Motherboard Error 29

Tauntheostrich · Jan 20, 2014

Hello,

My Motherboard is a Gigabyte EX-58 Extreme

My PC was having stability issues, I found the cause of it to be a bad power supply, I've replaced the power supply, plugged everything back up and now the PC wont post.

According to the Debug LED its giving me an Error 29, which after looking around I came to a list of Debug codes and 29 reads out to be "Read CMOS 14h to detect video adapter"

I've removed the video card, cleared the CMOS, unplugged everything and put it back together a piece at a time but I am really lost on this one.

If anyone has any answers as to what it could be and a solution I'd greatly appreciate it. My tech skills as far as these problems is pretty limited.

If any more information is needed I'll try to provide it the best I can.

Thanks

Tradesman1 · Jan 20, 2014

May want to bench it, have a guide that might help here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1753671/bench-troubleshooting.html

Tauntheostrich · Jan 20, 2014

Tradesman1 :

Tit seems that's close to what I did, building it part by part the only thing I cannot do is add the video card and then remove the CMOS battery because the board design puts the CMOS battery right next to the pcie slot so the video card is in the way.

I've removed the ram and tried to start it, error 29. I removed the video card and tried starting it and still error 29, I'm nearing my wits end with options.

I also should've mentioned that the hard drive was wiped clean because I originally thought the PC had a bad install of win 7 ultimate after I recently did a fresh install

Tradesman1 · Jan 20, 2014

What does it show as the error code in your manual

Tauntheostrich · Jan 20, 2014

Tradesman1 :

This is where it kinda confused me because I didn't find anything on the Debug codes in the manual, that I found on Tweaktown, unless the POST codes are the same thing.

in that case the POST code is 29h: 1. Program CPU internal MTRR for 0-640K memory address
2. Initialize the APIC for Pentium class CPU
3. Program early chipset according to CMOS setup
4. Measure CPU speed

and of course the Debug Code I got from the Tweaktown post was 29. Read CMOS 14h to detect video adapter

so I'm a bit lost as to which is correct

Tradesman1 · Jan 20, 2014

Might try resetting CMOS, might also try reseating the CPU

Tauntheostrich · Jan 21, 2014

Tradesman1 :

it gave me the Error 29 before removing taking the board a part though, so I'm not sure if the CPU is the problem or it would've had this problem before now right? I have tried resetting the CMOS both the jumper and removing the battery over night and neither worked. Clearing the CMOS worked with the old power supply and it ran just fine right up until about 15 minutes of being on where it locked up and I had to reset it.

I'm starting to wonder if maybe when the PSU was going out it damaged the motherboard.

Tradesman1 · Jan 21, 2014

It's possible - have you tried with a single stick of DRAM

Tauntheostrich · Jan 21, 2014

Tradesman1 :

I have, 6 - 2gb sticks, swapping one out for the other, I even tried them in every slot, no result.

not sure if this is relevant but I've also noticed the LED lights next to the RAM slots are lit all the way up to the red. according to the manual these are suppose to be the Overclock LEDs.

Link to the manual if its useful.
http://www.manualslib.com/manual/358902/Gigabyte-Ga-Ex58-Extreme.html?page=26#manual

Tradesman1 · Jan 21, 2014

May have missed it, do you have the latest BIOS - also when you followed the bench it guide - did you take it out of the case?

Tauntheostrich · Jan 21, 2014

Tradesman1 :

I'm honestly not entirely sure about the BIOS as this computer was actually given to me by a friend for Christmas after he built a new rig. it never occured to me to look at the BIOS version as I assumed he kept it up to date. If not I'd have no idea how to flash it without getting the thing to start up. As I mentioned my know-how in fixing is a bit limited. the BIOS did cross my mind though.

I did however have the board out of the case, on the kitchen table.

Tradesman1 · Jan 21, 2014

DO you have or could you borrow any other known good DRAM?

Tauntheostrich · Jan 21, 2014

Tradesman1 :

Unfortunately my old PC used DDR2 RAM and this uses 3 so I Think the sticks I have are pretty useless, and the friend who gave me this PC lives a few towns over, drops in once a month, so I still wont be seeing him for a couple of more weeks. suppose I could always order some of necessary.

Tradesman1 · Jan 21, 2014

Check around w/ friends -co-workers and see if you can borrow a stick or two - won't take long to test

Tauntheostrich · Jan 27, 2014

Tradesman1 :

Hey! sorry it took so long to return, unfortunately I was unable to get any DDR3 RAM so far, I was thinking though could it have something to do with the CMOS battery? one of the first things I did was replace the battery, unfortunately I dont have the original one anymore, maybe the wrong type or just a bad battery?

I haven't touched it for a week, so tonight I'm just going over the board again to see if I missed any wires.

Tradesman1 · Jan 27, 2014

Keep us updated

Tauntheostrich · Mar 1, 2014

After another two weeks of messing with it I finally gave in and just summed it up to the board being toast, I've been without a desktop PC for the last month until this morning when I found an older (2 years old?) AMD rig that I assembled together.

funnily enough I'm having a different issue with that one that I've submitted another question for.

In spite of all this I must say my learning experience is as exciting as it is frustrating.

Tradesman1 · Mar 1, 2014

Know the feeling, always interesting to learn more but can be extremely frustrating

Motherboard Error 29

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