8KNXP won't POST

I just put a system together around a Gigabyte GA-8KNXP and I can't get it to POST. The system is based on a P4 3.2 gig with 1 meg L2 cache, 2 gigs of Geil Golden Dragon PC3200 ram, and an Antec TruePower 480 PS. Until my ATI Fire GL T2 card comes in this week, I'm subsituting an old Matrox G450 for graphics.

When I first put it together and tried to boot, I kept getting a series of rapid continuous beeps. The Gigabyte manual stated this as a POWER ERROR. It gave no further details about what that error meant (typical Asian manual), so whatever that referred to, I'm not sure.

I did noticed that a case fan I had connected to the SYS FAN connection on the motherboard (an Enermax two-speed fan) would start to go on, then stop. I disconnected the fan and then the system no longer creates the beeps, but now it will not POST. I get no initial beep from the system, and the screen remains blank. All motherboard component fans (CPU, chipset, graphics card and Giabyte DPS2 board fan) all go on, as well as all hard drives.

Could this fan have somehow fried the board? I find it hard to believe. Is there anything else I can consider to get the system going? Thanks for any help with this.

Sounds like your CMOS has a setting configured incorrectly. Lose the battery and restart your system for 10s. Place battery back in, reboot.

Next, the 8KNXP is very fussy about the RAM you use. The 3.2 is a 800Mhz FSB, correct? This board will only work with dual channel memory if the ratio is 1:1.

If you're using an old AGP 2x card this could cause the mobo not to post.

Keep video card out for the time being. First, start with the obvious, try a different PS. Try using your RAM in single channel instead of Dual (start with one stick, if you have two). Make sure ALL PCI cards are secure.

chawks2 said:

Next, the 8KNXP is very fussy about the RAM you use. The 3.2 is a 800Mhz FSB, correct? This board will only work with dual channel memory if the ratio is 1:1.

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very untrue, i have run mine without DC and with only one stick in.

So have I, not sure what your untrue comment is directed at.

Maybe you were talking about the 1:1 ratio. I meant FSB 800 & DDR400 or FSB 533 & DDR333. Clear up the confusion?

ok... im not sure what you are talking about... i thought you were saying the 8KNXP could only run in Dual Channel...

hehehehe...

In order for you to run in dual channel with this mobo you need to have a 1:1 ratio on FSB and RAM speed.

you can run DC with 5:4 or 3:2

Well, I tried the BIOS reset, it did nothing. I tried a newer graphics card, as I'm waiting for an ATI Fire GL T2 that I was going to put in this system, so I sub'd an old Matrox G450. I thought that maybe the system did'nt like to old card, but it made no difference.

I don't really know what caused it, but this board is fried. I've checked all the cabling and everything looks normal. I have no clue as to what would have caused this. Everything is new. Suffice it to say I'll never buy another Gigabyte product again! The closest contender I've found is a DFI Lan Party Pro 875B.

Although I'm going to try and return this, I think I'm just going to wind up eating this sucker.

Thanks for your replies.

im not sure whats wrong... are you sure the motherboard is "fried?" gigabyte makes some good products...

>>...are you sure the motherboard is "fried?" gigabyte makes some good products...<<

Well, something was shorted on it I guess. That's the real problem, I can't ascertain what's really gone wrong. I've checked all the cabling and nothing is awry. I've now built about six machines, so I have a pretty good idea of how to put these things together. Although it's not an impossibility, I don't think I've done something wrong.

When I first turned the machine on, I recieve beeps that, according to the cryptic documentation, was a "power error". Unfortunately there's no further information about what this refers to. After several attemps to start it, it just finally stopped beeping at all. Sounds like a dead machine to me. What's strange is that all the board components power up fine. The MB RAM light goes on, the Geil Golden Dragon LEDs go on, the fans on the MB, CPU and graphics card all go on. Everything SEEMS normal, except I get no POST.

Thanks again for all your replies.

... have you checked your psu? do you have the DPS plugged in?

>>... have you checked your psu? do you have the DPS plugged in?<<

Do you mean the four-contact conector by the CPU? Yes it was plugged in. The PSU is a brand new Antec 480 TruePower unit, fresh out of the box. While it's possible it may for some reason be defective, how do you ascertain that?

I ordered a DFI Lan Party Pro 875B today, hopefully I'll see it in a day or two. Then I can see if perhaps the problem may lie elsewere, as I have no other outlet to test the components with, including the PSU. Hopefully nothing else got fried.

ok well post your results. i think gigabyte should help you out.

stan03, apparently I'm confused by the documentation. According to the manual, you can not have dual channel memory in this mobo, UNLESS FSB and RAM bus are the same speed. Is this not true?

no you can run the memory at a 5:4 or 3:2 ratio meaning you can run the ram slower than the cpu.

for example say i want 250 fsb. but i only have PC3200 ram, ill set the ratio at 5:4 that way for every 5 cycles of the cpu, the ram is only doing 4. 250*(5/4)=200=PC3200RAM

Wel, I ripped out the Gigabyte and installed a DFI Lan Party Pro 875B with all the same components, and everything appears to work. I still don't know why the Gigabyte died. Now I have to see if I can get it replaced or if I'm going to have to eat this thing.

The only thing I don't understand about the new DFI system setup is that it's not registering all the ram. I put four 512 meg Geil Golden Dragon chips, but the system only reports 1.5 gigs. I placed each chip in by itself and they all registered, then I placed a chip in all four slots and it registered, but the board keeps reporting only 1.5 gigs when I reinstall all four chips. I don't get it. Do I have to set something in the BIOS? Everything is at default right now.

... hmm do you have the latest windows updates? also i think Gigabyte would RMA the board.

I see this hasn't been touched in a while and I am wondering what the outcome was. Also, is the Geil double sided RAM. If so, a lot of boards have problems with 4 x 512 MB double sided modules. Also, it could be that the Gigabyte didn't like the Prescott you were using. A lot of boards also have issues with the Prescotts. Some have BIOS updates that can resolve the problem, some have to do a new revision of the board.

SPQQKY said:

I see this hasn't been touched in a while and I am wondering what the outcome was. Also, is the Geil double sided RAM. If so, a lot of boards have problems with 4 x 512 MB double sided modules. Also, it could be that the Gigabyte didn't like the Prescott you were using. A lot of boards also have issues with the Prescotts. Some have BIOS updates that can resolve the problem, some have to do a new revision of the board.

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true, i used to have an 8KNXP and u shud update the bios cuz its packed with features that may conflict with some bits.

for the bus compatibility.. as written in the manual: according to i875P chipset architecture.. u can only use PC3200 ddr ram with fsb800 processors (533>333 and 400>266).

personally i think the peeps u got from the boards are becuz of a failure in system/power fan u were installing and the warning in the bios was on, i once tried to enable the power/system fan warning in bios and it makes that peep if the fan fails.. MAYBE some failure in the fan fried the mb, its a low chance but it may have occured..

as said try clearing cmos from jumper and u shud definitly give GB the board back ull 100% get a retrieval. g/l

p.s. the thing about double sided ddr ram said it true.. and ive read be4 that the lan party has this problem.