installed it. I'll report my results soon.

*Freaking ASUS... sure, we support 45nm, as long as you have a non 45nm CPU sitting in your pocket that you can actually use first. Boo Hiss...*

;)

[greenman]

Awesome, it still won't POST. It now gets past the initial problem, but the Led poster now says CMOS ERR. I tried to reset the mobo, and nothing. Any ideas? I'm hitting my head on a wall here.:(

[greenman]

I just tried removing one of the sticks of ram, and it still says CMOS ERR. Do I need to remove the CMOS battery for awhile or is something in need of an RMA here or what? I am almost to the point of getting my hammer out to 'fix' this thing.

[ElectroM]

Did it post with the other cpu? It must have, since you flashed the bios. The only thing I can think of is make sure you reset the little slide switch to the default position after flashing the bios.
Or are you saying it won't post with either one.

[greenman]

No, I have never had it POST. Everything for this rig is brand spanking, out of the box new. I have never even seen an image, besides "no signal" on my brand new 22" monitor. The comp refuses to POST, although when I switched to the older CPU (Pentium D I believe) the computer got a little farther in it's tests before it got stuck.

I have zero ideas here.

[zanzabar]

U HAVE TO USE EVERY MOTHERBOARD SCREW TO GROUND THE BOARD


all of the pads were the screws go into have to be grounded to the case or it wont post and give u cpu init, this is a common problem and i dont see why asus includes this in the rog boards


this is like the 10th post about this and ive had about 5 people call me about this its vary annoying they need a warning in the box

[greenman]

Zanzabar: I don't quite follow. I used every mobo screw that there was, 9 total. And I screwed them into the brass standoffs into the case, just like anyone normally would. Are you saying there is a problem with at least one of the mobo screws not correctly grounding with the case somehow?

[theonlybabyface]

For a test, just pull the board out of the case and see what happens when turned on....

[greenman]

Seriously? My case is a mid tower NZXT Apollo, and it's tight to begin with. I have a fan controller hooked up, with all my wires zip-tied and stored, and removing the mobo may take hours.

If I do have to do this, exactly what should I do? Just leave the mobo sitting on something with the vidcard, ram, CPU and all the other stuff hooked up to it still?

Again, the initial problem was with the Wolfdale getting stuck at TESTCMOS. After switching over to the Pentium D, it now gets stuck at CMOS ERR. I just pulled out the CMOS battery, and will let it sit for awhile. Would a grounding issue cause this CMOS ERR?

This is unbelieveable.:down: :mad: :( :eek: :shocked:

[ElectroM]

Same here, I used all screws mounting the board, but I have since removed the board from the case to troubleshoot. It is now sitting on the plastic shell it shipped in, same result, fails to post. I have been building systems for myself and friends for about 20 years. It was mounted properly. I have an Intel E6750 2.66 ghz cpu in this box. I was planning to pull it in the morning to flash the Maximus.
Greenman, what cpu did you use to try to flash?
Btw, I have a lot of stuff here to swap out, such as memory, power supplies, etc. All known good. Nothing has helped so far. Needless to say, I am following this thread closely.

[greenman]

Hi ELectroM.

I am using a Pentium D, unknown model, that I got on loan from a computer repair guy. I planned on just using this CPU to get the damn thing to POST, then upgrading the BIOS version, then switching back to the E8400 Wolfdale.

I dunno man. I am well and truly pissed at this thing. I am no computer guru, but I am a biologist, and think that I have more than 2 brain cells to rub together, but I'm thinking about just returning all of my stuff back to the 'egg and just buying a PS3.

Yeah, it's really that annoying to me.

** in other news, I tried pressing F1 when the LCD Poster says CMOS ERR, and it then goes to EN SETUP, or something like that, but still nothing. I dunno. I'm going to let my CMOS battery sit out for awhile, and if nothing happens when I put it back in, and if I can't get any answers from here, I'm going to call N-Egg to start an RMA.:shakes:

BTW, thanks for all the help thus far guys. I appreciate it. :up:

[kiwi]

P35 and X38 asus boards (at least high end models) would post even if (retail) 45nm cpu microcode hasn't been updated. It would just say "Uknown cpu detected, please update bios". I have installed Wolfdales in older P35 boards with outdated bios and they all posted just fine

Do you have a stick of value RAM? Remove everything from case, just leave cpu, 1 stick of RAM and video card

[ElectroM]

Greenman, I see you used a Pentium D. Your last post went up while I was writing my previous post.
As I said, I have pulled my board from the case. It is sitting on the plastic shell it shipped in. I have cpu, heatsink, video card, and 1 stick of Corsair memory installed. I have tried a known good video card, three different types of memory to no avail. Mine still stops at testcmos.

[greenman]

Alas, I have no DDR2 value ram, only the OCZ reaper, which I only have 1 stick in BTW.

ElectroM, do you have any other CPUs to try? I at least got past the TESTCMOS error when I switched from the Wolfdale to the Pentium D. Perhaps you could try some value ram as well?

I just tried to call ASUS tech support, got the "sorry, we're busy, leave a message" shtick, but I left my number so hopefully they will call back soon.

I'm thinking a mobo RMA is in short order, but it does seem like a coincidence that we both have almost the exact problem. Maybe it is a know issue? These Wolfdales are so new, perhaps many people haven't had a chance to find some of the problems with compatability or something?

I guess I'll wait for tech support to call me back.

[ElectroM]

Kiwi,
I have tried Corsair, 4 sticks. I have tried OCZ, 4 sticks. I have tried Crucial, 2 sticks. All work in this box. I have swapped video cards. I has a Radeon x1950xt in this box, it is now on the Maximus board. I bought an Asus Radeon 3870 for the Maximus, it is now in this box. The power supply for the Maximus is a PC Power & Cooling 750 watt. I have power supply tester, it is good. I highly recommend getting a power supply tester, it is well worth the money, about $25 to $30.
Greenman,
I am not a biologist, but I have held a master electricians license since 1982. It is not a grounding problem. I really don't know what to do next. I am really hesitant to pull the cpu from this box now, since it didn't solve the problem for you, but that is about all that is left for me to try.

[fordf250]

To clear the cmos you hit the cmos button with the power on with post running. The mb shuts down and cmos resets if the switch is right on the mb, see munual. If not the clear cmos is not set. Also try just hitting the reset button once then wait half a minute it take some time for it to reset.

[ElectroM]

To clear the cmos you hit the cmos button with the power on with post running. The mb shuts down and cmos resets if the switch is right on the mb, see munual. If not the clear cmos is not set. Also try just hitting the reset button once then wait half a minute it take some time for it to reset.

Okay I tried that. No luck, still hangs at testcmos. Thanks for the suggestion. I am at a loss, any ideas are welcome.

[Arcanedeath]

Pretty Sure the X38 boards don't work w/ the older P4's anymore I think they droped support for them so that be why it may not be working w/ the P4, I just swaped in my E8400 yesterday and it didn't work w/ the 802 bios wouldn't post, I put my Xeon 3060 back in and updated to 907 and it worked fine, as an FYI all this was done on an open test bench w/ the Maximus Formula on an anti static bag. You don't need all the motherboard screws in to make it work you just need to make sure your not shorting out the board when you have it connected to your case.

[Retro]

Hi ELectroM.

I am using a Pentium D, unknown model, that I got on loan from a computer repair guy. I planned on just using this CPU to get the damn thing to POST, then upgrading the BIOS version, then switching back to the E8400 Wolfdale.

I dunno man. I am well and truly pissed at this thing. I am no computer guru, but I am a biologist, and think that I have more than 2 brain cells to rub together, but I'm thinking about just returning all of my stuff back to the 'egg and just buying a PS3.

Yeah, it's really that annoying to me.

** in other news, I tried pressing F1 when the LCD Poster says CMOS ERR, and it then goes to EN SETUP, or something like that, but still nothing. I dunno. I'm going to let my CMOS battery sit out for awhile, and if nothing happens when I put it back in, and if I can't get any answers from here, I'm going to call N-Egg to start an RMA.:shakes:

BTW, thanks for all the help thus far guys. I appreciate it. :up:

Don't get a PS3, stick with the computer build! That Wolfdale chip is just waiting to show you what it can do!
Have you considered just returning the mobo and getting a different one?
Not to badmouth Asus, but you could also try another brand as well.
I have had good luck with Gigabyte lately, I was going to use an Abit IP-35 Pro for this build but it was DOA which is unusual, but it happens.

[Arcanedeath]

USB Flash drive works fine to update the bios even a HDD but it needs to be fat 32

[Eastcoasthandle]

USB Flash drive works fine to update the bios even a HDD but it needs to be fat 32

Yes, you are right, I tried an early version (3.0) and it recognizes the flash drive as C: so all is well.

[Eastcoasthandle]

Hi. I just built a new rig consisting of:

Maximus Formula
2x2gb OCZ Reaper
Zalman 9700
E8400
XFX 8800GTS 512
Corsair 750TX

I can't get the computer to POST. It starts with CPU INIT and finishes that, then it goes thru DETRAM and finishes that, but it always gets stuck on TESTCMOS. I've replaced the CMOS battery, and pressed the CMOS reset button, and nothing. Any ideas? I'm dead in the water here, and this is my first build.:down:


Thanks!

Where did you buy your MB from?

[greenman]

Hello all! **Disaster narrowly averted, man holds on to last shred of sanity**

I FINALLY got everything going, as a matter of fact, I got Vista64 going, and I'm typing on my new rig at this very moment!:clap:

ElectroM: What I did, was to use my OLD processor to post to the point where it says CMOS ERR, and then I took the CMOS battery out of the mobo for about 1 hour. I also disconnected everything from the computer, and pressed the power button to drain the capacitors. I put the new E8400 back in, connected all the cables, and it posted!

I sincerelly hope this can work for you. I felt like I wanted to rampage because it didn't work for me, but I guess perseverence prevailed today. I will say that perhaps you should try everything you can think of... to be honest I'm not exactly sure how I got this working, but I believe it was after I used the old cpu to get into bios and change the bios to 907, the com decided to work with me. I just had to physically reset the cmos by pulling the battery for awhile after I installed the e8400 I guess. (Does that make sense?)

Anyways, I'm trying out Vista64, and I'm impressed. My 22" Samsung really looks great with Vista, so I feel it's money well spent.

After I get all my settings figured out, and software installed, I will try some games... I'm looking at you Oblivion.

BTW, my system installed Vista just fine with 2x2gb of ram in it, I read on other forums that you need to use one stick to install, but I proved them wrong.

Let me know if I can be of help to anyone.

Thanks again so much guys!:D

[Dumo]

Whew:) Finally it post:up:

It happened to me a few times too:)
Now enjoy your nice E8400..Don't let it sit with stock vcore and 333fsb too long.

[greenman]

Whew:) Finally it post:up:

It happened to me a few times too:)
Now enjoy your nice E8400..Don't let it sit with stock vcore and 333fsb too long.

Yeah, no worries. I noticed that, at stock, the cpu was running at 1.8ghz. :rolleyes: Well, I didn't want to loligag around much, so I just raised the fsb to 400 and maxed the multi at 9. It gave me a nice 3.6ghz ( .6ghz overclock), and my cpu seems to be loving it.

Two questions, if I may:

1) My core voltage, as reported by cpu-z is around 1.36v. This is for my 3.6ghz overclock. Can I back down a bit maybe?

2) Speedfan reports my idle cpu temp at 39-40C. I haven't ran any stress tests yet. That seems pretty fair right? My ambient temp is about 21-22C.

I haven't even really messed with any voltages, other than the ram, which I put at about 2.06 if I remember correctly.

Any hints as far as voltages go?
------

system stats:

e8400 @ 3.6
maximus formula
2x2 ocz reaper ddr2800 @ stock
zalman9700
corsair 750tx psu
xfx 8800gts 512 @ stock

[BTK]

speedstep was making it run 1.8 ghz by lowering the multi

turn off all the bios speedstep/thermal monitor crap thats throttles cpu

and dont overclock your system when installing os/formatting

[ElectroM]

Greenman,
Great news. Did you flash the bios before you put the e8400 in? I just want to check before I pull the e6750 from this box to try to boot the Maximus.

[ElectroM]

I finally got it to post. I went to a local computer shop this morning and bought a Celeron D for about $45. I was able to post and flash the bios to 0907. It came with version 0401 on board. It recognized the E8400 now. I will finish the build over the next day or so. Thanks for the help.

[Pandamonia]

mine wouldnt post either. Try changing the ram into different slots i use 2 and 4, clear the Cmos and also take out the battery and then try again. mine was having same problem even on 0907

[neverwin]

Finally I am authorized to post and help out! Well I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out what greenman did exactly.

If the Maximus Formula will not POST with the e8400 and hangs on TESTCMOS you MUST go and find another socket LGA775 processor with which to update the BIOS.

This seriously pisses me off b/c the motherboard isnt cheap to begin with and what am I going to do with an old CPU because most vendors dont accept returns on CPUs. Obviously even though its a known issue Asus is a little quiet on the subject as if people knew they might not like the added 50$ cost just to update the BIOS.

ANYWAY... I snuck into my work late at night and "borrowed" and old P4 socket LGA775. Then I was in the same spot as Greenman where the LCD poster was showing CMOS ERR. This is actually fine. My monitor still wasnt displaying the BIOS screen though and it turned out that for some reason my monitor needed to be connected with a VGA cable using the DVI to VGA adaptor on my geforce 8800GTS to display the BIOS screen. Go figure.

I flashed the BIOS from a CD to 0907, put my e8400 back in, snuck back into work and put the processor back (phew) and everything else went smoothly.

I had no problems at all overclocking the e8400 to 4.3ghz (480fsb x 9) using only 1.48V with air cooling.

[ElectroM]

After I put the Celeron in it posted just fine. I flashed from 0401 to 0907, no problems. After putting the E8400 back in, it posted fine. BTW, the Celeron D I got is this one:
Intel Celeron D 352 Cedar Mill 3.2GHz 512KB L2 Cache LGA 775 Single-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819112211
I called the local shop and I couldn't believe they quoted a price of $41.99 plus tax. That is cheaper than NewEgg. So I went and got one. Now I have a spare if I need it for something. I haven't tried to overclock yet, still installing Vista.

[ElectroM]

Bumped my E8400 to 400 FSB with no issues. Running 8gb OCZ on auto. CPU temp at 25c. Still installing Vista 64bit Ultimate. Doing the 50 update thing.

[tc17]

Thats kind of ridiculous you have to buy a new cpu just to update the bios. I ordered this same motherboard and cpu. I won't be happy if it does this to me, and I'll probably just return it and forget it if it does.

I ordered mine from Mwave though, not sure where others ordered theirs. I won't receive it until Friday.

Is there a way to tell which version of the bios is installed without installing the cpu?

[Kunaak]

LGA775 boards also have troubles posting if a heatsink is on there too tight.
I've done that many times using phase change and watercooling.
tightenting something too tight, only to have it not post till I loosend it up.

too tight - pins touching. or close.

I've had friends do this too.
so its something pretty much anyone can have happen, if your not using a heatsink or something with pushpins.

[Funct]

Hello all finally got my account activated :woot: . Just wanted to add I'm having the same problems with this board... Everything powers up but I get hung on that damn cpu Init...

I've tried the following...

Q66000 + thermalright xtreme (reset 4 diff times)

Celeron 430 + stock hs/fan

Crucial Ballistx tracers (single sticks in every slot)

Some old 667 kingston 1.8v in every slot

2 different 3870's and one 7900 GT

Case mounted in a cosmos... Tore it out and now it's on my bench for t/s am I missing something? Is it finally rma time?

edit* i'm using a 700W OCZ gamextreme with this setup

Edit** This board makes me angry!!!! So I started from scratch again and went over the grounding for the 5th time. My problem was one of the MB mounts wasn't allowing full contact with the stupid motherboard grounding holes.....

[ElectroM]

Thats kind of ridiculous you have to buy a new cpu just to update the bios. I ordered this same motherboard and cpu. I won't be happy if it does this to me, and I'll probably just return it and forget it if it does.

I ordered mine from Mwave though, not sure where others ordered theirs. I won't receive it until Friday.

Is there a way to tell which version of the bios is installed without installing the cpu?

I don't know of a way to tell the bios version without booting, I looked on box and board both, didn't see anything. I bought my stuff from NewEgg. Doesn't Mwave offer a test with mb and cpu combos? I seem to remember that as an option when I was looking on their website. That would have been a good option if it meant they would have had to flash the bios in order to test. It may be too late now for you if they have shipped your stuff.
BTW, I am posting this on new system.

[tc17]

I don't know of a way to tell the bios version without booting, I looked on box and board both, didn't see anything. I bought my stuff from NewEgg. Doesn't Mwave offer a test with mb and cpu combos? I seem to remember that as an option when I was looking on their website. That would have been a good option if it meant they would have had to flash the bios in order to test. It may be too late now for you if they have shipped your stuff.
BTW, I am posting this on new system.
Yes they do have an option to test the board/cpu for $10 more. I didn't do it at the time because I didn't know about this problem :)

However I was just reading in the Asus forums, and one guy said he didn't have to use a cpu to update the bios, he just did a cntrl-alt-delete a couple times and it let him into the bios so he could update it. (the 3rd post in the thread)

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20080127060645859&board_id=1&model=Maximus+Formula&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

I had also wondered if it would work just by putting it on a usb stick? According to the manual it can be updated that way for a crash free bios.

[tc17]

Just wanted to update with my experience with this board. I don't have it in my case yet, but hooked it up outside of it.

I didn't hook up the external LCD debugging screen, but just went by what it displayed on my monitor. It gave me some error message about not detecting the e8400 cpu. (it came with Bios 505). All I had to do was hit the delete key to get to the bios (or alt-f2) I forget, but had no problem updating the bios off of a usb stick I put the updated bios on.

One weird thing though, even though it said it didn't detect the cpu, it had the correct speed of 3.0ghz set for it.

The motherboard seems real nice, but I'm kind of having second thoughts on whether its worth the $252 I spent on it. I've never spent that much on a motherboard before.

[rcjian]

J It gave me some error message about not detecting the e8400 cpu. (it came with Bios 505). All I had to do was hit the delete key to get to the bios (or alt-f2) I forget, but had no problem updating the bios off of a usb stick I put the updated bios on.



I am now officially in the same boat here as some of you were. I've been reading threads like this one, to find a solution.

To Tc17, mine did the same thing, it gave me the same error message the first time i powered it on, but I tried to hit delete key but no response, tried to hit alt+f2, nothing happens! so after pressing some more keys F1/F2 etch still nothing happens! So I end up restarting it, but after restart i dont see the error message anymore from my monitor all i see is the message Testcmos from LCD poster. So right now I'm stuck with that message.

I'm thinking of buying this another CPU just to post and update it: CPUhttp://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=014474&cid=CPU.84

Will this do the job? Thanks!


.

[tc17]

I am now officially in the same boat here as some of you were. I've been reading threads like this one, to find a solution.

To Tc17, mine did the same thing, it gave me the same error message the first time i powered it on, but I tried to hit delete key but no response, tried to hit alt+f2, nothing happens! so after pressing some more keys F1/F2 etch still nothing happens! So I end up restarting it, but after restart i dont see the error message anymore from my monitor all i see is the message Testcmos from LCD poster. So right now I'm stuck with that message.

I'm thinking of buying this another CPU just to post and update it: CPUhttp://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=014474&cid=CPU.84

Will this do the job? Thanks!


.
I don't know about which cpu's work, but asus does have a list for this board here:
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=Maximus%20Formula

I have mostly owned AMD cpu's in the past, and was a little shocked the e8400 cpu comes with no pins on the cpu. So would that mean all the older intel cpu's have no pins also?

Did you get any kind of display on the monitor when its booting up? I did take a picture of my error screen when I did it the first time. Sometimes when I rebooted it changed and would get a little different screen.

I didn't hook up the lcd debug screen that came with the motherboard, I just used an extra monitor I have, and I only installed one stick of ram to test it before I put it in my computer. I had no hard drives hooked up either. I think I had my keyboard hooked up to the ps2 port also.

Below are two error screens I would get before I updated the bios using a usb memory stick(I just noticed, it does seem to know its an e8400 cpu, yet it says it doesn't recognize it... weird).

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/2004/asus1gm9.jpg

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7753/asus2ha6.jpg

[rcjian]

The message I got was similar to the second picture you posted but with a little more message like press F1 to enter set up and the rest I forgot! But I did followed what its asking me to do with no luck! Then, because its not responding , I reset it and the message in the monitor didnt show up anymore its just stuck to testcmos in LCD Poster!

[greenman]

Just an update...

The first 2 weeks with this system, I was having fits, I got BSOD after BSOD, and couldn't get Vista to run well. I installed XP, and still had BSODs (though not as many). I finally pulled my head out of my @$$ and thought about the BIOS settings. Most settings were on AUTO, and apparently, this mobo hates auto. I set most of the important stuff manually (NB V, SB V, Vcore, DRAM V), and everything has been sunshine and puppy dogs since then!

My settings, as shown in ASUS PC Probe II (they will be a bit off in the BIOS, but I didn't write down what my 'true' settings are. (Remember, if anything, these values are actually LOWER in the BIOS, as this mobo overvolts most things.)

VCORE: 1.28
SB V: 1.09
SB2 V: 1.58
FSBT V: 1.26
DRAM V: 2.1
DRAM ref V: 1.04
NB V: 1.39

TEMPS--

at idle =
e8400 idles @ 35C with at 3.6 ghz on Zalman 9700.
MB 28C
CPU 35C
NB 39C
SB 36C

at load =
e8400 50-55C
MB 30-33C
NB 40-45C
SB 38-40C

All in all, not too shabby, I'm gonna install Vista again when Vista 64 SP1 comes out.... so I'm shooting for 3rd quarter 2017.
:up:



**I'm posting this in hopes that this may help someone later (Google search or whatnot), just in case someone is as frustrated as I was.**