Conroe & DS4 - At end of teather!

Monstermunch

Monstermunch

Monstermunch

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Calling anyone and everyone.......

Been building PC's for years and never experienced anything like this:

The story so far:

1. Got stuff from OcUK 2 weeks ago....
2. Assembled slowly without any problems (except having to refer to manuals for connections for ATX2.0 PSU's cos I never had one before)
3. Turned on.......2-3 secs later, restart & repeated. Didn't post, no beeps, nothing
4. Tried swapping ram around, same as above
5. Tried individual ram, same as before
6. Disconnected everything non-essential, still re-starting
7. reset CMOS, no effect
8. Disconnected everything except CPU, 1 stick Ram, Mobo & PSU. Still nothing
9. RMA'd mobo to OcUK
10. Got mobo back saying it works? (but no explanation & they couldn't tell me what they tested it with!)
11. Borrowed cheap 512mb stick of PC4800 ram.... After a couple of re-starts got into bios.
12. Flashed bios from F2 to the F3 version
13. Tried XMS2 ram again, nothing
14. Upped voltages..... Still Nothing
15. RMA'd Ram
16. Bought Geil Ultra ram
17. Installed & Booted...... Nothing, still re-starting
18. swapped ram around, eventually got into bios with 1 stick after 2-3 restarts
19. Upped Dimm voltage from 1.8v to 2.1v stated on ram...
20. Hung, Wouldn't even re-start!
21. Switched everything off & tried again, nothing
22. Removed battery to reset CMOS as stated in Gigatripes manual (must've done this 10+ times previously with no problems)
23. Gently re-seated battery.
24. Plastic clips that hold battery in Place snap off!
25. RMA's mobo to Gigabyte......
 
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If its any consolation, I'd just built an E6300/DS3/Geil 6700 combo and, you guessed it, black screen. Took about 2 hours and loadsa swapping stuff, re-checking, etc only to discover me monitor had borked and failed to display anything! Luckily I've a spare, but I know how you feel.
 
pieman109 said:
If its any consolation, I'd just built an E6300/DS3/Geil 6700 combo and, you guessed it, black screen. Took about 2 hours and loadsa swapping stuff, re-checking, etc only to discover me monitor had borked and failed to display anything! Luckily I've a spare, but I know how you feel.
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Well i've now spent probably around 18 hours testing, building etc and £1750 with nothing to show for it except an empty bank account.
 
Blimey mate sounds like your having a really rough time. :(

So u can get somewhere with the cheap 512mb stick of PC4800 ram? Maybe ask OC UK what ram they used to test the mobo with. What vid card u got? Tried a diff spare one?

Does sound like the mobo is giving dishing out intermittent problems. All fingers would naturally point to the mobo with the amount of ram u have tried.


Edit: why is the word 'your' always auto ** out on these forums.. last time i checked the word your isnt a swear word :rolleyes:
 
2StepSteve said:
So u can get somewhere with the cheap 512mb stick of PC4800 ram? Maybe ask OC UK what ram they used to test the mobo with. What vid card u got? Tried a diff spare one?
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I asked them what they used, they said they couldn't tell me! All they said was that it wouldn't have been a Conroe CPU and would doubt that it was ram faster than PC5400!

I haven't tried another gfx card, cos I don't have access to one, but I doubt i could get to dos if the card was knackered.
 
This to me sounds like the motherboard is shorting out somewhere or an issue with the PSU.

Try taking the mobo out of the case and check the mobo stand off's and anything else that could cause a short on the back of the mobo, also while you have the mobo out of the case try placing it on a piece of thick cardboard, hardboard or wood and power it up to try and illiminate the shorting theory.

Also PSU's can cause issues such as this, maybe the PSU hasn't got enough power or isn't grounded properly, or, there maybe an incomatibilty issue between the PSU and the mobo, PSU/Motherboard incompatibility issues have been known, probably more often than you may think.

Hope this helps!
 
d.chatten said:
This to me sounds like the motherboard is shorting out somewhere or an issue with the PSU.

Try taking the mobo out of the case and check the mobo stand off's and anything else that could cause a short on the back of the mobo, also while you have the mobo out of the case try placing it on a piece of thick cardboard, hardboard or wood and power it up to try and illiminate the shorting theory.

Also PSU's can cause issues such as this, maybe the PSU hasn't got enough power or isn't grounded properly, or, there maybe an incomatibilty issue between the PSU and the mobo, PSU/Motherboard incompatibility issues have been known, probably more often than you may think.

Hope this helps!
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I know what you're saying and I have thought of that but I have had it running in Bios and managed to flash it, I don't think I would be able to do that if it was shorting or the PSU was underpowered......

PSU is an Enermax liberty BTW 500W, so I don't think it's likely..... If it was knackered surely it wouldn't work at all.
 
It might sound daft, but does your HDD have an existing Windows install on it? The chipset drivers will conflict with any on it so it will never get into Windows unless you put a spare HDD in or format that one.
 
Monstermunch said:
I know what you're saying and I have thought of that but I have had it running in Bios and managed to flash it, I don't think I would be able to do that if it was shorting or the PSU was underpowered......
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It all depends where on the motherboard the short is accuring, some parts may work and some not, a short can also cause instability, hence being able to enter and update the bios but still getting restarts.

Monstermunch said:
PSU is an Enermax liberty BTW 500W, so I don't think it's likely..... If it was knackered surely it wouldn't work at all.
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There maybe an inermitent problem with the PSU, or incomatibility issue, and yes it could still work to some extent, even with a problem PSU.

Also are you using the 4-Pin connector or the 8-Pin connector from the PSU to power the cpu, if you are using the 4-pin then try the 8-Pin because some mobo's require the 8-Pin to be connected to function properly with a dual core cpu.
 
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d.chatten said:
There maybe an inermitent problem with the PSU, or incomatibility issue, and yes it could still work to some extent, even with a problem PSU.
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That be the first thing I'd go for...

This P5W wouldn't boot with my test rig ATX 2.0 PSU. It started fine with a PCP&C.
 
Ahhh mate, I'm feeling very sorry for you... you must have a very bad luck..
Just a thing to try; try taking a other hdd and try to boot it, who knows..

Was it fully stable when you had that 512mb stick?Are you sure you flashed the bios correctly?
 
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d.chatten said:
Also are you using the 4-Pin connector or the 8-Pin connector from the PSU to power the cpu, if you are using the 4-pin then try the 8-Pin because some mobo's require the 8-Pin to be connected to function properly with a dual core cpu.
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Well neither actually, my PSU has 2 x 4 pin 12v connectors that plug in next to the CPU, so technically using all eight pins as it says to do in the manual.
 
fornowagain said:
That be the first thing I'd go for...

This P5W wouldn't boot with my test rig ATX 2.0 PSU. It started fine with a PCP&C.
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Well, i'm gonna get the PSU tested but I really don't think that it is the problem.... When I did manage to get it into dos it sat there for about 20+ minutes with no issues whatsoever while I tried to find a PC with a floppy drive to make a flash disc...
 
Monstermunch said:
Well, i'm gonna get the PSU tested but I really don't think that it is the problem.... When I did manage to get it into dos it sat there for about 20+ minutes with no issues whatsoever while I tried to find a PC with a floppy drive to make a flash disc...
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Even if your system sat for 20+ minutes in bios and the PSU checks out ok then that still doesn't mean there is not an compatibility issue, i would try and get hold of another brand or model of PSU to test with just to be shure, just a thought.
 
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My 2p.

I have a DS4 & E6300. My system runs 100% stable in windows (Prime, games, benches etc) but will ALWAYS hang when booting from cold or rebooting after 24 hours solid use. It can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes just looping through:

power on
discs spin up
fans spin
all cuts out
repeat.....

It does **** me off, but I know that PC will ALWAYS boot in the end, so I just put up with. I plan to RMA the board in the future if a suitable solution isn't found though.

My point in all this is, how long have you left it cycling and not booting beofre giving up? Maybe you just need to leave it longer? I have a stick of poo 256Mb DDR2 that I used when troubleshooting my rig. You can borrow that if you think it may help?

Good luck and please don't give up. You have spent too much time and money to be defeated by this. :cool:

Rob
 
RobG said:
My 2p.

I have a DS4 & E6300. My system runs 100% stable in windows (Prime, games, benches etc) but will ALWAYS hang when booting from cold or rebooting after 24 hours solid use. It can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes just looping through:

power on
discs spin up
fans spin
all cuts out
repeat.....

It does **** me off, but I know that PC will ALWAYS boot in the end, so I just put up with. I plan to RMA the board in the future if a suitable solution isn't found though.

My point in all this is, how long have you left it cycling and not booting beofre giving up? Maybe you just need to leave it longer? I have a stick of poo 256Mb DDR2 that I used when troubleshooting my rig. You can borrow that if you think it may help?

Good luck and please don't give up. You have spent too much time and money to be defeated by this. :cool:

Rob
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Totally agree to your last point... C'mon Monster, respond on MSN :p :p
 
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