Issue: Motherboard, Maximus VII Formula, will not start. No q-code, no POST, no beeps, nothing except the red center light turns on (Republic of Gamers logo).
I bought a Maximus VII Formula motherboard end of March 2015 and it worked until end of June 2015. The motherboard was stuck with a Q-code of 00 and wouldn't POST. I RMA'd the board, ASUS tested it and said it was fine, they sent it back to me, I hooked it up and Q-code was stuck at 00, I RMA'd the board again and asked for a new motherboard.
I received the new motherboard a few weeks ago. I opened the new motherboard and installed it directly into my case. Once installed I noticed the On button had no light but the "Republic of Gamers" logo light was lit up. I tried pushing the On button and nothing happened. At that point I disconnected everything and removed the motherboard from the case and have it sitting in a cardboard box for testing.
I've gone through a number of steps trying to get any response from the motherboard:
- RMA'd the PSU. I have the new PSU hooked up.
- Tested the PSU with a multimeter and it does appear to be working correctly.
- Used a multimeter on several points and found the motherboard does appear to be getting voltage as expected.
- Changed the RAM sticks and the memory channels and tried without RAM.
- Tried without the CPU and fan and put them back.
- Tried with the graphics card and removed it.
- Downloaded the newest BIOS and put it on a FAT32 USB stick and put it in the correct USB slot as instructed in the manual. Pushed the BIOS update button and there's no flashing lights so I'm assuming the BIOS isn't updating.
- Tried holding the power button for about 1 minute.
- Hit CMOS reset and Mem Ok.
- Changed out every single cable.
Results: Nothing. Besides the "Republic of Gamers" logo light (I've attached a picture of what part I'm talking about) the board is doing nothing. No light/characters on the Q-code LED display, no beeps, the CPU fan isn't running, and the PSU fan isn't running as if there is no load.
Question: Did I receive a broken motherboard? Are there other things I can try? What could I possibly be doing wrong?
I really just want a working computer and would prefer not to have to RMA another motherboard. Any ideas are appreciated.
=== Parts info
Motherboard model: Maximus VII Formula
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
Memory kit part number (s) and amount in GB: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card
PSU: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
CPU Cooler: Stock fan cooler and liquid cooling. Tried both. Liquid cooler is: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
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