The mobo for Dominator won't post up now....I get either a constant beep or a short beep with static and a frozen Logo screen....I assume the board is fried.....is there any chance the Bios is corrupted and a revision update from Gigabytes site would solve it if I can get it to boot up again? If not a recommended replacement board cause I think this one is too low end to do what I want....

Some things you can try:

• set BIOS to default settings
  
• take out all DIMM's except for one (see if it works properly then, switch them if it doesn't)
  
• underclock the mainboard (so the CPU runs at a lower freq as well). If it's stable, move it up until you hit the wall. If it's lower than spec, one of the primary components (CPU, RAM, mainboard) is probably fried.
  

Try AleGr MEMTEST. It runs from within Windows or from a DOS (insert nostalgia trumpet here) bootdisk.

If it's a Gigabyte mainboard, does it have dual-BIOS? If so, you can switch to the other BIOS and try that one.

that board is quite good for what you want - you don't stick to the rules...

pull out battery
let her cool down and have a beer.
reinstall battery
boot her up
if she does: load safe defaults
get current bios and flash it
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.
.
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frank.

it is - and showing bios-version 1.0 normally is a sure sign that it already has done that procedure.

so next will be getting the current one flashed and running...

frank.

Frank-
Going to follow your suggestion.....the thing I am baffled about is had it running stable @3.36GHz for 2-3 days ...went to reboot to try to up the OCk and then all this baloney started.....so it may be the bios just needs updating and even though the OS was running stable the problem existed in the background?


Willy -Tried the Dimm's suggestion...no go

if it has dropped back to BIOS 1.0, it has lost all changes made in updates to support newer CPU-steppings and advanced memory timings available.

as far as i know GiGabyte DUAL-BIOS, you have had a message stating that emergency procedure was taken.....


frank.

Frank-I got a post and a boot....bios rev is F4...is there a newer rev?

Geez the downloads are all set up for windows Arghhhhhhh

if it is GA-EP35-DS3L:


http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=2778


you should get rev. F5:


http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=BIOS&FileID=13716

frank.

those are RAR-sfx files - get unrar for bogomips

you'll need a DOS-bootdisk -> bootdisk.com

frank.

Can I use the Q-flash utility to install? d/l now....

autoexec.bat and flashspi.exe are in that archive..

frank.

Needs another cool down ....Arghhhhhhhhhhh be back 20-30 mins

Wants to flash from a: drive...no cd-rom option ....only other option is boot from hard disk...??? do I need to go into bios to run the utility or set the boot order to cd-rom 1st in bios?

never done that, allways have a floppy-drive @hand. this might work if you created a CD with floppy-boot layout..

frank.

ok have a floppy in the junk pile I need to go get and throw in....since it is getting late on your end ...assuming I get rev F5 installed then what do I do for OCk settings looking for lets say a 3.6 OCk to start?

don't worry - 20:09 local time

DO use SAFE DEFAULTS @ first!


frank.

Almost had it loading...bent power pin and ide cable backwards LOL rookie mistakes on a cool down again....should have it on next try

Set her to SAFE DEFAULTS before trying to flash!!!

frank.

JR, how warm/hot does the cooler on the northbridge get? (the little heatsink with gigabyte on it)
it should get enough airflow from your cpu-cooler, but do check.
usually overclocking strains the northbridge, so it might need some more airflow on it's heatsink.
you could also consider replacing the thermal interface material between the northbridge and the heatsink with some aftermarket material like Arctic Ceramic or Silver (if the CPU heatsink came with a tube of paste, you might also consider using that).

also, did you consider raising the chipset voltages during your overclocking attempts?

I can't get the Bios to update. Trying to load the bios.exe from a drive in q-flash just gave disk read errors.The boot disk created on a win machine for Linux using UnetBootin did not work either. Perhaps I do not understand this whole process very well step by step. I am a Linux novice as well and could not get the program to run on Ubuntu even in the terminal bash/sudo...so I am stuck. Perhaps Frank you give me too much credit that you think I understand more than I do ...oh well I am tired of this today...but got Dominator to boot up again and she seems to be stable atm @3.50GHz.145F
I am pretty sure if I reboot down the road I will have the same problem w/o the Bios update and good settings... Arghhhh

Will try again tommorrow or when you feel like jackin with me Frank but done today ....

Thanks MP for the tips...the lm sensor package doen't give the temp does it? I have some Zalman thermal grease which is superb that I will put under that heatsink soon too....yes I upped the voltage on the chipsets too...pretty much everything across the board.

JR: 145F is way too much! your'e going to barbecue her..

boot to bios, load failsafe settings and start all over again!


frank.

brought it back down ...3.18@ 124F

The P4 3.0 Xeons run at 150-160F in the hot room....the 5150 140-150F so I didn't see any big deal?

i can run my box @3.5 with 125F which is too hot for my specs - something is not as it should be over there..

got PM?

frank.