No beeps and no video signal?

[devbordelon]

When I power on my system, I get no error beeps and no signal to the monitor but the CPU fan turns on in addition to the case fans. I've tried multiple video cards and different sticks of RAM and still no luck. I'm also on my second motherboard having RMA'd the first. I have attached one of my spare case speakers to the motherboard as well. Could this maybe be a bad processor? Any ideas or help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Specs:
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev 3.3)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
EVGA 8800 GTX
G.Skill DDR2 800 (2 x 1 gb)
Corsair 520W PSU
WD Caviar 250 gb SATA
Lite-On DVD-RW IDE
Antec P180

 

[prong]

When I power on my system, I get no error beeps and no signal to the monitor but the CPU fan turns on in addition to the case fans. I've tried multiple video cards and different sticks of RAM and still no luck. I'm also on my second motherboard having RMA'd the first. I have attached one of my spare case speakers to the motherboard as well. Could this maybe be a bad processor? Any ideas or help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Specs:
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev 3.3)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
EVGA 8800 GTX
G.Skill DDR2 800 (2 x 1 gb)
Corsair 520W PSU
WD Caviar 250 gb SATA
Lite-On DVD-RW IDE
Antec P180

Interesting you are on your second MB and having the exact problem and result as with the first MB. Try resetting the CMOS jumper. Be sure to unplug the PSU and remove the battery when you reset the jumper. If you have a speaker to the MB, try booting the system without RAM and check for MB beeps indicating no RAM. If you have a different processor, try it. Yes, the processor may be bad. RMA to Intel, it's painless other than time consuming.

 

[pongrules]

I wonder if the wattage on your PSU is too low. You have an 8800 GTX in there and I would think 500w would be a niminum requirement. I don't think it's the motherboard. Try a higher wattage PSU.

 

[pongrules]

Oops, nevermind, I read your wattage wrong. I still doubt it's the motherboard, maybe you do have a bad processor since it seems you've tried everything else.

 

[devbordelon]

I've reset the CMOS and still get the same effect. I've also tried booting with no RAM and still the same effect. I think I will go ahead and RMA the processor. Thanks for your replies.

 

[Newf]

I've reset the CMOS and still get the same effect. I've also tried booting with no RAM and still the same effect. I think I will go ahead and RMA the processor. Thanks for your replies.

Have you tried just one stick of ram at a time? If your ram requires more than 1.8v, it may not want to let the system POST. You will not get a POST without at least some ram in your system. Try one stick in the dimm1 slot. This is your best chance of getting a POST with high voltage spec ram.
Bad cpus are very rare...

 

[pongrules]

He said he tried all kinds of sticks of RAM, so I'm guessing some of those were 1.8v or lower.

 

[Newf]

Well, that is a guess. Lower than 1.8v is unlikely though...
He said he tried to boot with no ram as well. Would you do that?
I am trying to eliminate all possible variables before concluding that the cpu is dead. Cpus are notoriously reliable. There is no harm in just trying one stick of ram at a time.

 

[pongrules]

Nope, none at all, I wasn't disagreeing.

And I don't know if it's the new motherboards nowadays or the memory but there do seem to be a lot of incompatability issues with memory over the last year or so.

 

[Newf]

Yes, and the worst offender has been P965 chipset motherboards combined with enthusiasts who have to buy exotic ram.
Nobody here seems to think much of value-ram, but it works.
Anytime you try to make higher voltage spec ram run on a 965 board, it is a crap-shoot. The one workaround is to try to POST on one stick, and get into the BIOS to up Vram enough to run both sticks happily.
The only other workaround is to POST with some other memory, raise the Vram some, and then install the expensive sticks.

 

[pongrules]

And, if you can get into the BIOS, set the voltage manually to 1.8v seems to help some folks as well.

In addition, I see a lot of people buying RAM at speeds they'll never need because they're not going to OC. I'm going to OC at some point, so I wanted some room to do that. Don't want to look like too much of a hypocrite. :lol: I just don't need to OC right now and I won't until I do need to.

 

[devbordelon]

Yes, I have tried just one stick of RAM, both my spec RAM and some value RAM and still no luck.

 

[Newf]

You spent good money on low latency ram that will run at 400MHz if you up the voltage to 2.0-2.1v. It's been tested to be reliable at even higher frequencies with looser timings. It will also POST just fine at 266MHz, 1.8v and timings of something like 5-5-5-12. The SPD chip is set up for that.
Many sticks of enthusiast ram just will not do that, and that is my point.

 

[Newf]

Yes, I have tried just one stick of RAM, both my spec RAM and some value RAM and still no luck.

OK, then the cpu is dead. How, I do not know. This is truly a rare thing.