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N3150M no POST

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Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: HTPC&Gaming Barebone&Others
Forum Description: Question about HTPC&Gaming Barebone&Others
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2647
Printed Date: 09 Dec 2024 at 6:11pm
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Topic: N3150M no POST
Posted By: paulbot
Subject: N3150M no POST
Date Posted: 13 May 2016 at 10:10am
Just received an N3150M from newegg, hooked up a psu, several different pairs of ram, and no POST. Currently doing the recommended bios reset, pulling the battery etc. I have this on my bench with a cheap 2 port kvm switch on d-sub and usb. Any pointers where to start. hdd powers up but not active, does bios default to d-sub output in stock settings? Thanks for any pointers.



Replies:
Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 13 May 2016 at 11:59am
My N3150M was plug and go. Clearing CMOS is always a good place to start with most hardware issues so you are on the right track there. I would connect the system directly to a monitor and keyboard for testing purposes. A KVM switch may not be sending the correct signals to the system to enable post. I have seen a bad keyboard prevent a system from powering on. 

D-Sub worked out of the box for me with no alterations to the UEFI so that isn't the problem. 

I had no issues with my 3 different sets of RAM on my board:

8gb Adata XMS DDR3 1600 (2x4) : 1.5v
8gb Apacer Thunderbird DDR3 2800 (2x4) @1600 : 1.65v
4gb Adata Premier DDR3 1600 (1x4) : 1.5v

Ram compatibility seems to be pretty good with these N3XXX boards but it may be worth trying some RAM from the compatibility list to rule out incompatibility.


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Posted By: paulbot
Date Posted: 13 May 2016 at 9:06pm
Thanks, will try different ram. I did check compatibility list, doesn't look like I have any on said list. I did notice the first pair, Crucial Ballistic, 2x4GB, one module was pretty hot when I removed it, at some point today I will try a single module.


Posted By: mikiem
Date Posted: 14 May 2016 at 1:57am
>>"Just received an N3150M from newegg, hooked up a psu, several different pairs of ram, and no POST."

Purely FWIW...
I don't *think* the Beebox is as picky about 1 stick of RAM -- it seems *maybe* picky with 2. At any rate, in the other thread I posted the number for the set that's worked on 2 Beeboxes that I know of.

Otherwise you don't mention a drive hooked up... With a blank GPT SSD mine would not post unless I had a USB stick plugged in. I *think* it was because the UEFI bios looked for a FAT32 partition, which the USB stick provided.

The reason I think that may be the case, is that with 10 installed, the boot menu in the bios changed to only list 10's boot mgr./loader, so there has to be some interaction with that FAT32 partition [where the boot files are located] going on.


Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 14 May 2016 at 4:53am
Originally posted by mikiem mikiem wrote:

>>"Just received an N3150M from newegg, hooked up a psu, several different pairs of ram, and no POST."

Purely FWIW...
I don't *think* the Beebox is as picky about 1 stick of RAM -- it seems *maybe* picky with 2. At any rate, in the other thread I posted the number for the set that's worked on 2 Beeboxes that I know of.

Otherwise you don't mention a drive hooked up... With a blank GPT SSD mine would not post unless I had a USB stick plugged in. I *think* it was because the UEFI bios looked for a FAT32 partition, which the USB stick provided.

The reason I think that may be the case, is that with 10 installed, the boot menu in the bios changed to only list 10's boot mgr./loader, so there has to be some interaction with that FAT32 partition [where the boot files are located] going on.

Just an FYI, http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/N3150m/" rel="nofollow - this is the N3150M , the Beebox uses the same N3150 SoC CPU but it is a different system. The N3150M takes standard DDR3 DIMMs not SODIMMs like the beebox or the N3150-ITX.


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Posted By: paulbot
Date Posted: 14 May 2016 at 5:42am
I did have success this morning with a single module of GSkill ram, but also disconnected a hdd that already had windows 10 installed. I got a POST screen that said del or F something to enter bios, F2 I think to load defaults. I checked a couple settings in bios, saved it, and reconnected the hdd I had handy which was AHCI enabled.

So the jury's out on which is the culprit, ram or not having a UEFI boot.


Posted By: mikiem
Date Posted: 14 May 2016 at 8:27am
>>"So the jury's out on which is the culprit, ram or not having a UEFI boot."

Don't know if any of this will help or not, so again, just FWIW.
UEFI bios are often tricky because they often have legacy or so-called compatibility modes, seem to sometimes get confused on which one they're supposed to be in, &/or because of the different modes present, don't behave as 100% UEFI or legacy bios. [I read -- & have absolutely no idea if true or not -- that Microsoft put some restrictions on that sort of thing for small PCs & tablets for them to qualify for free licenses of win10 Home.]

It can be a mess... If you can get into the bios, some people have found it works better for them with various motherboards to disable or enable UEFI-related compatibility settings &/or secure boot settings -- they weren't having secure boot issues as much as those settings effected other aspects of how the bios worked. I've had luck once or twice having a Windows install DVD, or any bootable CD/DVD connected, & other times I've had to install from a DVD -- that put the bios into a legacy mode when the UEFI mode was messed up, & I switched everything to UEFI later.

RE: the hard drive, it *may sometimes* help to follow Microsoft's directions on prepping the drive -- they've got a few docs I think you'll find if you search their site with terms like windows 8 format gpt. It shouldn't matter much, but it seems to -- there are quite a few posts online agreeing that it can help. Doing it their way the formatting & setting up partitions is different than what you'll get using a lot of software tools.


Posted By: paulbot
Date Posted: 15 May 2016 at 10:12pm
Looks like the board is going back for an RMA, indeed one of the memory slots is bad, it doesn't see the second of a matched pair of ram.


Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 16 May 2016 at 12:49am
That is odd, is the RAM 1.35v, 1.5v or 1.65v? I know my N3150M only posts with one module if it is in the correct slot, using the other slot causes post failure so there is no real way to test if the other slot is working other than populating both slots. I have no issues running the dual channel RAM I listed earlier. Do you have any other RAM you could test with? It may be worth updating the BIOS using a single stick of RAM and seeing if that resolves your issue.

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Posted By: paulbot
Date Posted: 16 May 2016 at 2:36am
Got the latest bios, updated, checked the ram it was 1.65V, swapped it for a pair that I had tried earlier, they are 1.5V, now second channel is working. I see in bios there are settings for dram V of 1.35 and 1.5V. It was the pair I had initially installed, Crucial Ballistix, that one of the modules had gotten pretty hot. That led me to think I had a bad slot, but apparently not. 

Thanks for the help, I would have sent it off and a new one would have done the same thing.


Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 16 May 2016 at 4:43am
Glad to be of help Wink

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Posted By: paulbot
Date Posted: 16 May 2016 at 8:57am
mehhh. So I go to do some rearranging and notice the outside ram module is hot, enough to sortof burn my finger. Didn't scald it or cause a blister, but definitely still feel the burn. Tried a set of GSkill 1.5V modules but the board wouldn't boot. The same Gskill that I got the board to boot originally. This isn't right.  Left it runiing with a fan blowing on the board for now. Board is still not in a case., ambient temps are 72F.

I did go into bios and set the memory voltage to 1.5 from the default Auto.


Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 16 May 2016 at 11:41am
Originally posted by paulbot paulbot wrote:

I did have success this morning with a single module of GSkill ram, but also disconnected a hdd that already had windows 10 installed. I got a POST screen that said del or F something to enter bios, F2 I think to load defaults. I checked a couple settings in bios, saved it, and reconnected the hdd I had handy which was AHCI enabled.

So the jury's out on which is the culprit, ram or not having a UEFI boot.


Why would you need a UEFI booting Windows installation?

If you think you do because the board has UEFI firmware, that is not true. The default settings in the UEFI for DIY boards are all set for legacy booting, and secure boot is not enabled.


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Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 16 May 2016 at 11:48am
Originally posted by paulbot paulbot wrote:

mehhh. So I go to do some rearranging and notice the outside ram module is hot, enough to sortof burn my finger. Didn't scald it or cause a blister, but definitely still feel the burn. Tried a set of GSkill 1.5V modules but the board wouldn't boot. The same Gskill that I got the board to boot originally. This isn't right.  Left it runiing with a fan blowing on the board for now. Board is still not in a case., ambient temps are 72F.

I did go into bios and set the memory voltage to 1.5 from the default Auto.


If a DDR3 DIMM is hot to the touch, something is wrong. Most DDR3 memory is rated for 1.5V.

The DIMM was still hot after the PC was shut off and removed from power, when you were working on it? Confused

Set the DRAM voltage to Auto if you don't know what the voltage should be... and then find out what it should be.

I have one of these boards too, came right up the first time. Supports UEFI booting too.


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http://valid.x86.fr/48rujh" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: paulbot
Date Posted: 17 May 2016 at 7:32am
Originally posted by parsec parsec wrote:

The DIMM was still hot after the PC was shut off and removed from power, when you were working on it? Confused

Yes it was still hot, I had powered it down and felt the DIMM since it had happened the first time I tried to power up the board, with the same 2 DIMMs installed. They are 1.5V modules, and the outside slot DIMM gets hot with V set at auto and 1.5. I suppose I could try 1.35V, looks like they are not running at their rated speed on this board anyway.



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