ASUS M4A89GTD/PRO USB3.0 motherboard reboots randomly.

Hi,
Specs:
Windows 7 Pro x64
ASUS M4A89GTD/PRO USB3.0
AMD PhenomII x6 1075T
2x WD Caviar blue 250Gg HDD in RAID 0
EVGA NVIDIA GTS 450
8Gb DDR3 1600 G.Skill Ripjaws (4x 2Gb sticks)

My ASUS motherboard will just reboot, or freeze. It happens during BIOS, Booting/installing windows, and when booted from a Linux live flashdrive. I updated the BIOS, it still has the problem. I had my RAM replaced when the old sticks when out back in December, I've been having problems since then. Is it possible the old RAM could have screwed over my motherboard too?
I have heard some say it helps to take the ASUS Q-shield off because it causes a short on the motherboard, but I tried that too.

The board is still covered under warranty, I should be able to get a replacement if it turns out the board is bad.

Any suggestions?

Sorry you are having problems.

Do you get any diagnostic beeps when powering up?

Did you reset bios to factory default?

What if you remove the motherboard from the case and boot up?

When you booted up with Linux, did you remove SATA cables to HD and optical drive?

Is your power supply sufficient?

The MemOK led will (sometimes) flash a few times, then the board beeps once and the BIOS starts loading. Occasionally it will freeze on BIOS, but not every time.

The BIOS that I upgraded from was the factory default, I also Cleared the BIOS by removing CMOS battery and such.

I had the motherboard out of the case once, It seemed to run ok, but I didn't leave it out for very long, so I can't say if it works or not.

With the linux, No I did not unplug the SATA cables, I will give that a try later on.

My PSU should be good Ive never had issues with it.

Sorry, I meant what the actual power was for your psu.

One short beep should mean normal post.

One possibility from your documentation is attached.

If this doesn't work, I might suspect the mobo.

Do you mean PSU's wattage power, or the AC wall outlet power?
The PC is plugged into a surge protector and properly grounded. The PSU has a 900Watt rating, so I should be good there.. lol

As far as the MemOK, it usually only flashes once, and beeps once and boots, but there is the occasional time when it flashes many times, so I'd push the MemOK button and it well beep once and successfully boot into BIOS. I know my memory is compatible with the board because It's the exact same kind of memory that I was using all last year since I built the PC.

The weird thing is that I can boot it from my Windows installer flash drive, but then that's when it's like it has a set time before it freezes. I can get it started installing Windows, or I can just let it sit at the first window of the installer for a while and it freezes and reboots.

What worries me is that you booted from a live linux usb, which does not involve the hd at all. And your psu has enough wattage to power a small city. It has to be a hardware problem - as I'm stating the obvious. It's not shorting out on your case as you removed it for a test. You swapped memory, are sure it's correct, and used MemOK. So that's not it. If all the cable are plugged into the mobo correctly - and I'm sure they are - then were are down to the graphics or mobo. You have an integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 4290 GPU. Pull the card and try booting up linux live on this. If you are good, then reinsert gpu card and disable onboard video. If the video solution doesn't work, then I would RMA the mobo.

Lemur said:

What worries me is that you booted from a live linux usb, which does not involve the hd at all. And your psu has enough wattage to power a small city. It has to be a hardware problem - as I'm stating the obvious. It's not shorting out on your case as you removed it for a test. You swapped memory, are sure it's correct, and used MemOK. So that's not it. If all the cable are plugged into the mobo correctly - and I'm sure they are - then were are down to the graphics or mobo. You have an integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 4290 GPU. Pull the card and try booting up linux live on this. If you are good, then reinsert gpu card and disable onboard video. If the video solution doesn't work, then I would RMA the mobo.

Click to expand...

I had the graphics card out all the while trying to install Windows, and it would still freeze up. My GPU was also in the PC when it was freezing up on me earlier this week.
I have not tried booting it from a linux usb yet, but I will try it Sunday night when I get back to my PC.

It's sounds like a have a screwed up mobo doesn't it? unfortunately...

Is it possible that when the previous RAM went bad it also screwed over the board too? Then if this board is bad, could it harm the new replacement RAM, which if I get a new replacement board, and put the (possibly bad) RAM I have now in the new board, would that mean they would both need replaced? Just a thought.

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to this. I would think not. But at the very least, I think you're gonna have to RMA the motherboard. Sorry.

My PC still freezes with the Linux live too. Just for a test, I just booted into BIOS and let it sit, it also froze up. Just curious, but a dead CMOS battery wouldn't cause this would it? I had my PC unplugged all weekend, when I started it up today, it asked if I wanted to go into BIOS, or use default settings. Then when I booted into Oracle Solaris from a live CD, it said something about the last shutdown date being after the current time.

Otherwise, it sounds like my motherboard may have issues.

This is interesting, I booted my PC into BIOS, and after a little while, the PC started beeping fast without stopping. I looked into the beeping error online and it was saying that it's a memory problem. How could that be possible? New memory shouldn't be faulty. The weirdest thing is that it hasn't done that before.

Anyway, I sent ASUS an email about a replacement, we'll see how that goes...:sarc:

Here are the AMI BIOS beep codes at post.

AMI Bios Beepcodes

I am still waiting for a reply from ASUS, so I decided to try to get the pc to run one last time. By the way, i changed the CMOS battery, but that didn't fix it. I managed to get windows 7 on it again, but it would just freeze up as usual. (Even in safe mode) When I would reboot it, it the bios shows a message about recoving settings. "It said press F1 for setup, or press F2 to load defualt values." That definitely is not normal for this motherboard. I'd say that is a definite sign of a bad board. I'm just curious at what is causing all this to happen...

Another update.

I moved one memory stick around in all the different slots, and it would work. Here's the weird part, yesterday, the PC wouldn't boot with a stick in the "A1" slot, but I could have two sticks in slots A2 and B2 at the same time, or just one stick in B1. Last night it also wouldn't boot with all four sticks. Overnight I let it run with one stick in slot B1, and it was still running great, it ran 13 hours without a problem. (new record) Now I put all four sticks back in the slots this morning, and it booted without a problem?!?! I had a WTF?!? Moment... lol I really have no idea what's up with this board, but it seems to be working.. "fingers crossed"

UPDATE!

Ok, so after fighting with ASUS for two months (long story), I FINALLY got my beloved PC running again. Turns out it was a bad motherboard.

Anyway, I will explain the situation with ASUS support. Remember when I got the RMA for my motherboard? Well the email I received from Mr. Franklin Archibald stated to include "All ASUS accessories" with the package (I now know that you DO NOT do that) and so I did, not knowing any better. So then when I got my replacement motherboard, it was just a board, no SATA cables, I/O shield, VGA switch card, Nothing... So I called ASUS support (my ass) and asked what was going on, the guy accused me of "modifying" the email (which I forwarded to him as proof) and sent me a credit card form to pay for the shipping of my products back to me. I refused to pay and told him I am not going to pay for ASUS's mistake. Then five calls and a month and a half later, I demanded to talk to a supervisor/boss to resolve this issue. After talking to this man, he realized that it was NOT my mistake and told me he would fix the issue. Then just last week I received a package from ASUS with all the accessories for the M4A89GTD series boards. To sum it up, DO NOT SEND ANYTHING WITH A MOTHERBOARD BACK TO ASUS, even if the email tells you too. In my case the RMA email that I received was for an ASUS router, not a motherboard, which explains the need for all the parts.

Here is a copy of my RMA email.

Dear Customer,
**Please do not respond to this email. For any inquiries, please contact the Customer Service Department at ASUS Service for North America or 812-282-2787**

Dear Mr. or Ms:

**** Please read ENTIRE contents of this email before shipping your product back to ASUS**

Your RMA# is XXXXXXXXXX

o RMA# is valid for 30 days from issued date.
- RMA# must be written on the outside box or will be rejected
- RMA process is approximately 10 business days (excludes ALL holidays, weekends, and transit time)
- Customers are responsible for one-way shipping
- ASUS standard shipping method is FedEx Ground
- Automated email notifications are sent when your RMA has shipped. Please be sure to check spam folders / filters
- Status Checks: ASUS Service for North America or 812-282-2787
- ASUS - USA is a warranty repair service center. Please contact place of purchase for credit, refunds, upgrades / model changes, or new retail box replacement. ASUS does not provide these services under any circumstances

o You must verify the serial # you have provided for your RMA is on the actual product itself
- If different, please contact customer service immediately and have RMA update with the correct information
- If serial # has a discrepancy this will cause processing delays & longer turn-around-time
- If you are unable to find the serial # on the actual product, your product manufacturers warranty is VOID. Please see ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- for more detail on your warranty. This includes altered serial #.

- Please be sure to include all original packaging and accessories, including the following
user manuals, software, antennas, power adapter / cables, and original box

- Please DO NOT send in any Non-ASUS products: CPU, memory, after-market heat sink / fans as these items will not be returned, and you will be expected to pay the return shipping for these items


o Include a brief description of problem & any troubleshooting / testing steps you may have tried.

o Physical damage is not covered under your ASUS manufacturer’s warranty and automatically VOIDS your warranty. ASUS reserves the right to reject any product received with physical damage.
- Damage can include any shape or form of corner / edge damage / markings with pens and/or markers
- Broken traces or burns due to improper installation / removal of other components
- Broken CPU socket or bent pins

o Packaging / Shipping Information:
- 2 inches of padding around product itself (examples: popcorn, bubble wrap, foam)
- Must be packaged in a box
- Envelopes will be rejected


RMA SHIPPING ADDRESS:
ASUS Technology Services
ATTN: RMA Dept, RMA
121 River Ridge Circle, Dock C
Jeffersonville, IN 47130


Thank you,

ASUS Product Support Team
812-282-2787




Thank You,

Franklin A.
ASUS Tech Support

Phone Support: 812-282-2787
ASUS
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support-
ASUS Service for North America


Thanks for taking the time to read this.