Hi guys, having a bit of a nightmare with my new setup: Q6600 EVGA 680i 2GB G.Skill HZ 8800GTS 640MB I tried all the parts together in an old case before chucking them all into my new MM UFO and they worked flawlessly. Before I installed them in my new case, I added EK waterblocks to the NB, SB and CPU (the 8800GTS already had an EK block installed from my previous setup) and setup my watercooling system. Upon turning the machine on for the first time, it beeped ('squeeled' might be more accurate) in a solid tone and continued to do so until the machine was powered off. I assumed that this was an error code being reported by the onboard speaker, however, the led readout read 'FF', which if I recall correctly, means a normal boot. The other thing I noticed was that I could hear other 'normal' beeps under the 'squeeling' sound and when the machine was powered down the loud squeeling sort of 'fizzled' out, rather than cutting off instantly. After switching memory modules in and out, in every combination and trying a different gpu, the problem remains. Also, the mobo now shows an '--' error code on the led readout. Any suggestions guys?
A continuous beep would indicate that there is a problem with the ram or the video card, try booting with just 1 stick of ram in, and also you say it squeeled more than a beep, was this squeel really loud? As when you power your pc, without having connected the pci-e power connector to the graphics card, the graphics cards will squeel at a high pitch, much louder than the bios bleeps. Otherwise try reseating the graphics card onto the motherboard also.
Thanks for the reply Yeah the beep is really loud, I'll go and recheck the pci-e connector to make sure it's in right. I've tried each stick of ram in each slot individually in every combination (just to be sure ram slots weren't dead) but no joy. The '--' error code apparently means a dead board though so things don't look good.
Good call Delphium , the pci-e power cable wasn't quite 'home' and a small nudge was all that was required to set it in place and get rid of the squeeling. Unfortunately, the mobo still refuses to post and makes no beeps at all. I've set the cmos jumper in the reset position and pulled out the power cord. I'll leave it like that for a while and report back with any new developments. I hope to god it jumps into action. I can't stand the thought of pulling all my watercooling and everything else apart again. It's taken me so long to put it all together. Still, that's the joy of building your own eh? EDIT: Still no post or beep codes. I still seems odd that it seems to have died whilst I was looking for the source of the squeeling problem though. All I did was try ram in different slots.
ahh know that feeling well after spending hours putting pc together with watercooling only to find the board was dead on arrival, so had to rip it all out, grrrrrr!!! on so many levels!!! getting back to the issue, if you move the jumper pin to the clear cmos position, then next time you power the pc up, it will clear the bios, wait for it to boot into bios, shutdown pc, and then change jumper pin back to normal position, then boot up pc again, this time entering any configs into the bios and save. this saves the hour or so wait... also you would have to remove the battery too if you just switch the jumper pin position without powering up the pc. Its quicker to change jumper, boot pc, and then switch it back to reset the bios EDIT: the mobo in question is the one in your sig right?
Ok, try booting the pc with no ram in what so ever... you should hear 1 long beep followed by 2 short beeps. If your board still fails to beep with no ram, disconnect the graphics card totaly from power and the mobo, try with an older graphics card and see if the board boots, it could be that the PSU is not powerfull enough to power all the hardware and the graphics card may have pushed it over its limits. Which may explain why you have the new error code on your board.
Cheers for the advice Delphium Think I might have found the source of the problem after all. Before I installed the two waterblocks on the nb/sb I used some small foam pads I purchased from 'chilledpc'. Unfortunately, whilst they prevented me from damaging either of the chips by execessive/uneven load, they also actually caused both blocks to make NO contact with the chips AT ALL, even with the fittings tightened right down and very secure. Now, hindsight is a real ******* in situations such as these, as a simple check during the first installation (which I should have and indeed, intended to do) would have made this problem clear before any damage was done. Now the 680i MCP gets incredibly hot so I fear it may have gone to silicon heaven (it would explain the very sudden change from "all good" to "error code of death"). Having said this, when I removed the blocks and inspected the chips they show visible damage at all. Infact there was no scorching, burning and no discernable smell of any kind. The only other possbility is that the fittings on the sb block were actually too long and I didn't realise that they were actually touching the Mobo tray. Could this cause an earthing/grounding fault? I didn't think they would as they are isolated from the board by the acetal top on the block. PS the components in question are listed in my first post, not the ones in my sig.
OUCH!!! Hmm if the blocks where not making contact, then this could very well be he case You could try loosening the waterblock fixtures a little bit, making sure they are still in contact with th surface its to be cooling, I found on my 8800gtx card when installing watercooling block onto that, if the block was done up to tight, the pc would not start, I was really bricking my load at destroying a £300+gfx card, I loosened the fixtures a little bit, tryed again, and suddenly it worked ok. Worth a try I guess, cant hurt, before sending the board off for RMA Id say. Unlikely, however you could get a pair of wire crimps and use them to cut the screws down, just to be sure.
I cleaned up the nb and sb and refitted the blocks last night. I then removed them to ensure good contact and refitted them again (things like this are gonna make me develop ocd, I swear). It got quite late so I didn't get a chance to retest but when I get home tonight I'll reconnect the hoses, fill her up and give it one last shot. Way ahead of you on the long bolts by the way. I took a pair of side cutters to them last night and now they clear the mobo tray by a good few mm. So, with the grounding issue out the way and properly fitted blocks on the chipsets, the only thing stopping me now is a dead mobo and an RMA. Lets all fall silent and pray.
