New build - weird inconsistent BIOS behavior... help!

tbessie · Post by **tbessie** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:23 pm

So I built my file server I'd mentioned here before (Intel motherboard, dual core Celeron). Got the memory on Newegg that was displayed as "people who bought this board bought this memory" (just some decent Corsair memory, looked perfectly compatible with the board).

Anyway, the board kept going to sleep as soon as it booted up. I never saw anything onscreen either.

I took the memory out, got the 3 long beeps that mean "no memory".

Ok, put the memory in, same thing.

Then I noticed that I had put the power button leads on the wrong part of the front-panel header, so I fixed that (I'd wondered why the power button wasn't working).

Then it booted. BIOS started up with no problems. It tried to boot off the network since it found no OS, but couldn't. No problem.

I shut the machine down. Restarted.

Now, it starts up, power LED is on, "Intel Management" LED light is on... then, after it's on for a few seconds, it gets a VERY short beep (not the using boot beep I'd expect), and just sits there doing nothing. No BIOS post on screen, nuthin'.

Someone on another forum says these kinds of things can be caused by incompatible memory. Though, of course, it could be anything.

Anyone ever see this behavior? Now it's 100% consistent... no boot, and that very fast beep, and nothing onscreen.

This is my 3rd build and the 1st time I ever had any problems. Bleh.

- Tim

confusion · Post by **confusion** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 6:34 pm

You've got the Intel DQ45CB right? And given what's on Newegg's page for that I assume you got this Corsair memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145184

That should be fine; most the Intel boards require 1.8V memory and 5-5-5 timings which this has.

On Intel boards, I've been able to fix some odd issues by removing power to the system, and removing the battery and leaving it out a few minutes. I supose this is similar to "clear CMOS" on other boards.

If you get it functioning again install the latest motherboard BIOS if that's not already current since they do tend to fix a lot of issues.

One other random idea; as long as your power button isn't grounded to the case or anything else it doesn't matter which lead goes to which pin of the pair on the board, but if it does have one side that is grounded and it's on the wrong way this can also cause some weird issues.

DanceMan · Post by **DanceMan** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 7:57 pm

as long as your power button isn't grounded to the case or anything else

Before I build a computer, whether new or old used parts, I always boot the board and cpu loose on a non conductive surface (folded newspaper) with the minimum components, no drives, just to check that the basics are working. If problems crop up later you can look for loose screws or grounding issues. If parts are nfg you've saved the labour of installing into the case. If you're diagnosing an old build it's the last check before tossing parts.

Most bioses will give continuous short beeps for memory issues, but I'm not sure if this includes Intel. As confusion said, clearing the cmos should be the first step. Then double check all connections, reseat the ram, perhaps redo the cpu and heatsink installation.

tbessie · Post by **tbessie** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:04 am

confusion wrote:You've got the Intel DQ45CB right? And given what's on Newegg's page for that I assume you got this Corsair memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145184

That should be fine; most the Intel boards require 1.8V memory and 5-5-5 timings which this has.

On Intel boards, I've been able to fix some odd issues by removing power to the system, and removing the battery and leaving it out a few minutes. I supose this is similar to "clear CMOS" on other boards.

If you get it functioning again install the latest motherboard BIOS if that's not already current since they do tend to fix a lot of issues.

One other random idea; as long as your power button isn't grounded to the case or anything else it doesn't matter which lead goes to which pin of the pair on the board, but if it does have one side that is grounded and it's on the wrong way this can also cause some weird issues.

Thanks for your suggestions (and those below as well)! I don't know which of the following that I did fixed it, but it seems to be working now... here's what I did:

1. I changed the memory settings from "Auto" to manual, and matched the memory's specs
2. I noticed that the 20+4 pin connector from my PSU needed the +4 to go in either first, or alongside the 20 pins, else the +4 sat a little high in the socket (pushed out by a flange on the 20-pin connector) and may have had an uneven connection, so I reseated that
3. I reseated the memory (many times, since I tried it in various configurations with memtest86+ - never could get it to fail after the 1st time I saw it fail, tho').
4. I installed the latest BIOS update

As for grounded pins in the front-panel header, and grounding issues having to do with the case - the 1st couple of builds I did I was extremely careful about this, but this one I just built on my living-room rug... so might've been that as well (tho' I like to think computer components are more robust these days).

Something I noticed earlier on, that may or may not have something to do with this, is that unless the power supply was connected to a hard drive (SATA power cable), the motherboard would power the fans only for a second, then turn them off. That seemed pretty strange - why would booting the BIOS have anything to do with powering a hard drive, unless the PSU had some weird requirement for a hard drive to be connected in order to supply power elsewhere? Might just have been a side-effect related to the other things I modified.

Anyway, thanks for the help, all of you - always great to have this place.

A guy on the Intel discussion board said that my memory didn't match the board's specs, but I noticed he said that about several other people's problems, so maybe it's his Go-To problem.

- Tim

P.S. This build is, unfortunately, rather noisy. It wasn't, until I powered the front-mounted hot-swap drive bay. Not sure if it's the fan on the drive unit, or the 4 drives in it, or the fact that it's right up front. Going to play with that a bit to see if I can get it to quiet down. Other than that, though, it's pretty quiet.

confusion · Post by **confusion** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:21 am

tbessie wrote: Something I noticed earlier on, that may or may not have something to do with this, is that unless the power supply was connected to a hard drive (SATA power cable), the motherboard would power the fans only for a second, then turn them off. That seemed pretty strange - why would booting the BIOS have anything to do with powering a hard drive, unless the PSU had some weird requirement for a hard drive to be connected in order to supply power elsewhere?

Not a hard drive specficially, but your PSU may have a requirement for a minimum power draw on the +12V or other rails and the motherboard alone might not be meeting it.

lm · Post by lm » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:36 am

I got the impression that the board does not boot up, however the OP still managed to change bios settings and such. I'm puzzled, how do you change any settings when your board does not boot?

tbessie · Post by **tbessie** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:27 pm

lm wrote:I got the impression that the board does not boot up, however the OP still managed to change bios settings and such. I'm puzzled, how do you change any settings when your board does not boot?

"Ah ah ah, look who knows so much! This fellow here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between MOSTLY dead, and all dead."

(just a movie quote)

The BIOS would ALMOST never come up. About every 5 or 6 boots, it would come up. During one of those rare times, I updated the BIOS. After that (and the various other changes I mentioned), it booted consistently. I can't say which was the *real* culprit, unfortunately.

- Tim