Mining motherboard delays to power on and starts up shutsdown three times HELP

[rdbase]

I have been mining for a while now, since 2016 so not new to the scene and have troubleshooted countless issues in the past but never have come across this one before.

Have an Asrock H81 Pro BTC version 1 board from my very first rig build but had been put out of commission for the past three years and put in a drawer.
Had to get it back into service when my Asus B250 Mining expert went down back in October of last year. So it has been running like a champ for the past four to five months without any issues.
All the sudden when I adjusted the configuration of the cards on the pci-e slots it stopped working.
First it would take several clicks of the power reset button to get it to power on. I mean atleast 10-15 attempts so it powers up the board when it originally took one.
While it powers on it would start up for 2-3 seconds then it would shut down then power on again on it's own without needing to touch the power button.
It would do this three times in total, power cycling.
Then after the third time it will hang and not go into post.
Did the normal troubleshooting of removing the cmos battery for several minutes and then reinserting it, removing the ram and reseating and removing the connections of the pci-e and trying it that way.
Nothing changes.
Is the board just too old and it has failed?
I had never encountered such an odd instance of a board just doing these power cycles then hanging.

Any suggestions before just disposing of this 6+ year old board?

[1715192852]

1715192852

[1715192852]

1715192852

[1715192852]

1715192852

[JayDDee]

It doesn't look good, seems like an intermittant connection problem.
Since the trigger was messing with the GPUs/risers/PCIe slots they are the
prime suspects.

You could do a cleaning and visual inspection. I also suggest a minimal
test without any GPUs.

Edit: it could also be something unrelated like power. I'd strip the board down as much as possible,
try a different PSU, different RAM if you have some. Rule out everything else before you toss the motherboard.

[rdbase]

Have removed all the gpu from the system as described in the OP with the removal of all pci-e connections then attempting to power it on that way.
It would just keep power cycling then stall out on the final try.
It is intermittent but to have it do exactly at the third attempt then hanging there without touching the power reset button seems to be a code to the manufacturer such as those beep codes given off by all motherboards to pin point the problem and know exactly what the issue is.

As for cleaning and inspection, all has been done.
It has been in this condition since the beginning of the month. Going on three weeks now without any mining going on with the rig being down.
So getting a bit frustrated here with it being fully incapacitated.

Have tried an old evga 850watt psu with same issue arising. So ruling out the original 1600watt is the issue with intermittent power hindering the boot up process.
The ram on these boards are DDR3 and only have DDR4 from the Asus B250 available.
If it is the ram then might as well get a new board since spending even $10-15 more on this aging setup is not the smartest solution to go with.
There is a bundle available of the new iteration of this very same motherboard available and it comes with cpu/ram included. So might as well put those extra few bucks towards new equipment that will last another life cycle than one that is on it's last legs and coming to the end of its own.

[JayDDee]

The ram on these boards are DDR3 and only have DDR4 from the Asus B250 available.

If you have 2 sticks installed remove one and try one at a time. It's a long shot but you'll know for sure it's either the mobo or CPU.
The timing is interesting, maybe something only needed for the power up sequence had previously failed and wasn't
noticed until you cycled power.

Edit: I may have misunderstood your symptoms. I took it to mean the failure was different every attempt but
you may have been saying it was getting progressively worse. If it's progressing you should probably give up
and replace the mobo.

[rdbase]

Only one stick of ram on either system.
Running at the minimum for any rig is essential to ROI as soon as possible is the moto to make any operation a success.

Yeah, the old maid has done its time and think it is time to retire her.
The new model looks to be taking it's place as their boards seem to be work horses because the ASUS was only on it's second year until it went caput.

[Grim]

It is most likely the cpu having a bad pin contact.

Wiggle, yes wiggle, the cpu cooler (and therefore the cpu contact) slightly and some bad pin contact can improve that way.
This actually "works" better than removing the cpu and plugging it back in.

 

[philipma1957]

It is most likely the cpu having a bad pin contact.

Wiggle, yes wiggle, the cpu cooler (and therefore the cpu contact) slightly and some bad pin contact can improve that way.
This actually "works" better than removing the cpu and plugging it back in.

 

yeah could be this.

and or ram.

try cpu trick.

then try the ram in every slot



I have a bad  cpu a pentium it won't work with any ram in six different mobos.

but it does the 2x or 3x boot trick in every one. then a beep and off.

one mobo has a code and it shows cpu issue.


so I am guessing cpu to pin could be it.

[rdbase]

It is most likely the cpu having a bad pin contact.

Wiggle, yes wiggle, the cpu cooler (and therefore the cpu contact) slightly and some bad pin contact can improve that way.
This actually "works" better than removing the cpu and plugging it back in.

 

Just tried the cpu trick by wiggling it into it's socket but did not work.
Even repasted it on the cooler and still nothing has changed.

@philipma1957 The CPU has always worked with this stick of ram and it is the kind that have leds flashing on the top so it shows when it is actively doing something (old ddr3 ballistix). While it boots the motions slow down but when actively processing they will speed up pulsations of leds. They were inactive. The one stick of ram is good as I had tested it on another motherboard I had available.

Looks like I will be getting another mining motherboard afterall.

Thanks all for the advice and trouble shooting tips but it seems that I have a dead board.

[FP91G]

Thanks all for the advice and trouble shooting tips but it seems that I have a dead board.

First, I would Reset the BIOS using jumpers on the motherboard. Then I would ask a colleague to flash the BIOS with the latest firmware version using a programmer. The BIOS chip is removed. If I didn't find any damage on the motherboard and my actions didn't work, I would buy a new motherboard.