GA41M-ES2L: Beeps at boot for 10 seconds / No Post / Reset Loop.

[zuus]

Hey guys, I'm stumped as to what's going on with this board (GA41M-ES2L Rev 1.1);

Had it for about three weeks and it worked perfectly fine, at which time a new bios came out - so here's me thinking 'dual-bios' is going to be safe and all - might get some new features. I decided to flash it to latest F9 BIOS (from F5) using the now dreaded @BIOS (yeah I know, I'm an idiot) - all went fine, flashed well though. Then I rebooted.

The board went into a reboot loop; stayed on for ~15 seconds, then powered off, and again on for ~15 seconds, etc. After the 4th reboot I thought something might be up - the keyboard lights didn't come on at all, no response from anything. Left it to reboot about 15 times.

I then cleared the CMOS in every possible way (yes even with the board completely unplugged from the PSU with the battery out for about 4 hours) - No go, same thing. Tried a USB stick with another BIOS on it, wouldn't read. So then I thought I might plug in a PC speaker - and hello - it beeps.

The beeps are short and fast and last for a period of about 10 seconds then the system resets, does it again - beeps quickly for 10 seconds and resets, over and over. I tried swapping memory sticks around, pulling everything out, the whole deal, nothing worked so I took it in for an RMA. Funny thing is when I leave the RAM out it gives a different beep code - about 6 long beeps.

They gave it back to me a few days later saying it worked fine for them.

I tested the RAM in another PC and it worked no problems.

Obviously it has something to do with the RAM, and I have my suspicions that the main BIOS didn't flash properly, it's trying to boot from the backup but the RAM is incompatible with the old backup BIOS. Maybe?

The specs are as follows;
C2D E6600 2.66Ghz
2GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 PC-8500
Enermax 550W PSU
256MB X1950 Pro / Onboard VGA (Doesn't make a difference to beep code whether it's in or out)
HDD's / Optical all unplugged.

Any help would be very much appreciated.. Pulling my hair out over this one.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Obviously it had something to do with the BIOS update failing! I really don't know how many times we have tried to steer people away from using @BIOS but they will still keep trying ...and failing! So now you have a very pretty brick Well you do have a backup BIOS but whether it will work is another matter.
Firstly can you check your motherboard model number please as the system doesn't seem to recognise it. I have: GA-41M-ES2L

[Fatman]

Yep sounds like a bad flash..........Need to send a S.O.S to Lsdmeasap! 

[Dark Mantis]

Yep sounds like a bad flash..........Need to send a S.O.S to Lsdmeasap! 

No problem Fatman, I can handle it. Just waiting for an answer first.

[zuus]

Sorry about the late reply, posted and went to bed.

Yeah, I know - I'm an idiot. I only found about the 'doom factor' surrounding @BIOS after the flash when researching how to fix this. Not ever using it again.
Model Number is what it states GA-41M-ES2L (Rev 1.1). That's all it says on it?

This one; http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3261#ov

Odd thing is it worked for the guys at the PC store with their test parts. They told me they used a S775 P4 didn't say what speed, and just 1GB generic ram.
I might try to get some cheap ram, so it may POST, then re-flash with Q-Flash while that's in and try again.

I did play around with the RAM today and tried one stick in the second slot, didn't come up with the beeps, but still no post; put it in the first slot and it beeped again.

Cheers guys.

Edit: GA-G41M-ES2L sorry.

[Dark Mantis]

Edit: GA-G41M-ES2L sorry.

That's more like it. One letter makes a big difference.
Right well try recovering from the backup BIOS. To do this follow these instructions and if it doesn't work first time try again.

You can kick in the backup BIOS by shutting down the PSU from the wall, then hold down your case power button in and then turn on the power supply button, a few seconds later the board will start, shut off the power supply then.   Then you can turn on the power supply again and power up the board normally and DualBIOS will kick in.

Post back when  you have done it.

[zuus]

Okay, just tried that. It reset a few times, the beeping stopped, then it just restarted in a continual loop every ~5-10 seconds - nothing from the speaker. I let it do this about 15 times.

Then I pulled out one of the memory sticks from slot DDR_2, leaving the DDR_1 intact. The PC did a few small 1-2 second restarts and back into the loop. But then I swapped the actual memory stick and put in the other one into DDR_1, and it started beeping - 9 long beeps, then restart - over and over - same beep sequence as if no RAM was installed. Swapped the other one back and again nothing from the speaker just a reboot loop.

The sticks work fine in another PC though so I am quite confused as to what is going on here? Considering the board worked for the guys at the PC store (including booting into Windows), has the BIOS update actually worked, but Gigabyte has done something to remove these OCZ sticks from the compatibility list? They are rated at 2.3v at 1066 Mhz, but they do work at standard voltages at 667 and 800 Mhz.

The BIOS (at least one) seems to be working because it's recognizing that there is RAM in the system but my guess it it's not compatible. Any other ideas?
I might jump on eBay, buy a 256MB generic of DDR2 and see what happens.

[Dark Mantis]

If it is possible to try out some other memory that is known to be compatible then that would be a great idea. If you still get nowhere and need help with reflashing the backup BIOS back to the main BIOS then please post again.

[zuus]

Okay very strange... Just thought I'd update you.

So I bought a 256mb stick of generic Samsung PC3200 RAM, put it in and the system POSTED then gave me a screen that there is a BIOS fault and started recovery from the backup BIOS. All went well, rebooted, posted again.

Then I updated the BIOS to F9 the correct way using Q-Flash, all worked well. Rebooted, "F9" showed on screen, all good!

Then I put the OCZ RAM back in, and same problem - 9 long beeps, no POST, reboot - over and over (tried one stick at a time, tried both in at the same time - same problem). Put the 256MB stick back in and tried increasing the voltage to the RAM and putting the OCZ sticks back in... still nothing.

Downloaded and tried flashing back to the original "F6" BIOS, same problem.

Could a bad BIOS flash have somehow killed the RAM by corrupting a sector of the BIOS controlling the RAM voltage? *shrugs*

I sent the OCZ RAM into a second hand PC store for a swap for some generic sticks, so they'll test the OCZ RAM soon apparently.

Either way, board works... so I might just have to buy a couple of new sticks if it comes back faulty.

Cheers.

[Fatman]

A lot of issues with OCZ memory modules and gigabyte boards, unfortunately it would seem the ram is not compatible with your board. Try grab a hold of some 2x2 gig sticks of memory and run them in dual channel.

[Dark Mantis]

Could a bad BIOS flash have somehow killed the RAM by corrupting a sector of the BIOS controlling the RAM voltage? *shrugs*

No not possible as you have updated the BIOS anyway. I would make sure that the two BIOSes are the same now though or that can cause problems.
Go into the BIOS and at the main screen press F9 this will bring up another screen that will show you, amongst other things, the two BIOS versions. You will need to make sure that they both match. In other words they should both say F9.

[zuus]

Turned out the RAM was dead.

Something to do with or around the BIOS flash must have killed it as it was working perfectly beforehand. The guys tested it in three different systems all no-go. Good thing OCZ have a lifetime warranty

Anyway, went out and bought 2GB of Patriot PC6400 RAM, booted and it's working great.

Dark Mantis; Checked the BIOS versions, the backup is F6 and the main is F9. I'm not going to mess around with trying to update the backup BIOS though. It's working well now, so I'll leave it

Cheers for the help.

[Dark Mantis]

Dark Mantis; Checked the BIOS versions, the backup is F6 and the main is F9. I'm not going to mess around with trying to update the backup BIOS though. It's working well now, so I'll leave it

Cheers for the help.

OK that's up to you although it is a safe and painless procedure. The only thing is that can produce problems of it's own. Anyway you have the directions on how to do it now so if you want to later on it will be easy.