Gigabyte beeps code and dosent boot

[RavenClaw]

Hello, I am new here and this is my first Question

I have a rather old PC with a Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H motherboard. I was using the PC when it all of sudden stopped working (froze) and I tried to restart it but only got a long continuous beeping signal.
According to my MB manual it means "Graphics card not inserted properly"

This brings us to an older story on the same PC, I was using it with a Evga e-GeForce 8600 GT graphic card until one day the PC could not find this grapich card, I tried everything, including taking the graphic card (still under warranty) to the shop but it was deemed not faulty. I flashed the Bios and updated all drivers, tried to clean the pci-e, but nothing worked. The PC could not find the card, even if had been using it for a year. It always got power, as the fan on the card always worked. So I just used the inbuild graphic card (in the mb) and that´s how it has been for a year. (except for one day, when the PC suddenly found the 8600 card while starting up, but it was only until next restart - it was lost again and has not been found by the PC since)

So back today. it does not start up, and the beep says it has problems with the graphic card, (the 8600 card has been in the pci-e all the time - and bios configured to start on the pci-e if it finds it)
I took the graphic out, but nothing happens (same beep)
I tried to take the Ram out also (2x1024 ddr2 from OCz) and switch them, also using one only etc. (same beep)
I unpluged all HD and DVD (same beep)
I took the cpu cooler of (same beep)
I took the cpu out - (the beep stopped - but of corce nothing happend)
I took the plugg (4 pin) for the mb, (the beep stopped)

I have tried everything I can think of, the beep is always the same, (sans without cpu and power, then there is no sound)

Why cant my motherboard find its internal graphic card? or is my mb dead ?
please advice, I am out of ideas.

 

[o1die]

Try removing the board battery for one minute with the system off. At the least, you might get a post screen if you have onboard video.

 

[RavenClaw]

hello o1die,

I did try that as well, but there was no change.

In fact I have tried this 2 times, because I thought that maby I didn´t give the mb enough time to drain all current from the mb. So I did it again and left the battery out for a few minutes.

The screen is always black.

 

[o1die]

If you want to change boards, try computer geeks or ebay for older boards. You just have to match the motherboard chipset to save some windows installations from a fresh install. It all depends on luck and your windows version.

 

[plasmastorm]

When you removed the Bios battery did you also have the power plug removed from the PSU and hit the power switch on the case a few times? Simply removing the battery and waiting will do nothing if the system still has power from the wall.

Failing that it's quite possible the PCI bridge has died resulting in the board not being able to detect anything in the PCI-e slot and not auto switching to the on-board chip.
Have had this happen on the odd occasion.

Also worth while contacting Gigabyte if you can as they are usually quite helpful.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw

 

[RavenClaw]

Hello plasmastorm

When I removed the battery I did switch the power switch off, but I am not sure that I did unplug.

So I did it again and unplugged the power and removed the battery and switched the power button on and off a few times over ca 15 minutes, and then but the battery back. (the beeps remain as the only response from the pc as I try to turn it on)

However there is one small change that I have noticed (though I think it has nothing to do with the battery removal), if I have the pci-e slot empty the beep will start almost right away, but if I leave the graphic card in the pci-e slot, it will take a few seconds longer to start signaling the beeps.

(maby this is normal - as the pc is trying to find some installed card and times out, and tries to fall back onto its internal graphic card but that is most likely faulty and then it sends the beeps (these are just my thoughts))

 

[jsc]

Do you get:
A long continous beep (missing PCIe power plug to video card),
A series of long beeps (missing memory), or
A series of short beeps (don't know)?

 

[RavenClaw]

Do you get:
A long continous beep (missing PCIe power plug to video card),
A series of long beeps (missing memory), or
A series of short beeps (don't know)?

Hello jsc

I am getting a series of long beeps. They are always the same length and the silence between them also seem to be at the same length. It seems as they would go on forever, if I would not turn the power of,or hold the start button for ca. 4 seconds. (which is more or less the same thing, I think)

The manual for the Motherboard states
"Continuous long beeps: Graphics card not inserted properly"
as the word beep is in plural (beeps vs beep) I would think that this is series of beeps, instead of one never ending one. (In my math I always thought that continuous means "uncut line" and discontinuous means that the line has "holes" in it, so I was a bit confused since my beeps have holes. (hole = silence)

But the same manual also states
"Continuous short beeps: Power error"
Since there a difference in continuous beeps (short vs long) , they must really be Discontinuous as they stop and begin again. I suspect that the word continuous is meant to mean that it never stops as long as it has power.

Therefore I think it is the graphic card.
Would you agree ?

 

[RavenClaw]

bought a new motherboard (could not find the same type) , installed it with all the old stuff (mem, cpu,hhd,gpu etc.) and it works. (except now I have a problem with windows, as it does not work. Tried win vista recovery life disk, let it run repair but it not work out. Guess I must to a clean install with XP and lose some of my data
(my vista edition was a no-cd version)

the new motherboard can find the old graphic card without any problems