Problems with Epox EP-8KDA3J

[Ariste]

Hey guys. I just finished putting together my system last night and tried to boot it up for the first time and was met with a post code C1 on my motherboard LED, which had something to do with memory. After reseating the memory, it went to a post code of 25, which is "reserved" in the manual. After rebooting a few more times it went to a post code of FF, at which point I called it quits for the night. I woke up this morning and tried to boot up and it went through a similar pattern of post codes, eventually getting to FF. When I get the FF code, there is lots of activity in the IDE devices (CD-ROM's) but the system will not POST.

At that point I unplugged and reconnected everything and tried to boot up again. I was thrilled when the system POSTed, so I stuck in the Windows XP disk and restarted. I got into Windows setup and got as far as the hard drive partitioning/formatting screen when the monitor went blank and the same CD-ROM activity occured as when I had the FF post code. Now I cant' get the system to POST at all anymore.

Any idea on what the problem might be? It's really frustrating me, so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks,

 

[cowdog]

FF is the code on my 8KDA3J when it is running A-OK.

 

[Ariste]

Yeah but the difference is that yours probably goes through a bunch of other codes before FF. Mine goes straight to it. It really doesn't make sense to me... if I turn off the computer for an hour or so and turn it on again, it'll POST, but if I try to hit F1 to continue it gets stuck when it tries to load something and if I go into the BIOS it'll either freeze inside the BIOS or if I hit ESC to get out of BIOS it'll just stop working and the CD-ROM activity will start up again.

 

[osage]

do a quick search

 

[JBT]

FF is good. Every once in awhile When I look into my case window it will be hanging out on reserved numbers but still working A-Ok not sure what that means but it runs flawlessly for me.

 

[Shimmishim]

when you get into the bios next time, check your vcore voltage....

sometimes this board will boot with the voltage very very low... like 1.3 volts or so even though it is set to 1.55 in the bios....

this maybe causing your problem as to it not completely booting.... i.e. computer is okay until it is put under load...

clear your cmos, take out the battery for like 5 minutes and then try rebooting...

that seemed to solve my problems many times

 

[Ariste]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I'll definitely try that out next time, Shimmishim. I just had it actually running in Windows setup again, but I had to stop because I realized that I didn't have the drivers for my SATA drives. Kind of off topic, but where can I get those drivers? Anyway, thanks a lot for your help,

 

[Shimmishim]

SATA drivers for the mobo?

you could probably just try the epox webpage

 

[Ariste]

K, I got the SATA drivers. When the system POSTs, it says that the chipset voltage is around 1.6, so I don't think that's the problem. It just doesn't make any sense that the system will POST sometimes and not others, and that it would just freeze or restart during Windows setup. Could it be a bad board?

Thanks,

 

[Shimmishim]

have you checked your vcore after each bootup?

this board is fickle at times and will boot up at 1.3 volts at times even though it's set to 1.55 or 1.6 in the bios.

what bios are you using?

 

[Ariste]

Heh, I guess I didn't realize this morning that you said vcore, not chipset voltage. I'll check that next time I get the computer to POST... that seems like it would make sense and would explain some of the problems. I guess it only POSTs when on the occasion that it gets enough voltage and then it will stop working when the voltage is taken away.

As for which BIOS I'm using, I haven't changed from the shipping BIOS yet, which I've heard undervolts. Do you think that I should change to a different one, and if so, which one?

Thanks for your help,

 

[Ariste]

Alright, I got it to POST and it reported the vcore at around 1.55V, so I don't think that's the problem. Any other ideas? It just doesn't make sense... it'll POST sometimes and not other times and when it does POST it'll eventually end up with either the screen going blank or the system freezing. Very frustrating. Thanks for any help,

 

[Shimmishim]

system specs please

 

[Ariste]

Power Supply- Antec NeoPower 480W PSU

Motherboard- Epox EP-8KDA3J

CPU- AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (water cooled)

Memory- OCZ Enhanced Bandwidth PC-3700

Video Card- GeForce 6800 GT

Sound Card- Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS

Hard Drives- 74GB Western Digital Raptor + 160GB Seagate Barracuda

Drives- DVD-RW, DVD-ROM, Floppy

 

[Shimmishim]

1 gig or 512 megs?

if you are using double sided memory or 1 gig, you should set the command rate to 2T