- Jul 5, 2013
- 2
- 0
- 10,510
(Sorry about the long post)
I'm about to pull out what I have left of my hair!!!! With the help of a friend of mine we built a custom PC for myself, well for the first month the PC worked fine and I was very pleased with it but that's when the problems started. I came home one night to get on my computer and nothing would work, the keyboard and mouse lights were off and the monitor was in sleep mode so I did a reboot and all it would do is turn on and then shut down.
I took the computer back to my friends so we could figure out what the problems was and these are the steps we took.
Took everything out of the computer and did a bench test with only the motherboard, CPU, Video card and one stick of memory and still the same outcome so we repeated the process changing out each stick of memory each time and again same thing. Took video card out and tried on-board video once again same thing.
After all the testing we decided to RMA motherboard and CPU. Once we received the new motherboard and CPU back we installed everything again and everything worked fine, brought it home and still everything worked fine for a day and boom same thing happened. So I took it back to my friends and did the same test as before including taking the battery out to reset the bios. I had another motherboard (ASUS P8Z77-V) so we tried the CPU in it and still same thing so we contacted Intel and Gigabytes and they both suggested we RMA them back again.
Once again we received the product and installed again, we let the computer run for about 3 hours keeping watch on the temp and even put it under a load and everything worked fine BUT once again I get it home and hook everything up I booted it up and got to the desktop and again same problem.
Since my friend and I couldn't figure out the problem I decide to take it to a local repair shop and they informed me that the power supply was going bad so I bought another and took it back to the shop and still same thing so the shop did further testing and this is what they came up with
There are 2 issues at hand regarding this custom build PC.
Issue #1
Research show that the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard has video issues, some of which can be corrected with the proper re-flow of the motherboard and/or a bios flash update.
The Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard is not PCIe 3.0 compatible with the installed bios version (F7) that was shipped with the board from factory. The motherboard shipped from factory with Bios version F7 and PCIe 3.0 video cards are not compatible until Bios version F14 or later. The manufacturer of the motherboard has issued a flash bios update that corrects this issue in version F14 or later and is contained on an accompanying CD shipped with the motherboard.
The card installed in this custom build pc is a Geforce GTX 660 (PCIe 3.0) video card. This incompatibility will result in no video display.
Customer is advised to contact the customer service department where the motherboard was purchased and inquire if a bios update had been performed prior to purchase.
Issue #2
After removing the GeForce GTX660 (PCIe 3.0) graphics card from the system, our focus was to boot to the on-board video to check for video display, and the bios version. Again we were encountering no video display.
We proceeded with further diagnostics and decided to check the diagnostic beep codes. Beep codes are not available with external speakers. We proceeded to connect speakers to the internal port on motherboard. Motherboard returned a code of 3 beeps which according to the motherboards manual is caused by a malfunctioning motherboard. There is a remote chance it's the CPU and is incorrectly reporting the wrong error.
Customer is advised to return the motherboard and CPU to place of purchase and question regarding the above diagnosis.
Brought the computer home and tried the CPU on my ASUS board and still same thing so I contacted Intel for the 3rd time and this was their reply
Hello Thomas,
Thank you for contacting Intel Customer Support.
The Intel® Core™ i5 processor I5- 3570K supports memory running at DDR3-1333/1600Mhz, 1.5V. According to the memory specifications available from your side, G. Skill Trident X F3-2400C10D-16GTX runs at 2400 MHz, 1.65V.
Due to the fact you have received 2 brand new processors for replacement, you will need to install fully compatible memory on your system in order to stop having issues with your system.
As soon as testing compatible memory, please let us know its part number for us to proceed with the last processor replacement in case this does not solve your issue.
If a third brand new processor does not solve your issue, you might need to further investigate and diagnose your system.
Furthermore, besides providing the memory part number used for testing, please let us know what the system behavior is as well as the replacement option method you would like for this unit:
The problem with that is the memory is running at what Intel suggest , I have not tried to over clock it and I even contacted G-Skill and they informed me that the memory is supported for my Motherboard and CPU
Any help would greatly be appreciated
Thanks,
Thomas
I'm about to pull out what I have left of my hair!!!! With the help of a friend of mine we built a custom PC for myself, well for the first month the PC worked fine and I was very pleased with it but that's when the problems started. I came home one night to get on my computer and nothing would work, the keyboard and mouse lights were off and the monitor was in sleep mode so I did a reboot and all it would do is turn on and then shut down.
I took the computer back to my friends so we could figure out what the problems was and these are the steps we took.
Took everything out of the computer and did a bench test with only the motherboard, CPU, Video card and one stick of memory and still the same outcome so we repeated the process changing out each stick of memory each time and again same thing. Took video card out and tried on-board video once again same thing.
After all the testing we decided to RMA motherboard and CPU. Once we received the new motherboard and CPU back we installed everything again and everything worked fine, brought it home and still everything worked fine for a day and boom same thing happened. So I took it back to my friends and did the same test as before including taking the battery out to reset the bios. I had another motherboard (ASUS P8Z77-V) so we tried the CPU in it and still same thing so we contacted Intel and Gigabytes and they both suggested we RMA them back again.
Once again we received the product and installed again, we let the computer run for about 3 hours keeping watch on the temp and even put it under a load and everything worked fine BUT once again I get it home and hook everything up I booted it up and got to the desktop and again same problem.
Since my friend and I couldn't figure out the problem I decide to take it to a local repair shop and they informed me that the power supply was going bad so I bought another and took it back to the shop and still same thing so the shop did further testing and this is what they came up with
There are 2 issues at hand regarding this custom build PC.
Issue #1
Research show that the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard has video issues, some of which can be corrected with the proper re-flow of the motherboard and/or a bios flash update.
The Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard is not PCIe 3.0 compatible with the installed bios version (F7) that was shipped with the board from factory. The motherboard shipped from factory with Bios version F7 and PCIe 3.0 video cards are not compatible until Bios version F14 or later. The manufacturer of the motherboard has issued a flash bios update that corrects this issue in version F14 or later and is contained on an accompanying CD shipped with the motherboard.
The card installed in this custom build pc is a Geforce GTX 660 (PCIe 3.0) video card. This incompatibility will result in no video display.
Customer is advised to contact the customer service department where the motherboard was purchased and inquire if a bios update had been performed prior to purchase.
Issue #2
After removing the GeForce GTX660 (PCIe 3.0) graphics card from the system, our focus was to boot to the on-board video to check for video display, and the bios version. Again we were encountering no video display.
We proceeded with further diagnostics and decided to check the diagnostic beep codes. Beep codes are not available with external speakers. We proceeded to connect speakers to the internal port on motherboard. Motherboard returned a code of 3 beeps which according to the motherboards manual is caused by a malfunctioning motherboard. There is a remote chance it's the CPU and is incorrectly reporting the wrong error.
Customer is advised to return the motherboard and CPU to place of purchase and question regarding the above diagnosis.
Brought the computer home and tried the CPU on my ASUS board and still same thing so I contacted Intel for the 3rd time and this was their reply
Hello Thomas,
Thank you for contacting Intel Customer Support.
The Intel® Core™ i5 processor I5- 3570K supports memory running at DDR3-1333/1600Mhz, 1.5V. According to the memory specifications available from your side, G. Skill Trident X F3-2400C10D-16GTX runs at 2400 MHz, 1.65V.
Due to the fact you have received 2 brand new processors for replacement, you will need to install fully compatible memory on your system in order to stop having issues with your system.
As soon as testing compatible memory, please let us know its part number for us to proceed with the last processor replacement in case this does not solve your issue.
If a third brand new processor does not solve your issue, you might need to further investigate and diagnose your system.
Furthermore, besides providing the memory part number used for testing, please let us know what the system behavior is as well as the replacement option method you would like for this unit:
The problem with that is the memory is running at what Intel suggest , I have not tried to over clock it and I even contacted G-Skill and they informed me that the memory is supported for my Motherboard and CPU
Any help would greatly be appreciated
Thanks,
Thomas
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