Hi All,
I am unable to get my new build to POST. This is my first build. I went through ALL of the steps detailed in the VERY NICE "System won't boot" and "no video output" checklist. (Thanks to all who contributed time and effort to make this checklist!) They all passed. I am really stumped. See below for the details.
Problem Summary:
I am unable to get the machine to POST. BUT, for unknown reasons it did POST twice. When?
The very first time I turned the machine on (with only the motherboard and RAM installed, the cooler, the power connectors and fans) it beeped! Emboldened I shut it down, and I installed the rest of the components and was subsequently unable to get it to POST.
The second time it POSTED was long after I put it on a breadboard (with only the motherboard and RAM installed, the cooler, the power connectors and fans). So, I put it on the breadboard, and tried and failed many times to get it to POST. So, what did I do to get it to POST? I am unsure. I know I removed the CMOS Battery for about 20 minutes, and reset the CMOS. When I started it, the machine posted and the on-board motherboard-power indicator did light up. The video display showed the machine booting up and I tried to get to the start up menu - by hitting the <del> key, but after it got to the menu that the keyboard seemed no longer operational. I say I am unsure what I did to get it to POST because when I turned it on again, the machine was unable to POST, and displayed the General Symptoms (described next). And pullng the CMOS battery and resetting the CMOS had no effect on this outcome.
General Symptoms:
I plug in the power cord. If I do nothing immediately, within about 30 seconds the LED near the WINBOND Chip begins to blink. And this also happens even when I immediately depress the power button. When I use the front panel switch to turn on the machine, I hear a click (from the power supply), the fans start up for about 1 second, then I hear another click and they go quiescent for about 3 seconds, and then I hear another click (again from the power supply) and then the fans come back on.
All the lights on the front panel (HDD, OverHeat, NIC and Power) remain off, but there is just the briefest red flash of the OverHeat LED when I first push the front panel switch and again (very briefly) 3 seconds later as it comes out of its quiescent mode.
The speaker fails to beep. There is no video output on the built-in video. I am unable to get the (motherboard) on-board power-indicator (Labeled DP3 in the motherboard layout diagram) to turn on. The fans work. The LED near the WinBond WPCCM450 BMC flashes. And the disk drive starts.
So I systematically went through the checklist. Basically, they all checked out OK. The details are below under the heading "CHECKLIST RESULTS".
Here is what I have tried next:
(1) To eliminate the possiblility of a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU, I pulled the motherboard out of the case and mounted it on top of the box it came in.
(a) I pulled the chassis close and wired up the two power lines (with the 24 pin connector and the 8 pin connector), the chassis fan, the two fan cables for the corsair cooler, and the ribbon cable to the front panel switches. I try to turn it on and I get the same aforementioned general symptoms (except once).
(b) I removed the corsair cooler (and two fan connections), and still got the same result. I removed the ribbon cable, and shorted pins 1 and 2 on JF1 and still got the same result.
(c) I removed all the memory and tried again, and still got the same result.
(d) I measured the power supply output through the back of the two connectors (the 24pin and 8pin connectors) with a digital multimeter. The readings are correct.
(e) I tried resetting the CMOS. I removed the CMOS battery and reset the CMOS.
(f) I always touched a metal part of the case with the power supply installed and plugged in, but NOT turned on prior to handling any components.
MY SYSTEM:
Supermicro h8sgl-f motherboard with opteron 6128
4xKingston ValueRAM 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9S/4G"
Supermicro 733i-500B chassis
Corsair CWCH50 cooler
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5 Internal Hard Drive
ASUS EN210 SILENT/DI/1GD3/V2(LP) GeForce 210 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile Ready Video Card
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support
Rosewill RC-219 Silicon Image PCI Express eSata x2 NCQ non-RAID SATA II Controller Card
ENCORE ENM232-6VIA 5.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Surround Sound Card"
THE CHECKLIST RESULTS:
Here are the Checklist Steps I followed and for reference, my motherboard layout is located on page 1-3 and 1-4 of the H8sgl-f motherboard manual
(1) I believe I read the manual carefully.
(2) In addition to the main 24 pin power connector I plugged in the 8-pin CPU power connector located at JPW2 (see the motherboard layout).
(3) I installed the standoffs under the motherboard (and nothing more)
(4) I've not installed the video card at the moment, since the system won't POST
(5) The video card is not installed and requires no power connectors anyway
(6) I tried booting with no RAM and then just one stick of RAM installed. It made no difference.
(7) I verified that all memory modules are fully inserted
(8) I am using DIMM 1A, DIMM 2A, DIMM 3A and DIMM 4a as specified in the user manual on page 2-4.
(9) There was no plastic guard covering the CPU socket
(10) I installed the CPU correctly
(11) The Corsair cooler arrived with thermal paste pre-applied by the manufacturer. There is no excess thermal paste.
(12) The CPU fan is plugged in, as are the two fan connections to the Corsair Cooler
(13) I am not using the stock cooler. I did encounter some minor troubles seating the Corsair cooler. At newegg.com, in the Customer Reviews section of the SuperMicro MBD-H8SGL-F-O, and dated 4-21-2011, a user/reviewer describes how to modify the Corsair cooler bracket to use the cooler properly with the supermicro H8SGL-F-O motherboard.
(14) There are no loose screws laying on the motherboard, or jammed against it. There are no wires running directly under the motherboard.
(15) I did my best to avoid discharging static electricity by touching a metal part of the case with the power supply installed and plugged in, but NOT turned on.
(16) There is an onboard speaker system.
(17) I read the instruction manual on how to install the front connection panel plug. I installed it correctly.
(18) There is no switch on the back of the PSU
(19) Yes, the CPU is supported by the BIOS revision installed on my motherboard
(20) Yes, I tried resetting the CMOS multiple times and this seems like it might have worked once. But I am unsure.
(21) I have integrated video and a video card. I left the video card out because I can't get the machine to POST. So I am using the integrated video.
(22) I made certain all cables and components including RAM and expansion cards are tight within their sockets.
I am unable to get my new build to POST. This is my first build. I went through ALL of the steps detailed in the VERY NICE "System won't boot" and "no video output" checklist. (Thanks to all who contributed time and effort to make this checklist!) They all passed. I am really stumped. See below for the details.
Problem Summary:
I am unable to get the machine to POST. BUT, for unknown reasons it did POST twice. When?
The very first time I turned the machine on (with only the motherboard and RAM installed, the cooler, the power connectors and fans) it beeped! Emboldened I shut it down, and I installed the rest of the components and was subsequently unable to get it to POST.
The second time it POSTED was long after I put it on a breadboard (with only the motherboard and RAM installed, the cooler, the power connectors and fans). So, I put it on the breadboard, and tried and failed many times to get it to POST. So, what did I do to get it to POST? I am unsure. I know I removed the CMOS Battery for about 20 minutes, and reset the CMOS. When I started it, the machine posted and the on-board motherboard-power indicator did light up. The video display showed the machine booting up and I tried to get to the start up menu - by hitting the <del> key, but after it got to the menu that the keyboard seemed no longer operational. I say I am unsure what I did to get it to POST because when I turned it on again, the machine was unable to POST, and displayed the General Symptoms (described next). And pullng the CMOS battery and resetting the CMOS had no effect on this outcome.
General Symptoms:
I plug in the power cord. If I do nothing immediately, within about 30 seconds the LED near the WINBOND Chip begins to blink. And this also happens even when I immediately depress the power button. When I use the front panel switch to turn on the machine, I hear a click (from the power supply), the fans start up for about 1 second, then I hear another click and they go quiescent for about 3 seconds, and then I hear another click (again from the power supply) and then the fans come back on.
All the lights on the front panel (HDD, OverHeat, NIC and Power) remain off, but there is just the briefest red flash of the OverHeat LED when I first push the front panel switch and again (very briefly) 3 seconds later as it comes out of its quiescent mode.
The speaker fails to beep. There is no video output on the built-in video. I am unable to get the (motherboard) on-board power-indicator (Labeled DP3 in the motherboard layout diagram) to turn on. The fans work. The LED near the WinBond WPCCM450 BMC flashes. And the disk drive starts.
So I systematically went through the checklist. Basically, they all checked out OK. The details are below under the heading "CHECKLIST RESULTS".
Here is what I have tried next:
(1) To eliminate the possiblility of a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU, I pulled the motherboard out of the case and mounted it on top of the box it came in.
(a) I pulled the chassis close and wired up the two power lines (with the 24 pin connector and the 8 pin connector), the chassis fan, the two fan cables for the corsair cooler, and the ribbon cable to the front panel switches. I try to turn it on and I get the same aforementioned general symptoms (except once).
(b) I removed the corsair cooler (and two fan connections), and still got the same result. I removed the ribbon cable, and shorted pins 1 and 2 on JF1 and still got the same result.
(c) I removed all the memory and tried again, and still got the same result.
(d) I measured the power supply output through the back of the two connectors (the 24pin and 8pin connectors) with a digital multimeter. The readings are correct.
(e) I tried resetting the CMOS. I removed the CMOS battery and reset the CMOS.
(f) I always touched a metal part of the case with the power supply installed and plugged in, but NOT turned on prior to handling any components.
MY SYSTEM:
Supermicro h8sgl-f motherboard with opteron 6128
4xKingston ValueRAM 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9S/4G"
Supermicro 733i-500B chassis
Corsair CWCH50 cooler
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5 Internal Hard Drive
ASUS EN210 SILENT/DI/1GD3/V2(LP) GeForce 210 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile Ready Video Card
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support
Rosewill RC-219 Silicon Image PCI Express eSata x2 NCQ non-RAID SATA II Controller Card
ENCORE ENM232-6VIA 5.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Surround Sound Card"
THE CHECKLIST RESULTS:
Here are the Checklist Steps I followed and for reference, my motherboard layout is located on page 1-3 and 1-4 of the H8sgl-f motherboard manual
(1) I believe I read the manual carefully.
(2) In addition to the main 24 pin power connector I plugged in the 8-pin CPU power connector located at JPW2 (see the motherboard layout).
(3) I installed the standoffs under the motherboard (and nothing more)
(4) I've not installed the video card at the moment, since the system won't POST
(5) The video card is not installed and requires no power connectors anyway
(6) I tried booting with no RAM and then just one stick of RAM installed. It made no difference.
(7) I verified that all memory modules are fully inserted
(8) I am using DIMM 1A, DIMM 2A, DIMM 3A and DIMM 4a as specified in the user manual on page 2-4.
(9) There was no plastic guard covering the CPU socket
(10) I installed the CPU correctly
(11) The Corsair cooler arrived with thermal paste pre-applied by the manufacturer. There is no excess thermal paste.
(12) The CPU fan is plugged in, as are the two fan connections to the Corsair Cooler
(13) I am not using the stock cooler. I did encounter some minor troubles seating the Corsair cooler. At newegg.com, in the Customer Reviews section of the SuperMicro MBD-H8SGL-F-O, and dated 4-21-2011, a user/reviewer describes how to modify the Corsair cooler bracket to use the cooler properly with the supermicro H8SGL-F-O motherboard.
(14) There are no loose screws laying on the motherboard, or jammed against it. There are no wires running directly under the motherboard.
(15) I did my best to avoid discharging static electricity by touching a metal part of the case with the power supply installed and plugged in, but NOT turned on.
(16) There is an onboard speaker system.
(17) I read the instruction manual on how to install the front connection panel plug. I installed it correctly.
(18) There is no switch on the back of the PSU
(19) Yes, the CPU is supported by the BIOS revision installed on my motherboard
(20) Yes, I tried resetting the CMOS multiple times and this seems like it might have worked once. But I am unsure.
(21) I have integrated video and a video card. I left the video card out because I can't get the machine to POST. So I am using the integrated video.
(22) I made certain all cables and components including RAM and expansion cards are tight within their sockets.
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