Help - new P5E3 problem

[cimurray]

New build - cn't get mobo to post. Processor (E8400 Wolfdale) fan spins up, graphics card fan spins and all other fans in the case spin - but no beeps from mobo. So I took out the Wolfdale and put in a celeron 2.66 and re-booted but still the same result. Also the system shuts down after 15 to 20 seconds. As all the major components are new AND I am baffled - any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Full spec is:
E8400 3.0GHz @ 1333FSB;
2GB Ocz ddr3 PC3-10666
Asus P5E3 X38
GF 8800GT
Corsair 620w mODULAR

 

[cimurray]

have u plugged ALL the connectors from the power supply into the M/B
esp the eatx12v behind the mouse keyboard on the motherboard next to the cpu socket to the left?

ps have u tested the motherboard outside of the case before assembling all off it inside !

Good start - I had plugged in the one behind the CPU. Unplugged and system no longer shuts down. But still no beeps or posting. Any more ideas?

 

[cimurray]

have u positioned the CPU in the socket correctly also do you get a post with the motherboard outside off the case place IT on a non conductive surface before u Switch it all on.

PS which cooler are u using! does it have a bracket on the underside off the motherboard ?if so check to see if not shorthing out which may be causing your problems..

CPU correctly aligned. Not tried posting outside of case but I have fitted a bracket under the mobo - I'm using the Tuniq 120 cooler. I am using my old case which is a Lian-Li 65 so there is lots of aluminium to cause a short on I guess. I'll take it out and try...

 

[cimurray]

yep could be your problem, I was very carefull putting mine together, which the most important thing is that your using the correct bracket and position it correct on the underneath, is important.

Board is now outside of case, the bracket is off the back of the mobo and all that's left is the memory and the cpu - but still the same. The fan spins up but not one beep. I am starting to get annoyed which is not a good sign...

 

[cimurray]

I think I know what's wrong. Having checked the specs for the Celeron I was using to try and get the machine going it is a 2.66MHz 775 processor running at 533MHz. However this mobo does not support speeds below 800MHZ! So all I need is a processor that runs at 800MHz, flash the BIOS and job done. But where the heck do you find a processor at midnight?

 

[cimurray]

Hi Murray

have u fixed it?

Unfortunately not. I have been away to Newcastle for the weekend and just got back a few hours ago so its back to the workshop for another round with this mobo/cpu combination. I have "borrowed" an E4300 from my wife's computer and still can't get the motherboard to post. The fans spin up, the hard disk is powering up and the DVD has power - but not one peep out of the motherboard and the there is no video signal either. It isn't easy trying to troubleshoot something that gives no feedback. I even took the battery out for 15 minutes to see if it would re-set the board but it made no difference.
I'm beginning to wonder if the mobo itself is faulty - either that or I am doing something pretty silly. Any more bright ideas most welcome.

 

[cimurray]

This is getting more bizarre. I plugged the atx four pin power lead back in (having been advised previously that it wasn't needed) and everything fired up beautifully. So I quickly flashed the BIOS to the most recent version powered down then swapped processors to fit the new Wolfdale E8400. Started up the machine and it posted perfectly correctly recognising the processor. So I put everything back inside the case fired it up and .... only the fans would spin. No beeps no nothing. So I have dismantled everything again with the barebone mobo, memory and processor on my desk and I can't get anything other than the fans to spin. So it seems that everything does work but the problem is it does so randomly. I am going to leave it for now as I am too tired to do it justice but I will be back.....

 

[cimurray]

I've read on the Asus website of someone having compatibility problems with OCZ memory. His was platinum whereas mine is the gold (OCZ 2GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Gold (2x1GB) Dual Channel DDR3 (OCZ3G13332GK)). So rather late in the day I checked on the OCZ website's compatibility list and find that the P5E3 is not listed. I have e-mailed OCZ directly to see if they are aware of compatibility issues.

 

[cimurray]

Update:
Success-worth reading if you are thinking of buying this board. I discovered that this board has an issue when it auto detects a different speed CPU and memory. Even though the processor and memory have FSB's of 1333MHz (4x333) it is likely the board was detecting the memory at 400MHZ FSB and trying to drive the processor too quickly (9x400=3.6GHz). When I powered up the mobo it simply hung then when I re-started it it would go into the "overclock failed" mode that Asus uses at which point you can enter the BIOS and set things manually. Eventually I set the FSB to 333 manually and things became much easier after that.

However it seems that the old methods of trouble shooting are not all they used to be. The reason I did not know what was going on was because I had the mobo, CPU and memory on my desk troubleshooting by listening for beeps which never came. All of the visual feedback available was missed because I had gone back to basics and didn't hook up the video card.

I have hit a few more problems when trying to install windows - XP pro SP1. It kept hanging so it was back into the BIOS to slow the memory down to 1066MHz and reduce it to one stick ie 1MB. Installed perfectly after that and I am just adding the SP2 upgrade as I type. Once I get the Asus and Intel drivers added and all of the windows patches I will then go back to 2GB of memory then start seeing how far I can push this lot on air. For the record the full specs of this new system are:
2GB OCZ DDR3 1066C9 1333MHZ Gold
Tuniq Tower 120 cooler
Seagate Barracuda 500GB
Core 2 Duo E8400 (Wolfdale) 3.0GHz (1333FSB)
Leadtek GF8800GTB
Corsair HX 620W PSU
Asus P5E3 Intel x38 DDR3
I am sure it will be a nice rig when it's all finished - but it sure put up a good fight!

 

[cimurray]

hehe that sounds like me lol - but mine is the p5e3 deluxe with wifi.

I still cant get it to work its not passing post on my q6600 with latest bios, 1 stick of ram, 1 vga. The vga card just spins up and down. clearing cmos does nothing, but changing the cpu from a q6600 to a p4 3.4ghz lets it boot into bios no idea why. ocz think I may have a bad mobo :s but if its a bad mobo why is it working with a 32bit processor and not a 64bit
processor?

you may think "your processor is damaged" I initially thought that so rma'd it to ocuk to which they gladly replaced. but this processor (which arrived this afternoon) is doing the same - I put the pc in a different pc and it worked so the processor works, the mobo works but apparently 1+1=5 .....

really dont know what to do.

This sounds very similar to the case I was reading that led me to solve my problem - ie a mismatch between the FSB speeds of the memory and processor. Read about it on the following link http://www.asktheramguy.com/forums/showthread.php?p=329026

 

[cimurray]

I have:





they are the same fsb speeds arent they???

Not according to your quotes. Your memory is quoted at 1333 MHZ (ie 333 x 4) whereas your processor is quoted at 1066 MHz (ie 266 x 4). If you can try slowing your memory down to 266MHz in your BIOS that may get you up and running.

Good luck