Official GIGABYTE Forum
Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with AMD processors => Topic started by: GW on June 10, 2011, 01:03:28 am
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Hi:
Looking for some suggestions and/or experience here.
Using a "stick-on" speaker on the front panel speaker pins ( part of the front panel connector on the mother board ).
No beeps. No display. No indication the CPU is warming up. No indication of post.
South Bridge and North Bridge warm up. CPU fan plugged into mother board runs. Case fan plugged into mother board runs.
All other peripherals disconnected except for testing with video adapter and monitor noted below.
Power connections to both the 24 pin mother board power connector and the 8 pin CPU power connector.
Swapping in and out two different video cards and two different power supplies.
Only using video cards in the PCI-e 16 lane adapter slot.
Turning power supply on with either no memory or no video card or both missing results in NO BEEPS.
One memory module in slot 1 or 1 each in slot 1 and 3 make no difference
Thanks,
GW
GA-870A-UD3 Mother Board ( Rev. 3.0 - BIOS not yet determined )
1100T X6 Retail Black Box Processor ( 3.3 G Hz )
HIS Radeon HD 5570 PCI-e 16 video card
also used for testing: XFX Radeon HD 5450 PCI-e 16 video card
Analog VGA Monitor
Power Supply: OCZ Mod X Stream 600W - 25A +5 - 25A +3.3V - 25A +12V1 - 25A +12V2 - .3A -12V - 2.5A +5VSB
also used for testing: Power Supply: Enermax EVO S Galaxy 1250W
Crucial DDR3 Memory
Certified DDR3 Upgrade for the Giga-Byte GA-870A-UD3 Motherboard
Part Number of Kit: CT2KIT51264BA1339
Part Number on each piece of memory: CT51264BA1339.K15FK ( or maybe .K16FK )
Module Size: 8GB Kit (4GBx2)
Package: 240-pin DIMM
Feature: DDR3 PC3-10600
Specs: DDR3 PC3-10600 • CL=9 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR3-1333 • 1.5V • 512Meg x 64 •
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Have you tried putting the basic components together on a cardboard box rather than inside the PC Case? This kind of thing could just be due to a simple short between motherboard and chassis.
If you have, or do try that and still no joy I would suggest that you might have a bad board and need to RMA it.
EDIT: Just read your other post and have copied the relevant question into this thread to make it easier to offer help. Please don't double post
Apparently at least one user experienced the out of the box ( or maybe reset ) configuration and BIOS on his motherboard only recognized
PCI video cards or video cards in the PCI-e 4 lane slot.
Anyone seeing anything similar ???
This might shed some light on what I am seeing with only PCI-e 16 video cards to test with at the moment...
This of course rasies a question that I wouldn't have asked before. Do you get any life from the system if you use one of the other PCIe slots? Just because a GPU is X16 doesn't mean that you can't run it in a slower slot and it would help to know if it does work at x8 or x4 speeds.
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Just read your other post and have copied the relevant question into this thread to make it easier to offer help: "Apparently at least one user experienced the out of the box ( or maybe reset ) configuration and BIOS on his motherboard only recognized
PCI video cards or video cards in the PCI-e 4 lane slot.
Anyone seeing anything similar ?
(This might shed some light on what I am seeing with only PCI-e 16 video cards to test with at the moment...)"
This of course rasies a question that I wouldn't have asked before. Do you get any life from the system if you use one of the other PCIe slots? Just because a GPU is X16 doesn't mean that you can't run it in a slower slot and it would help to know if it does work at x8 or x4 speeds.
Have you seen that before with other Gigabyte mother boards ( the board not recognizing the card in the PCI-16 slot at post time ) ?
Have you seen other posts indicating the BIOS or mother board would do that ( the board not recognizing the card in the PCI-16 slot at post time ) ?
Is that considered good practice to place a PCI-e 16 card in a PCI-3 4 sot ? Any potential damage or warranty issues doing that ? That is an honest question from an old guy without practical experience with PCI-e slots.
Thanks, GW
EDIT: Just read your other post and have copied the relevant question into this thread to make it easier to offer help. Please don't double post
Sorry, but in my humble opinion it was a topic that would have enough general interest, totally above and beyond my specific issues with a specific motherboard that it deserved it's own topic.
And the forum rules did say to keep each topic singular and simple. Just a judgment call on my part, again sorry if I have bad judgement.
Thanks, GW
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Have you tried putting the basic components together on a cardboard box rather than inside the PC Case? This kind of thing could just be due to a simple short between motherboard and chassis.
That suggestion sounds drastic, but on the other hand I will do that before I will pull the CPU cooler / CPU and check the pins :)
What type of shorts have you seen that cause this type of problem ? Bad traces on the mother board? Putting a mounting stand off in the wrong hole? A protrusion from the case touching the mother board? Other?
Thanks, GW
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A short could be caused by any of the things you have mentioned I have also come across similar problems from a badly positioned motherboard against the backplate.
I did see another post on here where the user couldn't get the X16 slot to work but the GPU was fine in one of the X4 slots. As trouble shooting goes it is pretty usual to try the card in different slots. There is no problem with doing this, apart from of course, the card not running at its full potential. Using any of the PCIe slots for a graphics card will not invalidate your warranty.
If the PC does BOOT with the card in a different slot then it could be due to BIOS or a faulty board and in either case you would need really to contact Gigabyte Tech Support, in your area and see what their advice is.
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Update: Tried an old analog case mounted speaker in case the little "stick on speaker" was bad. Still no beeps.
Update: Tried using an old PCI diamond video card i each of the three PCI slots, still no video and no beeps.
Update: Reset CMOS, still no video and no beeps.
GW
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Put your video card in pcie 16 slot 1, check your bios setting and set your card to PEG . make sure you put the required power connector to your video card also.
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Put your video card in pcie 16 slot 1
The GA-870A-UD3 has only one PCIE 16 slot - which is always the first slot tested.
check your bios setting and set your card to PEG
The system must POST ( Power On Self Test ) and have a working display to see and change the BIOS, so far there are neither BEEPS nor any display from any of the video cards in any of the slots. If the system is going through POST, there is no evidence of it.
make sure you put the required power connector to your video card also.
All of the four video cards being used for testing only receive their power through the slot they are plugged into, none require an additional power supply connection.
GW
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Hi again,
it would seem that you may have to RMA the board I'm afraid. There is only so much that you can do in a home environment when it comes to testing and, from what you have said and also what you have tried, that is the next logical step.
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I am approaching that point.
I still have to do the card board box test - to eliminate any short to the metal case as a cause.
I will also inspect the CPU as a I remove the CPU as part of preparing to send the MB back.
I also may use a multimeter on the power connectors to the MB, underload, before sending it back to gain more
information in case the replacement MB board also has issues.
I also have an open support ticket with GigaByte Tech Support, but they have not even read it yet.
I am very surprised there have not been more comments on this forum.
Is there a better forum to post on ?
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Hi
Just something I noticed whilst having a read through was that you have a "speaker" connected to the FrontPanel connections on the motherboard. Is it really a speaker or a solid state buzzer ?
If it is indeed a buzzer they are polarity concious and will only work when connected the correct way round. That could be a reason for you not getting any response from it.
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Hi
Just something I noticed whilst having a read through was that you have a "speaker" connected to the FrontPanel connections on the motherboard. Is it really a speaker or a solid state buzzer ?
Actually I have tried one of each.
If it is indeed a buzzer they are polarity conscious and will only work when connected the correct way round. That could be a reason for you not getting any response from it.
I wish it had been something like that. But I was aware of the polarity issues and both the case and motherboard instructions were specific on the need to line up the positive pin. In addition I located an analog speaker with a four pin speaker connector as a double check on that as well.
I really appreciate the suggestion though. It very well may turn out to be something like that. Thus I have not given up on the MB yet.
Thanks again,
GW
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My apologies if I go over anything already dealt with but it doesn't hurt to check the obvious.
Have you tried a different PSU that is known to be working and big enough ?
Have you made sure that both the 24 pin and the 8 pin connections are firmly made on the motherboard ?
Have you tried inserting just one module of RAM in the first slot ?
Have you made sure that the CPU heatsink is firmly fitted and has thermal paste applied ? Also that the fan has been connected ?
Try connecting it to another mains socket.
Try removing the motherboard from the case and building up outside using only the basic requirements.
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.
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Beep Codes now working.
( To: Mantis: this post and your preceding one crossed in the mail - but thanks for the suggestions ).
Beep Codes now working.
Just loosening the Mother Board mounting screws and shifting the MB slightly did NOT do it.
Pulled the Mother Board Out of the case. Placed it on the Card board box the PSU came in.
Left the 600 Watt PSU connected to the motherboard via the 24 pin and 8 pin connectors.
Left the 600 Watt PSU connected to the two hard drives mounted in the case for load. ( Please note the hard drives are not connected to the MB by the SATA cables or in any other way ).
Plugged the PSU in. Turned on the PSU on/off switch on. Used a jumper from a CD ROM drive to briefly jumper the Power Switch pins on the MB front panel connector. Briefly in this case means a second or two.
CPU fan started running and BIOS diagnostic code Beeping worked for the first time on this Mother Board.
Still have some weird symptoms and the cause of the mother board problem while installed in the case has not been isolated, but that is for a later post.
Thanks,
GW
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You are welcome and post back when you are ready to check on some more things. ;)
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On going symptoms after beep codes started working.
While out of the case repeated long beeps, with long pauses between beeps, always occurred.
This was true without any video cards and also with various video cards in various slots ( on card in one slot for each test ).
CPU fan would run at relatively fast speed the entire time.
The Mother Board manual documents this long beep as: Graphic Card Not Inserted Properly.
Sat the Mother Board back in the case on top of the standoffs. ( Power supply off and unplugged ).
No video card installed.
Applied power to the power supply and turned on the Mother Board with the jumper.
For the first time the board appeared to post and the CPU appeared to be powered up.
One short beep and after a few seconds the CPU fan slowed down.
After several minutes The CPU socket ( the small portion left exposed ) and the heat sink became slightly warm to the touch.
This is the first time this happened with this mother board.
The CPU fan appears to be running between it's long time previous power on speed and the very low speed it slowed down to after the
apparent good post.
Not yet tried rebooting after initial apparent good Power On Self Test ( POST).
GW
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Well on the strength of that it would appear that the GPU is faulty. See if you can borrow another one to test.
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Well on the strength of that it would appear that the GPU is faulty. See if you can borrow another one to test.
Actually I have been testing with four different video card adaptors ( GPUs )...
GW
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This one is fixed.
Appears to have been some kind of unknown short between the rear panel cover plate and the Mother Board, but it was not reproducible.
Basically the solution was to pull the mother board out of the case, and configure it outside the case on a work bench until the beep codes started working, then reinstall it in the case.
No need to remove the CPU or CPU cooler from the Mother Board as part of isolating the problem / fixing the problem.
It is still early and I am on to testing different RAID Configurations, but as of now this GA-870A-UD3 mother board appears to be working fine.
Here are a couple of links that helped in isolating and fixing the problem:
How to Bench Test Your Mother Board:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f15/how-to-bench-test-your-system-262998.html
Isolating ATX Power Supply problems and related circuit faults:
http://www.aitechsolutions.net/pchwtrblsht.html
cheers,
GW
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Well I am glad to hear that you managed to fix this problem in the end. It is not the first time I have heard of a backplate shorting to the chassis but it is unusual.
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Have you tried putting the basic components together on a cardboard box rather than inside the PC Case? This kind of thing could just be due to a simple short between motherboard and chassis.
As I advised right at the start! ;)
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Hi absic as they say there are none so deaf as those that don't want to hear. Often people just can't see the logic and so don't want to use the advice.
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Hi Absic
As I advised right at the start! Wink
While reading thru this thread I was thinking exactly the very same thing..
It must be human nature as DM pointed out..We are all like that..
jolphil