Is My EP45-UD3R About to Die?

[brocks]

I have a Gigabyte EP45-UD3R mb that's over 4 years old. Starting a couple weeks ago, my PC wouldn't go through the BIOS startup when I turned it on; the power came on, but it just chirped every few seconds with a blank screen. If I turned it off and then back on, it came up normally. This happened maybe four times in two weeks (I turn it off every night).

Today, the same thing happened, but I got a different tone of longer duration when I first turned it on, and then it took three on-off cycles before it came up. Note that the problem is entirely with getting into the BIOS startup --- once the BIOS screen comes up, everything goes fine --- it goes through the hardware checks, I pick the drive I want to boot from, and then Win7 or Win8 starts up, depending on which drive I pick (this is NOT a Windows dual boot, it's me picking the drive in the BIOS, because I don't like the way Windows does it). Either version runs fine all day long. I'm just trying to head off any responses that tell me to check anything in Windows, because I'm absolutely certain that the problem occurs before Windows begins its boot process.

I'm OK with getting a new mb, memory, and cpu, and swapping them out, but I don't want to if I don't have to, because my current PC is plenty fast for my needs. So I just want to ask the experts:

Could this be something small, like the battery going dead, or is it an obvious warning that the MB is about to die? If it's about to die, would leaving it on overnight buy me a few extra days, because my only problems are at startup?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Ketchup]

I was researching your issue and found a couple possibilities. See the following threads:

http://hardforum.com/archive/index.php/t-783410.html

http://www.teamplayergaming.com/pc-...aced-motherboard-now-have-chirping-sound.html

I would recommend trying some of the testing mentioned in these. Of course, we both know that board itself didn't come with fans on it (I had the same board on my last system).

Also, keep in mind everybody doesn't refer to a "chirp" the same way.

Anyway, let us know if you find anything.

 

[Polar2002]

I would replace the button battery. My old motherboards had problems with start ups until I finally took out the battery and tested it. It was almost completely dead. After replacing the battery all is fine.

 

[Ketchup]

I would replace the button battery. My old motherboards had problems with start ups until I finally took out the battery and tested it. It was almost completely dead. After replacing the battery all is fine.

Good first step. Cheap and easy!

 

[brocks]

Ketchup, thanks very much for the effort, but the symptoms in the links don't sound like mine. My "chirps" only occur when nothing else happens --- I never even get a BIOS startup screen. In the links, they are talking about chirps after they are into the BIOS, or even the OS.

I just realized that I've heard the chirp before, so anybody with the same MB can know exactly how it sounds. In the BIOS startup, you can hit PF12 to get a menu for the boot device (CD, USB, HD, etc.). But when you hit PF12, it doesn't give any visual feedback that the command is accepted, so I usually hit it several times (because if you hit it too soon or too late in the POST, it doesn't work, and you have to reboot to get the menu). If you hit it four or five times, it gives a little chirp that confirms it knows you want the boot device menu. That is the same chirp it is making every five seconds or so when the startup fails, and all I have is a blank screen.

But other than that special case, I don't get any chirps once it gets into the BIOS startup. When I hit the power button, one of two things happens -- either it gives a one-second tone (not a chirp) and goes into the BIOS POST, and everything is fine, or it gives a quarter-second chirp every five seconds or so, and nothing else happens, just a blank screen.

 

[Ketchup]

That sounds like what I hear when I hit the keyboard too many times before the BIOS is ready to react to the input. If that is the case, one of your input devices (mainly thinking of the keyboard) may have an issue sending input when no action is performed (a stuck key, for example).

Like I said, people describe things in different ways, so translating the issue can be as difficult as finding a solution, at times.

 

[brocks]

I would replace the button battery. My old motherboards had problems with start ups until I finally took out the battery and tested it. It was almost completely dead. After replacing the battery all is fine.

Yeah, I guess I should try that first in any case, because it's just a buck or so. Sure hope it works. Thanks.

 

[brocks]

Well, replacing the battery wasn't so easy, and it doesn't seem to have helped.

I live in a small coastal town, which has its advantages, but no local store had the battery, so I had to order it online. BTW, on my MB it's conveniently located right under the video card, so you have to take that out to replace the battery.

Finally got it this morning, swapped it out, started up the PC, and it's still a crapshoot whether I get a blank screen, or the BIOS POST. Once I get the BIOS POST, everything runs fine, other than the normal hassle of the BIOS resetting to default values when you take the battery out, and trying to remember from four years ago what they were. Strange things in Win7, too, although they appear to be cleared up now.

I guess four years is a pretty good run, and the smart thing to do is to order a new MB/CPU/memory before this one craps out completely.