Gigabyte Ga-965p-s3 Doa!

N

Necopotence

New Member
I finally recived my computer parts I've been dreaming of for the last year or so only to have the GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 that I ordered be DOA. I am completly without a computer untill I can have it RMA'd back to Newegg.

I'm thinking of going ahead and ordering a new board so I can have it by Wens. and have the RMA'd board go for credit for a new moniter. My problem is that I'm not sure if I want to go with Gigabyte agian. Should I give them another chance or should I just go with an Asues board? I'm so ready to have my computer up and running I'm willing to spend up to $200 dollars on a better OC'ing board right now.

Anyone have any suggestions? I really can't wait any longer, LOL. I have a 1.8 C2D, 2gig 240 Pin 6400 Ram and a few other parts just sitting in my room taunting me, I can't take it! Also, a board with 2 IDE ports would rock! I have 3 IDE devices that the Gigabyte S3 could only support 2 of. Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
Geoff

Geoff

VIP Member
I would try them again, since they are great boards for overclocking.

When you say your board is DOA, are you sure? What exactly happens when you try to power up?
 
N

Necopotence

New Member
The power will come on, along with all the LED lights but not the heatsink. After about 2 sec. will cut off. After another 3 secs it will cut back on with LED and in another 3-4 secs the Heatsink fan will come on. I never get a visual onscreen.

I've already switched out 2 different PSU hoping it was a faulty power supply but no luck.
 
ETSA

ETSA

New Member
I have that board also(well missing one letter), it's great. I have had no problesm and OCing has been a breeze.
 
Last edited:
Saurian

Saurian

Member
What ram? Are you using ram which requires voltages of 2.0 volts or higher, such as some cheaper ram? Have you tried a stick of lower speed DDR2 that HAS 1.8 or 1.9 rated voltages? This is a big possible issue.
 
ETSA

ETSA

New Member
My RAM runs at 1.9 and BIOS had it at 1.8 and my computer worked fine. Although I realized it need to be changed when MY OCing wasn't going well. I found out my RAM was underpowered!

SO I fixed it and entered the timings.

Now it's BLAZING fast. :D
 
N

Necopotence

New Member
I'm using OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400). I'm using a 500 watt PSU. Can that even be a possible problem?
 
ETSA

ETSA

New Member
Well OCZ is known for operating at higher volatges, check there website and see, than see what the default voltage is for you motherboard. If neccessary go in and alter it. It could very well be the problem from what you are mentioning...

btw that is why I went with Corsair...:D
 
N

Necopotence

New Member
ETSA said:
Well OCZ is known for operating at higher volatges, check there website and see, than see what the default voltage is for you motherboard. If neccessary go in and alter it. It could very well be the problem from what you are mentioning...

btw that is why I went with Corsair...:D
Click to expand...

Would the Heatsink not come on because of the Ram not being juiced?
 
ETSA

ETSA

New Member
Well from my expierence things in general won't work if the RAM doesn;t. But to answer your question, I am not sure. One would think if it were conencted probably and the HSF wasn't DOA than it shoudl work.
 
Saurian

Saurian

Member
The problem is isn't your powersupplyl (already diagnosed), and ETSA your ram had no trouble becasue the P965 chipset can accomodate the 1.9v.

What voltage is your ram rated for? Is it 2.0 or 2.1 volts? This is a common problem, the 965 chipsets WANT 1.8v ram. RAM rated for 1.9v can startup on the chipset, but must be corrected generally. Ram that requires higher then this, usually will not even boot. What you need to do to diagnose this "DOA" board is to get some ddr2 ram that operates at 1.8 volts. This can be slower 533 or 667 mhz ram, or generally oem ram sticks will run at this. Do you have any access to this? Do you have a local computer shop you can bring the computer down to and have them put the differnet ram into it?

The board may be alive, it just doesn't see ram because the ram you bought wants more voltage. It is decent ram, but it is voltage-hungry to get the same level as say..Corsair ram.

Do you understand what I'm saying? Or does it need further explanation?

The big thing is you need to find some other ram to troubleshoot with, and it has to be the right voltage.

If I were buying OCZ ram, or any ram that required 2.0v, I would buy a cheap, low end 533Mhz 256MB stick for like 30 bucks to go with it. Just something to troubleshoot, and to set my voltages up.
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
The power will come on, along with all the LED lights but not the heatsink. After about 2 sec. will cut off. After another 3 secs it will cut back on with LED and in another 3-4 secs the Heatsink fan will come on. I never get a visual onscreen.
Click to expand...
You need to get a cheap stick of RAM and update to the newest BIOS (also possibly up the voltage as well). The same thing happened to me with this board but I only had 1.9V ram.
 
N

Necopotence

New Member
Saurian said:
The problem is isn't your powersupplyl (already diagnosed), and ETSA your ram had no trouble becasue the P965 chipset can accomodate the 1.9v.

What voltage is your ram rated for? Is it 2.0 or 2.1 volts? This is a common problem, the 965 chipsets WANT 1.8v ram. RAM rated for 1.9v can startup on the chipset, but must be corrected generally. Ram that requires higher then this, usually will not even boot. What you need to do to diagnose this "DOA" board is to get some ddr2 ram that operates at 1.8 volts. This can be slower 533 or 667 mhz ram, or generally oem ram sticks will run at this. Do you have any access to this? Do you have a local computer shop you can bring the computer down to and have them put the differnet ram into it?

The board may be alive, it just doesn't see ram because the ram you bought wants more voltage. It is decent ram, but it is voltage-hungry to get the same level as say..Corsair ram.

Do you understand what I'm saying? Or does it need further explanation?

The big thing is you need to find some other ram to troubleshoot with, and it has to be the right voltage.

If I were buying OCZ ram, or any ram that required 2.0v, I would buy a cheap, low end 533Mhz 256MB stick for like 30 bucks to go with it. Just something to troubleshoot, and to set my voltages up.
Click to expand...

What you say is making perfect sense. I've already taken it to a computer shop to have it looked at instead of doing an RMA. Thanks everyone for the info. I truly hope this is the prob. If he calls me tommrow and says he is having trouble finding the issues this is the first thing I will mention.
 
Saurian

Saurian

Member
OCZ seems to OC well, but yes, it has had quite obvious issues with the 965 series chipsets and their requirement of strictly 1.8v ram.
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
OCZ seems to OC well, but yes, it has had quite obvious issues with the 965 series chipsets and their requirement of strictly 1.8v ram.
Click to expand...
That was only on inital BIOS releases, most boards (all the gigabyte ones, I can't say all the 965 boards though I haven't checked them out) have updated BIOS that fix the first boot issues for 1.9V DDR2 and probably other over volted RAM.

Safe SPD settings should've been applied to those modules for 1.8V booting. My OCz modules run safe timings (by SPD) for all rated speeds.
 
N

Necopotence

New Member
Cromewell said:
That was only on inital BIOS releases, most boards (all the gigabyte ones, I can't say all the 965 boards though I haven't checked them out) have updated BIOS that fix the first boot issues for 1.9V DDR2 and probably other over volted RAM.

Safe SPD settings should've been applied to those modules for 1.8V booting. My OCz modules run safe timings (by SPD) for all rated speeds.
Click to expand...

Damn! Heh, I was really hoping it was the Ram, that way the mobo wasn't DOA so that I wouldn't have to wait 3 weeks for a newegg RMA. *Crosses his fingers* Please not be a dead part.
 
Rambo

Rambo

New Member
Necopotence said:
Damn! Heh, I was really hoping it was the Ram, that way the mobo wasn't DOA so that I wouldn't have to wait 3 weeks for a newegg RMA. *Crosses his fingers* Please not be a dead part.
Click to expand...

I am almost positive it is your RAM. I have the DS3 (exactly the same, except my board has all-solid capacitors), and many people have had similar problems...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top