Hello All,
I am not sure what the source of this problem is (although I suspect it is the motherboard) so I thought I'd post this thread in General Hardware.
First, some background information. I built my current rig just over a year ago with the following specs:
Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Intel Core i7 920 (Still at stock clock, a hideous crime I know) w/ Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme HS + 2x Noctua NF-P12 Fans
6GB Patriot Viper DDR3 1600MHz RAM
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870X2 (with Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme installed)
BeQuiet 750W Dark Power Pro PSU
(+ 2x 1TB HDDs, Blu-ray Drive, etc.)
So the problem I have is that when I try to turn my computer on, sometimes it will just fail to start-up, and won't even get as far as the BIOS. It is a seemingly random problem in that sometimes it will not start, and other times it will start perfectly fine. When it does refuse to boot, the motherboard debug LED displays read "88", which is useless because no such code exists, and as it never even reaches the BIOS it wouldn't tell me anything anyway. Along with showing the 88, all fans appear to be on full power (before I installed my Arctic Cooling Accelero on my 4870X2 this meant a VERY loud computer) along with the other components, but nothing much happens. It does not shutdown and reboot itself like I have seen other people experiencing, it simply refuses to reach the BIOS with everything on full power.
This issue has been around for quite a long time now, at least 6 months I'd guess, but only now have I been bothered enough to do something as it is getting a little worse (e.g. I can turn it on and off 20-30 times before booting successfully, and that's spread out over a few hours). Because my computer was fine for a fair few months before this issue started occuring, and because I had not made any hardware changes when it did, I am rather confused.
I have tried updating the BIOS (although this was never really going to help as it never reaches the BIOS), along with taking the CMOS battery out for 30 minutes and replacing, neither of which helped. All cables are connected properly as well.
I haven't tried playing about with the other components yet (although disconnecting the BR drive didn't help, so that can be ruled out!), but I get the feeling the motherboard is at fault. Luckily it has a 3 year warranty, and I have only had it for just over a year, so I should be able to RMA it quite easily, but I'd prefer to avoid this as it is a considerable hassle.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated (even if it is a "definitely RMA the board"), as I have done a fair bit of searching and not heard of anyone else with this problem.
Thanks,
Simon
I am not sure what the source of this problem is (although I suspect it is the motherboard) so I thought I'd post this thread in General Hardware.
First, some background information. I built my current rig just over a year ago with the following specs:
Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Intel Core i7 920 (Still at stock clock, a hideous crime I know) w/ Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme HS + 2x Noctua NF-P12 Fans
6GB Patriot Viper DDR3 1600MHz RAM
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870X2 (with Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme installed)
BeQuiet 750W Dark Power Pro PSU
(+ 2x 1TB HDDs, Blu-ray Drive, etc.)
So the problem I have is that when I try to turn my computer on, sometimes it will just fail to start-up, and won't even get as far as the BIOS. It is a seemingly random problem in that sometimes it will not start, and other times it will start perfectly fine. When it does refuse to boot, the motherboard debug LED displays read "88", which is useless because no such code exists, and as it never even reaches the BIOS it wouldn't tell me anything anyway. Along with showing the 88, all fans appear to be on full power (before I installed my Arctic Cooling Accelero on my 4870X2 this meant a VERY loud computer) along with the other components, but nothing much happens. It does not shutdown and reboot itself like I have seen other people experiencing, it simply refuses to reach the BIOS with everything on full power.
This issue has been around for quite a long time now, at least 6 months I'd guess, but only now have I been bothered enough to do something as it is getting a little worse (e.g. I can turn it on and off 20-30 times before booting successfully, and that's spread out over a few hours). Because my computer was fine for a fair few months before this issue started occuring, and because I had not made any hardware changes when it did, I am rather confused.
I have tried updating the BIOS (although this was never really going to help as it never reaches the BIOS), along with taking the CMOS battery out for 30 minutes and replacing, neither of which helped. All cables are connected properly as well.
I haven't tried playing about with the other components yet (although disconnecting the BR drive didn't help, so that can be ruled out!), but I get the feeling the motherboard is at fault. Luckily it has a 3 year warranty, and I have only had it for just over a year, so I should be able to RMA it quite easily, but I'd prefer to avoid this as it is a considerable hassle.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated (even if it is a "definitely RMA the board"), as I have done a fair bit of searching and not heard of anyone else with this problem.
Thanks,
Simon
