ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Performance LGA 1150, please insert 4-pin molex on boot?

[droydrock]

Hi all! I built a PC for my friend the other day and had a quick question about an error message that popped up. On first boot, instead of the BIOS screen I got a picture of the 4-pin molex plug and that I was required to use it. I googled a bit and found that its a common issue but I never was able to find if I should RMA the board or not. Its not my PC and I dont want him to have problems in the future.

The AsRock Fatal1ty H97 has a spot on the MB for a molex 4-pin plug. I've built countless PCs over the years and only use that if I have an SLI or Crossfire setup. In the manual it says to use it only if running 3 video cards. I installed a single GTX 960 4gb for him. I also installed a wireless N PCI-Express adapter to the board. So the board has a PCI-E 3.0 slot used for the GPU and a PCI-e for the wifi. Other than that, everything else is normal. i7-4790k, EVGA 750w G2 PSU, 8gbs 1600 ram, SSD, bluray, basically nothing special or anything that is an energy hog. I wasnt able to skip the screen or flash the bios to a newer one at the time.

Should I be worried? Im not totally sure what BIOS version is in there.. But after I plugged in the 4-pin, it booted up and we installed Windows. Everything is flying, temps are 25-35c idle and maybe 60c under load.. Kinda impressive actually. But Im wondering if I should go back and maybe update the bios for him or possible swap RAM slots? I followed the manual's instruction for everything. As far as I know, its all installed 100% perfect. I double and triple checked everything. The CPU plug from the PSU is definitely plugged into the 8-pin power connector on the board(that was the first thing I checked).

I just want some reassurance that I did everything perfect and the board is functioning correctly. If we need to RMA the board or if I need to update a few things I want to make sure I do before his return period ends.

Thank you in advance!!

[parsec]

Re: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Performance LGA 1150, please insert 4-pin molex on boot?

That's might be a bug in an early BIOS version than a real problem. Meaning the threshold for that message to be displayed, based on power draw, is set to low. That is, if power draw of the PCIe slots is really being checked.

That is, unless you were using a 20 pin ATX power connector from the PSU, which I doubt. I would check that the ATX power cable is seated correctly, and that none of the wires in the connector are pushed out of place. The 24 pin ATX connector only has two +12V pins for the mother board, so having both in place is essential. The 4/8 pin CPU power connector is strictly for the CPU, it does not supply power to the PCIe slots. The PSU is a great model so should not be a problem. Are both the cards seated fully?

The BIOS version is shown in the Main BIOS screen, and on the BIOS chip itself, a small white label on one or both of the BIOS chips, which is now hidden by the 960 video card no doubt. Version 1.10 is the initial BIOS, the latest version 1.70. You can flash the BIOS with the Internet Flash option in the Tools section of the BIOS.

Many ASRock boards have the four pin molex connector for added 12V power for the PCIe slots. Two of mine do, which I've used with video cards, and I've never seen that message displayed. But I must say I've never had anything else besides a network card in a PCIe x 1 slot inserted in the PCIe slots.

Changing the memory to different slots I don't see as doing anything about this issue.

You could also just leave that power cable in place and all should be well.

[droydrock]

Re: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Performance LGA 1150, please insert 4-pin molex on boot?

That's might be a bug in an early BIOS version than a real problem. Meaning the threshold for that message to be displayed, based on power draw, is set to low. That is, if power draw of the PCIe slots is really being checked.

That is, unless you were using a 20 pin ATX power connector from the PSU, which I doubt. I would check that the ATX power cable is seated correctly, and that none of the wires in the connector are pushed out of place. The 24 pin ATX connector only has two +12V pins for the mother board, so having both in place is essential. The 4/8 pin CPU power connector is strictly for the CPU, it does not supply power to the PCIe slots. The PSU is a great model so should not be a problem. Are both the cards seated fully?

The BIOS version is shown in the Main BIOS screen, and on the BIOS chip itself, a small white label on one or both of the BIOS chips, which is now hidden by the 960 video card no doubt. Version 1.10 is the initial BIOS, the latest version 1.70. You can flash the BIOS with the Internet Flash option in the Tools section of the BIOS.

Many ASRock boards have the four pin molex connector for added 12V power for the PCIe slots. Two of mine do, which I've used with video cards, and I've never seen that message displayed. But I must say I've never had anything else besides a network card in a PCIe x 1 slot inserted in the PCIe slots.

Changing the memory to different slots I don't see as doing anything about this issue.

You could also just leave that power cable in place and all should be well.

Thank you for your response. :) That makes perfect sense, it has to be a bios bug.

I checked his voltages with HwInfo64 and everything seemed ok. 12v, vcore, vrm etc. so I guess that would mean everything is plugged in where it should be since its all getting its required power. Definitely didn't use the 20-pin atx .. :)
The PC is still screaming and running beautiful. Its probably best we just leave it alone then, even if we update the BIOS we would probably just leave the molex plugged in anyways.

Thanks again!