ASUS p8p67 Rev.3.1 and RAM/CPU incompatibility

[McRoll]

I am having a dumb problem which I cannot solve as I am out of ideas. Got all new components for a new PC 2 days ago and cannot get it to work because the motherboard seems to either be broken or incompatible with my CPU. The CPU is a i7 3770k with the new 28nm fabrication. I tried 2 sets of Ram, the one is a Corsair Vengeance DDR 3 PC 1600 with standard latencies and stuff and the other one is Kingston PC 1333.

The problem is following: the mainboard indicates via 4 short beeps that a hardware component is broken and the DRAM LED is lighting red, which indicates a RAM failure. However now that I tested 2 sets of RAM in various slots and configurations and having made sure that CMOS was cleared, battery removed and MEM OK button pushed (lets the mainboard test varios speeds and compatibility with RAM) I can now safely assume that the problem is not the RAM.

I can now only think of 2 things: either the mainboard southbridge/RAM controller is broken or the CPU is the problem, because its a very new one and the mainboard might not recognize it, though it is listed as compatible. In the handbook there stands that CPU's until 32nm are supported. I do not know however when this was printed and maybe it only affects the earlier revisions.

I cannot access the BIOS because it shuts down before it gets there, otherwise I would have tried to flash it. I also tried everything else to eliminate possible problems: tried another graphic card and HDD, made sure that all cables are inside their slots etc. I cannot test the CPU because my old board is not compatible with it.

Is there anything else I could try before sending the mainboard back? Im gonna call support tomorrow but maybe you guys have a clue what could be wrong?

[Skidrowpunk]

If you get one of the ivy bridge cpus, note that many compatible motherboards need a bios flash before they will work. This can be kinda awkward since some motherboards can't be flashed without a cpu...

From the "build me a PC" thread.

[Zekk Pacus]

Unless you have a sandy bridge CPU to hand to BIOS flash the board, you'll have to return it. Or you could try and find a local PC shop to flash it for you. (Also next time check your parts with the denzinens of FHC, maybe)

[whispous]

Unless you have a sandy bridge CPU to hand to BIOS flash the board, you'll have to return it. Or you could try and find a local PC shop to flash it for you. (Also next time check your parts with the denzinens of FHC, maybe)

Well this is a stupid reply zekk, because the Asus website lists this CPU as being compatible. Unfortunately, retailers will NOT confirm what BIOS revision their stock ships with. That's the issue.

[Zekk Pacus]

Except for the following facts:

P67 is a Sandy Bridge chipset that has been updated via microcode to support Ivy Bridge.
Z77 (and anything else X7X, H77, B75 etc) is an Ivy Bridge chipset that supports Ivy from release. And before you post that Gigabyte BIOS list again, Gigabyte (and ASUS, to be fair) are notorious for publishing lists of pre-release BIOS on their website to make it look like their BIOS' are updated frequently. If you check you will actually find that the motherboard in question wasn't available for purchase before the 17th of April, with BIOS rev F4 being publicly available a week after that (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-...4552541&sr=8-1)

[whispous]

However he did say that he bought the items two days ago, and you'd hope that the stock you were buying was quite recent

[Zekk Pacus]

Well it depends - they've been making the P8P67 for probably 16 months now. Also why do you think P67/Z68 motherboards are so cheap now? There's a massive backlog of stock to churn through.

[whispous]

That doesn't validate your claim that asking FHC would have prevented this problem. Krugerrand in his thread faces exactly the same (low) risk at the moment and you endorsed that.

[Zekk Pacus]

It's not exactly the same risk at all due to the fact that Z77, from release (which was around 4 months ago, and not the 16 months ago of the P67 release), ALWAYS SUPPORTS IVY BRIDGE PROCESSORS. It is an Ivy Bridge controller. It was designed in tandem with Ivy Bridge. Show me ONE example of a Z77 motherboard not working with an Ivy Bridge processor, please, or stop misunderstanding the issue.

[Lana Torrin]

I am having a dumb problem which I cannot solve as I am out of ideas. Got all new components for a new PC 2 days ago and cannot get it to work because the motherboard seems to either be broken or incompatible with my CPU. The CPU is a i7 3770k with the new 28nm fabrication. I tried 2 sets of Ram, the one is a Corsair Vengeance DDR 3 PC 1600 with standard latencies and stuff and the other one is Kingston PC 1333.

The problem is following: the mainboard indicates via 4 short beeps that a hardware component is broken and the DRAM LED is lighting red, which indicates a RAM failure. However now that I tested 2 sets of RAM in various slots and configurations and having made sure that CMOS was cleared, battery removed and MEM OK button pushed (lets the mainboard test varios speeds and compatibility with RAM) I can now safely assume that the problem is not the RAM.

I can now only think of 2 things: either the mainboard southbridge/RAM controller is broken or the CPU is the problem, because its a very new one and the mainboard might not recognize it, though it is listed as compatible. In the handbook there stands that CPU's until 32nm are supported. I do not know however when this was printed and maybe it only affects the earlier revisions.

I cannot access the BIOS because it shuts down before it gets there, otherwise I would have tried to flash it. I also tried everything else to eliminate possible problems: tried another graphic card and HDD, made sure that all cables are inside their slots etc. I cannot test the CPU because my old board is not compatible with it.

Is there anything else I could try before sending the mainboard back? Im gonna call support tomorrow but maybe you guys have a clue what could be wrong?

Take to pc shop, get them to flash BIOS. Problem solvered. (if you won't then stop complaining as we are being helpful)

[McRoll]

OK, so I talked with the support guy and we agreed that I send this back and get a newer ASUS board from them instead. In the end Im gonna be better off if the new MB is better than the old one and everything works but I would have preferred to build my PC complication-free.

I mean, how dumb is that? I checked for the components to be compatible to each other before buying them and in the detail description there was explicitely stated that the MB supports Ivy bridge. What the assholes didn't mention is that it is only compatible with new BIOS which I cannot flash because the PC doesn't even start to boot. I didn't even imagine that you could end up in such a dead-end, I thought in cases like that the PC at least lets you get to the BIOS screen with the CPU running on lowest speeds or some default settings, if it is mechanically compatible. Also, Rev 3.1 did sound like it is not the oldest shit but somehow updated.

Oh well, thanks for help, Ill make sure to ask beforehand on FHC next time!

[Zekk Pacus]

Unfortunately it's never that simple. If the motherboard doesn't support the CPU in it's current BIOS it just doesn't, it won't talk to it at all. ASUS have a feature on their new boards to flash BIOS without a CPU in place but it's their very newest boards only, or their top end last gen boards. I got bitten by this years ago, bought an nForce 650 motherboard to go with an E8200 and the BIOS wasn't the latest one. Rev 3.1 was updated, but it was updated quite a while ago - basically people hated the NEC USB 3.0 controllers ASUS used so they switched to ASMedia controllers instead. Problem is also that P67 got superceded by Z68 kind of - Z68 did everything P67 did, but better, and came out 6 months later. So chances are there are a lot of very old P67 motherboards out there.

Of course if you get really, really stuck, a Celeron G460 will boot the machine and will probably cost you like 20 quid.