8rda3+ error message FF??

When I hooked up my motherboard everything starts up okay but nothing happens. I get the error message FF on the motherboard. Does anyone know what this means? Or if I am doing anything wrong?

this happened to me recently with an 8RGA+. I think this is a grounding problem.Take everything out of the case. Then place the motherboard on something wood or plastic. Only hook up the power supply and one stick of ram, Video card and of course leave the cpu and heatsink installed. Then turn the system on it should boot , if not it is a bad board

You can also try resetting the cmos by powering the system down, turn off switch on PSU, then remove the CMOS jumper and move it to pins 2-3, wait about 20 secs then put it back in pins 1-2, that might work as well.

You can also take the cmos battery out and leave it sit out for a while to make sure the cmos is clear then reinstall it and that might get you to post

If it is a grounding problem you need some plastic or cardboard washers between the board and the screw heads, I used some Electrician's tape, on the particular build I was having problems with closed box no window. On my windowed builds I use aluminum thumb screws and brass stand offs, too alevaite the grounding problems


Hope this helps

i got it to turn on, the stupid thing shipped with the cmos jumper in the clear position. now it turns on, but it wont boot. if my RAM is bad, shouldnt it at least give me the startup screen? or if the ram is bad does it just give you a blank screen?

I checked my CMOS jumper and its in the 1-2, so it should be okay. If your memory is bad I think your board should beep accordinly.

I checked all my components on another comp. and they worked fine. But I still cant get the board to boot. I even tried electrical tape on mountings of the motherboard. And I get the same problem.

my first 8rda3+ did this, i think i recall reading that FF is a memory error.

I rma'd my first board for a new one and it works flawlessly

my 8rda3+ shows FF all the time after it boots up, and it runs fine

FF is normal I thought, I've had that in all my EPoX boards.

i thought it was abnormal cause it wouldnt boot

it is time to RMA...

Mine displays FF all the time and it works fine

According to the manual:

1. Bios Chip inserted incorrectly
2. Incorrect BIOS update version
3. Mainboard Problem
4. Add on card inserted incorrectly

My board runs fine with the error all the time... IMO it is probably your RAM... test that in another computer and if that works fine then accuse the Mobo...

The FF is a very general error... could be anything.

First thing you should do is hook up a PC speaker to the board, it may give you a "beep code".

WAIT! before you go and RMA try reseating your hsf I used to get this problem occaisonally when I took off or put a new hsf on mine, just try reseating itll prolly work.

my 8rda3+ shows FF all the time after it boots up, and it runs fine

Click to expand...

Same here, thought that was normal.

look in the EPOX MANUAL it has all the error codes, i think FF is code for everything operation correctly.


also so you can get into the bios menu, or not even that far,
if you can get into bios and restart then it stops,
this may sound silly but have you just upgrade motherboard, cause if you did you have to reinstall windows other wise it wont reconise everything

FF is a normal operating code only AFTER the machine boots. A code of FF prior to booting is an error code. Before you RMA check several things.

1) Reseat the RAM
2) Reseat the cpu itself (I had an FF code once and it turned out to be the sf2 leads holding the cpu up less than a 32nd of an inch)
3) Try only one stick of RAM at a time.
4) Make sure you have a fan connected to the cpu fan header. I believe the 8rda3+ bios default looks for a good fan speed before allowing a boot.
5) Check the simple things. It's almost always something stupid that we have all overlooked at least once in the past.

Also, your unclear about something. You said it won't boot. But does it try to post? Do you get anything at all?

Sheesh, I just realized how old this thread is. Speaking of stupid things...

I guess this illustrates the importance of feedback. If you post a problem, it is only courtious to also post when the problem has been solved. Not only does it prevent old posts from being hashed up again for no reason, but what you discovered could be used by someone else down the road who may have the same problem.