Brand New Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 wont POST

[John_VanKirk]

Hi everyone,

I just finished building a brand new rig, using a Gigabyte GA-P55-UD7 MB, (ver 1.0), an i7-875-K CPU (which is on their approved CPU list), Corsair Dominator 8GB (4X2GB matched 1600 C8 RAM, which is on their approved DDR3 list), a new XFX Radeon 5850 (HD-585A-ZNDC) video card, & Silverstone 1000 W PSU.

On POST, get an error code 26. No beep code, and since it does not get to the System Setup, I don't know the Award BIOS Ver #.
Sent an to Gigabyte Support but no reply so far.

Indicator LEDs OK on Soft OFF. High Utilization MP, VP, CPU Phase LEDs on power ON.
Gigabyte web site says i7-875 requires the BIOS F5, which was posted 5/14/10. I suspect there is an earlier BIOS ver F1-F3 on this MB requiring a lowly i3-530. i5-650, or i7-860.

Board purchased from NewEgg 5/15/10. Any ideas?
Any way to get to the Sys SetUp to flash the BIOS? Any other tricks to troubleshoot the MB?

Debug Code 26h says "1) If Early_Init_Onboard_Generator is not defined, Onboard clock initialization. Disable respective clock resource to empty PCI & DIMM. 2) Init onboard PWM. 3) Init onboard H/W monitor devices." No idea what these mean!

The next error code 27h (which ? actually cause the stop says) "Initialize INT 09 buffer".

Demeaning options include buying an i5-530 for $100 to see if it POSTS, take it to a shop and beg them to try an older CPU, or RMA back to NewEgg.

Or possibly there are other tricks I'm not aware of that could be tried at home.

Any next step suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[wazza300]

Re: Brand New Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 wont POST

yes another user has the very same problem,same chip/p55 platform

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/welcome-gigabyte-technical-support-24883/index98.html

take board to local store with the latest bios (just .bin file)on a fat32 formatted usb stick and ask if they can drop in a i3/i5/i7 750 and flash the bios for you

[John_VanKirk]

Re: Brand New Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 wont POST

Hi Wazza300,

Thanks for the reply. I have the GA-P55A-UD7 not the UD5 but I think you mean the same concept applies regarding flashing the BIOS to the latest F6 version posted 6/30/10.

Since I bought the MB thru NewEgg, it humbles me to have to take it to the local shop and beg them to flash "fix" the BIOS so my $325 MB I bought online will at least function.

Also the BIOS update file on their web site is "motherboard_bios_GA-P55A-UD7_F6.exe", not a BIN file type. Is that the file you mean to put on a USB flash drive?

Do you know what the debug error codes mean? Initially I get a 26 h code as listed above.

When I take out the high end FXF Radeon 5850 OC video card, the debug code goes to the end FF (Boot attempt Int 19h) which makes me think it "passed" and is attempting to read the "presently not attached HDD". However without a graphics card installed, I should get the beep code "long, short, short" indicating a graphics card error which I don't.

I don't have another PCI-e graphics card to try, which I could buy for testing to see if I could access the BIOS, but that's a pain.

Any further thoughts?

[wazza300]

Re: Brand New Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 wont POST

yeah i meant the p55 platform,each mb and bios will be different though,it could be something in the bios thats halting when it gets to the gpu though?? maybe this is what they fixed in newer bios's so buying another gpu might not fix it,yes its an exe bios file i think you have to click it then it extracts the .bin file to where you want,or open the exe with winrar cant remember as bios's for my board are in winrar with just the bin file inside

i know its a pain but i would try the easiest/cheapest option and try and get the board flashed,if that doesnt work then maybe faulty gpu

[John_VanKirk]

Re: Brand New Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 wont POST

Hi Wazza300,

I have made real progress in nailing down the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD7 not POSTing. First clue was I disconnected all the peripheral hardware like you suggested, even the video card. The MB then gave me the "no video card present" beep code, but then went on thru the error code sequence to FF, looking for a HDD. Not having another PCI-e card, I tried an old #9 PCI card, and lo and behold, it POSTed to the System Setup. (This MB does list a PCI grapahics card as an option!) So, using that old video adapter, I was able to flash the BIOS to the latest version handling my Intel i7 875 CPU. Didn't have to substitute an older CPU for that step. which I was very grateful for.

After talking with XFX about the graphics adapter, I took it down to "Central Computer Systems" to have it cheched out, and it was found defective. Wouldn't POST in any of their setups. Also bought an inexpensive 5670 PCI-e "test card" to have at home, and using that, it POSTs just fine in both PCI-e X16 slots.

So, the hang in POSTing looks like a defective brand new XFX high end HD-5850 XXX video card, which is on its way back to XFX for replacement.

When a replacement arrives, should be set to install the Win-7 64 and go from there.

Anyone had similar probems with a new video card not initializing, and causing the motherboard not to POST?

[wazza300]

Re: Brand New Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 wont POST

ahh im glad you fixed it,and yeah you were right with ff code meaning everything was fine,if it wasnt the gpu it would have stopped at a different code than ff when you had the gpu unplugged,curse xfx