BIOS freezes in POST - mobo or cpu?

[CCrun]

Hi there. While running an out of the case POST, I keep freezing during BIOS within 10 minutes. I have swapped out ram and power supply, and still have the same issue, so I think it has to be the motherboard (ASUS z170-a) or the cpu (intel i5 6600k LGA 1151)

How do I determine which of those is causing my problems? I reset the CMOS, updated the BIOS, reset the bios to factory defaults. All I have plugged in is a keyboard into a USB 3.0 slot (tried 2.0 also), the HDMI cable from monitor, 1 stick of ram, and the cpu cable (as well as power cables for CPU and MOBO). Any help or ideas on how to identify the problem would be helpful.

[idata]

Hello Chad:

We just need to verify a few details: How much wattage on the power supply? Did it work fine before? Do you have the latest BIOS version? Please provide the part number of the memory stick, to check it is fully compatible, you can see it on the stick itself. It seems to be related to the board, since the post is done by the board, but it is really hard to tell. Do you have the option to test the board with a different processor, or to test the processor on a different board? If you do not have the options above, that is fine, no problem, is just that is the best way to find out for sure. The PC gets freeze within 10 minutes, and then, what happens after that, does it boot to windows? Because if that is the case, we do have a tool that you can run, it does an overall test on the processor and it is very reliable, which means that if the processor pass the test it should be fine: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool 2nd option to install it Once the test is completed, look for the option that says "File" then "View File Report" and copy that report on this thread so we can see it, thanks. Alberto

[CCRUN2]

Hi there Alberto,

The main power supply was an EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply. My alternate power supply is 550w.

It never worked, this was the first time I had used the mobo or the cpu.

I updated to the latest Bios, version 1801

The RAM was http://pcpartpicker.com/product/y9rcCJ/corsair-memory-cmk16gx4m2a2400c16 Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory, neither of the sticks by themselves fixed the stability problems, my backup test ram was Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 4GB (1x4GB) DDR4-2400

I do not have another mobo or cpu to test with, unfortunately.

Within 10 minutes, the PC will freeze or crash. In case of a crash, it will do nothing until power it off and on again. In case of freeze, the fans will continue spinning, screen will show a static image, but it will not respond to any commands (even caps lock on keyboard) until I power it off and on again. It does not boot to windows because I cannot install windows within 10 minutes before it crashes, it will instead return to the Bios after I reboot.

Thank you,

[idata]

Hello ChadC:

Thank you very much for that information. It should work just fine with that power supply, and since you tested the PC with 2 different supplies, it seems that the problem is not related to that component. Based on the fact that it never worked, and the BIOS is up to date, the problem might be related to the processor. But it is still really hard to tell for sure, could be the processor or could be the board, since you do have 3 years of warranty on the processor and the option to swap parts is not available, we can always replace it for you. In order to do that, please get in contact directly with us through chat, email, online support or phone support, here is the link to do that, you just need to select the type of product you are interested in replacing and you will get those options: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html# @12 http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html# @12 Any questions, please let me know. Alberto