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BOAC
6th Nov 2014, 17:07
Damn thing 'froze' today and now will not go past the GB splash screen. Cannot access BIOS on it either.

I have removed all plug-ins including memory
Fitted new CMOS battery
Cleared CMOS

Still no joy.

2 months old.

jcjeant
8th Nov 2014, 20:06
Hi,

2 months old.
So .. no problems ... it is under warranty .. so immediate return to store :)

BOAC
9th Nov 2014, 06:23
Already gone - was just hoping to avoid if some clever person had found a way around this or to do further trouble-shooting. Next problem - what to if mobo man says 'board ok? Then it is CPU back to supplier for test and on we go...............

To me it sounds like a knackered BIOS, but there is no way to re-flash.

Booglebox
10th Nov 2014, 13:12
If you press a key during the splash screen it may display what's actually going on.

LookingForAJob
10th Nov 2014, 13:21
Not this will help much but I once bought a Gigabyte board - I think it went back twice, one just didn't work and the other would only get past the POST about one in four times, and then I changed to another brand. I've no idea whether my experience was bad luck or quite typical but I now almost always stick with ASUS for myself and anyone daft enough to ask my advice and I've had no problems.

BOAC
10th Nov 2014, 14:32
Boogle - keyboard input = 0

LFAJ - Yes - I'm seeing the logic! I'll see what the RMA produces.

Booglebox
10th Nov 2014, 19:47
"keyboard input = 0"

Then it's totally knackered. :}

BOAC
11th Nov 2014, 07:04
Yes, hence the RMA, but what I do not understand is whether duff CPU/power supply/memory (delete/add as applicable) coud cause the symptom and whether I am to be batted from *** to *** by the Gigabyte folk saying 'not our board, mate'.

Booglebox
11th Nov 2014, 14:53
You could use Occam's razor in your favour, and tell them that you tested the other parts in a different mobo and they all work fine :E

superG3
11th Nov 2014, 19:10
Hi BOAC, I would say it's the motherboard or RAM. CPU failures are very rare these days. If it comes back ok, I would install only one stick of RAM at a time and see if it posts. Continue this with each stick of RAM until you find the faulty one. If it is the RAM, most have lifetime warantys.

Cheers

BOAC
12th Nov 2014, 16:13
super - I tried it with no RAM and still no keyboard access, so I don't think RAM is the culprit?

superG3
12th Nov 2014, 19:40
I'm pretty sure that a MOBO needs at least 1 stick of RAM to post. What I was trying to say is if you have more than 1 stick of RAM, put them in individually and see if it posts 1 by 1 until you find the faulty 1, if it is the RAM that is.

Could also be a power supply issue, make sure all the connectors are correctly seated.

Cheers

Let us know what they come back with.

BOAC
13th Nov 2014, 18:07
"BIOS was 'Incorrect' " unquote. I have asked for further details.

BigEndBob
13th Nov 2014, 20:01
Bit unlucky. Every Gigabyte mobo i have had (3) failed at exactly 3 years old. Must have what i call a doomsday chip fitted.

The msi board in the works computer, on 8 hours 300 days of the year still going stronge after 8 years.

BOAC
15th Nov 2014, 10:52
Board on its way back. Here you go - what does the jury reckon on this:-

"Our repair team say that upon inspection the BIOS was found to have been updated wrongly to a different version by a 3rd party that had scrambled data on it which required it to be reset to the latest official version for this model of board"

Hmm?? All I had done was reset boot order and fan control. It worked from late Sep through Oct into early Nov with just a few 'lock-ups' (which I dutifully ignored...) until the 'crash' when I could not access the BIOS. I had, of course, 'done' the CMOS battery and cleared the BIOS during the troubleshooting, but 'corrupting' it???? No electrical storms etc.

Who is the '3rd party'? Am I being fobbed off here? I detect a groundswell on various fora against Gigabyte mobos. Any more opinions here like lfaj's?

SuperG3 - Google seems to support your comment on RAM sticks, but I'm sure I had read (?somewhere?) to try the mobo with RAM out.

BigEndBob
18th Nov 2014, 07:41
What gets me is that these boards usually come with some overclocking software with the warning that overclocking can make the computer unstable or damage a component. So what stops a third party or the manufacturer downloading something that will cause the board to overclock and blow itself up!

Its strange that the computer at work has only on one occasion suffered a virus, in which some russian named person created a user profile, stopping us from using the computer until i denyed it access and antivirused it. I put the lack of viruses down to using XLN as our broadband supplier. They must have some kind of good firewall operating.

Home computer through Talk Talk, always lots of rubbish down the line.

BOAC
18th Nov 2014, 21:32
It's back; will be a few days before I can find time to install, BUT the paperwork says 'User Bios setting error'. I need to know more - what setting can I make that knackers it completely? It would be useful to know - if this is 'the truth' and not a fob off for a defective mobo, I seek NOT to make that setting again.:mad:

Booglebox
18th Nov 2014, 21:56
That... that is pretty damning :}
For the BIOS to be messed up so badly that the system freezes at POST, that's got to be either a really really critical setting like CPU voltage or something, or a gigabyte BIOS bug.
However I suggest going forward you disable the splash screen / enable verbose boot, so that you can see the messages scroll past when you start up, and if you mess something up you know what it was.

BOAC
20th Nov 2014, 07:39
Thanks - certainly don't go anywhere near the CPU settings! Up to my neck in other things at present so will re-assemble and do as you suggest next week.

superG3
20th Nov 2014, 19:15
So it was a corrupted BIOS. That can happen from time to time. Assuming that they have reset it for you, it should boot up fine.

BOAC
21st Nov 2014, 07:02
Indeed, super, one hopes so....., but that is not really the issue. How and why?

BOAC
25th Nov 2014, 17:15
Finally found time to re-assemble 'puter and all seems well. RMA department at Gigabyte UK is being less than forthcoming about the problem 'we don't know' and have agreed to forward my enquiry to tech gurus. We wait and see.