EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

[kabuche]

Hello, this is my first post, i've looked in the forum a lot but i can't find a solution.

Motherboard Gigabyte EP45 DS4P
Intel Q9550
4 GB Kingston Valueram DDR2 800
A little overclock on the BIOS config.

This setup worked fine for two years, until I removed the CPU to sell it.
Then I installed a Core 2 Duo E6300, no boot, blue CPU led turns on and the motherboard turns off, then it turns on itself and the cycle repeats.

Things i've tried:
-other ram (667 and 800)
-only ram, video and cpu on the motherboard
-removed the battery, power cables and short the clear CMOS pin for 48 hours
-"forced backup bios restore" from a guide i found on this forum

Any ideas? Many thanks!

[wazza300]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

using the latest bios before you removed the quad chip? inspected cpu socket to makesure no pins are bent?

[kabuche]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

I supose no, i've never updated the bios version.
There are no physical issues on any part of the board, i've inspected it carefully.

[profJim]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

You might need to remove your motherboard from the computer case and set the mobo on a cardboard box next to the computer case. Do NOT set the mobo on top of an anti-static bag. Check out http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte...tml#post295897, post #5 for more information. Try booting with only one memory module installed.

You might need to remove your cpu and check closely for any bent pins. Make sure that there is not a problem with excess thermal interface material (TIM) and that the cpu cooler is properly installed. You might need to test using another power supply. "Coincidental" failures are rare, but anything is possible.

[kabuche]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

The motherboard is on top of a cardboard box outside the case through all this tests.
Only 1 2GB module of kingston ddr2 667 valueram is installed (also tried with ddr2 800).
The are no bent pins anywhere or loose or broken capacitors neither.
The CPU cooler is propely installed and working fine (until the motherboard restarts).
The thermal paste layer is extremelly thin.
The power supply is a brand new (and tested on another system) Antec HCP-1200, the one that worked for two years with the Q9550 was a CoolerMaster real power pro 850 w.

Thank you for rour reply.

[wazza300]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

could you borrow another chip to try? maybe quadcore? could be a bios incompatibility issue with that chip,once working you can flash to the latest bios and then put the dual core chip back in and try,i cant think of what else it could be

[profJim]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

Do you have a case speaker connected to the motherboard? If yes, any beeps?
Can you test with another cpu and/or video card?

[kabuche]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

I've tried with three video cards, and none worked, i don't think that the problem is there since the cpu led on the motherboard turns on.
I don't have a pc speaker connected so no beeps :( .

The only thing left to try is a quad core cpu like wazza300 said i will try to borrow one, if that does not work i think the motherboard is gone.

Thank you all, any other ideas are welcome.

[Acebmxer]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

Hello, this is my first post, i've looked in the forum a lot but i can't find a solution.

Motherboard Gigabyte EP45 DS4P
Intel Q9550
4 GB Kingston Valueram DDR2 800
A little overclock on the BIOS config.

This setup worked fine for two years, until I removed the CPU to sell it.
Then I installed a Core 2 Duo E6300, no boot, blue CPU led turns on and the motherboard turns off, then it turns on itself and the cycle repeats.

Things i've tried:
-other ram (667 and 800)
-only ram, video and cpu on the motherboard
-removed the battery, power cables and short the clear CMOS pin for 48 hours
-"forced backup bios restore" from a guide i found on this forum

Any ideas? Many thanks!

Let me make sure I understand this.... You had this motherboard EP45 DS4P with this cpu Q9550 working with the original bios. As far as you can remember you have not updated the bios? Do you remember what the bios version is?

You then removed the Q9550 and installed the E6300 and now the system will not boot. Correct?

Here is the cpu support list for your board. GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Socket 775 - Intel P45 - GA-EP45-DS4P (rev. 1.0).

If you look the Q9550 needs bios F7 to be supported. The E6300 needs bios F3 to be supported.

Now unless I have this backwards this shoudl work. I dont know how you got the Q9550 to work if you have not updated the bios and could possibly be at version F3.

Second thing the Q9550 was made in Q1'08 and the E6300 was made in Q3'06.

Please correct me if I am wrong on any of this.

[kabuche]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

Let me make sure I understand this.... You had this motherboard EP45 DS4P with this cpu Q9550 working with the original bios. As far as you can remember you have not updated the bios? Do you remember what the bios version is?

You then removed the Q9550 and installed the E6300 and now the system will not boot. Correct?

Here is the cpu support list for your board. GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Socket 775 - Intel P45 - GA-EP45-DS4P (rev. 1.0).

If you look the Q9550 needs bios F7 to be supported. The E6300 needs bios F3 to be supported.

Now unless I have this backwards this shoudl work. I dont know how you got the Q9550 to work if you have not updated the bios and could possibly be at version F3.

Second thing the Q9550 was made in Q1'08 and the E6300 was made in Q3'06.

Please correct me if I am wrong on any of this.

Correct.
From the link you posted above, Q9550 2.83 Ghz. stepping C1 works with F3 bios, as well as the E6300.
I've never updated the bios and i don't remeber the version.

[Acebmxer]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

Correct.
From the link you posted above, Q9550 2.83 Ghz. stepping C1 works with F3 bios, as well as the E6300.
I've never updated the bios and i don't remeber the version.

Ok that would explain it. I did not take not from the list about the stepping version.

But either way you have a C1 stepping q9550 which works with bios F3 and so does the older E6300.

First why are you downgrading from a quad to a duo? Second is the duo new or used? I think you might have a bad cpu.

Edit - after relooking through the list, what exact E6300 do you have???? The Pentium Dual-Core E6300 2.80GHz 2MB Wolfdale 45nm R0 65W 1066 needs bios F8 to work. While the Core 2 Duo E6300 needs F3 to work.

[kabuche]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

I'm not downgrading, i sold the parts from my computer, here is the full story:
The hard from my first post worked flawlessly for about two years, until i decided to sell it.
I turned off the pc, took the motherboard and sold it to some guy, then he returned it to me claiming that he put a Pentium Dual Core E5200 and boot into bios (wich had a password set by me, i forgot to clear it before giving it to him), BUT after that, it won't boot any more (with the symptoms I described).

I don't know this guy so i can't ensure did't broke it doing something inappropriate.

So now I have the board and tested it the way i described before.

Finnally, the CPU is a Core 2 Duo E6300 SL9SA 1.86 Ghz, and the last time it was used worked fine.

Thanks for your time.

[profJim]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

In post #1, the OP said:

Then I installed a Core 2 Duo E6300

The E6300 (R0) 2.80GHz is a Pentium Dual-Core, not a Core 2 Duo (1.86GHz with L2 stepping).

cpu (2.80GHz)

[kabuche]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

I'm sorry, i typed it wrong here is the transcription from the cpu chip (i can send a picture if necessary):

Intel '05
Intel Core 2 Duo 6300 SL9SA Malay 1.86GHZ/2M/1066/06

[profJim]

Re: EP45 DS4P CPU led turns on and no boot (restart loop)

No need to apologize, you have the original Core 2 Duo E6300.