Help! EP45-DS3R barely POSTs

[Major Pita]

Ok, I'm breaking down and asking for help getting my new system going.

Specs:
Antec NeoHE 550 power supply
Gigabyte EP45-DS3R motherboard (came with bios rev F7)
Intel E8500-E0 CPU currently using stock cooler
Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 RAM (4 sticks, 2 currently installed)
EVGA/Nvidia Geforce 260 core 216 graphics adapter

I've built a few systems before, but don't consider myself anywhere near being a 'pro'.

Currently the system is built up on my desk (no case), using the 'short the green wire in the 24-pin power cable to ground' trick to get the board to power up.

Long story short, when I first powered up the system, the lights on the mobo light up, the CPU fan spins up, but not the fan on the graphics adapter. There was no POST beep (apparently no onboard speaker?) and no video sync signal, although the grahpics adapter did get slightly warm to the touch (not over hot, maybe 120F although I didnt leave the power on for long).

I powered off the system and reset the BIOS (by shorting the CLR_CMOS pins) and powered up and voila, the graphics card fan spun up and the system POST-ed.

Hooray! (not so fast...)

I powered down and back up, and the original symptoms reappear - cpu fan spins up but not the video card, no POST.

So that's the situation. I can get the system to POST, but only if I reset the BIOS before powering up. No combination of BIOS settings allows me to survive a power-cycle, even totally underclocking and disabling every feature in the BIOS. While in the BIOS, checking the PC-Health screen, everythiing looks reasonably normal - some voltages are slightly low (like .01-.02V) and temps are around 45C)

Ok, that's the situation. If anyone could help me out with some troubleshooting advice, etc. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks & I'm glad I found this forum, hopefully it's nothing major and I can get this sucker running happily with a minimum of fuss.

-Dave (aka Major PITA)

[Major Pita]

Re: Help! EP45-DS3R barely POSTs

Update: While waiting for some suggestions I flashed the BIOS to the latest version (F10) using QFlash & a USB key, cleared the CMOS, loaded optimized defaults, saved & restarted. No improvement, same problem.

I popped in an old Nvidia 7900GT graphics card. Same problems as before.

I removed all but one stick of ram. Same problem. Swapped sticks. Same problem.

Voltages are a little different than I mentioned above:
Vcore 1.172V
DDR18V 1.904V
+3.3V 3.248V
+12V 11.858V

System Temp 46C
CPU Temp 48C


I'm stuck.

[Technophobe]

Re: Help! EP45-DS3R barely POSTs

Put a speaker on and listen for any beep error codes that sound. Got all the power plugs in the right spot?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Help! EP45-DS3R barely POSTs

So your system will not start with one stick of ram in slot one? Can you test each stick in another system? Surely they are not all bad, but maybe the one or two you tried.

That would have been my first suggestion, often times you will need to use one to get into the BIOS and make the needed changes for the rest of your ram, Such as Manually set Ram voltages, added MCH voltage and timings


You say on your desk, is this on or off a motherboard tray? If on one, please try off incase you have a short somewhere.

And please disconnect everything else. So you only have CPU and heatsink, One stick of ram in slot one, and your Graphics card... No hard drives yet, they are not needed.

Then see if it will start, if it does one by one plug in your others items starting with your hard drives. That way you can find out of one of your drives or CD players or other items is causing a failure.

And be sure you triple check all power connections such as 24pin, and ATX 4 or 8 pin to be sure they are fully plugged in.

What cooler are you using? Does it have a rear mounting plate? If so, please remove the CPU and reseat it and put some electrical tape on the inside of the mounting plate between the board and the plate to be sure there is no short there either. And when/if you do this PLEASE do remove and reinstall the CPU itself, sometimes this helps for sure

For 2x2 or 4x2 you do need to set MCH voltage to 1.25-1.3 or so, and manually set the ram voltage, normally 2.0-2.1 check on your sticker.

You will also need to at first set the following settings high until you get going >>>

tRRD...........................................3-5 (use 5 or 6 for now)
tWTR..........................................3-6 (use 10-12 for now)
tWR............................................6-8 (use 12-14 for now)
tRFC...........................................52-62 (use 75 for now)
tRTP...........................................4-6 (use 8 for now)
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:2

Channel A & B
Static tRead Value.........................:8-12 (use 10-12 for now)

Motherboard Voltage Control
Voltage Type.………... Manual
CPU
CPU Vcore….……….........................:
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<<1.3-1.4 (Use 1.34-1.38 now)
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: <<< 1.5-1.6 (try 1.54-1.56 now)
CPU Referen.…………....0.755V*.......: <<< .61% Of Vtt (Termination above)
CPU Reference2………,,0.800V*.......:<<< .67% Of Vtt (Termination above)

MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....1.100V...........: << 1.25-1.35 (try 1.25 then 1.3)

[Major Pita]

Re: Help! EP45-DS3R barely POSTs

Put a speaker on and listen for any beep error codes that sound. Got all the power plugs in the right spot?

Thanks, Techno. I don't want ignore your post, but I'll roll your suggestions into L's and respond there.

[Major Pita]

Re: Help! EP45-DS3R barely POSTs

Hi L,

First off, muchos grasias for giving this some thought.

Ok, cutting to the chase, I can now cold-boot POST with one stick, but even using your new increased-voltage/relaxed-timing settings (see below) I can't get it to POST with a second stick of ram installed.

New settiings:
CPU Vcore -> Auto
CPU Termination -> 1.380V
CPU PLL -> 1.570V
CPU Reference -> 0.844V
CPU REference2 -> (this setting doesnt exist in my bios)
MCH Core -> 1.300V
DRAM Voltage -> 2.100V

SPD -> 5-5-5-18
tRRD -> 6
tWTR -> 12
tWR -> 14
tRFC -> 75
tRTP -> 8
CMD -> 2
tRead (A&B) -> 12

With these settings, using 2x2 sticks, the system goes into an infinite reboot cycle.

Is there something I'm doing wrong here?

You know, thinking about it, even if I can get this RAM working somehoe, I'm not sure I'm happy with the direction this is going. For instance, if I need to reset the BIOS for some reason, I now have to yank the vid card and 3 of the 4 sticks of ram, reset CMOS, load a working CMOS profile, then yank vid card, install ram, restart? Oh, my poor mobo slots! So my grin isn't exactly a happy one at the moment.

So, it looks like it's this cheap Corsair XMS2 ram, eh? If this is going to be a problematic part with this mobo, if I decide to RMA it, what brand/model of ram would you suggest I look at? I need to run 8GB (required for the very heavy duty 3D cad work I'm doing these days), 4x2GB seems to be the price/capacity sweet-spot these days... Any suggestions?

In any case, thanks for your help. I'm sure one way or another we'll get to the bottom of this.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Help! EP45-DS3R barely POSTs

What MCH latch do you have set, and what FSB are you using? Did you set Driving strength profile, if so to what?

You should hook up your case's reset switch to the Clear CMOS jumpers and then just hold that in for a few minutes to clear CMOS. Then you wont have to pull all that so much

[Major Pita]

Re: Help! EP45-DS3R barely POSTs

Hey L,

Thanks for your attempt to help, but I decided to RMA the RAM and order some of that Mushkin Black stuff that seems to work so well. I'll let you know how it goes, hopefully on another (more positive) thread.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Help! EP45-DS3R barely POSTs

Good luck and great choice, Hope mine gets here soon!