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No POST - need help with my DS3

M

mccorry

n00b
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Messages
58
Hey everyone.... I'm kinda bummed right now....

I've had my machine up and running for about 2 months now... it is:

GA-P965-DS3 Motherboard
Intel E6400 Core2Duo CPU
2 GB Crucial XMS2 memory
ATI Radeon X1900GT
FSP 500W power supply
Vista Home Premium


Tonight... I got my Thermalright XP-90C heatsink in the mail. I pulled everything apart to remove the stock Intel heatsink and instal the new piece.

It all went really well.. I got it back together and she booted right up into Vista. I ran Intel TAT. The idle temperature was 38C. I put full load on the CPU for 5 minutes and she leveled out at 52C at 100% load.

Then I remove the load to let the CPU cool down. After about 1 minute, it had cooled back down to 40C, but then the screen froze and she locked up. I couldn't get any response, so I powered her down with the power button.

When I went to reboot the machine (turn it back on), the case fan and the CPU fan start spinning REALLY slowly, the video card fan is at high speed, and I get no video and no POST. No beeps or alarms... just NOTHING. I have tried to reset the CMOS but it didn't make a difference.

I pulled the XP-90C out and remounted it... but no difference.
I pulled the CPU out and powered it up with no processor in the socket and the fans come on high speed.....

HELP. I am completely stuck. Did I cook my CPU or my MOBO? :(
 
You didn't get any thermal grease on the mobo did you? Double check video card and mobo connections. Remove the graphics card and put in some old pci video, or if it has onboard video use that. See if it posts. If no post then its mobo, cpu, ram.
 
I just pulled out the PCIe video card and installed an old PCI card.... no difference.

Then I pulled the heatsink off again. There was a small dab of Arctic silver on the Mobo, just below the socket (between the socket and the NB). I wiped it off... but it didn't make any difference.

Could I have flexed my MOBO too much when I installed the new heatsink, and possibly damaged it?
 
Flexing implies that you don't have enough standoffs. I suppose it is possible that you could have flexed the board, thus breaking some circuits. Doubtfull though. Some guys will recomend clearing the cmos and removing the battery for 15-30 min.

"There was a small dab of Arctic silver on the Mobo, just below the socket (between the socket and the NB)." What is the NB? Also, I use rubbing alcohol (let it dry) for cleaning up the thermal paste.

No post with an older (known to be working) pci card sounds more than likely a mobo problem thus far.

Now we need to test mobo, cpu, ram. I thought a working mobo should beep at you if you are missing components like memory? Make sure to have the speaker connection plugged into correct pogo pins. Do you have any other systems at your disposal, that you can exchange parts with? A friend?
 
Yeah... I am suspecting the Mobo as well. (NB = Northbridge chip). I did use Rubbing acohol to remove the paste... but it started taking the blue finish coat off the board. :mad: Anyhow... the paste was cleaned off as soon as I saw it.

I get no beeps whatsoever... even when booting without memory or CPU installed. Unfortunately, I have the newest system of ally my buddies... no one has a socket 775 system besides me, so I am screwed with the whole swapout thing.

I did have to remove the Mobo form the case to install the LGA775 mounting kit... that is when I could've flexed the board. Also.. the metal backing plate for the mount could' be shorted... I am going to pull the board back out today and see if I can se anything.
I'm at a loss. I sent an Email to Gigabyte to ask about the no POST, slow fan speed, no beeping situation. Maybe they can shed some light on it. :confused:
 
Well, I narrowed it down the board.

I pulled the CPU heasink and re-installed the Intel OEM unit. The system booted up fine.
Re-installed the Thermalright and it wouldn't POST.

Ended up screwing around with the backplate preloading and loosened up the retainer brackets about 1/16" off the board. Finally got the thing to POST and go into Windows with the new heatsink.

So... evidently, there is a problem with my Mobo if I put too much tension on it in the CPU socket area. There bust be a bad connection in there somewhere that breaks when the board flexes.

For now... its running OK. I have it in Vista and OC'ed to 2.7 GHz.
More than likely, I'll be going out to get a replacement Mobo in the near future.

One flaky thing, now, however... is that the computer won't restart. It hangs on restart... and you have to manually push the reset button. :confused:
 
Well, I ended up RMA'ing the motherboard and got a new Rev. 3.3 board back this week. So far .. so good. ;)
 
I just looooooove to talk about my DS3.

Ahhhhh grounding issues.. gotta love em.. they're hardest to detect. You can't tell right away.. you'll boot into windows fine and then it'll freeze for no apparent reason, installing USB devices will cause hard system freeze. RMA time.

EXACT same issues on new replacement, system is unresponsive to cries of pain and anguish.

Think. Mem problems maybe? Ok we'll see about that.. hard shutdown via PSU flip switch, redux and no post. resetting the cmos is a major bitch as the x850xt as beautiful as it is blocks the CMOS pins. Try anyways and no go. Give up and go to bed, wake up and computer POSTS. Still alive.. Inside the bios and it freezes while im navigating.. weird bios corruption visible what is the matrix style.. oh shit the motherboard is toast just like the first one!

Cant be! Still not satisfied.. installing and deinstalling motherboard from case along with removing and reinstalling heavy ass Thermalright Ultra-120 for the eighth time.. hoping this time will be the bada bing!

I'm a stubborn bastard. I knew right away when I checked the back of the motherboard and the metal backplate is actually touching pins right under the cpu socket that it was the source of all my current chaos. Zalman 9500 has a plastic backplate I see, through the shiny packaging at my local fry's.

The only issue I have now with my setup is the funny curvy intel IHS, which i'll save for another day. 59C load, i can live with that

OP, does this scenario sound similar to yours at all?
 
Is it possible to put some kind of paper or cloth between the black metal plate for the cpu heat sink and the motherboard? I may end up getting the ds3 w/ the thermalright 120 tower and want to avoid this situation at all cost :)
 
Yes the DS3 has large solder points sticking up! I had the exact same issue if I tightened the heatsink properly, no post. If I loosened the mounts it would act normal but temps were WAY high due to not enough pressure on the cpu to heatsink interface.

Found that a sharp solder point was actually forcing it's way through the foam backing pad and hitting the backing plate.

A small bit of filing with a fingernail file and some extra foam tape, all is good!
 
I have the zalman 9500at, and didn't have any of those problems installing it. Maybe it was just the luck of the draw on mobo # 3
 
I have the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro and have no issues at all. I specifically wanted a heatsink that I didn't have to remove the board for, and the AC7 works great, with full load temps around 50C using TAT and running folding@home on each core.
 
rfisher983 said:
Is it possible to put some kind of paper or cloth between the black metal plate for the cpu heat sink and the motherboard? I may end up getting the ds3 w/ the thermalright 120 tower and want to avoid this situation at all cost :)
Click to expand...

Supposedly you could use electrical tape, but it'll be a hack job to say the least. Maybe liquid electrical tape would work, that thing is cool as hell.
 
The new board booted right up and runs fine with the Thermalright heat sink.

It could've been a grounding issue... but I doubt it, as I am using pretty long stand'offs on the board... but it could've been an issue.
 
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