Conroe & DS4 - At end of teather!

Monstermunch

Monstermunch

Monstermunch

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Joined
7 Mar 2005
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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......
 
Last edited:
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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...
 
In reply to RobG & Devastation I have left it cycling for about 4 or 5 minutes with nothing.......

Main issue now is that the plastic clip that hold ths battery in place is broken :( So I can't really do anything.

Think i'm gonna RMA the board to Gigabyte and hope they send me a new WORKING board!
 
d.chatten said:
@Monstermunch

I came across the link below to a PDF from Gigabyte on the XS forums and it seems this issue is also pressent on the DQ6 and DS3 aswell as the DS4, take a look at the PDF below for the DQ6, it may explain and may help you work out the problem you are having.

http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/FileLis...board_newtech/how_does_quad_bios_work_dq6.pdf

Good luck!
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Well, having read the above link would explain a lot.......

But as far as i'm concerned if the bios's are corrupted then the board is faulty.
 
Abz said:
I might be blind and didnt see from above... have you tried testing the CPU. If OCUK say its fine, it means they found the Mobo to function properly.

Try having everything connected except the CPU.... see if it beeps with "NO CPU ERROR" comes up. You might not get a output on your monitor.

PSU sounds to be fine...

Or try this but be very careful....

have your mobo on the mobo Box.... connect PSU, install RAM and CPU and GFX card only. Connect the Case jumpers correctly (connecting them the wrong way round might cause problems) now Turn it on (DO NOT TOUCH BOARD WHEN POWER IS ON sorry 4 caps) see if you get any beeps. if not take eg ram out and turn on (make sure you turn off power when removing hardware and testing)

Good luck
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The board is now knackered cos the battery clips are broken.........

If the CPU was borked then it wouldn't boot at all........

Personally I just think the boards are a little hit & miss, with some people reporting similar problems to me and others having no problems at all. This is the main reason for RMA'ing the board back to Gigabyte. Hopefully they will send me a working board!
 
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