GA-EP45-DS3P Issue, cant enter the BIOS.

[GaletAnonym]

Hello there, i just got my gigabyte board a few days ago and ran into trouble immediatly. When i first tried my system specs were:

Mobo: GA-EP45-DS3P
CPU: Intel Core 2 Q9550
Video card: ATi Radeon HD4870x2
RAM: Corsair 2x2gb 1066mhz
PSU: Corsair 650w

What happened was that when i powered the system on it would reboot after just a few seconds, before i got anything on the screen, it would keep rebooting in a neverending loop. I tried removing one of my RAMs but the problem was still there so i decided to try some other components, my new system spec is:

Mobo: GA-EP45-DS3P
CPU: Intel Core 2 Q9550
Video card: GeForce 6600LE
RAM: 512mb 566mhz old ram stick.
PSU: Corsair 650w

What happens now when i turn it on is that it will get to the point were i see the motherboard thing on my screen but there it freezes, i cannot enter the BIOS, POST-screen or anything else, it just locks on me and after a while the system just turns off.

Worth telling is that i did actually got to the motherboard screen two times with my corsair memory and with the corsair i could get into the BIOS, i just wasnt smart enough at the time to up the voltage from 1.8v to 2.1v(thats why the ram requires), i've tried getting the system that far a million times with the corsairs afterwards but never succeed.

Ive also tried booting up without any IDE or S-ATA unit, without the CMOS battery(as well as reseting CMOS), unplugging the power-on, reset & hdd led cables from my chassis since i read that antec chassis are known for bad cables.

I would suspect that the motherboard was faulty but since i got into the BIOS twice with my corsairs im not so sure, could it be the PSU? Any tips are appreciated, thank you.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP45-DS3P Issue, cant enter the BIOS.

I would suspect the ram for sure, please keep trying with one stick in slot one. And please again try to fully clear the CMOS, my method is here in post # 2 >>>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide-27576/

Try with only one stick (test both types if you have to, but either should work at 1.8 defaults just with looser the stated specs), Smaller GFX Card, and CPU/Heatsink. Not hard drives or anything else until you get going

Once you do get into the BIOS please load and apply optimized defaults, reboot back the the BIOS and set your 2.1V ram voltage, set trfc to 54-62 and add some MCH Voltage and then shut down and put in the other stick

[GaletAnonym]

Re: GA-EP45-DS3P Issue, cant enter the BIOS.

I would suspect the ram for sure, please keep trying with one stick in slot one. And please again try to fully clear the CMOS, my method is here in post # 2 >>>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide-27576/

Try with only one stick (test both types if you have to, but either should work at 1.8 defaults just with looser the stated specs), Smaller GFX Card, and CPU/Heatsink. Not hard drives or anything else until you get going

Once you do get into the BIOS please load and apply optimized defaults, reboot back the the BIOS and set your 2.1V ram voltage, set trfc to 54-62 and add some MCH Voltage and then shut down and put in the other stick

Thanks for the tips but i still cant get into the bios after trying to power up the computer like 10 times for each ram & socket (tried all 3 sticks in all 4 slots so thats about 120 tries). The corsairs makes the computer restart before i get to where i can enter the BIOS and the other one makes the computer freeze once i get to where i can enter the BIOS. I dont know if it matters but with the stick that lets me see the motheboard thing on the screen seemed to be working better the further from the cpu it was seated, in the two slots closest to the CPU it would act somewhat like the corsairs, in the third slot from the cpu i would see a flash of light on the screen before it reboots and in the 4th it would get to motherboard logo and stay there for about 20 seconds before the system turns off.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP45-DS3P Issue, cant enter the BIOS.

Do you have any other older DDR2 ram? Any size will do, Just want to try to test older because it should for sure be 1.8V and should work provided the board is ok.

Did you ever get the CMOS to clear? They way you can be sure is you should get a CMOS Checksum error when you boot the system. So try my method if you have not with the older ram installed in slot one (Or 4 if you think it is better there). If you still cannot get this error, try clearing the CMOS like this. Unplug the PSU From the wall and press and Hold the Power button down for 1 minute, Put a Jumper on the Clear CMOS Pins, Remove the battery and let the system sit for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the Jumper, put the battery back in and plug your PSU into the wall. Now when you start your system you should get a black screen with a checksum error that allows you to choose several things. Choose last known good.

If you still get no joy, you may have to RMA the board. It should work with our older ram for sure as it is likely 1.8V anyway. Most All DDR2 including your Corsair should default to 5-5-5-18 timings at 1.8V this is a "Standard" that all ram has to follow set by the JEDEC standard. So being as your Corsair should default to this, and your older ram is likely already 1.8V your board may just be damaged is why it will not start.

Did you buy from newegg? If so you can call them up and likely get a Cross-Shipped Board RMA'd to you if you ask right. I have done this several times. If you do not shop newegg, then you would still be better of calling in your RMA then doing it online, you may get any place to cross ship to you if you ask nicely and explain how Dependant on the item you are

[GaletAnonym]

Re: GA-EP45-DS3P Issue, cant enter the BIOS.

Do you have any other older DDR2 ram? Any size will do, Just want to try to test older because it should for sure be 1.8V and should work provided the board is ok.

Did you ever get the CMOS to clear? They way you can be sure is you should get a CMOS Checksum error when you boot the system. So try my method if you have not with the older ram installed in slot one (Or 4 if you think it is better there). If you still cannot get this error, try clearing the CMOS like this. Unplug the PSU From the wall and press and Hold the Power button down for 1 minute, Put a Jumper on the Clear CMOS Pins, Remove the battery and let the system sit for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the Jumper, put the battery back in and plug your PSU into the wall. Now when you start your system you should get a black screen with a checksum error that allows you to choose several things. Choose last known good.

If you still get no joy, you may have to RMA the board. It should work with our older ram for sure as it is likely 1.8V anyway. Most All DDR2 including your Corsair should default to 5-5-5-18 timings at 1.8V this is a "Standard" that all ram has to follow set by the JEDEC standard. So being as your Corsair should default to this, and your older ram is likely already 1.8V your board may just be damaged is why it will not start.

Did you buy from newegg? If so you can call them up and likely get a Cross-Shipped Board RMA'd to you if you ask right. I have done this several times. If you do not shop newegg, then you would still be better of calling in your RMA then doing it online, you may get any place to cross ship to you if you ask nicely and explain how Dependant on the item you are

Thanks and uhm, no i never got the CMOS error you talk about. Either way shouldnt just pressing the onboard "clr CMOS" button clear it? I'll give your method a try for sure (i have tried to leave the jumper on for about an hour but never removed the battery).

I've tried another stick of ram (actually two other sticks of ram) both 512mb 533mhz DDR2 as the first one, when i power up my system now i sometimes get to the motherboard screen and i can get into whatever i want its just that my computer shuts off after a while, seems that the longer i leave the computer alone the longer it will stay on with the "new" ram.

Could this be simply because 533mhz isnt supported by the motherboard(well i know its not im just wondering if that could be why the system shuts off on me)? If so a 800mhz would do the trick but i dont wanna spend money on something that might not work.

I'll have to think about returning the board however i'm having a hard time believing that the MB is the problem here because i had a anus p5.. i mean asus p5q-e before which was faulty and after reading up on the p5q boards i decided to change it for this one which. The p5q-e did not behave anything like this one, in fact it did not behave at all.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP45-DS3P Issue, cant enter the BIOS.

OK, I wsa not sure if your board had the Clear CMOS Button. Since it does, yes press and hold this down with the PSU Unplugged or off for a minute or so, and see if you get the checksum error. If not, remove the battery and press and hold the clear CMOS Button for a bit to see if you can get it to work. Be sure to also Hold in the case power button to be sure all power is drained from the PSU itself as well

Yes, using that slow ram could cause boot up issues. I would think you would for sure have better luck with 667 or 800 Ram

[GaletAnonym]

Re: GA-EP45-DS3P Issue, cant enter the BIOS.

I would suspect the ram for sure, please keep trying with one stick in slot one. And please again try to fully clear the CMOS, my method is here in post # 2 >>>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide-27576/

Try with only one stick (test both types if you have to, but either should work at 1.8 defaults just with looser the stated specs), Smaller GFX Card, and CPU/Heatsink. Not hard drives or anything else until you get going

Once you do get into the BIOS please load and apply optimized defaults, reboot back the the BIOS and set your 2.1V ram voltage, set trfc to 54-62 and add some MCH Voltage and then shut down and put in the other stick

Ive had some progress thats why im qouting this post, i managed to get into the BIOS a few times with the old 533mhz RAM (only worked when i used two at the time btw, 1 would make it freeze). I set the voltage to 2.1v, timings to 5-5-5-15 instead of 4-4-4-12 cause it says the corsairs should have the first one. Upped the MCH core voltage by .04, from like 1.1 to 1.14 (one step). Set the trfc to 54 (i didnt find any way to set it 54-62 so i guessed you ment something in between). However the corsair still wont work, i managed to get one of the corsair memories to work on its own just after getting the voltage right, it worked two times one of which it flew right by the Gigabyte screen and told me to insert a harddrive, the second time it froze inside the BIOS. Never got it to work again after that even after reseting the other values, keeping just the 2.1v on ram voltage.

Corsairs website says that this board is compatible with the RAM ive got so maybe the i should RMA the RAM? Or is it the board? (the turn off problem with the 533MHz rams is still there btw)

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP45-DS3P Issue, cant enter the BIOS.

Yes, I meant between 52-62 so good thinking. Sorry I did not make that clear. You will likely need at least 1.2-1.25 or so for 2x2GB

I am not sure which, Since you have two types of ram and neither work it very well could be the board as I can boot with 4200 ram in my board just fine without doing anything, el cheapo kind even I think. Unlabeled I know that much.

So it may well be the board, can you still get a RMA where you bought it? If so you may want to do this while you still can