Help needed: New setup won't post, stuck at 1 LED

[moseisley]

I just bought the DFI Lanparty SLI board and have to say the overclocking features better be damn worth it, because compared to the Asus A8N SLI this board is as finicky as hell. I dumped the Asus because it had a chipset fan go bad and I knew this was a high probability looking at other complaints so switched to DFI.

 

I am setting up everything new, basically taking parts from the older setup and putting it into the new with the DFI board. It includes -

 

DFI Lanparty SLI board

2x512MB OCZ Platinum El Revision 2 (the one that everyone seems to be recommending here). Using only one stick now until this works

BFG Geforce 6800GT

FX-55

OCZ Powerstream 600

 

Of note: I already checked the FX-55 and RAM in another setup and know for sure they work fine. I haven't checked the bfg card...yet.

 

My main problem after following the FAQs, resetting CMOS correctly, plugging in all 4 power slots including a full 24 pin was that that the error LED would stick at 3 and not even the DFI logo or opening text screen would post. No beeps either. After reading that this was supposed to be a DRAM memory issue, it wasn't until after 24 hours of tinkering, including playing with where the RAM was inserted, to the point where I have only one in slot 2 or 4 (forget which)...none of the above helped. It was actually the BFG geforce card that it had problem with, because after activating SLI (it was off) and switching the card to the PCI-2 slot (further away from CPU) I was able to get the LED to go to 1 (supposedly system booting). Talk about a pain in the butt. I don't want SLI activated now (don't have the money for 2, and want to use my apple cinema monitor), so this is another issue, that if someone can't clarify I will probably return this if this means i have a lemon PCI-1 slot.

 

Now the problem is that after getting to 1 LED, the machine makes about 3-4 rapid beeping noises, but nothing shows up on the monitor (I have an apple cinema monitor which i know has issues with SLI, so I now have it hooked up to a regular monitor. Nothing shows up on the monitor. No text no DFI logo, and I tried hitting/holding del and insert before the 4 LED lights go and to no avail. My suspicion is that the graphic card simply isn't outputting to video. Why I have no clue. What else can I do to trouble shoot this?

 

Oh as for BIOS cause I have no clue. This setup has yet to post successfully.

[xenolith]

Did you plug the power connector into the vid card?

[moseisley]

Yes

[oliveryochest]

that has actually happened to me before. what i did was put the card into the second pcie slot. i did this couple of times and it finally picked up my vga card in the first slot.

[red930]

Have you ever read this,

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5844

[moseisley]

Well I hope that happens to me, but I have yet to see it work in the PCI-2 slot. So I'm stuck with what to do next. The only thing that improved by putting it in the PCIE-2 slot was that the system was able to get past the stuck-at-3LED problem I had that last 24 hrs. Now it at least gives me error beeps (4 in a row in rapid succession), but nothing shows up on the screen.

[moseisley]

I had read that page before Playah, and that is why I only have one OCZ memory stick in the #2 slot, but the present problem seems to be related to the BFG 6800GT being in the PCIE2 slot. I cannot get into bios, because I never get beyond a blank screen, and I have no post to tinker with bios.

 

My suspicion is that something IS posting, but the graphic card isn't ouputting to the monitor successfully. But I could be wrong.

[red930]

Do you have an old pci VC laying around?

[moseisley]

Unfortunately no. I have the Corsair CPT 5200 TWINX RAM that is specifically notorious for NOT working with DFI and I actually switched out the RAM from this setup to the other PC, so that I can use the reportedly more DFI-friendly OCZ Platinum El Rev 2 RAM.

[red930]

Maybe you could try this clear cmos,

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.p...04&postcount=24

[MorLipf]

It looks like you have the same problem as me:

 

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18776

 

 

I have an Inno3D Geforce 6800GT.

[moseisley]

Playah, I tried your suggestion of a full reset (I pretty much had done that except for the switching the power off and on to discharge any residual charge in the capacitors, and it didn't help.

 

Bored and frustrated, I did the following. I said maybe I have 1 of 2 bad sticks, and I used the other in the same slot. No help. I said, let's try putting it in the unorthodox slot #1 (closest to edge of board) and voila - I GOT POST!

 

Of course it says I need to put a DIMM in slot #2, but at least I'm in bios. Damn I hope this is the beginning of the end of the madness.

 

MorLipf - it seems we had a similar sequence of problems (stuck at 3LED, helped by playing with the graphics card - which is counterintuitive since the manual says 2LED is finding DRAM not VGA).... I think this should be added as a sticky as a potential troubleshoot when someone finds themself stuck at 3 LED. In your case, switching to a more primitive card worked. In my case moving the card to the PCIE-2 slot and activating SLI worked.

 

I never had the problem you describe of the computer resetting 5-10x before booting. So maybe we have different problems now. But who knows. Try what I did and see if works (move your sole DIMM to the unorthodox #1 slot closest to the edge of the mobo).

 

I have no idea why the things we're doing helps the situation - but my guess is it has something to do throwing curveballs at the DFI to make it escape some locked-in routine that is preventing a successful post?