---CPU problem with DFI nF4 Ultra-D?---

[Battlewaffle]

I have a new machine that I put together, and has been running fine for about 3 weeks. Then suddenly one day it just won't even post, and the LED indicators on the DFI Ultra-D board have the first 3 LED's lit up (3 from the left), so basically 1,2,3 are lit up, 4th is not. According to the manual this is telling me that something is wrong with the CPU. Also, the beep tones that I'm hearing when I power this machine on, sounds like.....a 2-3 second beep, followed by 2-3 secs of nothing, then it just repeats that endlessly. I have read on the net that this beep pattern has been said to be CPU related.

Ok, now I've swapped out, RMA'd, and individually tested every piece of hardware on this machine now, so everything is either new, or a replacement, (ALL EXCEPT THE CPU FAN) and it's still doing this.

-I've taken the mainboard out of the case in case it was grounding out
-RMA'd CPU and was sent an indentical replacement
-Video card was verified to be fine in another computer
-new Ultra-D mainboard (now with retail bios, instead of the 3/10 bios I had)
-no memory configuration fixes the problem
-new power supply

I've even tried putting the CPU fan power lead to a different fan connector on the board, but still the same beep error. I can't even get into the bios

---MY QUESTION---

Does the Ultra-D have some sort of native protection in it, to not even power on the CPU if it can't detect the presence of a CPU fan? The CPU fan is a 120mm Panaflow with a 3pin lead that has been working fine for 3 weeks. It even powers up and spins, however I'm guessing (SINCE IT'S THE ONLY THING LEFT I HAVEN'T SWAPPED OUT).....guessing that the system is not seeing the fan anymore, so it won't power on the CPU.

Any ideas?

 

[suicidalpigeon]

what are you waiting for? change it and see what happens.

 

[Battlewaffle]

Because I don't have another 3 pin fan at home. The rest are the 4pin big molex connector types. And right now I'm at work, and will go buy another 3pin fan if people have heard of this being an issue.

 

[Battlewaffle]

/bump

 

[ionoxx]

Are you sure the CPU is seated properly in the socket. Have you tried overclocking it?

 

[Battlewaffle]

Well, I let the CPU fall into the zif socket and it went into the socket all the way down, then folded the lever down, and it can only go in 1 way. And initially I was overclocking it to 2.8ghz (it's a 3800+ Venice core, lots of people have been OC'ing to 2.8 easily with air cooling on the new Venice core)

It ran fine at 2.8ghz for weeks, but I've since RMA'd that CPU and have this new one, and it's still doing the same thing. Not OC'ing now, I can't even get into the bios. Just acts like there's no CPU still. It's gotta be the fan I think

 

[interchange]

I see no mention of RAM. Some mobos are very picky about RAM, and the DFI is known to be one of them...

 

[Battlewaffle]

well as far as Ram, I have 2 sticks of the OCZ VX gold. The stuff that runs at 2-2-2-8 @ 3.3-3.5v. But that's not even running at that spec right now, because I can't get into the bios to even set that up yet. This same ram has been working fine for 3 weeks. I've tried just 1 stick in DIMM 1, and that still doesn't change anything.

However, the beep code I mentioned, and the LED readout on the Ultra-D are both telling me this is a CPU problem. The LED's don't even get to the DRAM check, it's stuck at the CPU detection (3rd LED from left). This should be really simple. Either it's the CPU itself somehow, which was swapped out with an identical chip, and it is seated correctly.....(i've put many machines together over the years)......or it's something with the CPU fan. Other than the fan, I can't figure out anything else it might be. But I can't test this til I get home ;(

 

[rise]

sounds like the cold boot problem to me. once you mentioned the ram. if you're not familiar, a short version is that over time using that many volts can damage the spd on the ram so that it may NEED those volts to even boot. unfortunately, with your bios, you wouldn't be able to apply those volts to start her up.


do you have any other ram to start up and get into bios? or try just the yellow slots. and be sure to unplug the psu and drain the caps by pushing the power button a few times before swapping ram around.

edit--and i meant 1 stick in the yellow closest to edge of board. either yellow or orange, drop down to one stick for now.

 

[Battlewaffle]

well, I have tried just 1 stick in DIMM 1, which is the first yellow slot nearest the edge of the board, still no boot. Also, I've completely removed the ram and tried it, and the mainboard didn't even get to the LED dianostic part where it complains about not being able to see the RAM, it's still stuck on 3 LED's lit, which is saying there's an issue with the CPU.

So I doubt the RAM is the issue

 

[Battlewaffle]

I stand corrected. You were correct about the RAM. The CPU fan was fine. I swapped in some older sticks of DDR333 and I'm at 512mb total mem, instead of 1gig, but atleast the system works for now while I RMA or try to exchange that OCZ VX mem.

It's weird how it was a RAM problem, yet the mainboard diags and the beep codes were telling me it was a CPU issue.

 

[flexy]

ehrm...what about flashing the bios w/ the old memory in it ? (what bios you running right now ?)

Then set voltages right etc. and then put the VX in

 

[ericlala]

try just 1 stick of ram on the 2nd slot from the cpu