The boot LED stays red on your ASUS Z97-A motherboard.
The boot LED stays red on your ASUS Z97-A motherboard.
You've managed to acquire an Asus z97-a motherboard but are facing a boot device problem. The screen shows nothing, even though you see output. You've checked overclocking settings, reset the BIOS and CMOS, swapped out cables, displays, and even different drives. Everything seems to be working, so the issue might be specific to your setup.
The boot device LED remains on until a proper boot device is connected and set up. Since it likely has an IGPU on the CPU, you might have attempted to boot without the mainboard and cooler, using only power cables for the CPU/ATX. Make sure the monitor is connected as well.
I attempted to link two different hard drives. Initially, I connected just the CPU, cooler, RAM, and main power, but it failed. Then I tried with the drives themselves, but it still didn't work. (Apologies for the delayed response—I was occupied)
Well, if it doesn't work, you should replace those parts. Maybe swap the RAM or CPU. Install one RAM chip and see what happens. Try other CPUs if you can. If not, it might mean the board is faulty. If you're skilled, you could attempt to modify the BIOS chip or the chip itself, but that requires special tools and some luck. You'd need soldering experience for that.
I've tried using a m.2 drive that works with the board, but it's not functioning properly. My best choice is to switch CPUs, though I'm having trouble removing the cooler. PS: I really need this to work so I can get my refund.
Could you clarify what you mean by "break" and the context of the force involved?
I retrieved it, changed the CPU, but it didn’t work and I faced RAM problems. Then I swapped the RAM and now I’m having boot device issues again. Note: No broken or bent pins in the socket—I checked.