EX58-UD5 not booting - how to diagnose?

[fogster]

I just built myself a new desktop. Hardware:

GA-EX58-UD5
i7-930
6x 2GB OCZ PC3-12800 ([email protected])
EVGA GeForce 9800GT
600W PSU
Zalman cooler

I initially tried booting it with more stuff, like the CPU power buttons / LEDs, a hard drive and DVD drive hooked up, etc., but have been trying to isolate the problem, so I've just got the stuff above (plus case fans) plugged in at the moment.

I power it on and everything looks good inside the case. All the fans spin up -- case fans, CPU cooler, and the video card's fan. At first all the LEDs on the board power on and the motherboard readout goes through a bunch of normal-seeming steps. Once it hits FF, the other LEDs turn off, which I think is normal since it hasn't booted, so there's no load.

I get no graphics on the monitor, though. At first I suspected the video card, but I've also noticed that my G15 keyboard (USB) never lights up or in any way indicates it's getting power. So I'm worried that the problem is worse.

I did worry about the RAM, since it's DDR-1600 and I wasn't sure if it was supported. I have six 2GB sticks, but am now just booting one in the first white slot (closest to CPU) as I've seen recommended elsewhere. If I boot with no RAM, the LED readout on the board changes to "62", so it seems that it's seeing the RAM okay.

I had tried plugging the "HD Audio" cord on my case into the one on the motherboard, but got no beeps. I'm not sure the pinout was a perfect match, though, so it's possible the case speaker wasn't even hooked up right. When I tried pulling out unnecessary components to isolate the problem, I disconnected everything from the case except the fans. (Would I get beep codes through the headphone jack in the back? I tried that, but I don't ever recall BIOS beeps coming out of headphones on other computers.)

Since this is an all-new system, I really have no idea what component is the problem. I'm posting in the Gigabyte forum since it's a Gigabyte board at the heart of everything, but that doesn't mean I suspect it's the motherboard that's bad.

Anyone have any advice for how to proceed? (It's entirely possible I'm doing something stupid.)

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: EX58-UD5 not booting - how to diagnose?

What 600W PSU do you have? In general 550-650W PSU's are pushing it on X58, but several brands are known to be problematic even with 750-1000W models.

FF means good post, and things have been passed off from the BIOS to windows.

Are you sure your GFX Card works? Can you test it on another machine to be sure? Is this using a new monitor, or your first time using HDMI through this monitor?

Just wondering, in case you need to switch the monitor from VGA to HDMI instead, or visa versa, cause it really sounds to me as if the system is booting normally, you are just not seeing the display due to some other reason.

Your USB Keyboard would need to be enabled in the BIOS (And updated BIOS to correct issues with that particular on), USB Keyboard is disabled in the BIOS by default.

Beep codes will only come through the onboard speaker header (Not Audio connections), and would only work with a normal 2 pin case speaker. I doubt you have any error beeps though as FF means Good POST and would only produce the one normal beep.

I would verify in another machine that the GFX card works, and the monitor is setup for how you are connecting it to the machine.

[fogster]

Re: EX58-UD5 not booting - how to diagnose?

Okay, that gives me a lot of hope. I was freaking out thinking that there were major issues.

It's a known-good monitor, but a new, untested card. My only other machine is a laptop, so I'll have to call a friend and see if we can try swapping cards to see if mine works in his system, or if his works in my system, briefly.

The PSU is an OCZ "Mod XStream-Pro" 600W, and seemed to have good reviews. I wouldn't try running a RAID array and a bank of graphics cards while overclocking, but right now it's just got to drive the CPU and cooler, two case fans, a stick of RAM, and the graphics card.

[fogster]

Re: EX58-UD5 not booting - how to diagnose?

Haha! I'm an idiot, and probably never would have noticed it if it weren't for your help.

I had the graphics card in the PCI-E slot snugly, but totally missed that it needed to be plugged into the power supply, too. I just hooked it up and rebooted, and now I'm watching the machine boot. If you hadn't seemed so confident that it was a graphics card issue I wouldn't have checked. The lack of power to the keyboard had me convinced the board was dead.

Thanks so much!

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: EX58-UD5 not booting - how to diagnose?

Superb to hear!

Ya, I knew as soon as you said FF was the final code it had to be something with the monitor settings or the graphic card, sorry I forgot to think of plugging in the card!

Surprised this card did not cause that to stop the boot procedure, most newer cards would.

Glad to hear you got it all going now!

Post back anytime if you need more help

[wazza300]

Re: EX58-UD5 not booting - how to diagnose?

your lucky it still booted,alot of users have problems with ocz psu's but glad your up and running