Z77 Extreme6 - Do erratic POST beeps mean a defective or dying board?

[CookyMonzta]

I'm pretty sure I've touched upon this subject before, but not in the detail I'm about to explain here.

I had a Z77 Extreme6 (which has since been replaced) that suddenly spat out beeps uncontrollably. If my memory serves me well, first I got 9 beeps, then I started getting other beep codes; from 1 beep to 3 beeps to 5 beeps (CPU fail), to a series of random beeps back-to-back before system boot.

At that point I started to suspect my motherboard was on its way to dying, especially after I discovered that my USB ports were failing. Any data that I transferred from an external drive through the USB ports disappeared from the destination drive after rebooting; even worse if the destination drive is also an external drive. For example, if I transferred data A from external drive X to external drive Y, that data would show up in drive Y until either I reboot or hookup drive Y to another machine. Then data A inexplicably vanishes, or a disk error pops up, requiring me to run a disk check, after which, data A is wiped out.

The disk drives were obviously not the problem. I checked my i7-2700K with Intel software, with the assumption that, if there was a CPU problem, it would show up in the test. My CPU passed, every time. I tested my RAM with MemTest86, even let it run twice, for hours, and there were no red flags. I sold my GeForce GTX570 at eBay (to get something faster), and so far the buyer has not had a problem with it.

Did I guess right, that my motherboard was unstable or fracked?

[CookyMonzta]

Re: Z77 Extreme6 - Do erratic POST beeps mean a defective or dying board?

I take it that my explanation of the incidents I experienced with my last Z77 Extreme6 board was not well understood.

Let's see if I can make this simple: Has anyone ever had a board that suddenly spat out a random number of POST beeps with every activation, leading you to believe that your board was begging to be sent to the landfill? Have you thought that one or more of your other components (CPU, RAM, etc.) was dying, only to find out that your board was sending so many signals to lead you to conclude that your board was the only thing about to die?

[Joe-912]

Re: Z77 Extreme6 - Do erratic POST beeps mean a defective or dying board?

I just searched the forum and there are quite a few posts about muliple beeps during post, I'm using this board but never had a problem with it, have a look through some posts there are quite a few...

[Tralfaz]

Re: Z77 Extreme6 - Do erratic POST beeps mean a defective or dying board?

Hi, CookyMozta. Just like, Joe-912, I've been reading through these forums and tom'sHardware, (after having a minor problem with my board), and have come across more than a few posts about POST beeps.
There were a myriad of problems/solutions;
Changing an HDMI cable to DVI.
A bad 8-pin PSU-to-GPU cable.
A bad cmos, and/or cmos battery .
CPU became unseated (due to overheating).
A bad RAM DIMM.
A bad PCI-E slot.

Granted, these are only given as hypothetical, and you tested for at least a couple. With so many areas for problems to arise, I'd think more information and further troubleshooting would be a necessity.

e.g., If you still had the board, you could check the Dr Debug LED and see what code was given.

[parsec]

Re: Z77 Extreme6 - Do erratic POST beeps mean a defective or dying board?

I'm pretty sure I've touched upon this subject before, but not in the detail I'm about to explain here.

I had a Z77 Extreme6 (which has since been replaced) that suddenly spat out beeps uncontrollably. If my memory serves me well, first I got 9 beeps, then I started getting other beep codes; from 1 beep to 3 beeps to 5 beeps (CPU fail), to a series of random beeps back-to-back before system boot.

At that point I started to suspect my motherboard was on its way to dying, especially after I discovered that my USB ports were failing. Any data that I transferred from an external drive through the USB ports disappeared from the destination drive after rebooting; even worse if the destination drive is also an external drive. For example, if I transferred data A from external drive X to external drive Y, that data would show up in drive Y until either I reboot or hookup drive Y to another machine. Then data A inexplicably vanishes, or a disk error pops up, requiring me to run a disk check, after which, data A is wiped out.

The disk drives were obviously not the problem. I checked my i7-2700K with Intel software, with the assumption that, if there was a CPU problem, it would show up in the test. My CPU passed, every time. I tested my RAM with MemTest86, even let it run twice, for hours, and there were no red flags. I sold my GeForce GTX570 at eBay (to get something faster), and so far the buyer has not had a problem with it.

Did I guess right, that my motherboard was unstable or fracked?

Your question is very difficult to answer with any certainty, beyond the conclusion you already have. In all my years of building PCs, I've never had any kind of wild POST beeps. Frankly, I have only been able to cause a three (or is it five) beep memory error with a memory OC beyond its capabilities. Otherwise, a single POST beep, if the board will even do that (some don't) is the most I ever get.

If I was confident that nothing else I could control was causing the beeps, then I would consider the mother board to likely be the problem.