new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

[slackerking]

Hi all, this is my first post here but you all have been more then helpful on a couple build problems in the past and for that i thank you.

The problem is the mobo will not post with any components i use on it. I bench tested it and swapped parts from other working machines to troubleshoot it. Every component works on other mobo's and no component combination i have on hand will work with the ep45-DS3L.

When its powered up everything lights up, fans turn on then it's continuous short beeps. The manual says its a power error.

Unless anyone knows of something stupid simple that could cause this I'm assuming i have a faulty mobo and should start the RMA at the egg.

If it's a bad board, it will be the 1st gigabyte board i've gotten, out of 9 builds, that had any problems a BIOS update couldn't solve.

Thanks.

edit: ok some specs: New build ep45 ds3l, e8400, corsair 650 PSU, 2x2gb G.skill 1066 ram, GTX 260

All confirmed working in other rigs:
CPU: e8400, e5200, e2160
PSU: Corsair 650, Antec 650 trio, OCZ gamerXtreme 700.
RAM: G.skill DDR2 800 and 1066 kits, GEIL DDR2 800, kingston DDR800, all 4 gig kits using 1 stick for troubleshooting.
VID: 9800gtx+,GTX 260, 7600gt, hd4830
MOBO: p35 ds3l, p5q pro, p965 ds3r

I think I've ran out of tricks to try to get this to post.

[NimrodAUS]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

Ok so i take it you have tried all those differenct power supplies? Are you plugging in the 4 or 8 pin CPU Power connector as well as the 24pin ATX one?

[Sunburn74]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

are you sure you're counting the beeps properly?

[slackerking]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

Sorry for the late reply, i was up all night last night till around 3-4 in the afternoon tearing rigs apart to test this, i had to pass out for a bit and clear my head.

Yeah i have tried all 3 power supplies, all 3 work perfect with any other mobo. Believe me i have quadruple checked the power connections each time. The ep45ds3l only has a 4 pin cpu plug, and i'm positive it is plugged in every attempt. As well as the 24pin. I really wish it was something that stupid simple.

The beeps, well i power up the mobo with any combination of parts and when i expect the post beep it instead starts beeping fast and short and wont stop.

Giga tech told me to try a no ram boot>clear cmos> 1 stick of ram blah blah. I hadn't tried a no ram boot to clear some ram setting so i tried to no avail. I'm gonna mess around with it till late sunday b-4 i start the RMA, can't ship it till monday. *sigh*

[Thorhall]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

Hi there,

I am new to all this too so I can only tell you my experience.
I have the EP45-DS3L too and I recently flashed the BIOS with F10. Straight after this I restarted my PC and it gave me this exact thing - the short continuous beeps. I thought I had bricked my mobo.
I turned off the PC and tried again and it did it again. The next time I turned it on I just let it beep and it restarted again, then it beeped again and restarted again and then it displayed the proper screen and let me enter BIOS.

Upon entering BIOS it then stated that it was an issue with overclocking and wrong voltage (since it kept the settings from my previous BIOS).

So have you tried to just let it beep (mine took about 10 seconds of continuous beeping for 2-3 automatic restarts) for it to boot and you to be able to enter BIOS?

Just my two cents worth. Maybe it helps.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

Short fast beeps tend to be memory issues, that could be incorrect timings or voltages, or even incompatible ram. I think all of your's is compatible, but maybe the incorrect tRD or voltage is being applied at stock settings.

Can you please try with one KNOWN Good stick in slot one only, after you clear your CMOS as I outline in post #2 in this thread >>

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

[yendor0311]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

I had the exact same problem (approx. 20 fast beeps / no post /reboot and repeat ad nausem) a week ago with a new build I've been putting together. After many frustrating hours of troubleshooting, I finally began to suspect that the backplace of my massive cooler (Asus Silent Square) was in contact with the case beneath the MB... so I moved the whole shebang to another case (Lian Li Pc-60) with higher clearance underneath, and it booted up (on her second try)!!! I have since hacked a 4"x5" hole in the original case, transfered all the hardware back into it and now it boots up every time. Hope this is your solution also.

[slackerking]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

Solved:
Sorry for the late update. Lack of sleep and work got the best of me for a couple days.

After reading your post Lsdmeasap i decided i should try tinkering with that ram a bit more, you know your stuff. Although i must admit i did not expect it to be a ram problem. It was a power beep code and all the ram i had ( 2 of 4 kits are on the QVL) would'nt work with this mobo and kept throwing a power code but worked nonetheless on other mobo's.

I followed your suggestion and cleared the cmos as outlined in lsdmeasap's guide. Installed 1, 2 gig stick of g.skill 800 ram in slot 1 to 4 and got the same code. Removed it and still got the same code. I decided to start makeing it throw off different error codes.

Pulling the vid card with no ram in and the cpu fan unplugged, ONLY after the 20+ min CMOS clear WITH the battery out, finally threw an error code other then power.

I can't remember the specific config's and the corresponding error codes they threw in any kind of order. I just kept trying different things till I finally got it to post a RAM error which came with a 2gig stick of g.skill 1066 ram in slot 3 with no video card. I stopped everything and pulled the battery and cleared cmos again for 20 mins.

Then with the video card back in i jumped the power pins and got a beautifull cycleing boot NO errors. After its 3rd cycle it posted a successfull boot and let me get into BIOS, it's all down hill from here.

This was the most quirky board to get up and running i have ever had the pleasure of palying with. It was a pain but i loved every min of it, yeah i know im sick.

Thanks too all that had a look here, the imput you gave kinda made me think of something to try and it worked!

on a side note: ep45-ds3l+e8400 eo with a [email protected] sitting at 460x9 1.325v in BIOS under a core-contact freezer is intelburn stable for 20 pass's max temp via realtemp 3.0 is 67*. Everything else is on auto! i am gonna have so much fun trying not to blow this chip up.


Edit:edit: Another odd thing about all this, my 4 gig g.skill 800 kit no longer works at spec. It's 5-5-5-15 @1.8-1.9 ddr 800. After trying too use it to get the ds3l up and running it now will not work @ or under ddr 800. pass's memtest at 880-900 tho....idk what to think about it.

[NimrodAUS]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

Geez, I got a sore head just reading about your solution. Im glad you got it all working though.

[Zyndell]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

Hey guys,

While googling for solutions to my problem, I stumbled across this case which comes very close to mine, so I thought I'd give it a try and beg for help here.

I put this PC together about a year ago. After a while, the SATA controller on the old Mainboard (MSI PN7) died, so I RMAed it and purchased a Gigabyte EP45-DS3L instead. Now I've had problems ever since, not only cause of system instabilities (reset when playing high performance games), but also cause it refuses to start in certain memory configurations.

Hardware:
Gigabyte EP45-DS3L rev 1.0 with F11_b BIOS (tried with F10 aswell)
4 x 1 GB DDR2 OCZ Reaper PC 8500 5-5-5-15
Intel Core2Quad Q6600 CPU 4x2666 MHz
XFX Nvidia 8800 GTX
OCZ 900W PSU
1x 320GB Maxtor, 2x 500GB WD HDDs

The memory problems I am encountering, is that the system will only start with 1 single RAM stick. If I put in 2,3 or 4, it will just give continuous short beeps and restart after a while. I replaced ALL the hardware components, one by one, with no improvements. I even RMAed the Mainboard because I thought it was damaged, but now I'm just encountering the same problems again with the new one (same model).

The default memory settings in BIOS are 1066 MHz, 1.8 Volts and 5-5-5-15 latencies. I adjusted the voltage to 2.1, and I tried running them with only 800 MHz with no results. I ran memory checks on all 4 sticks one after another with a BackTrack AND an Ubuntu Live CDs, all 4 passed both tests without any errors. I have flashed by BIOS several times and tried with different versions and I cleared the CMOS a few times by jumpering, removing the battery and waiting for 20 mins, all which led to no improvements.

Anything left I could try ? Thanks for any ideas, suggestions or whatever you can come up with !

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

Did you do a clean install when you moved to this machine/board? If not I suggest you start there.

4x1GB does require a few things at least to be set manually, if you need help with that let me know and I can give you full settings to work with.

You would need to set performance enhance on standard, set your own memory multi, set your timings and ram voltage, set MCH Core voltage to 1.20-1.24 and you may need more Vtt depending on your other setting choices.

Quick multiple beeps is due to tRD (Static tRead Value) set to low, raise this and it will stop. Of course you must get everything else set properly as well though

And please do use the latest BIOS and be sure to load optimized after you flash then reboot back to the BIOS before making your changes. For simplicity you may want to do the BIOS flash/optimized with only one stick of memory installed. Then once you are ready adjust the BIOS to what it needed for 4GB and shut down and install the rest

[Zyndell]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

If with "install", you refer to drivers, then I did not re-install everything as this board was the exact same board with the same chipset and the same revision than the one I RMAed. Starting the PC with 1 GB RAM, everything works perfectly well, so I doubt that any problems would come from there.

I did set the Performance Mode to Standard and the RAM voltage to 2.1V. I've been looking around for detailed instructions about the other memory settings, but didn't manage to get hold of a complete list, not even from the manufacturer's homepage. If you could provide me with those, that'd be a very big help and I'd greatly appreciate it.

I am currently using the latest BIOS, although it's still listed as a beta, and I did load optimized settings after flashing.

I may not be able to tinker around on this till next Friday, but I'll certainly try everything possible as soon as I get back home. Thanks a lot for your help !

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

MSI PN7 is a Nvidia based chipset, not the same at all as an Intel P45. I could be wrong, as maybe you did not post the full model name though? But if this is Nvidia based board you will need to do a full clean OS install

It may not be your problem either way though, but it would be advise to do a clean install anyway.

Since you do mention it is fine with 1GB of memory, can you please post me your full current settings and full specs again and I can help. Sounds like it may just be settings, template for your settings is in my signature.

I can help for sure, and can give you Full settings that should get your going. Let me know once you get back around and I will help!

[Zyndell]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

The PN7 was the board I had a while ago. After that one broke, I got my first EP45, which already had problems since the beginning. That one, I RMA'ed again, and am now using the second EP45 DS3L. With the first one of that kind, I of course did a full re-installation, and am now using the exact same mainboard again, since the company sent me a replacement.

I'm going to post all the settings I'm currently using as soon as I get home (probably thursday night).

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new ep45-DS3L won't post short fast beeps

Ahh ok! See I thought you moved an OS install from PN7 to P45, that is why I suggested that.

Aight, get me your settings when you can and I will advise back, hopefully we can get you going