Can a dead CMOS battery cause the dreaded FF code on the EVGA 780i FTW

[fpsdominator]

Hey all,
I just got my EVGA 780i FTW mobo and ive been fighting the FF code. (no boot and no video) after running in circles tearing my system apart, when i was resetting the cmos by taking out the battery and disconnecting all the power cords, I thought for the heck of it i would test the cmos battery voltage. The voltages i got were 0 to 0.01.

what my question is, could a dead cmos battery cause the mobo to not boot and cause the ff code?

BTW the ff code can mean alot of different things, one is cmos corruption, i think i have ruled out all other possibilties.

Thanks

 

[mamw93]

YEP. No CMOS equals no BIOS.

 

[fpsdominator]

YEP. No CMOS equals no BIOS.

Thanks for the quick reply,

But I got a new battery and still no beans... and after hours on evga tech support they said the board was target practice.

This is completely unacceptable on NVIDIA's side, Because the first board I ordered (750I FTW) had a faulty Memory Controller so I had to RMA it. But since newegg is the best! they refunded my money and gave me free overnight shipping because i recieved a recertified product. So wth the refunded money I upgraded to the 780I FTW) and thats a doa!!!

This will probably be the last NVIDIA based motherboard i will buy.

BTW... would you have any recommendations on a INTEL based mobo. I think the p45 would fit my needs the best unless there is an x48 with ddr2...

CPU: Q6600 G0
Memory: Patriot PC8500 Viper Extreme
GPU: EVGA GTX 260 55NM
PSU: PC Power and Cooling 750W Continuous 820W Peak
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB
Planning to go liquid

 

[g3force]

YEP. No CMOS equals no BIOS.

You can still boot without a CMOS battery, only the settings will be at default. Any overclock/setting change won't be saved.

This is completely unacceptable on NVIDIA's side, Because the first board I ordered (750I FTW) had a faulty Memory Controller so I had to RMA it.

Nvidia chipsets have a tendency to have problems (such as heat, compatibility issues, etc...) but I'm wondering if the motherboard is the problem in your situation. You stated that your previous motherboard (750i) wouldn't function correctly. Did you test your other components to see if they're working?

BTW... would you have any recommendations on a INTEL based mobo.

This board is recommended a lot by forum vets, so I'll mention it here. The second board I listed is roughly the same, but has no crossfire support.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359

I think the p45 would fit my needs the best unless there is an x48 with ddr2...

Sorry, I'm pretty sure x48 motherboards are DDR3 exclusive. An x38 mobo supports DDR2, but they're rather dated.

 

[fpsdominator]

Nvidia chipsets have a tendency to have problems (such as heat, compatibility issues, etc...) but I'm wondering if the motherboard is the problem in your situation. You stated that your previous motherboard (750i) wouldn't function correctly. Did you test your other components to see if they're working?

The 750i FTW i had worked great for about 2 Months but it started to crash and freeze randomly. It was even unstable at stock speeds.... so I ran memtest and it failed instantly. So i took one stick out and ran it until it passed twice, took that stick out and put the other in and ran it till itpassed twice. so the I put both sticks back in and it failed instantly. so I called EVGA and told me to try different slot combinations and it still failed with both sticks so the EVGA guy said it had a faulty memory controller.

A whopping 2 month life span!

 

[fpsdominator]

What do you think about the Asus P5q Pro Turbo or p5q Deluxe? Have you heard anything about them?

 

[g3force]

What do you think about the Asus P5q Pro Turbo or p5q Deluxe? Have you heard anything about them?

I've never heard of the Asus p5q pro turbo before, but after looking up some reviews it seems to be a very stable board. The price for the p5q deluxe on Newegg was a bit steep, but if price isn't an issue it would be a good choice.

I was going to suggest the Asus p5q-e motherboard over the ASUS p5q pro turbo mainly because of the extra LAN controller and newer audio chip. I posted the link below.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131296

Asides from that the motherboards you picked out are very good . Keep in mind however that you will not be able to SLI your video card in future with those boards.

Good luck!

 

[fpsdominator]

I've never heard of the Asus p5q pro turbo before, but after looking up some reviews it seems to be a very stable board. The price for the p5q deluxe on Newegg was a bit steep, but if price isn't an issue it would be a good choice.

I was going to suggest the Asus p5q-e motherboard over the ASUS p5q pro turbo mainly because of the extra LAN controller and newer audio chip. I posted the link below.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131296

Asides from that the motherboards you picked out are very good . Keep in mind however that you will not be able to SLI your video card in future with those boards.

Good luck!

ya right before i got your message i picked out the p5q-e :lol:

I bulit my whole system for sli, but who cares about sli if the only boards that even function and run sli are the expensive x58 boards.

I guess im going crossfire but idk what im gonna do with my gtx 260 55nm lol.

Thanks for all your help! 😀

 

[g3force]

ya right before i got your message i picked out the p5q-e :lol:

I bulit my whole system for sli, but who cares about sli if the only boards that even function and run sli are the expensive x58 boards.

I guess im going crossfire but idk what im gonna do with my gtx 260 55nm lol.

Thanks for all your help! 😀

No problem

In regards to your video card, your GTX 260 is still mainstream and should perform quite well for long enough before your considering upgrading again.

Cheers,
G3force