GA-965P-S3 Beep on Start Up

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Houston3000

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Dec 14, 2006
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I recently built my PC and everything is running perfectly, however there is one glaring issue that keeps bugging me. When I start my system (power on not restart) I get one long beep before it shows my video card information. Once the beep is over the system boots perfectly fine with a single short beep and into windows.

I have:

Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 Motherboard
Intel C2D E6400
256MB Geforce 7900GS
Giel 1GB (2x512) DDR2 800Mhz RAM

After looking in my manual it says that 1 long beep and 1 short beep is either a "DRAM or M/B error" . So, my best guess would be a RAM issue, the Giel is not in the supported RAM list for the motherboard for the 800Mhz range but, really, only about 5 different types of 800Mhz RAM are in the list and, at the top of the document listing the compatibility types, in big bold letters, it states that they there are too many types of RAM to approve or disapprove and many aren't listed but can still be compatible. My memory checks out fine as a GB of Dual Channel Interleaved DDR RAM when the system posts at start up and shows up as a "1.00 GB of RAM" in Windows.

I could really use some help figuring this out, the motherboard uses "Award Bios" and I recently flashed it to the newest version. Is it possible the timings or voltages are wrong? According to Newegg the RAM I purchased has timings of 4-4-4-12 and a voltage of 2.1V. If it isn't a RAM issue it says it could also be a Mobo issue, is it possible that some wires are plugged in wrong from the case (COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW)?
 
I've got that board, but I can't offer much help. I've never had it beep at me, although I don't have a case speaker plugged in (not sure if it has a speaker on the board or not). Have you run test programs like orthos or memtest to check for memory errors? I've not used Giel before, but I've had ram in the past that wouldn't run stable at the advertised timings.
 
sandness said:
I've got that board, but I can't offer much help. I've never had it beep at me, although I don't have a case speaker plugged in (not sure if it has a speaker on the board or not). Have you run test programs like orthos or memtest to check for memory errors? I've not used Giel before, but I've had ram in the past that wouldn't run stable at the advertised timings.
Click to expand...

No, I haven't but I'm not really sure what I'd be looking for with those programs or... honestly, how to run them :confused: . Do you know how I would change the timings or at least check what they're running at?
 
One way to check your timings is to go into bios, hit CTRL + F1, go into MB Intelligent Tweaker section, and your timings will be there. It may be set to SPD, where it works at whatever timings are programmed for the given speed it is running (note, this may not be the advertised timings). Set it to Manual, then enter 4-4-4-12 for the first 4 specs listed. The other memory timings can be left on auto. Also in this screen, you have voltage options. Again set system voltage control to manual. You should up your vDimm by +0.3v to get it up to the 2.1v most ddr2 is rated at.

You could also use CPU-Z in windows http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-138.zip It tells you info on your cpu, motherboard, and ram.

As far as testing programs, I like Orthos. http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/beta2.htm There's a link for it. Unzip it and open the program. It gives you test options, such as small FFT for cpu testing, large FFT for ram testing, and a blend to test both. Choose a test and hit start. Let it run for at least 8hrs, or more, to test for errors. It stops upon finding an error and lights up red, so you'll know if there's a problem. It is good to start and let run overnight. There's really not much to it, so give it a try. You may also want to download the Intel thermal analysis tool http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/392 It will give you the temps of the processors- also good to know if you plan to overclock.
 
sandness said:
One way to check your timings is to go into bios, hit CTRL + F1, go into MB Intelligent Tweaker section, and your timings will be there. It may be set to SPD, where it works at whatever timings are programmed for the given speed it is running (note, this may not be the advertised timings). Set it to Manual, then enter 4-4-4-12 for the first 4 specs listed. The other memory timings can be left on auto. Also in this screen, you have voltage options. Again set system voltage control to manual. You should up your vDimm by +0.3v to get it up to the 2.1v most ddr2 is rated at.

You could also use CPU-Z in windows http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-138.zip It tells you info on your cpu, motherboard, and ram.

As far as testing programs, I like Orthos. http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/beta2.htm There's a link for it. Unzip it and open the program. It gives you test options, such as small FFT for cpu testing, large FFT for ram testing, and a blend to test both. Choose a test and hit start. Let it run for at least 8hrs, or more, to test for errors. It stops upon finding an error and lights up red, so you'll know if there's a problem. It is good to start and let run overnight. There's really not much to it, so give it a try. You may also want to download the Intel thermal analysis tool http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/392 It will give you the temps of the processors- also good to know if you plan to overclock.
Click to expand...

Wow, I didn't realize that Ctrl+F1 would bring up all these additional options.

Alright, so I should set:

CAS Latency Time - 4
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay - 4
DRAM RAS# Precharge - 4
Precharge dealy (tRAS) - 12 (yes, it says "dealy")

and leave the rest on the default auto settings, correct?

Than which option specifically (as listed in the BIOs) should I set to +0.3v?

I'll make sure to run the tests next time I have a free 8 hours if changing these settings doesn't stop the beep. Sorry about all the questions I just haven't done all this before and want to make sure I'm doing it correctly. If changing these settings causes my computer not to boot is there any way to reset them (like by removing the CMOS battery or anything)? Again, really appreciate the response :)
 
So far, so good on the memory timings.

Ram voltage should be labeled either VDIMM or VDDRII

If it happens to not boot, first try to short across the "clear cmos" pins near the battery. If that don't work, unplug the power and remove the battery for a minute. It will then restart at defaults.

The Ctrl+F1 thing is rather stupid, imo. I don't know why those extra options aren't in there right off the bat, as they are in other boards. Oh well.
 
Do you have the CPU/System Fan Fail Warning enabled?

On my board if I have that enabled I get a beep before the POST beep on cold boots, could that be the same beep your talking about?
 
Budzman said:
Do you have the CPU/System Fan Fail Warning enabled?

On my board if I have that enabled I get a beep before the POST beep on cold boots, could that be the same beep your talking about?
Click to expand...


Think we have a winner !!!! I seem to remember my DQ6 would do that (one long beep) when I first booted it on air cooling with the EIST or what ever the fark the "Smart" cooling setting is. Basically the cpu is so cool at boot, the fan does not immedately start turning which then sets off the fan fail alarm. Couple of seconds later the fans starts turning and the alarm quits. Silly silly silly.
 
sandness said:
So far, so good on the memory timings.

Ram voltage should be labeled either VDIMM or VDDRII

If it happens to not boot, first try to short across the "clear cmos" pins near the battery. If that don't work, unplug the power and remove the battery for a minute. It will then restart at defaults.

The Ctrl+F1 thing is rather stupid, imo. I don't know why those extra options aren't in there right off the bat, as they are in other boards. Oh well.
Click to expand...

Only thing I could find that had anything to do with RAM voltage was labeled something like "DDR OverVoltage Control" and set that to +0.3v"

Budzman said:
Do you have the CPU/System Fan Fail Warning enabled?

On my board if I have that enabled I get a beep before the POST beep on cold boots, could that be the same beep your talking about?
Click to expand...
That also seems rather likely, do you happen to remember what that setting is listed as in the BIOS? I couldn'd find a "CPU/System Fan Fail Warning"
 
Houston3000 said:
That also seems rather likely, do you happen to remember what that setting is listed as in the BIOS? I couldn'd find a "CPU/System Fan Fail Warning"
Click to expand...

just systematically go through all the bios options till something along the lines of that appears anyways what bios rev. are you using?
 
Alright, I found it and disabled it. I shut down completely, waited a few minutes, and rebooted. No beeps (except for the normal single short beep) :)

It seems it worked, but I noticed the beeps were inconsistent... this morning, after the PC had been off all night, it had 3 or 4 long beeps; after I changed the RAM settings and shut down and booted it back up (with only about 10 seconds in between) I only had one single long beep before the post. My point is I can't be sure it all worked out until I boot it again from a dead cold hour+ sleep. Either way the RAM is manually set to it's advertised settings and the fan fail safe is disabled so any other beeps and I know I have a problem.

Thanks for the help everyone, I'll be sure to post if I have any more questions ;)
 
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