Hey everyone.... I'm in the middle of building my very first Hackintosh. This is also my first PC build and I'm a little over my head here. I can't find a trouble shooting guide in my gigabyte manual and I'm getting all these different colored lights without knowing what they do or how to change them. When I try turning the power on, the case fans swirls and so does the CPU fan but after a few seconds it stalls for a bit and dies. Then turns back on, then repeats. Does this sound familiar?
I have installed everything so far except for the harddrive and the CD drive. I uhhh, actually don't know how to install a SATA 2 harddrive and I'm working on it right now lol.
These are my parts:
Gigabyte Z68X UD7 B3 Intel core i7-2600k 3.4 Ghz (quad core) Antec CP 850W Corsair Vengence Blue 16 gigs OCZ Vertex Series SATA II - 60 gigabytes Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98 Case/Cooling: Antec P183 V3
I'll tell you specifically what lights are what colour: Phase LEDs near the memory-- DD1+ (green) DD2+ (green) DD3+ (orange) DD4+ (orange) DD5+ (red) DD6+ (red)
ACPI LEDs: Bottom one is green, the rest are off (S0, S1, S3, S4, S5).
Generally yellow means excessive overvoltage and green means everything's okay. Also, the power button or reset button doesn't work so I'm guessing I got the + and - signs confused and I'm working on that as well...
Lastly do you guys know a specific gigabyte forum that might be able to help me out?
I will attach some pics in a sec.
ETA: I've actually uplugged everything except for the CPU and the powersupply and I STILL get all those same lights! Hmmm... Could something be wrong with my cpu/motherboard?
ETA 2: I screwed up the CPU fan screws pretty badly. You know how it has that arrow sign indicating to turn in that particular direction? Well.... I think I turned it around one too many times and now when I try to unscrew it there's this grinding sound in the screw holes. At least it's still stuck on the cpu....Fans still working and everything... I still get the same lights I'm getting though.
Is it possible I'm getting these lights cause I haven't attached a HD yet >.> (Though that wouldn't explain its inability to stay powered on)?
Your RAM isnt supported by your motherboard. I had the same problem except instead of it just not being supported, I had ECC instead of Non-ECC. It sucks when that happens.
man too bad i was not in the room with you. i cant for the life of me use another persons explanation, i always MUST see the computer, in the end they've all worked when i've left them.
edit: oops, forgot to say GL, google the issue that always works, its my best friend when fixing computers for money, and its cheaper than paying for what any IT book can teach you, IT books are for passing tests mostly. Hands on is where its at!
um... desktop PCs with ECC usually come with it disabled. a desktop ECC mobo takes normal ram by default. generally ECC is only used on server level motherboards though. unless you specifically enable it.
generally what you are describing is the result of a dead motherboard or cpu(usually the mobo when you don't hear beeps). you've just fallen into the trap all of us who build cpus fall into at some point. you have dead hardware, but you don't know what to return without testing it. it sucks but i would start with the motherboard, as that is usually cheaper and can be RMAed. good luck.
After re-reading your post, Im starting to believe that you may just need to RMA the board. Just as wishbones said though, its hard to determine an exact answer without being there and seeing the problem. Im sure skyr will be here soon to help.
ok after finishing the OP, you cant have a COMPTUER POWER ON without a HD plugged in and ready. well i could test it for you but basically you wont get far without the HD plugged in. put it all back together, and make sure everything is setup and ready to go. i dont know what "hackintosh" is. but computers are very easy, motherboard, plugs, ram, cpu+fan, lastly HD.
put it all back together, make sure your HD is in there as well. last time you set your PC up you forgot the HD lol. its fun to learn though.
judging by the first paragraph, i can almost say that the computer is doing its POST thing, then when there is no HD to boot up windows, or w.e OS you are running, it just restarts its POST over, then wants an HD but there is none, so restarts POST.
if POST is the wrong term, blah, but yeah. (the startup part of a computer that does all the checking does not find an HD so just restarts itself, older computers just make beeps and then do nothing. or do nothing at all. it depends on motherboard probably.
but you are just having USER error, if you used a guide to buy all your parts, make sure all your stuff is completely 100% setup inside the computer before turning it on, then if that fails, maybe if you got your items shipped to you, the company can sometimes be at fault giving improper parts, as i read above.
Have you tried removing the CMOS battery from the motherboard for a minute or two (with the PSU switched off), and pressing the power a few times to drain the capacitors. This will power down the mobo completely and set memory settings etc to factory defaults. Removing the cmos battery is usually a fix to 99% of problems with posting.
But the power cycling generally means it's a PSU issue. I'm sure the mobo is fine. If it's not the cmos, it's the PSU near guaranteed. This personally happened to me once where my PSU went defective after a few years use. Woke up to the fans turning on and off. Did everything you did, and tried a second PSU in another rig and powered up like a charm.
I love you TL. I will buy you a beer and give you women if you are ever in Toronto. I will try completing it first-- Gotta wake up early tommorow so ill be back. >_< PLUS I don't have all the connections for my SSD I think.... All I bought was the drive itself but I can't find any of the connections in the motherboard box, or any of the other boxes.
Okay so I found a SATA cable that came with my dvd burner. I connected the SSD this time, and everything else, the graphics card, the memory, all the little power connections.
Things to note: -Tried taking the CMOS battery out and putting it back in after a minute. This time the hardware kept alive for 30 seconds instead of 3 seconds. But then back to its old patterns quickly. -BIOS screen doesn't pop up when I connect my monitor. I get a "No Signal" message in fact. -Whenever it shuts off the mother board fails first THEN the power supply. -The power on and off button doesn't work, not even the reset button does no matter what I do (Incidentally the connections on the "F-Panel" in the instructions are different from the tiny instructions that are on the board itself) -My memory card is compatible for sure, 1.5V, 1600MHz and says so right on the box (Though I will double check). -All the LEDs are the same colour no MATTER what I do.... Or switch around, the same LEDs stay lit the same colour. -I don't hear the SSD spinning at all or anything.
All signs point to mobo so far. I don't know how to check if the PSU is in working order though it seems to be... It only shuts off after the motherboard does. Problem for me is I got it through Amazon so if it IS the problem I'm fucked because the in store return policy for the mobo is 2 weeks. I think I'm gonna replace the mobo tommorow.
Lastly I didn't put any paste on my CPU because there was gel already under the heatsink that came with it. If I want to return the CPU as well should I clean that gunk off? What's the best way of doing so if I should do that (Probably not though I imagine."
On November 11 2011 18:37 nam nam wrote: SSDs don't spin (or anything) when they are working normally.
I wouldn't bother cleaning the paste off your cpu. If you want you can just use a rag to wipe it off with and rubbing alcohol if need be.
You can check the psu if you have a multimeter but easiest is just to try a replacement. There's guides to this if you need it.
I'd start with the mobo and psu before cpu though.
I have to ask since I don't know you knowledge of these things, did you connect both power cords to you mobo? Both the 24-pin and 4/8 pin?
Yep, I even tried to see what would happen if I took either or out and turned it on. Mobo still acted the same (With the same lights on) when I took out the 8 pin and when I took out the 24-pin it just wouldn't turn on. I also took out component by component and the same lights stayed lit no matter how many I had (i.e. complete) and no matter how little I had (Only had cpu+ its fan at one point). I'll replace it tommorrow. I tried to smoke pot tonight but it ended up not relaxing me at all and I stayed up (5am atm) to fiddle around some more with the computer.
On November 11 2011 18:37 nam nam wrote: I have to ask since I don't know you knowledge of these things, did you connect both power cords to you mobo? Both the 24-pin and 4/8 pin?
When Cataclysm was about to hit, my friends brother brought a computer in pieces to our LAN party and asked someone there to build it so he could play the release. I got so pissed of because they didn't know a damn thing about what they were doing. So I took over, assembled everything, and it was doing the same thing as yours is doing.
My first thought was that the RAM was faulty, so I told him that he'd have to return them for new ones. And I tried using just one of them and then the other one and so forth. Nothing worked... I checked and rechecked every cable running everywhere to make sure nothing was misplaced.
After like 30 minutes of troubleshooting, I noticed that the 4pin connector from the PSU was missing and therefore not connected. It was hidden behind the PSU and I didn't notice it because I never saw the connector for it on the MoBo... Turns out the god damn MoBo supplier had covered the 4pin connector to the CPU with a god damn retarded plastic cover. So after connecting that, everything worked out.
improperly applying thermal paste can cause the CPU to overheat before it is able to POST. this would mean your hardware is not damaged and only quickly overheating. you can attempt to remove all of the preapplied paste and generously apply thermal paste by hand.(a large amount but not enough to make a mess when pressure is applied.)
the problem you are describing can be a result of overheating. again, good luck.
EPT
