GA-X79-UD3 with Intel i7-3820 not booting (not even BIOS screen) Please help!!

[magnitude]

Hi,

Have just built a nw machine with a GA-X79-UD3 motherboard and an Intel i7-3820. Im using Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz DD3 Ram (2x4GB).

When i power on the machine, the processor fan spins for about 10 seconds and then the machine powers off, then powers backon for 10 secs and then off, round and round in a loop. I have tried disconnecting everthing and plugging back in, one at a time. The only thing that caused the machine to stay powered on without looping is by removing ALL memory moduels. With just one in, in any slot, the same problem happens. I know the memory is compatable so i dont know what the problem is. I cannot get to a BIOS screen under any sccenario, just a blank screen, so i cannot even look at the BIOS. I have a Seasonic 650W PSU which is more than enough.

EDIT: I just red that this processor isnt supported with under ver F8 BIOS but read many people with F7 BIOS have got this working. When i look at the box that the motherboard came in, it says: "Includes new F7 or later BIOS". But i cant get to the BIOS to check. It might even have ver 8 on possibly.

Please help as im out of ideas... thanks in advance guys.

[Ben]

Try removing the CMOS battery, leave it for say an hour, then replace battery & reboot the machine, as maybe you have problems in BIOS.

Let me know how you get on.

Ben.

[Citadeliar2222]

check capacitors , if you fins one swollen or  leak of brown/bronze substance - replace it

[magnitude]

Try removing the CMOS battery, leave it for say an hour, then replace battery & reboot the machine, as maybe you have problems in BIOS.

Let me know how you get on.

Ben.

Thanks Ben,

I'll give that a try. BTW, will removing teh CMOS battery revert the BIOS version back from any updates (not that ive done an update), or does it simply just wipe out personalised settings? Never had to remove the battery before so just curious. Thanks.

[Ben]

Just wipes out current settings.

Ben

[magnitude]

Ben.. you are a ledgend my friend!!

I removed the CMOS battery for an hour and 20 mins. BTW, yesterday i had already tried this approach after researching on Google, but put the battery back in after 30 mins, obviously not long enough. 

NOTE: I have hystorically been building myself my own PC every time i needed a new one, with my very first one with a processor '486 DX250', until the present day. I never usually have any issues at all, and among the very few that i did, i never heard of having to reset the BIOS / Clear the BIOS before... things just worked out of the box. Naturally i always updated the BIOS first chance i had, but never experienced the issue above before so was stumped when i had the above problem. I have probably just been lucky all this time

Anyway, thanks again mate. I am however not overly confident with this board. Always loved Gigabyte over Asus, but following removing the battery method above, it did fail to post once more, and then during another boot told me the BIOS was corrust and recovered from the backup. Its back to working again but like i say its put a big dent in my confidence in Gigabyte at the moment. Ive now updated it to F10, the current latest version. Lets see how the next few weeks pan out. If i get continued issues i might just return the mobo and pickup an alternate brand. Hope that wot be needed.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

I answered your PM and I think that now you will be alright having updated the BIOS. There were a few initial bugs but hopefully they have all been sorted out now.

FYI the BIOS and the CMOS are different. The BIOS tells the computer how to run the hardware and the CMOS is a memory of all the hardware in the system. A bit oversimplified but you get my drift. 

[Ben]

Glad to help, just happy that it was that simple, & not something major.

Ben.

[magnitude]

Ben, Cheers again for the assistance.

Dark Mantis, Quick addition... now that ive updated the BIOS, how can i get the primary BIOS to update the backup BIOS? if my BIOS fails and recoveres from back, i dont want it to go back to F7. Someone on here said that this process happens automatically, and said that upon flashing and rebooting, the system told him that the backup BIOS was older and coppied the primary to teh backup... but my system never did this... and cant find any literature on this side of things. Any words of wisdom? thanks mate.

[Fatman]

I think what you will need to do if first go to your bios and set it back to load optimized default, save and exit. Then restart while at the post you hit alt and F12 keys until you get a command that will ask if you want to backup the bios blah blah (from memory lol). If you can't get that command screen and the machine continues to load windows you will need to use a PS2 keyboard for that. GL

[Hesoer]

Hey guys, i have approached the same problem, i tried the method to keep the battery out for almost 2 hours, but no effect. I have the same setup as the one who started this topic. Is there anyway to send my motherboard to gigabyte so they can update it or should i visit someone with a compitable processor and update the bios. Is there anyway i can see which version is installed? Or should i keep trying, should i hgave my computer plugged in or not? i guess not which i dident. I just want to know if i did it correct. Would be pleased if some one could reply.

Jesper

[Dark Mantis]

Hey guys, i have approached the same problem, i tried the method to keep the battery out for almost 2 hours, but no effect. I have the same setup as the one who started this topic. Is there anyway to send my motherboard to gigabyte so they can update it or should i visit someone with a compitable processor and update the bios. Is there anyway i can see which version is installed? Or should i keep trying, should i hgave my computer plugged in or not? i guess not which i dident. I just want to know if i did it correct. Would be pleased if some one could reply.

Jesper

When trying to clear the CMOS follow these steps however if you need to update your BIOS to gain support for an unsupported processor then you will either require a supported CPU or take it to a shop that can do it for you.

Remove the power cable from the mains supply and then press the power switch on the case for a few seconds just to drain any residual energy in the PSU capacitors.

Once done remove the motherboard battery overnight  before replacing it.
 
Next plug back into the mains supply and boot.
 
You will now need to enter the BIOS by pressing DEL and load Optimised BIOS Defaults.

Make any other changes to the BIOS settings to suit your self like disabling the floppy drive, disabling the full screen logo and making the HDD the primary boot device and then press F10 to save and exit.

[Hesoer]

Thank you i´ll try this, but dont the boot screen appear by itself? or do you just mean that I have to press del to enter bios in order to change things.

[Hesoer]

Hmm , I dont even have a sticker that says what kind of BIOS version that is installed...Is there anyway to find out?

[Dark Mantis]

Not until you have a supported CPU I'm afraid.