Desperate need HELP, MB breakes every 6 months!

R

rafaeldb

n00b
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
26
Hey guys, I am desperate for some idea of what is going on, I have built my machines since the 90s, I know most of it, but I am not an expert by any means, just someone that likes to build my own.

My issue:
My motherboard breaks after 6 months, 3 times. I have replaced the mb twice already, I am now on my 3rd time it stops working.

The issue is after a while it wont boot anymore and it goes thru multiple fases of erro codes. Most commonly starts at code 79, it wont boot at all, then I swap to the other bios and it works for a while and starts to fail again. The code changes from 79 to 04, sometimes stuck at 68, some times 33, I've seen 55 and I've seen it being stuck at one code but quickly swap to a number I can see, because its very fast. Lastly after a couple weeks it wont boot at all, no matter what I do. Reset the bios, remove the battery, replaced all the hardware I can to see it anything else fails. the only piece of hardware I am not able to swap is the memory for not having more of it.

Its driving me insane, I have replace the MB twice, CPU once and the Power supply I got a new one right after the 1st one broke. It works fine for 6 months like I said, but then it breaks. I'm starting to think something else is causing a short circuit or something. Could the Memory be doing this? could the case be doing this? Power strip?

any ideas PLEASE!

Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core
MSI X99S Gaming 7
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 series 16GB
Geforce 780 GTI
Creative Sound Blaster Z
SAMSUNG 850 Pro
Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001
EVGA 220-G2-0750-XR 80 PLUS GOLD 750
Intel Gigabit CT
Windows 8.1 64bit
 
Take the board out, check the standoffs - are they all on an even level? Count them. Reinstall motherboard. Count how many screws you used. Screw count equals standoff count? Good. :D
Pry the front panel of the case open. Check for loose wires, burn marks, dead animals. Pay close attention to the USB and Audio front ports, if you have them connected.
If you have a decent camera with flash, take a few high resolution pics of the inside of your build from a few angles and post them somewhere so we can have a look-see.
 
PSU - cheapo? bad rails? Dirty Power? (Brownouts?)

Overclock? - too high voltage?
 
No overclock at all. PSU is new, and it also broke with my old PSU. Also I have changed houses, it broke twice on my first house and now once on my new, maybe the case? The Case did come with a fan that sorta worked, it would not rotate until i forced it to with my fingers. The case is a Cooler Master Cosmos SE
 
Hey guys here is a video of the state of my PC , i have a few pictures that ill post later.

It wont go past that, once i reset the bios it gets stuck at code 79, reboots and goes to what happens on the video

 
First, make sure you never run wires behind the motherboard. Solder joints may very well rub through the insulation of any wiring. I can't tell if you did this, but I've seen it done for the sake of cable management. It's hard to tell in the video if you did that. (It doesn't look like it, I'm just throwing out ideas.) I don't know how good that PSU is, but if you don't have a volt-meter you should get one. They are cheap. You don't need perfect accuracy. A $10 Autozone or Fry's job el-cheapo model will do. You need to ensure that the power output is within spec. It's a quick and dirty test that exposes obvious problems. Also check the UEFI BIOS / Hardware management / PC Health information and see what it says the voltages are for the PSU. You also want to make sure that any settings left on "auto" for voltages aren't leaving your memory or CPU voltages way out of spec.

Next, you want to remove all environmental variables that you can. If you are in an older home, or even a newer home in a rural area the issue of clean / stable power needs to be addressed. Get yourself a USP that's capable of handling your power needs. This will condition the power going into the system and make sure that brownouts or spikes in electricity aren't contributing to your problems. Make sure you run your wired Ethernet cables through it if you get a USPS that lets you do that. Surges come across those lines as well.

Others pointed out that you want to check your motherboard standoffs and ensure there isn't a potential for a short circuit. This is good advice. You want to make sure the expansion slot area lines up correctly in the case and that nothing is askew. Ordinarily this isn't an issue but given your experiences it's time to go through everything leaving no stone unturned.
 
Have you checked each stick of memory individually with memtest86? I would try a few different slots and let it do several passes on each module by itself just to rule out bad memory.
 
LigTasm said:
Have you checked each stick of memory individually with memtest86? I would try a few different slots and let it do several passes on each module by itself just to rule out bad memory.
Click to expand...

This can certainly be a cause of instability, but it's unlikely to be related to motherboard death as a causal factor. It certainly could be a symptom of motherboards going tits up.
 
Dan_D said:
This can certainly be a cause of instability, but it's unlikely to be related to motherboard death as a causal factor. It certainly could be a symptom of motherboards going tits up.
Click to expand...

It can't hurt to check after this long, I mean there isn't a ton left he can really do.
 
LigTasm said:
It can't hurt to check after this long, I mean there isn't a ton left he can really do.
Click to expand...

No, it can't hurt to check into it. Normally the only way memory can be a causal factor is if it pulls too much power. This is why I told the OP to check the actual voltage reading on the DRAM voltage in the UEFI BIOS and determine if the "auto" setting is detecting and setting the voltages correctly. X99 and Z170 suck ass at detecting SPD / XMP timings correctly. They are even worse at setting the voltages properly. I would also visually inspect the power phases around the memory slots for scorch marks. Again I doubt that's the case but it doesn't hurt to check.
 
What is the rated speed of your ram and what speed are you running it at?
 
Check standoffs and the motherboard backplane plate for grounding issues. It may be a lot of work but you could disconnect everything and build the barebones system outside the case to make sure nothing on the case's headers or standoffs are causing the problem.
 
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