Hardware issue: Asus KFSN4-DRE won't boot

Plug in a screen. Does anything appear? Also, my Asus KFSN4-DRE is maxed out on RAM and find it takes a while to do the RAM tests so make sure you're waiting long enough. This is where a screen is useful. Also, I don't hear a "beep" with libreboot; only back when it had the proprietary BIOS. I can give up a beep for freedom. :)

Screen plugged.

I notice when then I/O switch is on, a green light on the mobo lights up. But there's no action on the startup button on the case. I think I've properly plugged the powersw thing, I even switched positions just to make sure.

It's weird because above the other set of connectors, there's like a listing, and powersw is listed, with some short number associated that means nothing to me for now.
And nothing is color-coded at all.

it says (above the auxiliary panel connector, acording to the manual) :
1.3 hd led 2.6 pw led
11.13 pwr sw 8.10 hled or nled
17.19 rest 14.20 speaker.

Yet, I plugged pwled+, pwled- and powersw on the other set of connectors called panel 1, according to the manual.
I'll try switching the pwled+ and -.

This is a mystery.

Definitely, actually I was going to find a way to NOT have that POST beep anyway ;)

PSU is plugged to:
- mobo and CPU plugs
- GPU plug

fans are plugged. I think. There's some weird hub (pwm) that has a sata power input. I guess I need that plugged if I want the case fans to work.

For pwm, I just plugged the hub to sata for power, and then pwm 4pin connector to one of the rear fan connectors (n°1), since one of the pins have pwm control.
Problem is the hub has both forward and back fans.

At least it's plugged in somewhere.
Still no reaction from the start button on the case.
That's the most puzzling.

All I have is a green led on the mobo when I turn the I/O switch on. No fan action, no noise, nada.

I tried to plug one of the two plugs of powersw (there's one with a small arrow)on NC, then on GND on each side.

Ok, forgot to plug some more stuff.
There's no spot to plug anything USB 3.0 though.

And I don't have a CPU_FAN socket for the pwm.
Still same results.

I'm so dissappointed :_(

I also tried with only one or two ram bars, still nothing.

BTW, hot-plugging the chip is not possible with the GPU on, since it's right under (it's also very hard to remove).

Even with the CPU on, (well, I still left a couple of stuff on, like usb and audio cables), still zero reaction.

One weird thing I've noticed is that there's a dent on top of the CPU chip. Maybe that's the cause.
But also maybe not.

I don't know where to start.
What's the absolute minimum needed to boot? Looks like it's RAM, CPU and PSU. Which doesn't work (not counting a few cables plugged to the mobo, like start button, leds, audio and usb2. And disks).

And why does this always happen to me (" *_*)

Should I try the other CPU instead? Is there something else to try first?

*sigh*, I regret all this so much right now...

Ok, let's stay positive.
Thing I have yet to try :
- Try each stick of RAM individually in each RAM slot
- Are there any bent pins on the motherboard/CPU?
- I might need to plug the case fans directly to the mobo, and plug the CPU fans closer to the CPU slot.
- Have you tried resetting the CMOS? The motherboard manual will have instructions for your particular board.
- "Pull everything except the CPU and HSF. Boot. You should hear a series of long single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence here indicates, in probable order, a bad PSU, motherboard, or CPU - or a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU. - I did something very close to that, so I might have some faulty stuff here... Hopefully it's just the dented CPU.
- To eliminate the possibility of a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU, you will need to pull the motherboard out of the case and reassemble the components on an insulated surface. This is called "breadboarding"
- If you get the long beeps, add a stick of RAM. Boot. The beep pattern should change to one long and two or three short beeps. Silence indicates that the RAM is shorting out the PSU (very rare). Long single beeps indicates that the BIOS does not recognize the presence of the RAM.

If you get the one long and two or three short beeps, test the rest of the RAM. If good, install the video card and any needed power cables and plug in the monitor. If the video card is good, the system should successfully POST (one short beep, usually) and you will see the boot screen and messages.

Note - an inadequate PSU will cause a failure here or any step later.
Note - you do not need drives or a keyboard to successfully POST (generally a single short beep).

If you successfully POST, start plugging in the rest of the components, one at a time."

Basically,
resetting CMOS,
trying only one RAM stick on each slot. 16x8=128 attempts, of one minute each or so?? Yeah OK.
Trying with the mobo off the case, only with the CPU on,
else trying the other CPU/checking nothing is bent.

Not much hope left.

I tried to bypass the start button, I tried to plug the fans directly to the mobo (not to the pwm hub), but still nothing.

I reset he CMOS stuff (even though I'v put the battery myself, so It was reset already anyway).

I put the other (not dented CPU) in. I double-checked if the CPU slot pins are bent or not. Well, not more bent than the slot I didn't use, plus they all go the same direction (well, one side, which is clearly separated on both slots, seems more straight). I've put much less thermal paste this time though.

Still nothing.

-----------What's left to try :
I have some old (less powerful) PSU I can try.
Also the RAM, one by one... Ugh.

After both of these, provided I don't find more tips, I'll bring it to a pro I suppose.

I'll have a PSU tester soon.

Hopefully it's the culprit, because next
would be to get another mobo.

One thing leaves me a bit puzzled:
I did put the CPU in the right spot (with the notches and the triangle indicator), but of course when closing the lid, it puts pressure on it. Since the CPU is flat beneath, the pins are bent somehow (in the same way). I noticed that on the slot I've never used as well (it's a used mobo).

I'm not sure I did this part right.

EDIT:
"The pins are now on the socket and the cpu instead has 'pads' where the pins press against when it's locked into place. Everything is normal."

Well, at least I didn't mess this up.

BTW I'll try to refrain from using threads as my personal logs, and will only share what can be useful to someone else.

I have the PSU tester, everything looks fine on all the different voltages tested.
Interestingly, the inner PSU fan starts up with the tester.
But not when on the mobo.

I breadboarded the mobo, I tried:
- with nothing on it but the PSU
- with a CPU fan plugged in on one of the many fan connectors (took the closest to the CPU, and it's the n°4 connector).
- with the CPU chips and the CPU fan on.

I tried to short the board to make it start with a screwdriver.
On all these situations, no fan moves (CPU or PSU.

Can I assume the mobo is dead (regardless of the green and red LED)?

IT's ALIVE! Ahem, it started, at last.
Resetting the CMOS seems to have done it.

Now I got CMOS checksum bad, and CPU mismatch, but that's the kind of problems I like.

Also, breadbording IS useful: I found out that some useless screw socket was higher than others, and thus was pushing on the mobo.

unfortunately, I'm one screw socket off (they gave two extras, but that are higher/longer than others...).

So anyway, it boots from the case just fine!

Time fore some more work.

OK, not the kind of problems I like, after all.

"CMOS checksum bad" happens even after fully resetting and replacing the CMOS battery (changing the mobo pin for the reset, waiting 15min).
Maybe resetting the BIOS to the default settings, but I can't seem to reach the BIOS. The alternative would be to install a floppy drive, download the latest BIOS (I have no working PC with a floppy drive), and set the proper jumper propery. No other jumper setup found.

For the "CPU mismatch!" error, it could be:
- some pins too bent to reach the CPU. It's a brand new mobo, and the pins seemed fine. It's possible to unbend them, but mine seemed fine.
- Resetting BIOS to defaults (see above)
- I could try to buy a new BIOS chip with the right BIOS on.
- I found this "Your BIOS is version 3.0. 3.5 or newer is required to support Istanbul processors. Hardly surprising as the BIOs is dated 2008 and the processor came out in 2009." (that comment was for some other board) My BIOS version is "BIOS revision 1013".

Also I can't boot with a liveUSB (probably because of the prior errors).

I can only access something called "MBA configuration menu" with Ctrl-s.
F8 is supposed to lead me to boot order pop-up, but it doesn't happen.
No trace of these in the manual.

I probably need an updated BIOS. At least the MBA menu says "2000-2008".
Since my CPU is of 2009...
But I'm surprised I can't access the BIOS. Well, maybe it's for the same reason.

Why is my version 1013 when the highest version on asus.com is 1010?

And why did I blindly buy an unsupported CPU? 2 of them? At leas according to Asus website.
Libreboot talked about hex-core. None of these are supported (2400/8400 series).

I'll ask on Libreboot.

That BIOS version thing still bugs me though.

Important info:
PCB rev 1.05G isn't enough to support hex-core.
SAS, IKVM, or plain kfsn4-dre don't support it.
To my knowledge, only the IKVM/IST supports it (I stopped looking at some point). It also costs like 3 times the one I got. So mine isn't such a bad deal, even if I end up with one 4-core, and an decent GPU. Hopefully it will be enough for my needs.
It also answers the versions differences in BIOS.

So I'm stuck with buying a 4-core CPU.
Don't be like me, do the work all the way before spending. For now I spent uselessly 160€, not counting getting the wrong mobo.
Oh well. I'll try reselling those extras.

One last thing: asus.com says my board and BIOS support Shanghai CPU.
But my BIOS is of 2008, and some Shanghai are from 2009.
Yet it's listed as being supported, so I'll take my chances.

Basic question here, but I can't find a precise answer on the web:
the "CMOS checksum bad" disappeared only after manually setting up the date and time in the BIOS.
Problem is, the seconds are hard to setup precisely since it keeps on running.

I understand that there's a time sync happening with time servers around the web (one is selected during the install for example), but then:

why manually setting up the time in the BIOS is necessary?
And since there's like fractions of second off with my manual tuning, is it OK? Will that be fixed by an external time server once connected?