There are a few things we can try to further diagnose the problem. First I may suggest testing the system in barebones with only the bare minimums installed, cpu, 1 stick of memory, 24/8pin power connectors, video card, and keyboard. Then clearing your CMOS by pressing the CMOS button or removing the battery from the motherboard for 2-3 mins after unplugging the system. Booting the system back up you may get another check sum error followed by "press F1 to load defaults or Del to enter setup". If you press DEL you should be able to get into the bios to disable the floppy driver detection. Please keep us updated with the results of your testing so we can further assist you.

There's also a Bios chip at the bottom of the motherboard next to the pci slot. He may want to remove the motherboard from the case and set it on top of a towel on a flat surface. Then with a downward force press down on that bios chip with a good amount of his weight. The bios chip can slowly loosen over time due to vibration from the cpu fan. He'll hear a series of loud click that indicates the chip reseating itself. 

all that did nothing, could a bad cpu cause that?

Damn... i used to have a 790i and i remember getting this error. i can't remember exactly what i did. Give me a few to look this up. But i definately remember fixing it myself.
 
Edit : i Definately know it's a setting in the BIOS.

can't get to the bios, that's a big part of the problem. He could get to the bios before but he was having an issue with it installing windows. Would get to a point where it should reboot but instead it shut down completely. I thought it could be an issue with the RAM timing but instead of letting mt try to teak them first he took it to a local "repair" shop and now he/we can't even get to the bios and the CMOS jumper was in the clear position so I have no idea what the guy did, I put it the right way but the error keeps happening. Could powering up the PC with the jumper in the clear position have corrupted the bios or something?

Of course if all else fails, and you can't get it going, i could sell you my 790i ULTRA for like 50 bucks, but you'll have to buy DDR3 ram for it.

stalinx20
Of course if all else fails, and you can't get it going, i could sell you my 790i ULTRA for like 50 bucks, but you'll have to buy DDR3 ram for it.

going to see if there's a repair place that would just hook up a floppy drive and flash the bios for cheap. Will let you know if he ends up needing it, how would we handle the sale?

Disconnect all hard drives and DVD drives. Reset BIOs with the battery removed. Wait 15 minutes. Replace the battery. See if the error continues, (with the drives still disconnected). 

No update, he hasn't taken it yet. I'm sure whoever reflashes the bios will have to hook up a floppy drive as that is all it checks for before "system halted" Original guy was shady af, told him he needed $35 to order a floppy drive, then said he just pulled one out of another PC and then he said he tried using an external one and then he told him he needed $185 to get a new 680i mobo from evga, said he called evga, at which point I was like "Dude get your sh** back, guy is lying through his teeth because evga doesn't even make the board anymore"

I'll pass the info on

I'm out of town for a week starting tomorrow, he said he would take it to get checked out while I'm gone, will post when I get back. Will pass the message on, Erik.

Tell him not to sit on it for too long.