An error with my build

Lunawolfy · 22 May 2011 at 23:00

Hey all first post here, I was attracted here by your friendly expert community and as I first time PC builder I was looking for some reassurance.

Basically I bought components to build my own computer on-line and assembled it all to the best of my knowledge.

However when I went for the initial boot I received a 1,3 error
(one long beep, then three short ones)

Spec is:

Intel i5-2500K
ASUS P8-P67 PRO B3 rev.
Corsair Vengance Blue 8GB (2x4GB)
Gigabyte S.O.C GTX560ti
Corsair H60
750W PSU

After troubleshooting with the selling company (reseating, using other PCIe cables, even the 4 pin MOLEX adapters) they came to the conclusion that the GPU is buggered. And agreed to pick up the card for testing, which apparently takes 3-5 working days.

Are these returns common and what are the chances the card will just be sent back (if faulty they will replace it) as if they do I will be back to square one..

olivier renault · 22 May 2011 at 23:27

Reseat memory or test / try one DIMM at a time. worth a punt.

It's possible the memory has wrong timing / voltages. Check in BIOS.

RJC · 23 May 2011 at 07:03

Are all power connections connected including 8 pin for power which often gets missed, also are the memory in the correct slots, usually 2nd & 4th from the cpu socket.

Have you tried a CMOS reset.

pcAnywhere · 23 May 2011 at 08:13

Interesting assessment by your supplier

Have you sent the GPU back yet? If not download memtest and see if your memory fails.

Meekal · 23 May 2011 at 08:58

olivier renault said:
Reseat memory or test / try one DIMM at a time. worth a punt.

It's possible the memory has wrong timing / voltages. Check in BIOS.

Good find! This does sound like a memory error.

Lunawolfy · 23 May 2011 at 09:21

I have tried all different DIMM combos and none of them worked. An AMI bios page I found through google showed that 1,3 is GPU failure.

I cannot do memtest or anything as I cannot boot. I get the 1,3 error then everything spins down.

olivier renault · 23 May 2011 at 09:31

Access to the bios? probably not with a faulty GPU.

No other graphics card to test with? Even a crummy one?

Lunawolfy · 23 May 2011 at 09:35

Sadly no

I have no other system to test my components in

Bare in mind this is a P67 chipset, so no onboard graphics. No graphics = no boot.

NickM · 23 May 2011 at 11:37

olivier renault said:
Reseat memory or test / try one DIMM at a time. worth a punt.

It's possible the memory has wrong timing / voltages. Check in BIOS.

Thats interesting, when I boot my computer (MSI GD65) it does a 1,3 then a 2,1. I just figured it was normal? Its showing all my memory in Windows and I'm not having any problems, is it not supposed to beep at all?

Surveyor · 23 May 2011 at 11:46

NickM said:
Thats interesting, when I boot my computer (MSI GD65) it does a 1,3 then a 2,1. I just figured it was normal? Its showing all my memory in Windows and I'm not having any problems, is it not supposed to beep at all?

The GD65 does beep as part of the normal boot process.

I think it's one short quiet beep for each USB device connected then a final longer beep.

My gaming PC, for example, goes beep, beep, beep, beeeep.

Keyboard, mouse and 360 controller connected via USB.

olivier renault · 23 May 2011 at 11:51

Lunawolfy said:
Sadly no I have no other system to test my components in

Bare in mind this is a P67 chipset, so no onboard graphics. No graphics = no boot.

Yup, difficult to say then. If your manual says the beep sequence code represents a graphics card problem, then it must be that. If you have reseated and reconnected it already, the the graphics card could be bust. No way to know for sure unless you can swap out the graphics. I'd beg or borrow one just to be certain, but if that's no option...

stvmor · 23 May 2011 at 11:56

Might help

Unless advised not to by the Guru's on here :}
Try just mobo with nothing attached. Note beeps or otherwise then plug in cpu and repeat, noting beeps. Keep adding components and see what produces beep pattern You are getting. At least this should identify a faulty mobo if the same beeps are produced with no components installed.
Sorry if this is a bit simplistic but I have been there and it's really frustrating :mad:

olivier renault · 23 May 2011 at 12:42

don't think you can start without CPU and memory (and PSU obviously). And no GFX actually, since there is no onboard GPU. And no keyboard (sometimes). It's a bit of a pain if you don't have swaps.

NickM · 23 May 2011 at 13:08

Surveyor said:
The GD65 does beep as part of the normal boot process.

I think it's one short quiet beep for each USB device connected then a final longer beep.

My gaming PC, for example, goes beep, beep, beep, beeeep.

Keyboard, mouse and 360 controller connected via USB.

Ahh got it, thanks!

Lunawolfy · 23 May 2011 at 17:52

Supplier company's testing lab got back. Apparently the GPU is fine.

They then asked if I had "compliant RAM"

I'm pretty sure I've seen Corsair Vengance ran on other computers...

It's coming back tomorrow so I'll try a reseat, then CMOS reset, then I'll check the CPU (at the possible expense of messing my pretty thermal paste) and pins just incase.

If not they've offered to collect my self-build for testing, if it works for them or through stupidity I've broken something (bare in mind first build) it'll cost £40.

olivier renault · 23 May 2011 at 18:06

My guess is the memory is either dodgy, incompatible, or has bad timings / voltages. Should auto-detect on first run though, or run safe settings. a CMOS clear might help in that regard.

something of interest, maybe

http://forum.ncixus.com/forums/?mod...umber=1&msgcount=8&subpage=1&product_id=59431

Lunawolfy · 23 May 2011 at 18:34

my worry is that Im gonna get this card back and I will have a £1000 block...

olivier renault · 23 May 2011 at 18:50

I know it sucks, but what can we do. Unless you swap individual components to find the fault, there isn't much we can say.

I don't think it's the graphics card, but my money is on the motherboard or memory. We won't know unless you try a component swap one by one. The link I've put above clearly shows an issue with the P8P67 memory controller / incompatibility with some rams.

Lunawolfy · 23 May 2011 at 18:53

Yeah, if a CMOS and a reseat won't fix it i'll just ship the whole thing to them.

It doesn't work and they pay postage so I've nothing to lose

pcAnywhere · 23 May 2011 at 18:56

CMOS reset. Then try single memory module in each of the 4 channels, one after another. Then repeat with the other memory module. Note any beeps and come back to us.