No POST after CMOS reset

[LooneyJuice]

As the title states, I had to reset my CMOS due to a hardware change, and couldn't get my MB to post. Specs and info initially:

 

MB: Cheapo, sad, Gigabyte Z77-DS3H rev 1.1

CPU: i5 3570 (initially)

RAM: 2x4GB Kingston HyperX Genesis

GPU: GB G1 Gaming GTX 970

Storage: 3x1TB WD Caviar Black

 

So, this was a result of somewhat of a sidegrade. I got my hands on an i7 2600K, and since I could use the extra threads for some workloads etc, plus unlocked multiplier, it would have done me just fine.

 

I switched the CPU, initially, I got no video signal, but it booted up regularly twice. All devices were enabled, I could hear my OS drive do its thing, I know the machine well, so it booted fine. In fact, because I had no video signal, I justs hit the power button, and it shut down properly just fine.

 

So, since i could get no video signal, I just pulled my CMOS battery out and did a reset. I've had this happen before with major hardware upgrades, no biggie. This time around though, I couldn't get the MB to post, or boot, anything. In fact, after the CPU fan initially started spinning, it then stopped and did that little jitter every few seconds 'cause it couldn't boot. I then proceeded to remove every single piece of hardware minus the CPU and RAM. Reset CMOS again just in case, no joy. I even kept the PC on for 5 mins to see what would happen, no joy. I used one stick of RAM, nothing. I then switched back to the i5 3570, and to my dismay, same behavior, can not for the life of me get it to boot. Double-checked all cables, all good.

 

I am a bit stumped at the moment. Suggestions? Dead CMOS battery? Something died due to pure coincidence? Thanks a lot in advance.

[Damocles]

Dead board, probably didn't clear CMOS properly. Try clearing again but this time, unplug the power, flip the power switch from I to O being down, remove the battery, and press and hold the power button on the front panel for 10 seconds to ensure you fully drained the power. If that doesn't help, it's likely a brick

[LooneyJuice]

2 minutes ago, Damocles said:

Dead board, probably didn't clear CMOS properly. Try clearing again but this time, unplug the power, flip the power switch from I to O being down, remove the battery, and press and hold the power button on the front panel for 10 seconds to ensure you fully drained the power. If that doesn't help, it's likely a brick

Roger. Honestly, it was all by the book. So if something's properly bricked, I'll bomb Gigabyte

[LooneyJuice]

2 hours ago, Damocles said:

Dead board, probably didn't clear CMOS properly. Try clearing again but this time, unplug the power, flip the power switch from I to O being down, remove the battery, and press and hold the power button on the front panel for 10 seconds to ensure you fully drained the power. If that doesn't help, it's likely a brick

Nope, nothing. Prior to this, I just pulled the battery out for a few minutes while the pc was unplugged. I even tried the jumpers a bit as per the manual, unplugged. I even tried just the 10 second thing. Still nothing, I'm sort of hanging my hopes on a dead CMOS battery, even though it shouldn't behave like this with a dead battery. After that, yeah, afraid the MB got bricked somehow. No idea how. Poor, poor timing 

[Damocles]

Static is not your friend

[Shingouki]

Just wondering, when it booted, have you checked the video out of your motherboard? Maybe it was using the internal GPU after the reset

If not, try resetting the cmos after removing the GPU, and trying using the intel graphic driver for a minute, just to see if your monitor show something

[LooneyJuice]

5 hours ago, Shingouki said:

Just wondering, when it booted, have you checked the video out of your motherboard? Maybe it was using the internal GPU after the reset

If not, try resetting the cmos after removing the GPU, and trying using the intel graphic driver for a minute, just to see if your monitor show something

Been through all that, unfortunately. And I probably should have thought of the iGPU to reset my bios settings before resetting my CMOS, but thanks nonetheless.

[LooneyJuice]

10 hours ago, Damocles said:

Static is not your friend

I thought about that, but I'm super careful. I don't even wear any synthetic clothing when working on my PC, so it's just odd.

[Damocles]

How old is your board btw?

[LooneyJuice]

2 hours ago, Damocles said:

How old is your board btw?

well if I'm not mistaken it's mid/late 2012ish. I'm actually getting some different behavior today. Can't get any video signal, but the CPU fan is starting up and spinning, and It's actually responding to the reset button. So I'm sticking my 970 back in to see if I get any signal 'cause the iGPU isn't responding.

 

EDIT: I found a MB speaker. I'm getting 3-3 beep code. It's not continuous, there's a gap between those. But the only two codes I can find pertaining to this motherboard are "6 short beeps: CPU error" or 3 short beeps, Motherboard failure. Well, woops...

[LooneyJuice]

Sorry, small bump for POST beep code in case anyone has any idea what this is. 

 

I found the codes on Gigabyte but they're vague as hell. Especially when it comes to this code. It also continues non stop.

 

CAUTION, MAY BE LOUD.

 

Thanks in advance.

Voice 002.m4a

[Sors]

The code is 3 short beeps, according to Gigabytes's site that means a memory error.

 

Do you have any extra memory modules you can try on the motherboard?

[LooneyJuice]

Just now, Sors said:

The code is 3 short beeps, according to Gigabytes's site that means a memory error.

That's the thing, it's not exactly 3 short beeps. I looked that list up as well. The interval is 3-3-pause-3-3-pause. Maybe I'm being too pedantic. But I've tried all types of different RAM, different slots, all that jazz. Still no joy. And it can't be the IMC or anything, we're talking same symptom with 2 completely different and working CPUs.

 

Thanks though!

[Sors]

There are no pause between error codes, the code is 3 beeps and is repeated twice before the long pause that indicates the error code is starting again.

 

AMI BIOS FATAL ERROR BEEP CODES

1 beep –  Refresh failure.-  (DRAM-Memory Error)
2 beeps – Parity error. - (Memory parity check error-circuit failure)
3 beeps – Base 64 K memory failure. - (Basic memory 64K address check error)
4 beeps – Timer not operational. - (Real Time Clock=System timer failure)
5 beeps – Processor error.
6 beeps – 8042 – Keyboard controller gate A20 failure.
7 beeps – Processor exception interrupt error. - (Virtual mode exception error)
8 beeps – Display (Graphic card) memory read/write test failure.
9 beeps – ROM checksum error.
10 beeps – CMOS shutdown register read/write error.
11 beeps – CPU Cache memory bad. - (malfunction-error - The L2 cache is faulty)

 

The most likely cause is that the slots or the memory controller have a problem.   A few times has happen to me that dust gets in the memory slot after removing a module and starts giving errors.

[LooneyJuice]

25 minutes ago, Sors said:

There are no pause between error codes, the code is 3 beeps and is repeated twice before the long pause that indicates the error code is starting again.

 

AMI BIOS FATAL ERROR BEEP CODES

1 beep –  Refresh failure.-  (DRAM-Memory Error)
2 beeps – Parity error. - (Memory parity check error-circuit failure)
3 beeps – Base 64 K memory failure. - (Basic memory 64K address check error)
4 beeps – Timer not operational. - (Real Time Clock=System timer failure)
5 beeps – Processor error.
6 beeps – 8042 – Keyboard controller gate A20 failure.
7 beeps – Processor exception interrupt error. - (Virtual mode exception error)
8 beeps – Display (Graphic card) memory read/write test failure.
9 beeps – ROM checksum error.
10 beeps – CMOS shutdown register read/write error.
11 beeps – CPU Cache memory bad. - (malfunction-error - The L2 cache is faulty)

 

The most likely cause is that the slots or the memory controller have a problem.   A few times has happen to me that dust gets in the memory slot after removing a module and starts giving errors.

Good point that last bit. I'll try, got nothing to lose. But the problem is that this whole thing coincided as i said, with the CMOS reset. As per the manual ('cause I'm paranoid like that) I just pulled the battery out for a minute while the pc was off and unplugged (and the charge drained). Popped the battery back in, tried again, dead. And so far, for all intents and purposes, it looks dead. Not to mention I've tried all memory slots and different sticks. I'm completely out of ideas.

[Sors]

I just had a very similar problem, with an old first gen core i3, I also replaced the CPU from a 530 to a 550 that I got a hold of,  that PC showed the POST screen once, had an issue when booting from the HDD, I figure it was an AHCI error and went to the BIOS, I reset it and then no more video no matter what I did.   I clear up the BIOS several times thinking something was screwed up in there but nothing worked.

 

I took the new CPU out and put the old CPU, still no video either, at the end when I was out of ideas I took a memory module from my own PC, inserted it, clear the bios once more and the machine started working again. 

 

Now that I think about it, that was also a gigabyte motherboard, And turns out that it does not like 1600 MHz DDR3 modules at all.

[LooneyJuice]

1 hour ago, Sors said:

I just had a very similar problem, with an old first gen core i3, I also replaced the CPU from a 530 to a 550 that I got a hold of,  that PC showed the POST screen once, had an issue when booting from the HDD, I figure it was an AHCI error and went to the BIOS, I reset it and then no more video no matter what I did.   I clear up the BIOS several times thinking something was screwed up in there but nothing worked.

 

I took the new CPU out and put the old CPU, still no video either, at the end when I was out of ideas I took a memory module from my own PC, inserted it, clear the bios once more and the machine started working again. 

 

Now that I think about it, that was also a gigabyte motherboard, And turns out that it does not like 1600 MHz DDR3 modules at all.

Interesting. Slowest I can get a hold of is ye olde 1333mhz OCZ platinum from an old rig. I've heard similar stories as well. I'll try. Gotta hope they still work too. Thanks a lot man, much appreciated.

[Shingouki]

Since the beeper code is not clear, what about trying with a bios post card? Now you should be able to find some at few bucks (some cost less than 5 dollars actually). I must admit it: when i worked in a computer repair shop, we NEVER (really, never) used them, even if we had both the cheap, the one for laptops and the bigger one. But if you don't know what error it is, maybe a number will make it easier

[LooneyJuice]

On 7/28/2016 at 2:47 AM, Shingouki said:

Since the beeper code is not clear, what about trying with a bios post card? Now you should be able to find some at few bucks (some cost less than 5 dollars actually). I must admit it: when i worked in a computer repair shop, we NEVER (really, never) used them, even if we had both the cheap, the one for laptops and the bigger one. But if you don't know what error it is, maybe a number will make it easier

Well I thought of that at some point, but they're not as easy to find here. At this point, the motherboard is properly dead. Regardless of CMOS resets, CPUs or RAM even, it just refuses to post. It does respond to hardware changes with beep codes, but other than that, it's just dead. So, good idea, but at this point I have another used motherboard on the way which will probably get here before anything like that will. Will keep it in mind for the future though, thanks.