GA-MA790GP-UD4H Post Problems

So I am trying to build a decent gaming rig on the cheap and here's what I went with:

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black 3.0 GHZ Processor
Gigabyte MA790GP-UD4H motherboard
OCZ DDR2 PC6400 Ram (8 gigs in 4 sticks)
(2) ATI 4850's in X-Fire mode
640 Gig WD HD
etc etc

Anyways I throw all the components in and everything comes on but it won't post fully. It gives me 3 long, 1 short and then a pause before repeating 3 long and 1 short ad infinitum with a pause in between each sequence.

Anyways I am digging around and 1 review of the motherboard says it has to use 1066+ mhz for the AMD2+ cpu's but Gigabyte's main page has no such limitation listed except it says that if you use 1066 mhz or better than you're limited to 1 stick per channel.

So... my question is:

Is this post code even at all related to the ram, or what. I can find zero documentation ANYWHERE on that particular post code at all. I'm at a loss, trying to find out what's going on so I know what I should do. Gigabyte itself hasn't answered my question (And of course their tech support is all online so...) yet and I'm just... chomping at the bit here.

Like you, I couldn't find that post beep sequence for either Award or Phoenix BIOS.

Your manual says 1 long - 3 short is a keyboard error, but no reference to 3 long - 1 short except to say that continuous long beeps = graphics card not inserted properly, and continuous short beeps mean power error. Hmmmm. 2 problems alternating? vid cards causing an error that looks like power error?

Anyhow, have you tried booting up with one stick of memory? one per channel?

Remove one video card and try just use one stick of memory. Period.

What power supply are you using?

Ok, I've done that. I've pulled video cards completely from the system. OS and Bios is pointless because I cannot get into the bios to set anything and I cannot get past bios to install an OS, this is a clean system with nothing on it. Hard drive has never even been formatted.

I will be putting Vista Ultimate 64 onto it if I can ever get it to start.

The power supply is a Corsair TW750w power supply, with more than enough power on the +12v rails to supply both video cards and everything else in the system.

Not sure what that has to do with my issue... but.. thanks?

I'd add that, much as I abhor and preach about 'useless' RMAs, I think this one may be a GB screw-up - I believe I've seen four or five posts in the last few days, all with strange, POST-oriented problems; I were you, I'd try to get an RMA for another (by which I mean 'different') board... May be time for the designers to attempt Rev2!

Yeah it's a PS2 Keyboard, USB mouse, but I've tried booting it with zero USB devices connected too...

Anyways, Bilbat, this obviously isn't an OS issue, this is a hardware issue. It can't be an OS issue since it's never been booted up far enough to put an OS on it.

I am really hoping it's like, a jumper was thrown the wrong way or something at the factory but... Gigabyte isn't even responding to my e-mail yet.

Le-sigh

Ok I need timings and voltage settings I think to get all 4 sticks to run. It posts with 1 stick in.

I am using OCZ DDR2-800 mhz, 2 gig sticks, 4 sticks. Ummm let me see if I can find the case it came in to get more specs...

Ok... let's see here. Couldn't find it on what it shipped with but went to the place I bought it from:

Specifications
Memory Category: Desktop

Memory Type: DDR2

Memory Size: 2 x 2048MB

Total Memory Size: 4GB

Memory Modules: 2

Memory Speed: PC6400

Memory Speed MHz: 800MHz

Memory Channels: Dual

Memory Socket: DIMM

Memory CAS Latency: 4-4-3-15

Pins: 240

So what sort of voltage should I set it too since I can actually SEE bios now with only 1 stick in?