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.
On November 11 2011 18:26 Warrior Madness wrote: -BIOS screen doesn't pop up when I connect my monitor. I get a "No Signal" message in fact.
Quite possibly irrelevant to the rest of your problems, but if your graphics card has 2 PCI connectors be sure to make sure all the slots are filled. When I first tried a test boot building my first computer I only had 1 PCI connector in my graphics card and my screen also simply said "no signal" (even though fans on the graphics card were spinning). You can probably imagine it was kind of a shock to me aswell. That aside, I hope you manage to fix whatever is wrong.
On November 11 2011 18:26 Warrior Madness wrote: -BIOS screen doesn't pop up when I connect my monitor. I get a "No Signal" message in fact.
Quite possibly irrelevant to the rest of your problems, but if your graphics card has 2 PCI connectors be sure to make sure all the slots are filled. When I first tried a test boot building my first computer I only had 1 PCI connector in my graphics card and my screen also simply said "no signal" (even though fans on the graphics card were spinning). You can probably imagine it was kind of a shock to me aswell. That aside, I hope you manage to fix whatever is wrong.
Looked to see if there were other PCI connectors on my graphics card (gigabyte hd 6850) and there were none, only one 8 pin connection. It was also in the proper PCI Express slot as well and locked into place.
The error that my DEBUG LED makes btw is C1. That's supposedly a memory related error and it might even be a memory incompatibility error. But how would this be possible? My mother board model is GA-Z68x-U7-B3 socket 1155 and I'm using corsair vengeance blue memory, 1600 Mhz and 1.50V and my motherboard supposedly supports that. If it's simply incompatibility would the hard drive turn on and off like it does now? I've also tried cycling each memory stick I have 1 by 1 and in different memory slots but my mobo stays exactly the same.
So I took everything apart and put it back together again. Including cleaning the thermal past off the CPU and heat sink with "Arctic Clean" and liberally applying paste onto the CPU. Then I connected everything together and then all the power cables. I'm using all of the power cables except for something called p2, some 4 pin cable that I can't find any use for.
I've connected all the internal connectors outlined in the manual except for SPDIF_O, PCH_FAN and F_1394. If the restarts are caused by overheating maybe I missed some sort of fan plug. But I can't find any connector for PCH_FAN. None in the mobo box either. And I can't find uses for those other two. I don't think they're important enough plugs to cause the mobo to turn on and off like that but I don't know much.
Onboard LEDs are perptually these colours:
Memory (Memory Phase Indicator). MD1- Green (Normal Working conditions) MD2-Yellow (Overvoltage or heavy loading) CPU VTT: GD1 - Green GD2 - Yellow
What do you make of this? I've asked other people and they think that it's actually a power supply problem.
On November 11 2011 18:26 Warrior Madness wrote: -BIOS screen doesn't pop up when I connect my monitor. I get a "No Signal" message in fact.
Quite possibly irrelevant to the rest of your problems, but if your graphics card has 2 PCI connectors be sure to make sure all the slots are filled. When I first tried a test boot building my first computer I only had 1 PCI connector in my graphics card and my screen also simply said "no signal" (even though fans on the graphics card were spinning). You can probably imagine it was kind of a shock to me aswell. That aside, I hope you manage to fix whatever is wrong.
Looked to see if there were other PCI connectors on my graphics card (gigabyte hd 6850) and there were none, only one 8 pin connection. It was also in the proper PCI Express slot as well and locked into place.
The error that my DEBUG LED makes btw is C1. That's supposedly a memory related error and it might even be a memory incompatibility error. But how would this be possible? My mother board model is GA-Z68x-U7-B3 socket 1155 and I'm using corsair vengeance blue memory, 1600 Mhz and 1.50V and my motherboard supposedly supports that. If it's simply incompatibility would the hard drive turn on and off like it does now? I've also tried cycling each memory stick I have 1 by 1 and in different memory slots but my mobo stays exactly the same.
So I took everything apart and put it back together again. Including cleaning the thermal past off the CPU and heat sink with "Arctic Clean" and liberally applying paste onto the CPU. Then I connected everything together and then all the power cables. I'm using all of the power cables except for something called p2, some 4 pin cable that I can't find any use for.
I've connected all the internal connectors outlined in the manual except for SPDIF_O, PCH_FAN and F_1394. If the restarts are caused by overheating maybe I missed some sort of fan plug. But I can't find any connector for PCH_FAN. None in the mobo box either. And I can't find uses for those other two. I don't think they're important enough plugs to cause the mobo to turn on and off like that but I don't know much.
Onboard LEDs are perptually these colours:
Memory (Memory Phase Indicator). MD1- Green (Normal Working conditions) MD2-Yellow (Overvoltage or heavy loading) CPU VTT: GD1 - Green GD2 - Yellow
What do you make of this? I've asked other people and they think that it's actually a power supply problem.
Hey bub the post before the last one says he had the SAME problem and he didnt connect the 4 pin connector to the mobo because it was covered by plastic, after connecting it it worked fine.
Also make sure your heatsink is connected to the right spot, i hooked mine up to the sys_fan spot because it was the same and it gave me a problem for the longest (wouldnt boot), after i hooked it up in the right spot it worked like a charm.
EDIT: I dont think its the power supply because if it was that, it would mean your stuff is drawing to much power and by the looks of it 850w should be fine.
On November 12 2011 01:25 multiversed wrote: 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.
Even if the paste was applied poorly, there's no way a cpu should be overheating to the point of shutting itself down before it even posts.
On November 11 2011 18:26 Warrior Madness wrote: -BIOS screen doesn't pop up when I connect my monitor. I get a "No Signal" message in fact.
Quite possibly irrelevant to the rest of your problems, but if your graphics card has 2 PCI connectors be sure to make sure all the slots are filled. When I first tried a test boot building my first computer I only had 1 PCI connector in my graphics card and my screen also simply said "no signal" (even though fans on the graphics card were spinning). You can probably imagine it was kind of a shock to me aswell. That aside, I hope you manage to fix whatever is wrong.
Looked to see if there were other PCI connectors on my graphics card (gigabyte hd 6850) and there were none, only one 8 pin connection. It was also in the proper PCI Express slot as well and locked into place.
The error that my DEBUG LED makes btw is C1. That's supposedly a memory related error and it might even be a memory incompatibility error. But how would this be possible? My mother board model is GA-Z68x-U7-B3 socket 1155 and I'm using corsair vengeance blue memory, 1600 Mhz and 1.50V and my motherboard supposedly supports that. If it's simply incompatibility would the hard drive turn on and off like it does now? I've also tried cycling each memory stick I have 1 by 1 and in different memory slots but my mobo stays exactly the same.
So I took everything apart and put it back together again. Including cleaning the thermal past off the CPU and heat sink with "Arctic Clean" and liberally applying paste onto the CPU. Then I connected everything together and then all the power cables. I'm using all of the power cables except for something called p2, some 4 pin cable that I can't find any use for.
I've connected all the internal connectors outlined in the manual except for SPDIF_O, PCH_FAN and F_1394. If the restarts are caused by overheating maybe I missed some sort of fan plug. But I can't find any connector for PCH_FAN. None in the mobo box either. And I can't find uses for those other two. I don't think they're important enough plugs to cause the mobo to turn on and off like that but I don't know much.
Onboard LEDs are perptually these colours:
Memory (Memory Phase Indicator). MD1- Green (Normal Working conditions) MD2-Yellow (Overvoltage or heavy loading) CPU VTT: GD1 - Green GD2 - Yellow
What do you make of this? I've asked other people and they think that it's actually a power supply problem.
Hey bub the post before the last one says he had the SAME problem and he didnt connect the 4 pin connector to the mobo because it was covered by plastic, after connecting it it worked fine.
Also make sure your heatsink is connected to the right spot, i hooked mine up to the sys_fan spot because it was the same and it gave me a problem for the longest (wouldnt boot), after i hooked it up in the right spot it worked like a charm.
EDIT: I dont think its the power supply because if it was that, it would mean your stuff is drawing to much power and by the looks of it 850w should be fine.
Could it be that the antec 850 is incompatible with a GA-Z68x-U7-B3 motherboard? The second power connector is ATX_12V_2X (2x4 12V power connector).
These are the connectors that come with the power supply: 24 pin, 4-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS 12V, 2x8 pin EPS 12V, 3 x molex + 1x floppy, 3x SATA.
So I've been plugging it in with the 8-pin EPS because that's the only one that matches the number of pins for that part. But maybe I need to buy another 4-Pin ATX cable and attack it to the power supply. There are 4 more slots at the back of the power supply where you can attach additional cables. They're labelled: +12v1/HDD, +12V1/HDD, +12V3, +12V4. The last two are PCE slots I think, and the other two sound like HD slots.
Try re-seating your CPU and your RAM. Also try with only one stick of RAM at a time. If that doesn't work its probably a lemon board and you'll have to RMA.
All high-end motherboards uses a 8pin EPS connector.
Power supplies either come with a 4pin ATX connector along with a 8pin EPS connector in which case only one of these would be used or a 4+4pin ATX/EPS connector.
On November 12 2011 12:38 skyR wrote: All high-end motherboards uses a 8pin EPS connector.
Power supplies either come with a 4pin ATX connector along with a 8pin EPS connector in which case only one of these would be used or a 4+4pin ATX/EPS connector.
Thanks... So I guess it is the MOBO after all (or the power supply, or the cpu).
Gahd, if you're gonna build a computer build local so you can return parts quickly.
I was gonna post this pic but I don't need to anymore, but I'll post it anyway:
This seems what happened to me on my first build. My fans would spin then everything would go off. For me The 12 pins from PSU to MOBO were not all the way in, I had to push pretty hard. I rebuilt it twice making the same problem.
Once I pushed the 12 pins in all the way with some force it worked ever since.
Okay this was a bit bizarre. Today I tried to get my motherboard and cpu exchanged but they tested it out and lo and behold they got to POST. So I thought okay then it's my power supply or my RAM. So I swapped my powersupply and I still got the same shit, on for a few seconds then off. But I figured it's GOT to be the C1 error then that appears on the onboard error display. When they booted it I saw a lot of different numbers flash. Whenever I boot all I see is C1. So... I swapped my corsairs for some kingston's... and I get the same error. What the Hell could it be? Graphics card? TWO faulty new memory kits in a row? I tried testing each individual stick as well again....
Im saying you are plugging something into the wrong spot and not realizing it OR its not all the way plugged in. Where do you have your heatsink fan plugged in?
Maybe if you take pics as you go step by step and post them we can MAYBE help you but its pretty messy.
On November 12 2011 13:26 SChlafmann wrote: Cable management, very useful talent toi have. JK. Good luck with that, I won't be able to help you.
Cant bust a guys balls to much for this for his first build, especially with the other problems he has.
My God.... Finally got it to work. It WAS the memory after all.... I finally got to BIOS after I replaced the memory kit three times. It's odd because technically all those memory cards were compatible with my motherboard. I DID get faulty memory the first two times which is highly unlikely but hey it happened.... Cause I ended up with a kingston memor kit once again. Thanks everyone for helping.
I just have one more question... Where can I get an internal speaker from? It would've really helped clarify things if I had some beeps to guide me through the troubleshooting. My case didn't come with one and neither did my motherboard. I have a gigabyte z68x ud7 b3.
P.S. My cables were all messy because I just wanted to get to POST before uncluttering everything. It's clean now.
P.S.S.
It's up and running now... All it took was replacing the memory and updating the starcraft. Go figure.
EPT
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