New GigaByte GA-MA78GM-S2H Won't Start, Looks Dead

[i_am_jim]

I just installed a new GigaByte GA-MA78GM-S2H (Athlon 64 X2 5000+) motherboard tonight and it won't do anything, at least anything motherboardlike.

I have two power supply testers, an Antec and a Coolmax. They both say the PS is good and the 12v and 5v check good with the MB powered.

It's been long enough I don't know what to expect. At first I started it with nothing connected -- just power and case connectors to the start/power button and the power LED. When I push the power button the fans start (including the CPU fan) and the front panel power lamp comes on. Nothing happens after that, no beeps, nothing. I then connected a floppy drive and the lamp on it comes on and stays on, nothing else.

The power button on the front won't turn it off, I have to snap the rocker switch on the back.

I then connected the monitor (this MB has a built-in video card), the keyboard, mouse and speakers. Turn in on -- same behavior as motherboard alone -- no signal to monitor, no beeps, nothing.

Motherboards used to have built in speakers that gave beeps to diagnose problems. Does this board have one? If not, should it beep through the speakers?

Anybody have any ideas what's wrong or what other tests I can do.

 

[auscanzukus]

Dunno about all beep codes, but long ones are usually bad signs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-on_self-test#Original_IBM_POST_error_codes

 

[Technologies8]

speaker is a connection on the motherboard next to the switch, this is the error code speaker
usually a 4 pin 2 wire connection


try taking out all but 1 of your RAM and put the ram in slot 1 then try to power on

remove all your connections to the hard drive and optical drives
dont plug anything else in that is not required to POST

 

[i_am_jim]

I have solved the problem.

But, I take it from your comment that the motherboard no longer has a speaker that can give the diagnostic beeps and you must have external speakers connected to hear them?

 

[auscanzukus]

Most mobos have a pinout in the front panel section in the lower-right corner of the board. One of them is SPEAKER. New cases may have speakers the size of a few coins. Hook it up to the mobo.

 

[seayhorse]

I have seen this problem on this motherboard and its full-ATX counterpart the GA-MA78G-DS3H motherboard. I am on my 2nd ds3h board and have recurring issues with it. The board won't POST on reboot, warm boot, restart or properly resume from standby.

After making some changes in the BIOS the problem seemed solved, but it came back 3 months later. I am looking for a motherboard with the features and price range and really WANT this line of boards to work good. I

have tried every possible BIOS setting to weed out the culprit. I thought "memclock tri-state"-> enable in DRAM settings worked, but it does not change anything anymore. I have been through the phone support and tried different power supply and 4 different sticks of RAM. The problem is in the motherboard.

And it's a lot of the mobo's. Now I am seeing more and more reports of this problem on the internet and have concluded that the "ultra-durable" motherboards gigabyte makes are NOT ultra-durable. They are buggy. The 790FX versions are prone to catch fire!

I fear that even in if I RMA and get a "good" one, it will exhibit the same problem within a year or two (probably after the warranty expires). . .

ASUS makes a decent board with similar features and specs, but the BIOS will only allow one OS on SATA hard drives. I use a 32 and a 64 bit XP, so i want a BIOS with a boot menu that allows me to use any HD. The gigabyte BIOS does. But it won't reboot. ever. . . .

 

[groo]

I got 2 bad Gigabyte 780G boards in a row. the first one died right off the bat, the second one lasted long enough to be out of newegg's return time limit. To bad, I was ready to give up an Gigabyte and AMD and get an Intel again.

Now I'm in Gigabyte's RMA limbo. Abit was SO much better. they'd even sent the replacement first with a CC deposit, and when that wasn't needed they were a hell of a lot faster the Gigabyte.

edit - well I guess its in the mail. I'll reserve my judgement on Gigabyte a little longer...

I'm done with Gigabyte. Abit is leaving the market. I guess that leaves Asus and Biostar for the next build.

 

[jeanph01]

I have a brand new GA-MA78GM-S2H that did not post after opening the case. I just changed the SATA connector.

I found that the heat sink on the SB700 controller is loose. That's the one just beside the ram slots. I pressed it a little and found that it moved on the ship. Bizarre...

Anyway, after pushing on that heatsink the board started to boot again.

Don't like this at all. Wonder if I could exchange back this board for a Asus...

Update: I think I found the error, this was not the board but the power connector of the case that was broken. So this board is fine... I think !

 

[Polyphemus]

I have solved the problem.

But, I take it from your comment that the motherboard no longer has a speaker that can give the diagnostic beeps and you must have external speakers connected to hear them?

Hi i_am_jim,

Could you tell me houw you solved this problem?

My motherboard doesn't POST either.

 

[bilbat]

$2!

http://store.cwc-group.com/casp.html

In the last 18 years of building systems, I've had one (count'em - one) MOBO w/a built-in speaker...

 

[Polyphemus]

$2!

http://store.cwc-group.com/casp.html

The BIOS isn't giving any beeps via speaker.

 

[KeremE]

I have a brand new GA-MA78GM-S2H that did not post after opening the case. I just changed the SATA connector.

I found that the heat sink on the SB700 controller is loose. That's the one just beside the ram slots. I pressed it a little and found that it moved on the ship. Bizarre...

Anyway, after pushing on that heatsink the board started to boot again.

Don't like this at all. Wonder if I could exchange back this board for a Asus...

Update: I think I found the error, this was not the board but the power connector of the case that was broken. So this board is fine... I think !

Hi,

I have the same MB. It did not boot after I had a reboot. I've insterted PCI test adapter it stopped at C1 then I've rmeoved RAMS and reset BIOS defaults. Then it turned to 25 or 50. But did not reboot. Then I've pressed on the heatsinks a bit and it was on So the board definitely have some issues with heatsinks.

Cheers,
KeremE