Help with new p5b-e / E6400 build

[NitroTurtle]

Just put together a machine with the following components:

Asus P5B-E
Core 2 Duo E6400
Crucial Ballistix BL2KIT12864AA804 2GB DDR2-800 PC2-6400
eVGA e-GeForce 7950 GT KO

System will not post. Turns on, all the fans run, no video or beep. Completely at a loss as to what I should do. I tried flashing bios via USB drive, still nothing. I tried removing 1 DIMM, and moving that DIMM to different slots, again, nothing. Any suggestions?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: NitroTurtle
Just put together a machine with the following components:

Asus P5B-E
Core 2 Duo E6400
Crucial Ballistix BL2KIT12864AA804 2GB DDR2-800 PC2-6400
eVGA e-GeForce 7950 GT KO

System will not post. Turns on, all the fans run, no video or beep. Completely at a loss as to what I should do. I tried flashing bios via USB drive, still nothing. I tried removing 1 DIMM, and moving that DIMM to different slots, again, nothing. Any suggestions?

Your video card... try something that uses less power. See what happens. Some people have trouble using that card in P5B, but I thought a BIOS fixed it. Worth a try. Also it could be a bad board or bad CPU.

 

[Mango1970]

P5B-E I think max 2.1V for RAM but your Ballistix are 2.2 no? Not sure if that would be an issue. Probably not but something to consider

 

[NitroTurtle]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Your video card... try something that uses less power. See what happens. Some people have trouble using that card in P5B, but I thought a BIOS fixed it. Worth a try. Also it could be a bad board or bad CPU.

I'll try to grab a PCI card to try. If it were the video card, wouldn't it give me a beep code?

Originally posted by: Mango1970
P5B-E I think max 2.1V for RAM but your Ballistix are 2.2 no? Not sure if that would be an issue. Probably not but something to consider

Yeah I think this RAM does like higher voltages, but I figured it would at least boot. I've read of others using the same RAM in this board, and haven't heard of any issues.

What's really throwing me off is that I'm not even getting a beep code or anything. The fans turn on, both the northbridge and southbridge heatsinks warm up, and it just sits there. I don't have a speaker hooked up, do the Asus boards still beep without an external speaker? My other machine has an ABIT board and that one beeps with no speaker hooked up, so I just assumed this one would as well.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm getting frustrated with this, unsure if I have defective hardware, or just a compatibility issue. It's very difficult to diagnose anything when I don't have any other parts to swap out (other comp is AGP, DDR, etc.)

 

[NitroTurtle]

Still not having any luck with this. Does anyone know for sure if I should get any beeps when I initially start up using this board? Also, is there any way to bump the RAM voltage short of putting in a different stick?

It's also been suggested that I need to flash the BIOS in order to use a C2D in this board. I tried to flash the BIOS using a USB thumb drive with the rom on it, but it didn't do anything noticable at all.

I'm going to try to get my hands on some different RAM and a PCI video card tomorrow and see if I can even get it to POST by swapping those out. At this point, I'm thinking it's probably an issue with the RAM, because even with the video card removed I'm not getting any beeps indicating the missing card.

It amazes me that this RAM may not even be able to let the machine POST with 1.8v. I realize it will need 2.2v to reach high speeds, but shouldn't the default setting only require the RAM to run at DDR2-533 speeds?

Open to any other ideas. If I can't get this thing to boot tomorrow using different components I guess I'll have to RMA

 

[joebjoe]

Let me see if I can help. You actually have the same exact MB, CPU and RAM, except you have the 2GB kit, mine is the 1GB kit.

I built this thing and had ZERO issues.

Let me see if I follow. After you got it together and turned it on for the first time, you cant get it to post? Or you made some changes and cant?

I didnt have to flash bios to work with this CPU. I flashed it afterwards just to get it updated but its NOT required.

I have a diff vid card, 7600GT. You can see my specs and pics using below in my signature.

Did you try to reset bios?

Did you put the memory in the right slots? 1st slot and 3rd?

Does your vid card require an external power source? Meaning do you need to plug a molex connector into it? Ive seen PCs not post when that power wasnt plugged in.

 

[NitroTurtle]

Originally posted by: joebjoe
Let me see if I can help. You actually have the same exact MB, CPU and RAM, except you have the 2GB kit, mine is the 1GB kit.

I built this thing and had ZERO issues.

Always nice to find someone with the same components, at least now I can rule out incompatibility.

Let me see if I follow. After you got it together and turned it on for the first time, you cant get it to post? Or you made some changes and cant?

I've never gotten it to post. Hooked it all up and turned the power on, no indication that anything is happening other than the fans spinning and the heatsinks warming up slightly.

I didnt have to flash bios to work with this CPU. I flashed it afterwards just to get it updated but its NOT required.

I have a diff vid card, 7600GT. You can see my specs and pics using below in my signature.

Did you try to reset bios?

Yup. Unplugged the PS, took out the battery, switched the jumper and waited 5-10s, then put it back together. Still, nothing.

Did you put the memory in the right slots? 1st slot and 3rd?

Initially I had the memory in 1st and 3rd slots. When it wouldn't post I removed 1 DIMM and have tried the remaining DIMM in each slot with no success.

Does your vid card require an external power source? Meaning do you need to plug a molex connector into it? Ive seen PCs not post when that power wasnt plugged in.

Yes it does require external power, and I've had it connected throughout.


I see you have yours running at 3.2Ghz, that was my goal with my machine, although I'm a little worried about the 2.1v vDimm limit. But for now, I'd be happy if I could even get it to do anything. Was looking forward to seeing what it's capable of. :frown:

 

[joebjoe]

Do you have any extra components that you can use to rule out possibilities? If your like me then your lucky you even have what you have.

IM sorry your in that prediciment. Nothing more annoying then when you build a sweet machine and it wont turn on.

If youve played around with the memory and had no success, maybe its the cpu or mboard. do you have any other cpus u could maybe toss in for testing? This board handles a variety of other CPUs, pentium4, celeronD,pentiumD.

I would try to get a friend to let you put his CPU in your board if you dont have extras. You gotta narrow down what component is causing the problems.

GL

Joe

 

[NitroTurtle]

I actually got this working today, and I'm working on installing the OS currently. It seems that it was unable to boot with the ballistix voltage set at auto. Using another stick of RAM, I was able to up the voltage a bit and it boots fine now.

I'm a little unsure of what I should do at this point. On Crucial's site they specifically list this RAM as being compatible, but it simply will not boot with default BIOS settings. I'm a bit worried now that as I work on overclocking this, if I end up needing to clear the settings I'm going to be screwed again without having another stick of RAM on-hand to bump the voltage up again.

I think I may email Crucial tomorrow and see what they have to say about things. If I can't figure out a solution using my current setup, I might have to return this RAM and find something else.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

wanna return the board and get a gigabyte S3 instead?

 

[NitroTurtle]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
wanna return the board and get a gigabyte S3 instead?

I just might, as that was the other board I was considering. I have another P5B-E on the way currently, should be here tomorrow. If I don't have any better luck with that I may just send them both back. Currently testing this one, and I can't say I'm that impressed so far. The northbridge seems way too hot; I'm measuring about 60c at the top of the heatsink. Maybe this is fine, I'm gonna see if I can get it stable like this.

 

[Regalk]

You did not state what PS you have - minimum s/b 500W even though less can work but start with at least that
if NB is 60C something is up - may want to put a fan on top and also check that voltage is not too high - NB voltage
How about voltages to FSB, SB CPU - are these fine or at defaults?
Otherwise you have a gounding issue - disassemble and place MB on the box it came in and try again

 

[NitroTurtle]

Originally posted by: Regalk
You did not state what PS you have - minimum s/b 500W even though less can work but start with at least that
if NB is 60C something is up - may want to put a fan on top and also check that voltage is not too high - NB voltage
How about voltages to FSB, SB CPU - are these fine or at defaults?
Otherwise you have a gounding issue - disassemble and place MB on the box it came in and try again

I'm using this PS, so I don't think that's a problem. I received my 2nd P5B-E today, another 1.01g. Same deal with this board, it will not boot at default BIOS settings, but I'm not even gonna bother trying to use other RAM to change the voltage. I'm leaning toward returning both boards and just getting something else, possibly an S3, but I'm not sure yet.

I just got off the phone with Crucial tech support. I told them my situation, and explained that their "Crucial Memory Advisor Tool" listed this memory as being compatible with this board. I explained that it seemed a bit misleading to say it works with this board, considering it requires voltage to be increased in BIOS before it will even boot. He told me that most people don't understand that this is high performance memory and it requires more voltage to work (I knew this when I bought it, obviously). To me, listing it as compatible doesn't really make sense, but apparently I'm "reading too much into it", according to their tech support.

Anyways, I'm a bit disappointed with Crucial at this point. I'm thinking about sending back the memory as well and picking up something else. I'm open to suggestions, but I would like to stay with the Micron D9 chips. I'd just like something with auto voltage settings high enough to at least boot at a lower voltage, and I'm quite sure I can find another manufacturer that can provide this.