VGA_LED stuck red on Asus P8Z68-V PRO

[Lyrids]

I recently pulled my PC out of the basement after a 2 year hiatus. I built it 7 years ago and the specs are as follows:

Asus P8Z68-V PRO
i7 2600k
EVGA 560 Ti
8GB DDR3 1333
Crucial M4/Intel330 SSDs
WD 1TB HDD
Corsair TX850 PSU

I was and still am hoping to upgrade the GPU and overclock the CPU to play some modern games on it. It booted up no issue the first few times. It dual boots between Ubuntu and Windows 10 on the two SSDs so I went into the BIOS to change the boot order to prefer the Windows drive. After I saved the settings and restarted it stopped POSTing. Fans were all spinning and the VGA_LED light was stuck red on the motherboard.

I decided to pull all the components/unplug all the extra stuff from the motherboard and start with just the CPU and RAM (it has integrated graphics). I reset the CMOS and put a single stick of RAM in. When I started it up I got a small puff of smoke from the DIMM slot... I had installed the memory backwards. I took it out, swapped for the other stick, cleared CMOS again and it still passes the CPU/MEM tests and gets stuck at VGA. No progress since then.

I don't know if I did additional damage with my RAM mistake but either way I've been stuck in the same spot for a day now. I want to try reseating the CPU but don't have any thermal paste at the moment so I'll have to wait on that. Is there anything I haven't tried that I should?

 

[VirtualLarry]

and put a single stick of RAM in. When I started it up I got a small puff of smoke from the DIMM slot... I had installed the memory backwards.

Really? RAM in backwards? They are keyed, they only go in ONE WAY. If you used a hammer to pound them in (backwards), then you're doing it wrong...

Is there anything I haven't tried that I should?

Hiring a professional?

Edit: Sorry, I see from your join date that you're not a n00b, so no need for the flaming.

If you built it yourself, 7 years ago, you didn't remember that the RAM only went in one way?

Or maybe, you DID get the RAM in the right way, and something else is going on, old/bad board, maybe? That seems more likely to me. (Unless you did use a hammer on the RAM. In which case, yes, you should probably consider hiring someone.)

That's not 100% obsolete kit, actually, being the 4C/8T variety CPU, assuming that it still works and wasn't damaged, it could be worth try to scrounge up another mobo. Consider replacing the PSU too, if it's also 7 years old. (Might be the reason for the smoke, too.)

But then again, if you built a new rig around a Ryzen 5 2600X, it would run rings around your old rig in productivity and multi-media apps, and be fairly advanced for gaming too.

It's not exorbitantly expensive, to build a Ryzen rig, either. There have been some good sales, recently the 2600 non-X CPU was $169.99, I think. VERY reasonably priced.

If gaming is the primary focus, Intel has their six-core CPUs, soon to be eight-cores. You could consider those as well, but the AMD AM4 platform has the advantage for overclocking, and mobo prices at the mid-range.

 

[Lyrids]

Anyone without an inferiority complex?

 

[UsandThem]

Really? RAM in backwards? They are keyed, they only go in ONE WAY. If you used a hammer to pound them in (backwards), then you're doing it wrong...

Hiring a professional?

Anyone without an inferiority complex?

Play nice guys.

But to repeat what VirtualLarry already stated, in a nicer way, if you were somehow able to install the RAM backwards, you likely fried your motherboard (or damaged the slot). It wouldn't have been easy to get the RAM all the way into the slot since they are designed to only go in one way.

 

[Lyrids]

I used to build a fair amount of PCs, it was just a brief lapse in judgment after a long hiatus. There's a good chance it wasn't even all the way seated because the stick doesn't have any visible damage. Anyway, the issues were occurring even before that episode and they don't appear to be any worse afterwards so I only included it in the interest of telling the whole story. Why would changing BIOS settings send it into this state is what I'm really curious about? I'm not opposed to building a new rig if that's what it comes to but I was hoping to spruce up the old one before it came to that.

 

[UsandThem]

I used to build a fair amount of PCs, it was just a brief lapse in judgment after a long hiatus. There's a good chance it wasn't even all the way seated because the stick doesn't have any visible damage. Anyway, the issues were occurring even before that episode and they don't appear to be any worse afterwards so I only included it in the interest of telling the whole story. Why would changing BIOS settings send it into this state is what I'm really curious about? I'm not opposed to building a new rig if that's what it comes to but I was hoping to spruce up the old one before it came to that.

It could be the motherboard caps (or at least one of them) went bad, and maybe the puff of smoke you saw came from that. Changing BIOS settings by itself wouldn't cause any issues that you described. Even then on some remote possibility of causing issues, clearing your CMOS would take you back to default settings. My guess is your motherboard gave up the ghost after being powered back on a few times.

 

[Lyrids]

I'm finding plenty of other reports of the same exact thing while googling (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/305723-30-asus-p8z68-stays#4356824). Looks like I'm just SOL with this motherboard. Should I bother getting a new LGA1155 or just go all in on a new rig?

 

[UsandThem]

I'm finding plenty of other reports of the same exact thing while googling (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/305723-30-asus-p8z68-stays#4356824). Looks like I'm just SOL with this motherboard. Should I bother getting a new LGA1155 or just go all in on a new rig?

I'd personally just sell off the components that still work, and build a new PC. Especially if you're wanting to get back into gaming. If you're just wanting an email/browsing PC, then you would be fine to just get another motherboard. However, since it is so old, you will be rolling the dice buying a used one.

Just for the love of all that is holy, install that RAM in the right way next time!

 

[C1]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems

 

[flexy]

Hey! You said you put the RAM in incorrectly and EVEN SAW SMOKE.

You could reseat components until you are blue in the face, the problem is not a poorly seated card or that you need to reseat the CPU, I mean we already know what happened. And the smoke strongly indicates some component on the board blown. This is a case where we don't need to speculate. (There is, honestly, also not much logic in, say, trying to reseat the CPU, if you already know that the problem was caused by a ram module inserted the wrong way)

It's 99% the board shot, if you're lucky, the memory still works.

Wife also had this old Asus Z68 board (I think it was that one), those by the way are notorious for blowing components (VRMs) out of the blue, sometimes even taking the CPU with them. Google is full with stories. (Fortunately wife's 3570k survived). So..time for an upgrade...get a Z77 or newer board. I got an Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 so I could continue using the 3570k. (Wife really only plays SWTOR and Civ, no point in anything newer )