I tried to stick to the recommended build as close as possible with the exception of bumping the CPU up to the i7-3770s and the RAM to 16 GB. Other than those parts, the rest of the components are exactly as laid out in the guide.
I did a bench top build and just used the CPU, RAM, Fan, and SSD. I hooked up a monitor via HDMI. On the first boot no video. I then hooked up some speakers to hear the error beep codes. I rebooted and still no video, but there was one beep. The manual says that one beep means BIOS is waiting for keyboard input. Since there was no video, I tried to troubleshoot based on this post.
I removed both sticks of RAM and booted up again. This time, 3 beeps for RAM issue, as to be expected. I then reslotted both sticks and had the same 3 beeps. I tried swapping the slots the sticks were in, same 3 beeps. Then I tried each of the sticks on their own in each slot. Each time I would get the 3 beeps and the fan would shut off shortly after the 3rd beep.
I received two i7-3770s after some mix up with a seller. So I tried each of these on the board and got the same results. So it does not appear to be a CPU issue. I also tried one time without the SSD with no luck.
I’m not sure if I got bad RAM or the wrong kind. It’s strange to me that the first couple of times I did not receive the RAM errors. These are the sticks that I got. Are they the correct ones for the DQ77KB?
I am at a loss now and not sure how to proceed further. I ordered new RAM that was listed specifically for for the DQ77KB by the seller on ebay. I received those and still had the same errors.
The motherboard seller finally got back to me and when I told them that I was having issues with 4 different sticks of RAM, they agreed the board must not be functioning properly and they would send out a new one.
I sent back my original 2 sticks of RAM while I waited for the new board to come.
I received the new one and just built it with the CPU, fan, SSD, and RAM and sure enough when I powered it up I received the same 3 beeps.
So now I’m not sure what to do. I have the i7-3770, the Node case, and the SSD that are no longer returnable. I think I’m giving up on DQ77KB as I have not had much luck with this seller and all of the other ones have doubled in asking price since I bought.
Any suggestions for other builds that I can use the CPU and case?
Edit: I jumped on the SuperMicro X8SIL-F offer. It’s a bit of a step down CPU-wise but everything came together and hopefully it will just work.
Regular version is not supported, but the “S” version is. You may be on an older BIOS version that does not support 3rd-gen CPUs. Try for something lower (and cheaper) like the G2010 or G2020.
I do have the i7-3770S. If I were to order a G2010 or G2020. Would I be able to update the BIOS and then use the i7? If so, would I follow this method?
This is my first build so it’s all new to me and I’ve been in a heap of frustration through this whole process; but I appreciate all of the help provided here.
I purchased a G2020 and put it on place of the i7-3770S and I’m still having issues. This time the number of beeps varies. Here’s a video to demonstrate: https://youtu.be/QLvHzy9egY8 Any idea what’s going on here?