Impending MoBo failure? AsRock 890GX Pro 3 failed to boot

[cooltouch]

Well, the title sez most of it. When I switched on my computer this morning, it powered up, but that was it. The monitors' lights remained amber (usually they turn green once the computer enters POST). The 890GX has an LED that indicated boot status and error codes. It was showing E8. I did a search on this and found, on AsRock's website where this refers to the MoBo not liking the slot the memory is in and directs one to change the slot to the preferred one. Turns out I already had my memory stick in the correct slot. So . . . what now?

I tried shutting the system down and rebooting a couple of times. Each time I switched on the system, the E8 code immediately lit up. I thought that was a bit strange. And then I remembered, thankfully, that with an ATX MoBo, it isn't really off until one shuts off the power supply. So I did this, and whaddyaknow? It booted. Now Win7 is up and everything appears to be normal. The LED flickered through a bunch of codes as the system was booting and now it's off altogether. A good sign?

But my question for the Groupmind is this -- should I be concerned that this condition is the first sign of a MoBo failure, or was it perhaps just a hiccup. I hope the latter because I really like this MoBo a lot. It's an older unit, but it supports 8-core processors (mine is "only" 4-core), up to 32GB of memory, USB 3.0, SATA3, and more, plus it has 3 PCI slots (which I need for some legacy stuff) and has a 1394 port, which I also need.

Any advice or perspective you may be willing to provide is appreciated, as always.

 

[Layback Bear]

It's very hard to tell what caused the problem.

What power supply do you have??
Because you state you turned the power supply off and then back on, things starting to work again.

You have a old system, I think would be very happy with a new power supply.
Some where in the 650W power range.

I would also suggest checking all connections to and on the motherboard.
Also check the power and connections from the wall outlet to the power supply.

A couple of suggestions.

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-Modular-Warranty-220-G2-0850-XR/dp/B0106RDIN2/ref=sr_1_5/131-2095734-5651948?ie=UTF8&qid=1510684417&sr=8-5&keywords=power%2Bsupply%2Bevga&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNO...684417&sr=8-5&keywords=power+supply+evga&th=1

Jack

 

[Megahertz07]

As you mentioned, ATX is always powering the MB with the 5V, even with the computer off.
I would just make a memory check. %windir%\system32\MdSched.exe

 

[cooltouch]

Megahertz, I performed the memory check and it came back with no errors. Glad for that.

Jack, the power supply on this machine went south about a year ago, so the "new" one's only about a year old. It's a 500w unit, which is plenty for the sort of stuff I do. No gaming, for instance. This is primarily a digital audio workstation. I use it for writing music, which usually doesn't put too much of a demand on a system. My DAW software has a little box that shows disk and CPU use because if it gets too high it can cause stutters, clicks, and pops in the recording and playback. This machine is typically barely above idle in both disk and CPU usage, which is right where I like it.

I will check all the connections as you recommend, though. But again, I think it's probably not that. I swapped cases when I changed the power supply, so it was really not much different from assembling a new machine.

I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed for now, touch wood, and hope this was just a hiccup.

 

[Layback Bear]

Exactly what power supply do you have.

Please post a web site so we can see the specs of the power supply.

Jack