z97 gaming 7 motherboard

[hdsmith02]

Hi everyone,

This is an old topic I'm sure but here it it is: just built a new machine, my first of course, and it has teething problems. After many false starts and unsuccessful tries the machine has settled down to the following condition:

With mouse, keyboard, monitor, RAM, graphics card all installed the machine will not boot...all the led lights come on, the ssd is working (light blinks) but no video nor boot. The following debug codes keep cycling through: 10  19  55.

At first (right after completing putting it all together) it would not load from the cd drive, saying it "must run as administrator" but would not do so after selecting that function; nor would it accept the login administrator password. I loaded Windows 7 onto a flashdrive on my other machine and loaded Windows from the flash, and the machine would then boot in Safe Mode, but still wouldn't recognize the cd drive. Obviously I have not loaded the MSI drivers disc so I don't know if that is why the machine now won't boot at all. Backing up: after booting in Safe Mode for several tries, the machine went into an on and off cycle when starting up, then to the present condition of not booting at all with the above debug codes.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[badboy2k]

what Memory do you have? that codes suggest either dead or unsupported RAM as the ending 55 is Memory not installed, so what ram do you have there!

 

[hdsmith02]

I have two Kingston HyperX FURY 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM-Black (HX316C10FBK2/8) cards installed in slots 1 & 3.

The video card is Asus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 OC 2GB GDDR5.

 

[badboy2k]

try your two Kingston HyperX FURY 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM-Black (HX316C10FBK2/8) in slots DIMM2 & DIMM4

 

[hdsmith02]

OK, tried slots 2 & 4, but still no boot.

I have tried booting with no ram cards installed, with no ram cards and no video card, with video card and only one ram card...same results.

Possibly a bad motherboard? Any way to tell?

 

[badboy2k]

ok check one last thing before we decide if its a bad board here!

Remove your CPU from your computer and check the pins in the socket with a bright light and a magnifier to see that non are bent as they are very fragile in a socket and are prone to bending easily as there soft gold!

 

[hdsmith02]

Thought I had found the problem...two bent contact pins on the CPU but straightening them (checked twice) doesn't have any effect. I am beginning to have bad thoughts about the board, but still looking.
Thanks for the help so far, BTW.

 

[badboy2k]

see if you can get a single 1333Mhz stick of DDR3 memory form somewhere that is known to be working to test the board with?

 

[hdsmith02]

I couldn't find a spare memory stick but experimenting with the new ones I have, it appears that now the motherboard will boot into safe mode, but only with just one stick in slot no. 4. Two sticks in any combination of slots, or one stick in any other than slot 4 and it sticks on the debug codes 10-19-55 (it really is hard to tell about the first two numbers, they go by so fast.) Now, however, with one stick in slot no. 4, several debug codes cycle through and it settles down to just a debug code 29.
I have gone over all the installation instructions again and don't see where I have missed anything. Since it will actually boot up in this configuration, I am pretty sure it is a bad motherboard.

 

[hdsmith02]

Here's the latest...returned the motherboard to MSI and they quickly replaced it and I installed it yesterday. Now the computer will boot continuously and today it went through an almost complete reinstallation of Windows 7, but when it restarted automatically to complete the installation, the "Starting Windows" process goes as far as the four colored balls circling and joining up, then freezes again. It will start in Safe Mode, but only as far as the blue screen with the message "Setup is Starting Services" immediately followed with an error message: "Windows cannot complete installation in Safe Mode. To continue installing Windows, restart the computer". After hitting the restart prompt, the blue screen gives the message: "Setup will continue after restarting your computer", but after a restart, it once again hangs up with the four colored Windows logo balls in the middle of the screen.
At least the machine will repeat itself to this point, unlike before when something different each time startup was tried. All the components are installed, both ram sticks in slots 1 & 3, video card installed. ??????