Not conforming to beep codes and not responding

[CgRazor]

I just built a PC. It is my first and I know very little that is not on these forums anyway. I have a Phenom X6 and a Gigabyte 880GA-UD3H, and have a Baracuda Green 2TB SATA3 HDD. My RAM is two 4GB Corsair Dual Channel. The motherboard manual says it uses the AWARD beep codes but the beeps it makes are not on that list (or any other for that matter).
On startup all components audibly start and all fans spin. About 5-10secs in it makes a very slightly longer beep followed without pause by a very short beep of higher pitch before dropping down to the prevous pitch and staying there continuously.
Then if I were to bear the noise I can see the splash screen and I can press TAB but this screen only shows my CPU and tell me "memory tested OK" followed by "unganged mode". Nothing more is displayed.
Furthermore I cannot press another button besides TAB and get a response, stopping me from entering BIOS.
I have removed the CMOS for about 10 secs to clear it on the advice of another thread.
*typed on iPhone, potentially bad spelling*

 

[Raiddinn]

My gut feeling is that you need different RAM.

Corsair has a much higher failure rate than makers like Crucial and Kingston, 5x to 13x more. I think you should get and try CT2KIT51264BA1339 instead.

Tell me, do you have access to another computer with similar parts that you can borrow from to test some things?

 

[unksol]

Corsair has a much higher failure rate than makers like Crucial and Kingston, 5x to 13x more. I think you should get and try CT2KIT51264BA1339 instead

That is a completely rediculous statement. Corsair is known as a quality RAM manufacturer.


it should not make a continous beep so the board may be bad. first unplug the computer, remove the cmos battery, and move the jumper to clear it. give it a minute, put everything back, and remove/disconnect all the parts. only have the CPU and RAM installed and use the onboard video. if it still does this remove the RAM. you ought to get the ram missing beeps so if its STILL doing this return the board as defective or call/email gigabyte for an RMA.

if it changes with the parts removed well go from there

 

[Raiddinn]

That is a completely rediculous statement. Corsair is known as a quality RAM manufacturer.

No, it isn't. Not by anyone that knows what they are talking about.

Do I have to make you look like an idiot when I show you real world RMA rates by a major parts website?

Whereas you are making statements based on nothing, I am making statements I can back up with empyrical data.

You can either accept them, or prepare to be schooled.

The fact of the matter is they have the highest failure rates of any major manufacturer now that OCZ is out of the game.

Many fly by night brands still have worse failure rates, but that isn't what we are talking about here.

 

[unksol]

you can make all the rediculous statements you want. "a" major parts site is not representative. a 1.6% failure rate is a: not significant enough to tell someone to trash their ram and b: not 5x crucials .4% or Kingston's .5%. and certainly not 13x. But feel free to make up numbers

 

[Raiddinn]

Exactly what isn't representative of hundreds of sales of each kind of part? You might want to try taking a statistics class before you talk about whether or not things are statistically relevant.

I don't really have to make up numbers, you seem to know the numbers just fine yourself and its a problem of 1 + 1 not equalling 2 on your end. Corsair most definitely does have many RAM items that fail in the range of 13x 0.5. Go back and read whatever numbers you read that showed 0.4% and 0.5% avgs for Crucial and Kingston, it is probably right there next to it.

Also, I can most definitely tell people what my gut feeling is and ask what resources they have to test my gut feeling. If you are trying to argue that I can't do that, GL.

 

[CgRazor]

Well I have no access to a similar computer but the motherboard is secondhand so it definitely works. (bought from a friend) he also used Corsair so whatever you two think we can say this MoBo has no beef with it. When I can get round to it I will disconnect it all as you say and update here.

 

[Raiddinn]

Not that I want to call into question your friendship or anything, but a lot of things could have happened between the last time he used it and the first time you used it.

He could have ESDd it as he was removing it from the case, you could have ESDd it as you inserted it, it could have been dropped during transport, etc.

I usually only rule out things that have been tested thoroughly with as many variables controlled as possible. If you had another AMD board and got the same sort of error with it, that would be a good way to rule out the motherboard as a problem, for instance.

That being said, because it was shown to be working in the past, that does somewhat reduce the likelihood it is a problem now. I would definitely say to pursue other problem areas right now, but we should definitely keep the above in the backs of our minds.

What I would do if I were you is try to get your hands on a cheap AMD CPU. You might be able to get a really low end compatible Sempron 100 or something for like $10. Then you can pop it in there and see if you get the same beep code you are getting now.

If you don't get the same beep code, you can try using it to update the BIOS if there is a newer BIOS available.

Try looking on Craigslist or something.