Official GIGABYTE Forum
Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with Intel processors => Topic started by: PeterK on December 02, 2009, 10:05:57 am
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Hi,
First time poster here, and have a problem that can hopefully be spotted by one of the experts here. Have bought all the parts for my new PC, and put them together last weekend. Components are:
GA-P55A-UD4
i7-860 2.8Ghz
Crucial 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 240 DIMM ECC (http://www.dabs.com/products/crucial-8gb--2x4gb--ddr3-240-dimm-ecc-632D.html)
Antec CP-850 PSU (to go with the P183 case)
Sapphire 5870 Vapor-X
various hard drives, etc
When I first set it up, I turned it on, and the machine kept starting up for a few seconds, powering down, then starting up again. Turned out I'd put the memory in slots 1 and 2 rather than 1 and 3, so I corrected that and tried again. Now, when I start it up, the machine stays powered up, but I have no display at all. Can't see anything onscreen. And my case doesn't appear to have a speaker, so I can't listen for any beeps to help point me in the right direction. The Phase LEDs are all lit up from green to red.
I've tried the following:
- Reseating all cards, CPU, etc
- Unplugging all cards one at a time to see if anything can isolate it
- Copious amounts of swearing
After all of this, I have a couple of questions that someone may be able to answer:
- Are there any known issues with the BIOS that may prevent the display from working out of the box? e.g. would I need to slot my old video card in to get things going somehow, then swap them over?
- Is it possible that the memory somehow isn't compatible with the mobo? It's not on the approved memory list, but seems at first glance to be OK.
- Is there something obviously wrong with how I may have set up the components? I've plugged in both the 2x4 12V and the 2x10 + 2x2 mainboard power connectors, so there should be juice going to the components. All the fans spin up, so there's definitely something going on. CPU fan connector is plugged in (although it's a 3 pin one rather than 4), although I haven't got any other fans to connect to the motherboard fan connectors (no PCH fan).
- Or is it likely to be a duff video card?
Any advice at this stage appreciated, would love to get it up and running....
Cheers,
PK.
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Running with 1 stick of RAM. Is there anyway you can test the graphics card on another machine? Have you tried running with the bare minimum - 1 stick of RAM, PSU, CPU and Graphics card. Just to see if you get a post screen?
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I got the same issue I had when I had the memory in slots 1 and 2 when I tried running with 1 stick only - kept powering up for a few seconds, then powering down and restarting. So went back to the two stick configuration...
Testing the graphics card on another box would be tricky but I'm bracing myself to do that this weekend, when I have several hours to unpick the wiring in my old PC and plug it in (assuming it fits, it's a long beast)...
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Or try another smaller graphics card in your machine. Did you try running with the bare minimum with the motherboard etc outside the case, sat on a non conductive surface. This will eliminate the possibility of anything in your case shorting something out.
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Thanks for the advice, I'll give that a try. I'll get my old graphics card out of the old PC this weekend to see if it works properly, in which case it may be a GPU fault.
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Awesome. Keep us posted :)
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OK, so the mobo is sitting on a non-conductive surface outside of the case, and still getting the same problem. Have tried different combinations of power connectors to the mobo (2x2 12v and 2x14 12v for the CPU power connector, 2x10 and 2x12 12V to the motherboard power connector) and still no joy. For completeness, I've pulled out the mobo battery and done a cmos clear, waiting for a bit to see if that makes any difference.
One thing in the manual confuses me somewhat. "When using a power supply providing a 2x4 12V and a 2x12 power connector, remove the protective covers from the 12V power connector and the main power connector on the motherboard." I've got a 2x4 12V and a 2x12 12V connector plugged in at the moment, does this mean I need to remove something? I can't see protective covers anywhere, or anything that looks like it can be removed. Is my combination of connectors correct? Using i7-860, at default settings.
If all this fails, it'll be the dreaded step of removing my graphics card from the old PC, but I'm hoping to avoid that, as it's going to be painful...
Cheers,
PK.
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OK, same behaviour from the old graphics card, so I've either messed up the setup of the mobo somehow, or Ive got a compatibillty problem with the memory perhaps. If anyone has any ideas, would love to hear, otherwise I'll try RMAing the memory first and getting some replacement stuff in to see if it works.
Also, is it any use logging a support ticket? Did so a week ago (well, last Sunday) and it still apparently hasn't even been looked at by the Gigabyte tech team. Is this unusual?
Cheers,
PK.
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Check the memory voltage. Mine was unstable until I increased it up to 1.64 (as high as I could without the red numbers).
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I'd love to check the voltage, but I can't even get to the BIOS - no screen display at all, so there's nothing I can change. Or am I able to boot the board with no memory in, change the settings, then try again?
PK.
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Nope you can't boot without no memory unfortunatly. But sounds like its either dodgey memory of faulty board. You don't know anyone with a stick of DDR3 ram you can pinch, just to see if its mobo or RAM?
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As it so happens, I've RMAed the memory already, and some new stuff is coming my way. I did ask them to send some non-Crucial stuff just to see if it was a compatibility issue, but they ignored that note and resent the same stuff :) So I guess if the new stuff fails as well, then I'll RMA the mobo and check that out.
More excitement planned for this weekend then! Will let you know how I get on.
Cheers,
PK.
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Ok, keep us posted mate. It sucks when things don't go as to plan :(
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So the replacement memory (same model as the old stuff) arrived - no difference there, same behaviour as previously. So, grumpy, I went and bought a stick of 2GB memory, single stick, in the hope that that may work. No joy there either. So I'm starting to think memory isn't the problem. Perhaps the mobo is hosed? If anyone has any alternate suggestions, would love to hear them!
As for things not going to plan - thank goodness I only put a new machine together every 3 or 4 years. Every time, something goes not quite right with it, which leads the wife to ask each time whether I should just buy one premade. The correct answer is of course no to that, but it's hard to convince her when things like this happen each time...
Any advice appreciated!
PK.
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If you've eliminated the possibility of it being anything else it's probably the motherboard, may have to raise a RMA :( ???
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Can't see anywhere if you elminated the possibility of it being the PSU?? If not make sure your PSU is definatly okay. I don't know why Gigabyte are taking so long to reply to their support tickets :(
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Can't see anywhere if you elminated the possibility of it being the PSU?? If not make sure your PSU is definatly okay. I don't know why Gigabyte are taking so long to reply to their support tickets :(
No, I haven't. Looking back over my earlier posts, I asked about the following from the manual, which confused me somewhat: "When using a power supply providing a 2x4 12V and a 2x12 power connector, remove the protective covers from the 12V power connector and the main power connector on the motherboard." I don't recall seeing a protective cover, am I being silly and missing something obvious here that could be preventing the juice from reaching the CPU properly?
Relishing the idea of taking out my old PSU even less than I was taking out the old graphics card to test with the new setup! :o
PK.
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Not sure could you take a picture so I can see? You may also want to purchase a PSU tester, I have this one http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=44221&source=froogle (http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=44221&source=froogle) though better ones are available. But that does me fine tbh :) If you do purchase one, make sure you unplug all power connectors and plug the 24pin into the tester.
Failing that its going to be a case of putting the PSU into another machine ;)
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hi there on your motherbored you have to power supply sockets one 6 pin and the big squire one .do you have both of there,s connected
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sorry ill repost this bit tied lol ...on the motherbored there are 2 power supply sockets one 6 pin thats on the top left of your mobo...this needs to be pluged in as well as the big 28 pin socket... what it sounds like to me is there there is no power going to the pci exspresss socket as ive got the same kit at you.is this your first pc buid? ..make shore when you power on that you just have the basic stuff in ie grafix card memmory see if you can get it to post...if this does not work make shore nothing is touching the bored as this could be shorting it ,as it will not swich on ,,,
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Thanks for the response Gary, but yes, had both power cables plugged in (that bit me the last time I built a PC about 4 years ago,didn't realise you needed to do both, so almost RMAed everything before someone told me to try that!)
BUT!
It's working now! I've put some Corsair memory in instead of Crucial, and I'm getting to the bios now. I took a look at the stick of memory I got separately to try and get things working, and that too was Crucial. So it looks like what I read elsewhere on the interweb was true, that these boards sometimes have issues with Crucial.
So, on to setting up the rest of the machine now :) Thanks for all your help guys, much appreciated!
Cheers,
PK.
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Hi,
Happy you eventualy got it sorted,
Merry Xmas
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cool glad you got it working when first think you need to do is update the bios
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cool glad you got it working when first think you need to do is update the bios
Yup, updated to F6 this afternoon.
Only one curiosity - I have two 2GB sticks of memory inserted, but it seems to only report 2GB total. Probably a stupid question, but dual channel doesn't halve the amount of memory you have does it? (Researching this as I type, so hopefully I answer my own question!)
Cheers,
PK.
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Spent a bit of time looking into this, have flashed back to F5 and it's still the same. Only have 2GB registering from the BIOS, even though 4GB is installed. Looking at the M.I.T, it says that only the 2GB from slot 3 is enabled. It's registered the memory in Slot 1, but it doesn't seem to have it enabled. Windows 7 can also see that 4GB is installed, but only 2 is available.
Am I doing something wrong with the settings? I'm so close to having it all working OK!
Cheers,
PK.
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Hi,
Have you tried msconfig, boot ini, advanced, memory settings?
Just a thought, Cheers
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Hi,
Have you tried msconfig, boot ini, advanced, memory settings?
Just a thought, Cheers
Yep, checked that out, no max memory set. It seems like the BIOS itself hasn't enabled the other 2GB, and it's not filtering through to the OS. The POST only reports 2GB - is that normal?
PK.
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Hi
Have you got the Ram in the correct slot?,
Have you got dust or fluff in the slot?
Is the ram seated correctly?
Reverse the Ram sticks?
Have you checked your ram with Mem test?
Does CPUZ show 4gig?
Cheers
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Ram is in slots 1 & 3 as per the instruction manual. In the M.I.T screen, it can see both 2 GB sticks, but only 1 is listed as enabled.
Will try reversing shortly and see if it helps - has this been known to make a difference before?
CPUZ shows 4GB installed, 9-9-9-24, 2T command rate, 88 tRFC, FSB:DRAM 2:12, and DRAM frequency of 799.5 MHz (which at double rate makes 1600, so that seems ok).
Let me try that reversing and see how it goes...
PK.
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Hi,
I don't have a bios screen for your mobo,
But I have never seen a setting for disabling/enabling memory!
Can only suggest you update to the latest bios, if your not running it already?
Have you tried a cmos reset, pulling the power lead and setting up again in bios?
Still think you got a dodgy stick, Pete
Cheers
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I tried F6 originally (the latest BIOS) but went back to F5 to see if it made a difference, which unfortunately didn't help.
I've now moved the RAM from slot 1 to slot 4, so now have two 2GB sticks in slots 3 and 4. The BIOS and Win 7 now recognises 4GB total, but only as single channel obviously. Running a memory check now, but would seem that both sticks work OK, and just the slot they're installed in makes a difference. Kinda odd, and hoping it's not a sign of a faulty mobo (note: M.I.T reported that it could see the 2GB stick in slot 1, but it just wasn't enabled - no settings anywhere to change this either!)
If anyone else has any experience of this, would love to hear from you!
PK.
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try to re-seat the cpu.
as i heard that similar problems can be caused by wrong contact between cpu and it's socket.
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lol my god there,s some noob answers to there,s questions the problem is ,,,that you have a 32 bit os windows .32 bit can only take the max of 2 gig ...as hard were such as grafix card uses the exstra memmory if you install a 64 bit os you will see alll the memmory ,ps make shore both stick ar in the white sockets not the blue ones
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Similar problem for me too with GA-P55A-UD4 and i7 860. Windows 7 64 bit instllad fine but when starting I only get to login screen and there comouter shuts down and restarts.
I found that disabling 'IntelTurbo boost' in Bios "solved" the problem.
Now I have fond that if I disable 'C3/C6/C7 State Support' I can have 'Intel Turbo Boost' in AUTO and may machie seems to be stable.
Maybe there are som settings for C3/C6/C7 somewhere.
Or maybe some guys from Gigabyte and Intel should meet, have a few beers and a nice conversation about 1 and 0. :-)