Post code 18, nForce 680i SLI

[Asanta]

Hello, I would first like to start off by saying that all of the following have been tried.

Processor has been replaced
Power Supply Has been replaced
Ram has been replaced
Mobo has been replaced 3 times and bios flashed to the most recent version
Video Card has been replaced

All Dimm slots have been tested with 3 different ram.


End Product is the same on all motherboards, but seem to work fine at the warehouse.


Specs :

2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (Elixir) "I hear elixir sucks"
1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (Kingston)

Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

Mobo: BFG Tech BFG680i SLi LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

Power Supply: BFG Tech BFGR650PSU 650W ATX 12v 2.0 / EPS 12V Power Supply 115/ 230 V UL, CE, FCC CLASS B

Video Card : EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card



Posting goes as follows


Turn on the computer with Processor, 1 stick ram, and video card.

post code C1 (Memory Presence / Base memory detect)
post code C3 (Extend Memory / Turn on extended memory, cache initialization)

and lastly

post code 18 (InitCPU / CPU ID and Initialize L1/L2 Cache) ** It gets hung here **

This is my first time ever to assemble a computer from scratch... it's been two months of going back and forth with intel / bfg... and BFG's Motherboard Specialist says he is stumped... any of you think you can figure it out? :D


THANKS A LOT!!! :)

[XFX Tech]

Did you ever replace everything at once? Did you try building the system outside of the case first to make sure nothing is grounding out? Three boards is basically impossible. Another component has to be damaging them if they are testing faulty at BFG. The most likely component is the power supply. Usually with video cards they don't damage motherboards unless they catch on fire or start smoking. Did Intel get back to you with whether the CPU you sent them was bad or not?

[Asanta]

They said the boards are testing fine at the warehouse. Intel said the chips are fine... everything else has been replaced over and over -.- but works fine with other systems and what not. Guess I'll just send the mobo to the actual specialist, and not the warehouse this time if no one else has any suggestions.


The Specialist say the errors are pointing at something to do with the ram; however, no matter what slot or what ram I try, it still gives me C1, C3, and then 18.

and yes the system has been tested both outside of the case and in the case and still produces the same errors