GA-H55M-UD2H power on and off loop.

[chaoszerom]

Buzzer/speaker was connected, sorry 'bout not mentioning that. Makes no tones.

Turns out I haven't shorted CMOT right. You unplug the power, hold the power button for 15 secs, then short it for how many minutes? Somewhere suggested half an hour, but wouldn't that just drain the battery?

Another thing. My processor or mobo didn't come with a heatsink gel, or whatever is required. When I took the heatsink off, there was a small patch of aluminium powdery stuff on the CPU and heatsink. Is that alright?

Will get high-res pics of mobo and CPU in shortly.

-Chaos

[Fatman]

To reset your cmos you need to remove the battery from the motherboard, just leave it out for a while or while it is removed just bridge the jumper if there is one (cmos). It sounds to me that you will need to re-apply thermal paste for the cpu heatsink. Clean off the old stuff and put some IC Diamond or Arctic silver 5 or even some mx-3. Be careful if you use Arctic silver 5 as it contains metal and too much could sqeeze out and short your cpu or m/b. You can just google how to apply arctic silver paste and you find so good guides.

[chaoszerom]

What I mean was, there was no heatsink gel to begin with. I thought it was supposed to come with the chip/mobo, but when it didn't, I assumed it didn't need it. Is that a problem?

[Fatman]

Yes it is a problem as the paste acts as a medium to transfer the heat. So you will need to re-apply the paste. Everytime you remove the heatsink from the cpu or what ever, you should always re-apply fresh paste.

[Dark Mantis]

What I mean was, there was no heatsink gel to begin with. I thought it was supposed to come with the chip/mobo, but when it didn't, I assumed it didn't need it. Is that a problem?

No problem as it stands. The original thermal compound was supplied already applied to the heatsink but now that you have removed it you will have to clean off the original and apply fresh.

The clear CMOS button is a "push to break" not "push to make" so it wouldn't affect the battery by draining it at all. However I always suggest removing the battery as it is a failsafe way of  making sure that the CMOS is not getting any power. As you say unplug from the wall and then press the power button for a few seconds to drain any residual charge in the PSU before removing the CMOS battery for about ten minutes.

[chaoszerom]

Cleared CMOS, no luck, same on-off loop. I have a feeling that it is the PSU that is messed up, as it goes through this loop as well.

Just found the good camera, so should have pics up today.

[Fatman]

Ok have a look on the side of your ram and set the bios to the voltage and timings and see if that helps the reboots.

Did you re-apply the thermal paste? It could be your cpu is hitting thermal shut down if you did not do that.

[lenturner]

I have had same trouble -
Setting up HTPC GA-H55M-UD2H board, i3 540 CPU, Corsair TW3X4G1333C9A  ram.
Antec SLI 500w power which is absolutely fine, was until recently runnung dual AMD CPU, Supermicro MB, 2 SLI cards - Vanilla PCIe card

Spins fan, light on MB blink then shuts off, cycles through this till I turn off power

BTW there are no beep codes at all.

Tried with and without graphics card, swapped ram to other slots, bettery out etc.

This is the first time in a long build career that I have experienced this sort of trouble. I notice that the ram i am using is not actually on the supported vendors ram list on the Gigabyte Web site for this motherboard but I would be surprised if it was that (who knows)

Its a Saga Now

[Dark Mantis]

I have had same trouble -
Setting up HTPC GA-H55M-UD2H board, i3 540 CPU, Corsair TW3X4G1333C9A  ram.
Antec SLI 500w power which is absolutely fine, was until recently runnung dual AMD CPU, Supermicro MB, 2 SLI cards - Vanilla PCIe card

Spins fan, light on MB blink then shuts off, cycles through this till I turn off power

BTW there are no beep codes at all.

Tried with and without graphics card, swapped ram to other slots, bettery out etc.

This is the first time in a long build career that I have experienced this sort of trouble. I notice that the ram i am using is not actually on the supported vendors ram list on the Gigabyte Web site for this motherboard but I would be surprised if it was that (who knows)

Its a Saga Now

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

Well it could be one of two things on the face of it. Either there is a short to earth from the motherboard to the case or you have bent pins on your CPU socket.

Either way the best course of action  is to remove the board from the chassis.

Make sure that you observe anti-static precautions.

Lay some cardboard or use the motherboard box that is non-conductive on the worktop and remove the motherboard/CPU/heatsink/fan/buzzer/one stick of memory and PSU from the case and put it on the cardboard.

Add the keyboard and now I know you haven't got any graphics but try and boot.

The system should try and then fail emitting a series of beeps.

Please post what sounds it makes.

[lenturner]

Thanks for the reply.
No short - board on a pad and not in chassis, pulled cpu and checked with optical magnification - absolutely puuurfect pins but there are a few pads  on the socket that have no marks at all and actually lots of pads that have the indent from the contact not in the centre but really close to the edge - it apears that the cpu is not seating but there is no obvious reason why - it is absolutely aligned correctly and clipped home with what seems to be a great pressure from the clamping mechanism - still no beeps at all

[Dark Mantis]

If the pads have mis-aligned marks or none at all there is a problem with the socket. Even if the pins are not bent they might not be level. Don't forget we are looking at 3D scenario here. They all have to be the same height to make contact.

[lenturner]

Woo Hoo

All fixed (so far)

Had another look at CPU and socket with binocular specs and after nearly giving up I spotted a pin on the extreme bottom left of the socket that was rotated slightly. I GENTLY and with much trepidation bent it back to where I thought it should be and re-inserted the CPU. Bugger me it bloody worked!! I am really surprised. So gets to bios and now I will load the OS...Keep  youse all posed..

[Dark Mantis]

It is suprising how many people find a bent pin or three is the root of their problem. It can be annoying though as often they don't really want to check and will say there aren't any before even looking.

[lenturner]

You are fully right Dark Mantis bro but what is of concern is that there are still pads with no obvious indentations or contact marks on them. If the bent pin was the rerason for no post wtf about the pins, pads that dont seem to be contacting?
Does this mean the CPU is now in Ford Prefect mode? instead of WRX Mode?
Is there likely to be wierd stuff happening?. Is this (bent pin thing) common?
I would be prepared to do the helecopter on the Indooroopilly express train in the morning if it were something I did to create a bent pin.
Took out the guard, placed the cpu on the pins and gently clamped.
Is it possible that it is a manufacturing fault? or is Foxconn perfectomondo..Life is full of mystery

[Dark Mantis]

I would be prepared to do the helecopter on the Indooroopilly express train in the morning if it were something I did to create a bent pin.

You have just got to post a video of that on here

To be serious now the pins not making contact with the CPU could be a big problem and depending on which pins it is as to what may or may not be happening. Obviously some of the pins are not high enough in the socket even if they are straight. This could well have been a manufacturing defect and even though they are not common as such we do have quite a few cases of them. Sometimes I am sure it is user error when they are inserting the CPU or something but sometimes it is just the way they are delivered I am sure.

I think you need to RMA it and explain that you took all reasonable care when installing it.