Gigabyte Mobo Unresponsive

[HurtinUnix]

I'm putting together a replacement PC using a combination of 'older' components and new ones. So far I've installed a P4 2.53GHz cpu onto a Gigabyte GA-8IHXP mobo using the provided brass spacers, and installed that and a G4 Ti4400 video card into an Antec 1080Plus case. I have 256MB of RDRAM (which works in my DELL) and CRIMMs in all open slots.

I have connected, alternately, USB and standard keyboards and mice but I can't seem to get either setup to respond. Power is getting to the mobo - all fans are running and the RAM LED is lit - but nothing is getting to the monitor/keyboard/mouse so there's no way for me to know if I'm even getting to the BIOS - perhaps that info would be if the monitor was getting the feed. Anyone have any ideas why the mobo might be behaving as such??? BTW, I used a jumper to reset the CMOS back to defaults, just in case. CPU and RAM seem to properly seated and latched as well.

There has never been an objective being. Knowing this, all else is known. - The Upanishads -

 

[edpsx]

You try using a PCI Video card? They usually default to that first, and you have to change it.. on my Gigabyte though it auto recognized my AGP card. Just a thought

 

[HurtinUnix]

Haven't tried that yet but I did take everything apart and put it back together once more AND got a beep from the mobo! Three of them to be precise. This mobo uses AMIBIOS and it's telling me I have a "Base 64K memory failure" which implies the RDRAM is bad or improperly seated. I know the memory is good because I'm using it right now. I'm also getting power to the keyboard (lights come on at power up - still no video though) now so apparently I hadn't fully connect something somewhere earlier. One problem down anyway..... Do you have experience with this sort of thing? All RAM is Samsung ECC PC800 - a 256MB 40ns RIMM, a 256MB 45ns RIMM, and a 128MB 45ns RIMM. All work fine in my Dell 733MHz P3.

There has never been an objective being. Knowing this, all else is known. - The Upanishads -

 

[bp2u2]

The nefarious 3 beeps from AMI BIOS can also be caused by CPU seating. Have seen that several others in various news groups that have fixed 3 beeps with CPU reseat.
Also not sure impact of mix and match of PC800 RIMM with your 2.53G P4. It may have been fine on 733M P3 but ?? remain as to running this at 533M FSB speeds. To run GA-8IHXP with 1066 RIMM BIOS needs to be set at FSB Hardware and MEMORY Type AUTO. You might want to try seeing if it will run at lower FSB speed in BIOS and force memory type to PC800 in BIOS. I can guarantee it will clobber performance of your system.
BP

 

[HurtinUnix]

Thanks bp - I thought the same thing and reseated CPU again 'just in case' but the beeps remained. I cleared the CMOS with a jumper and by removing the battery hoping that would fix the memory issue. My limited understanding is that the GA-8IHXP can use older, slower PC800/45ns memory and if there's enough overhead then the RAM can be OC'd for better performance (my upgrade path includes official PC1066, but that's AFTER I finish the basement!). Could the BIOS be defaulting to PC1066 and creating a conflict when detetcting PC800 - seems unlikely?? As yet, I've been unable to even get to the BIOS to find out how it's set up. All I know is that all three RIMMs work peachy in the DELL so I don't know why the Gigabyte mobo is balking - too good for that crap I guess FYI - I tried swapping a single RIMM and CRIMM in slots 1 and 2 to no effect. Since I'm running out of non-RMA options, tonight I'll try CRIMMs in 1 and 2 and use slots 3 and 4 for the memory. I'll also see if I can't get a memory diagnostic from a Memtest86 floppy. Thanks for helping. -HU-


There has never been an objective being. Knowing this, all else is known. - The Upanishads -<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by HurtinUnix on 09/12/02 05:57 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

Read the FAQ, you could have a misplaced mounting post or a flipped IDE cable.


The 3-beep code from AMI indicates a problem with the memory, possibly you don't have it paired in the proper slots, or you're not using the provided CRIMMSs to fill the empty slots, or a module is not properly seated.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[WiredRBB]

Guys,
I too am putting a pc together to replace my old AMDK6... I bought the GA08IHXP mobo and a 2.4B intel cpu - board to run at 533MHz. I have a Chaintech GeForce 4 Ti4200 video card. I'm having the same problem as you with the lack of a video response. I pulled the video card out of my old computer (PCI card) and tried it to no avail- also tested two different monitors. I can't really check any of the other components since they are not compatible with the old system (RDRAM, AGP4X video). To this point I haven't been able to get even a beep out of the system. I have 2 256 PC1066 RDRAM chips with Samsung chips. The memory led on the mobo does come on after I turn the power on the board on (even without flipping the front power switch). Have you had any luck getting through the problem?

Thanks in advance

 

[WiredRBB]

Just thought I would update the board on my progress with the computer. After several hours of aggravation, I sought help and he disassembled everything - all memory, cables, and the cpu from the motherboard, removed the mobo and then rebuilt the computer. As everything was connected back he noticed that both the cd drives were in slave position (but I had only connected one prior to taking it over). Anyway, after rebuilding everything from scratch, the board posted fine without issue. Seems like maybe I had grounded it out at some point and needed to remove everything to reset the board.

Then came the next adventure -- Win XP. Tried ~20 times to get XP to install, received various error messages in different spots, from "FATAL ERROR" while running from cd copying files over to ..i386/ errors on the windows install, also got errors about files not being found or corrupted. I was able to get my friend convinced to let me try his PC800 RDRAM (fully Samsung from his Dell) in my computer, and... it worked great, installation of XP went without issue and was even faster then with my PC1066 modules. I reinstalled everything, even got the SP1 to install without problems. Then we pulled his ram out and put mine in. Back to the unstable system I was growing to hate. Currently I have forced the memory to PC800 in the bios and will probably try to return it tomorrow and go ahead and get some Kingston memory (current stuff has Samsung models but is generic).

Hope this helps someone else in the same situation,

 

[HurtinUnix]

The adventure continues.... I did more searching of web sites and forums and read someplace that both RIMM 1 & 2 had to be populated with EXACTLY the same type, size, and speed (40ns) of RDRAM (RIMM 3 & 4 have CRIMMs) - if you have RIMMs that are 45ns, it won't boot. Nor will it boot with one 40ns RIMM and three CRIMMs. As soon as I bought another 256MB of ECC PC800 rated at 40ns and popped it in, I was able to boot right up. Got an XP boot up blue screen error everytime however till I repaired XP via the 'new installation' process. Now I can boot up fine but there are other issues. (My DELL 733 P3 was not nearly so pickly and still lives happily with the 256/128MB RIMMs.)

Performance, for one thing, is horrible and I'm not sure why this is. Boot up is very slow, applications take 30-60 seconds to load. Switching apps is also quite laggy. 3DMark2001 is basically a slideshow. All very discouraging considering this was supposed to be perfect Unreal Tournament 2003 machine. There's got to be a reason for this - probably very simple - so I'll keep reading the forums and tech pages. Any suggestions, no matter how obvious, are welcome. (FYI - I've defragged, got the latest BIOS, and tried to find the most recent drivers. CPU runs at about 45-50 Celsius and the system is 35-37 C.)

There has never been an objective being. Knowing this, all else is known. - The Upanishads -