Possible DoA components, need advice

Associate
Joined
27 Mar 2007
Posts
6
I recently picked up the following from here:

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard [turned out to be revision 1]
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

(plus a known-good DVD drive I had spare)

Got this exact build (except I think I had a different revision than 1 for the mobo in the last order) from here before now for a friend so didn't expect any problems, and I'm careful with static precautions etc. so I don't think I blew it. However, on full assembly, the PC won't post or anything: completely blank screen. It does the usual power on/off every 2-8 seconds that some others reported with DS3s when they didn't like the setup.

So far, I've tested it, with the same results as above:

W/o
DVD drive
HDD
With a known-good PCI graphics card instead of the PCI-E above (unfortunately don't have any PCI-Es to test with)
With a known-good HDD
With 1 stick of RAM
With 0 sticks of RAM

The PSU fan runs fine on startup so I don't think it's the PSU that's bust.

Any other tests I can run before I call either the mobo or the processor as doa or simply incompatible?

(incidentally, the mobo came with a /spare/ capacitor - it's not missing any, I checked about 15 sites' worth of images, including Gigabyte's own, of a rev 1 board to make sure of that...)

As far as RMAing goes, never had to do this before so, if it does come to that, how do I go about it?

Thanks.
 
Have you got the power lead on the graphics card?

Does your motherboard require two power inputs?

I would take everything out of the case, put the motherboard on top of the motherboard box with the anti-static bag in between. Then put the CPU, 1 stick of RAM, CPU and GFX card in. Connect all power connectors to motherboard and GFX card and fire it up.

That will prove it isn't shorting on anything.

After that it is a process of elimination, i would guess the PSU or CPU, worse case scenario the motherboard.
 
Matt-Page said:
Have you got the power lead on the graphics card?

Does your motherboard require two power inputs?

I would take everything out of the case, put the motherboard on top of the motherboard box with the anti-static bag in between. Then put the CPU, 1 stick of RAM, CPU and GFX card in. Connect all power connectors to motherboard and GFX card and fire it up.

That will prove it isn't shorting on anything.

After that it is a process of elimination, i would guess the PSU or CPU, worse case scenario the motherboard.
Yup, power lead to the card.

Not quite sure on this; it takes the 4pin and the 24pin from the PSU. That's the way I had it set up on my friend's mobo; worked fine that time.

Did a shorting test just now - same response, on/off.

Going to test the PSU on a working PC to see if it's that then.
 
PSU powers 2 other PCs just fine it seems.

Any way to tell whether it's the CPU or the mobo? Can't mount either in the other PCs, so...

And who would it be better to talk about RMAing? OcUK or Gigabyte?
 
Got any 1.8v standard spec RAM laying about? sometimes with the DS3 boards you need to start up with the standardised RAM and set the voltage and timings for the higher spec RAM for it to boot, i still have to do this after many BIOSes with my DS3 and G Skill HX 6400 if i had to clear BIOS for any reason. I see your RAM is 1.9 to 2.3v? Would try 2 or 2.1v if it boots with standard DDR2. Had a lot of issues in the early DS3 days with RAM and compatiabilty too.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom