New computer build problems

[jibs]

Hello, I'm starting to rip out what hair I have left trying to trouble shoot my new media pc build, and it's time for me to reach out for some help.

The hardware:

Apex MI-008 case
Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 LGA1155 mITX motherboard, F8 Bios
Intel Pentium G2030 LGA1155 CPU
Corsair P3 64GB SSD
GSkill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9D 2x4GB Ram

The mobo says that the CPU and RAM are both on the supported list

The problem:

When I finished my build I powered on the pc, the CPU fan spins up and all the led indicators on the mobo light up. After about 10-15 seconds the computer will shut off, then 5 seconds later it will start up again and continue this loop. There are no beeps and nothing displayed on my monitor. I took everything apart and re-built it step by step to ensure that I didn't miss a connection or screw something up. Power on, same problem.

I did some reading and it seems that this mobo can have problems with Ivy Bridge CPU's unless it is running the latest, F8 version of the Bios. The recommendation is to try using a Sandy Bridge CPU to see if it boots and to possibly update the Bios. I swap in my 2500k CPU that I have for another build, power on the machine and everything works fine. I check the Bios and it is running the latest F8 Bios.

Now I'm stumped, so I take everything apart and swap back in the G2030 CPU, put it all back together, power it on and run into the original problem again. Unfortunately this mobo does not have a connection for a speaker, and it doesn't have an LED screen showing an error code. I have tried only using 1 stick of RAM, and I have swapped the sticks and tried them in different slots, to no avail.

I'm hoping someone out there has run into something similar before or has a suggestion on my next course of action. Because everything worked with the 2500k CPU that leads me to believe that the mobo/ram/SSD work fine, but i'm wondering if there could be a problem with the G2030 CPU.

Thanks in advance.

 

[stinger608]

That motherboard may support the Ivy Bridge, however I have to believe it is with the latest bios revision. That board may have to have a Sandy Bridge processor installed to flash the bios to the latest.
I would reflash the bios with the latest F8 as there may have been something amiss when the factory did the flash.

 

[John Connor]

Yeah, sounds like a BIOS issue.

 

[denis280]

I would reflash the bios with the latest F8 as there may have been something amiss when the factory did the flash.

+1

 

[jibs]

I put the 2500k CPU back in, reflashed the F8 bios. Put the G2030 back in and i'm still having the same problem. I would love to try the G2030 in another mobo to see if it is a cpu issue, unfortunately I don't have anything here that can support it.

I've opened a support ticket with Gigabyte as I'm not sure what else to try.

Thanks

 

[John Connor]

WTF spammer.

 

[jibs]

Quick update on this while I wait to hear back from Gigabyte. I had to finish my friends build with the 2500k so I found an i3 2100 sandy bridge cpu that the mobo website says should work with the original Bios. I rebuilt everything using the 2100 cpu and I ended up getting the same problem I originally had, except this time rather than happening every 15 seconds it was happening every 5 seconds.......one positive of my day is that my friends 2500k build went smooth

 

[C1]

If you end up solving this problem for the intended processor then it will be interesting to learn what the issue was (is?).

You've also run into the main reason why I buy my MB, CPU & Memory from a reputable shop which I have assemble and test.

The issue Ive run into is that there simply are hardware combinations which just dont work right together. (This issue extends beyond MB, CPUs and RAM to include PCIe cards as well. Throw in an OS and all can get complicated.)

Ive seen charts for INTEL chips and they have variations for any type including for CPUs (eg, variations include turbo boosts, front side bus replaced with quickpath, hyperthreading variations, different base frequency/TDP variations, locked/unlocked multipliers, etc.; you need to look very closely at the chip nomenclatures; eg, ending in K,T,S, etc.)

If it were me, I would take the MB, CPU and RAM to a shop and pay them to find you a combo that works (eg, the cheapest option might be to just pay the shop a small fee for a comparable CPU swap with one that they find is compatible with your motherboard).