GA-MA78G-DS3H doesn't boot

Hi there,

all brand new:
- Mainboard GA-MA78G-DS3H
- CPU Athlon 64X2 6400+
- 2x Geil-DDR2-800 each with 2GB
- Enermax Pro82+ 385W

Everything installed along with new hard drives and new DVD burner.
Turned on power:
- case fan starts
- CPU fan starts
- case Power LED lights up
- no video! neither on VGA nor on DVI

Pulled off all unnecessary plugs (SATA, USB, Reset SW, Floppy, Audio)
= same reaction, 3 fans start, no video signal.
Attached a speaker to FrontPanel-SpeakerHeader: no beep!

What is it? CPU? Board? Both?

Any hint warmly welcomed
Frank

Frank wrote:
Hi there,

all brand new:
- Mainboard GA-MA78G-DS3H
- CPU Athlon 64X2 6400+
- 2x Geil-DDR2-800 each with 2GB
- Enermax Pro82+ 385W

Everything installed along with new hard drives and new DVD burner.
Turned on power:
- case fan starts
- CPU fan starts
- case Power LED lights up
- no video! neither on VGA nor on DVI

Pulled off all unnecessary plugs (SATA, USB, Reset SW, Floppy, Audio)
= same reaction, 3 fans start, no video signal.
Attached a speaker to FrontPanel-SpeakerHeader: no beep!

What is it? CPU? Board? Both?

Any hint warmly welcomed
Frank

Both power cables installed ? No beeps could be
a lack of CPU power, via the ATX 12V 2x2 power
connector (two yellow wires +12V, two black wires GND).

You need at least a CPU, CPU fan, and working BIOS
chip, to allow a beep code for missing RAM or
missing video. So you can strip out the RAM
and try that as a test. If you got a repeating
beep code, then you know the CPU executed some
BIOS code, the CPU works and is powered.

Paul

On 8 Jun., 00:13, Paul wrote:
Frank wrote:
Hi there,

all brand new:
- Mainboard GA-MA78G-DS3H
- CPU Athlon 64X2 6400+
- 2x Geil-DDR2-800 each with 2GB
- Enermax Pro82+ 385W

Everything installed along with new hard drives and new DVD burner.
Turned on power:
- case fan starts
- CPU fan starts
- case Power LED lights up
- no video! neither on VGA nor on DVI

Pulled off all unnecessary plugs (SATA, USB, Reset SW, Floppy, Audio)
= same reaction, 3 fans start, no video signal.
Attached a speaker to FrontPanel-SpeakerHeader: no beep!

What is it? CPU? Board? Both?

Any hint warmly welcomed
Frank

Both power cables installed ? No beeps could be
a lack of CPU power, via the ATX 12V 2x2 power
connector (two yellow wires +12V, two black wires GND).

You need at least a CPU, CPU fan, and working BIOS
chip, to allow a beep code for missing RAM or
missing video. So you can strip out the RAM
and try that as a test. If you got a repeating
beep code, then you know the CPU executed some
BIOS code, the CPU works and is powered.

Paul

Hi Paul,

you seeded the solution: Pulling off both RAMs leads to some
undefinable beeps. OK, what's happening, if you insert only one RAM
bar? It works!! Everything works fine! Switching the bars still works.
So, having 2 bars each with 2 GB RAM leads to "I'm dead". Having only
one of them (regardless which one!) works! So far for a 16GB-
mainboard.

Thanks and bye
Frank

"Frank" schreef in bericht
...
On 8 Jun., 00:13, Paul wrote:
Frank wrote:
Hi there,

all brand new:
- Mainboard GA-MA78G-DS3H
- CPU Athlon 64X2 6400+
- 2x Geil-DDR2-800 each with 2GB
- Enermax Pro82+ 385W

Everything installed along with new hard drives and new DVD burner.
Turned on power:
- case fan starts
- CPU fan starts
- case Power LED lights up
- no video! neither on VGA nor on DVI

Pulled off all unnecessary plugs (SATA, USB, Reset SW, Floppy, Audio)
= same reaction, 3 fans start, no video signal.
Attached a speaker to FrontPanel-SpeakerHeader: no beep!

What is it? CPU? Board? Both?

Any hint warmly welcomed
Frank

Both power cables installed ? No beeps could be
a lack of CPU power, via the ATX 12V 2x2 power
connector (two yellow wires +12V, two black wires GND).

You need at least a CPU, CPU fan, and working BIOS
chip, to allow a beep code for missing RAM or
missing video. So you can strip out the RAM
and try that as a test. If you got a repeating
beep code, then you know the CPU executed some
BIOS code, the CPU works and is powered.

Paul

Hi Paul,

you seeded the solution: Pulling off both RAMs leads to some
undefinable beeps. OK, what's happening, if you insert only one RAM
bar? It works!! Everything works fine! Switching the bars still works.
So, having 2 bars each with 2 GB RAM leads to "I'm dead". Having only
one of them (regardless which one!) works! So far for a 16GB-
mainboard.

Thanks and bye
Frank


Hi Frank,

1. Check the motherboard manufacturer's RAM compatibility list.

2. Consider raising RAM voltage in 0,05V steps.
Use SIMMtest/DocMem software to check long term stability.
DO NOT exceed RAM voltage spec by more than 0.2V.

HTH,
John7

On 13 Jun., 00:53, "John7" wrote:
"Frank" schreef in ...



On 8 Jun., 00:13, Paul wrote:
Frank wrote:
Hi there,

all brand new:
- Mainboard GA-MA78G-DS3H
- CPU Athlon 64X2 6400+
- 2x Geil-DDR2-800 each with 2GB
- Enermax Pro82+ 385W

Everything installed along with new hard drives and new DVD burner.
Turned on power:
- case fan starts
- CPU fan starts
- case Power LED lights up
- no video! neither on VGA nor on DVI

Pulled off all unnecessary plugs (SATA, USB, Reset SW, Floppy, Audio)
= same reaction, 3 fans start, no video signal.
Attached a speaker to FrontPanel-SpeakerHeader: no beep!

What is it? CPU? Board? Both?

Any hint warmly welcomed
Frank

Both power cables installed ? No beeps could be
a lack of CPU power, via the ATX 12V 2x2 power
connector (two yellow wires +12V, two black wires GND).

You need at least a CPU, CPU fan, and working BIOS
chip, to allow a beep code for missing RAM or
missing video. So you can strip out the RAM
and try that as a test. If you got a repeating
beep code, then you know the CPU executed some
BIOS code, the CPU works and is powered.

Paul

Hi Paul,

you seeded the solution: Pulling off both RAMs leads to some
undefinable beeps. OK, what's happening, if you insert only one RAM
bar? It works!! Everything works fine! Switching the bars still works.
So, having 2 bars each with 2 GB RAM leads to "I'm dead". Having only
one of them (regardless which one!) works! So far for a 16GB-
mainboard.

Thanks and bye
Frank

Hi Frank,

1. Check the motherboard manufacturer's RAM compatibility list.

2. Consider raising RAM voltage in 0,05V steps.
Use SIMMtest/DocMem software to check long term stability.
DO NOT exceed RAM voltage spec by more than 0.2V.

HTH,
John7

Here it is: Insert one of the 2GB-bars, flash BIOS to the newest F3-
Version. Afterwards it works with two 2GB-bars like it should. Maybe
Gigabyte needs to improve their QA-measures....

Thanks to Paul and John
Frank

Frank wrote:
On 13 Jun., 00:53, "John7" wrote:
"Frank" schreef in ...



On 8 Jun., 00:13, Paul wrote:
Frank wrote:
Hi there,
all brand new:
- Mainboard GA-MA78G-DS3H
- CPU Athlon 64X2 6400+
- 2x Geil-DDR2-800 each with 2GB
- Enermax Pro82+ 385W
Everything installed along with new hard drives and new DVD burner.
Turned on power:
- case fan starts
- CPU fan starts
- case Power LED lights up
- no video! neither on VGA nor on DVI
Pulled off all unnecessary plugs (SATA, USB, Reset SW, Floppy, Audio)
= same reaction, 3 fans start, no video signal.
Attached a speaker to FrontPanel-SpeakerHeader: no beep!
What is it? CPU? Board? Both?
Any hint warmly welcomed
Frank
Both power cables installed ? No beeps could be
a lack of CPU power, via the ATX 12V 2x2 power
connector (two yellow wires +12V, two black wires GND).
You need at least a CPU, CPU fan, and working BIOS
chip, to allow a beep code for missing RAM or
missing video. So you can strip out the RAM
and try that as a test. If you got a repeating
beep code, then you know the CPU executed some
BIOS code, the CPU works and is powered.
Paul
Hi Paul,
you seeded the solution: Pulling off both RAMs leads to some
undefinable beeps. OK, what's happening, if you insert only one RAM
bar? It works!! Everything works fine! Switching the bars still works.
So, having 2 bars each with 2 GB RAM leads to "I'm dead". Having only
one of them (regardless which one!) works! So far for a 16GB-
mainboard.
Thanks and bye
Frank
Hi Frank,

1. Check the motherboard manufacturer's RAM compatibility list.

2. Consider raising RAM voltage in 0,05V steps.
Use SIMMtest/DocMem software to check long term stability.
DO NOT exceed RAM voltage spec by more than 0.2V.

HTH,
John7

Here it is: Insert one of the 2GB-bars, flash BIOS to the newest F3-
Version. Afterwards it works with two 2GB-bars like it should. Maybe
Gigabyte needs to improve their QA-measures....

Thanks to Paul and John
Frank

This is a known issue, with some of the Gigabyte boards. And this is
general advice for any motherboard. It takes about five BIOS releases,
before they do a decent job at RAM compatibility. For the users who
chart the results with each release, there is even a back and forth
on performance (of the five releases, if your RAM works, you might
notice significant changes in memory bandwidth). On some of the
Gigabyte boards, the things eventually become bulletproof, after
those BIOS releases come out.

In terms of development cycles, the "A team" works on the board
for the first few releases. Eventually, a "sustaining" team releases
BIOSes later, for things such as adding CPUs for compatibility.
Sometimes, the sustaining team release miserable BIOS, with new
bugs introduced (perhaps even old bugs that were fixed, come back).
So if you were to take the tenth BIOS release, and install it,
that might be a step backwards.

In any case, check forums, Newegg reviews, and the like, to get
feedback on the latest BIOS, and whether it is a dog or not.

On my Asus A7N8X-E board, the sustaining team released two really broken
BIOS in a row. So it appears, management doesn't slap them, until
they make a real mess.

Paul

"Frank" schreef in bericht
...
On 13 Jun., 00:53, "John7" wrote:
"Frank" schreef in
...



On 8 Jun., 00:13, Paul wrote:
Frank wrote:
Hi there,

all brand new:
- Mainboard GA-MA78G-DS3H
- CPU Athlon 64X2 6400+
- 2x Geil-DDR2-800 each with 2GB
- Enermax Pro82+ 385W

Everything installed along with new hard drives and new DVD burner.
Turned on power:
- case fan starts
- CPU fan starts
- case Power LED lights up
- no video! neither on VGA nor on DVI

Pulled off all unnecessary plugs (SATA, USB, Reset SW, Floppy,
Audio)
= same reaction, 3 fans start, no video signal.
Attached a speaker to FrontPanel-SpeakerHeader: no beep!

What is it? CPU? Board? Both?

Any hint warmly welcomed
Frank

Both power cables installed ? No beeps could be
a lack of CPU power, via the ATX 12V 2x2 power
connector (two yellow wires +12V, two black wires GND).

You need at least a CPU, CPU fan, and working BIOS
chip, to allow a beep code for missing RAM or
missing video. So you can strip out the RAM
and try that as a test. If you got a repeating
beep code, then you know the CPU executed some
BIOS code, the CPU works and is powered.

Paul

Hi Paul,

you seeded the solution: Pulling off both RAMs leads to some
undefinable beeps. OK, what's happening, if you insert only one RAM
bar? It works!! Everything works fine! Switching the bars still works.
So, having 2 bars each with 2 GB RAM leads to "I'm dead". Having only
one of them (regardless which one!) works! So far for a 16GB-
mainboard.

Thanks and bye
Frank

Hi Frank,

1. Check the motherboard manufacturer's RAM compatibility list.

2. Consider raising RAM voltage in 0,05V steps.
Use SIMMtest/DocMem software to check long term stability.
DO NOT exceed RAM voltage spec by more than 0.2V.

HTH,
John7

Here it is: Insert one of the 2GB-bars, flash BIOS to the newest F3-
Version. Afterwards it works with two 2GB-bars like it should. Maybe
Gigabyte needs to improve their QA-measures....

Thanks to Paul and John
Frank

Glad you solved it.
I had to flash an Asus bios to get hyperthreading working
while the release notes did not spend a single line on this.
So updating bioses somethimes fix unmentioned problems :-O

I you like to fiddle a bit more in the Gigabyte bios ...
in bios main menu, press CTRL + F1.
This enables advanced menu's and options, but beware!

John7