GA-P67A-UD5 : doesn't boot as ACPI S4_S5 LEDS glow red

[Dark Mantis]

Yes the thermal  compound takes a while to cure properly and reach the optimum working efficiency.

Take the memory settings off auto and set them by hand instead to 9-9-9-25 and set the memory voltage to 1.55v or maybe even as much as 1.6v if that doesn't work.

See what memory multiplier you are using and set the Uncore to twice the memory multiplier or to twice plus 2.

TYhe QPI/Vtt should be set to a minimum of 1.05v but will probably need to be up around the 1.25 -1.40v. You will need to play around withj this setting until you find the most stable.

[niekell]

Hello Dark Mantis,

Apologies for the delay in response. Work has been... all consuming.

TIM seems to be working better, with the cores now idling in the low to mid 40s.

Took the Memory settings off Auto as advised.
Set the Memory to 9-9-9-25.
Bumped the voltage to 1.55v, but didn't seem to have any effect. So now it is set back to 1.50v.
Memory multiplier is 13.33 according to BIOS.
Can't see where the uncore (things like IOH Core/ICH Core/ICH IO yes?) can be set. No multipliers I could see for any of it.
The QPI/Vtt is set to 1.05v but while changing it, warning colours start in the BIOS at about 1.20v so I wasn't feeling game to go high.

It seems to be stable atm, but without bumping voltages as you suggested its really pretty much the same as how Auto had it.
I'm still see no evidence that it is running in dual channel mode, am I just to take that on faith? Is there no way to tell?

Best wishes, Niekell.

[Dark Mantis]

Download CPU-Z and that should tell you what mode the memory is working in.

[niekell]

Hello Dark Mantis,

Sorry about the delay in response. I just haven't had much time to "play" with this problem.
CPUZ shows the RAM Channel field as grayed out.

I'm finding this MB to be very unstable during boot. Its debatable when I turn it on if it boots or not these days.
(It should be noted that IF it does get into the OS completely and allow me to log in then it is quite stable and performs okay. No locks, no crashes, nothing untoward or unexpected happens.)
Right now I'm back on F3 Bios version as it detected a checksum error with F6... which it does often and reverts to F3.
I go ahead and up to F6 using @BIOS and it sticks for a while, still not consistent booting with F6.
My windows (7ULT64) used to boot in about 15 seconds to the login prompt, now it takes 3 minutes.
Could be the 31 "Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controllers" which are detected but unable to start.
The last thing in the windows post display is a Cyberlink Power DVD dll, but it worked okay on this OS with the last MB so I doubt that is it.

I can't speak for all the individual motherboards in the GA-P67A-UD7 production line, but the one I've got is rubbish.
Here I was thinking Gigabyte know what they're doing, if I get their best effort all will be well. So not the case!
Sorry, venting, not helpful.

Issues which I can't seem to resolve, though I much appreciate your help in the attempt, are
1) boot locking,
2) no dual channel,
3) hyperthreading doesn't seem to be active despite the BIOS set to say it is. (its a 2600 CPU, not K, but that is still listed as 4 cores 8 threads.)
Although the last two aren't essential, if I didn't want them to work I wouldn't have bought a high end motherboard.

Anyway, to summarize, booting still not working, dual channel not detected by CPUZ, devices cannot start due to incompatible drivers (it uses the windows default ones, and no 1394 drivers came on the MB install DVD), and hyperthreading doesn't seem to be working.

Sorry for the "scope creep" on this thread, really its only the first issue which is on topic.

Do you have any further advice? Could it just be a faulty motherboard?
I totally understand if you've had enough of this thread. Thanks for all your help up til now.

Best wishes, Niekell.

[Dark Mantis]

Could be the 31 "Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controllers" which are detected but unable to start.

I would suggest disabling anything like that in the BIOS that you do not need to use and see if that helps. It might give an insight into where the problem lies.

As you say there seem to be a plethora of problems and that makes it harder to find the roots of them. Try and take things back to the most basics for a start and get one thing sorted at a time. As I just said disable anything not really necessary and see how the rest responds.

[Lsdmeasap]

Mixing memory may be part of your issues here, especially since you are mixing different sized modules.   Do you have issues when you only use the 2x4GB set?  Different sizes may also be what is breaking dual channel for you

Flash back to the latest BIOS, then once stable bootup and press ALT + F12 on the POST/Splash screen, this will flash the backup BIOS with the MAIN BIOS contents.   If you have issues try a few times, and try the right ALT key instead of left.   Some have had to use PS/2 keyboard to do this so you may need to do that as well.    Hold ALT, and only press F12 once a few seconds after you see the post/Splash screen and you see that your keyboard powered up.

What makes your say Hyperthreading isn't working?   Be sure you are using the latest CPU-z
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/20/2696817/cpuz_1564.zip

[niekell]

Hello Dark Mantis,

Using BIOS F3, which I was reverted to due to a checksum error with F6, I disabled the On-Board 1394.
Booted up and Windows still went through the process of identifying and failing to start all 31 instances of the device.
I updated to the latest BIOS, now F7, and did the same. Same result, windows still ended up with 31 failed devices.

I've discovered an additional symptom, my Blu-ray drive no longer reads RAM-DISKs. It used to do so without problem. It still runs CDs and DVDs okay, I haven't tried a Blu-ray disc in there as yet as I don't have any handy. I used to use this DVD/Blu-ray drive heavily for RAM-DISKs and never had any problem. Now it just throws "internal error" messages to the screen in the OS. The only thing I can think of is that it is using one of the "potentially degradable" SATA2 ports as all the other (non affected) ports are already in use. Still, weird thing for it to do.

Also, since I swapped this SDD with the OS on it from my old HW to this new SB configuration I thought I'd do a clean OS install on a separate drive just in case something in Windows decided to go as mad as a March hare during the swap. Problem, I cannot install the OS from DVD. It fails 100% of the time. Not sure if its the BD-DVD problem as it gets past booting from the install DVD, then loads, copies its install files, and as the windows logo with the spinning multi-coloured balls comes up it locks. Give or take a second, it always locks. No way past it. Total consistent failure.

Hello Lsdmeasap,

I have tried all the memory combinations before, but I've removed the Kingston 2x2GB for now and will leave them out of the mix for the time being.
I am using only the 2x4GB GSkill set now, they are in slot 2/4 rather than 1/3, though that shouldn't matter.
I was of the understanding that RAM sizes were not supposed to affect dual channel operation as long as the channels were matched. The timings have been matched on the 2GB and 4GB pairs, which is what I thought was the important configuration to match. Having to match sizes as well is a requirement which I've not seen mentioned before. I can understand taking it out of the mix to try to resolve other problems, but realistically... theoretically... empirically... it should work.
Regardless, having just the 2x4GB GSkill ram in there, the RAM still does not allow dual channel mode to work.

BIOS is flashed to F7, booted okay (still OS problems with drivers), so I saved that BIOS version to the Backup BIOS using the ALT-F12 method you described. All seems to have gone well on that front. I was already using a PS2 Keyboard so no issue there, but thanks for the heads up.

Downloaded and ran the CPUZ version you linked to (thanks for the link), and ran it on the configuration above.
Here are the screens for CPU, Memory and SPID (Slot #2 and #4 are identical, so I only screenshot #2).
http://users.adam.com.au/niekell/ga-p67a-ud7/cpuz1564_CPU.png
http://users.adam.com.au/niekell/ga-p67a-ud7/cpuz1564_Mainboard.png
http://users.adam.com.au/niekell/ga-p67a-ud7/cpuz1564_Memory.png
http://users.adam.com.au/niekell/ga-p67a-ud7/cpuz1564_SPD2.png
I'm just a little concerned with the CPU tab where it lists Processor #1.
2 Cores? WTF?!?!?
That would explain why windows only sees 4 "effective" CPUs rather than the 8 which I expected.
Why would it show only 2 Cores?

Best wishes, Niekell.

[Dark Mantis]

Try putting the optical and SSD on the SATA3 ports and then try to install Windows. You can move the DVD drive afterwards if it works.

[Lsdmeasap]

I am not sure if dual channel will work that way, due to Channel A (1+2) having different size memory on it?   But yes, for now please just use one kit while we troubleshoot.

What makes you say you aren't in dual channel?   If you are using 1+3 or 2+4 then it's dual.  CPU-z doesn't show dual channel yet, unsure if this is something he is working on, or just how P67 does things?

As for your CPU cores, go into the advanced CPU page where turbo and cores, ect are located and ensure you have set active cores to all.   Also verify in MSconfig that all cores are enabled, in the boot tab advanced option make sure there is nothing checked or core limit set.

Was this a clean install on this board, or did you move the disk to this board?   If you moved it sometimes this happens, that is why I asked.

[niekell]

Hello Dark Mantis,

I now have the Blu-ray drive on the SATA3, and the fresh install drive (not the SSD with the OS on it already) is using the SATA2 driven by the Marvell 88SE9128 Chip (not the Intel Series 6 Chip). It got much farther but during the "Completing Windows" part of the Install process it BSODed twice and I haven't had a chance to do it a third time or switch the new HDD to the SATA3. I will probably not be able to try that for a couple of days as I have other things scheduled.

Hello Lsdmeasap,

Okay, just using the 2x4GB for now. I'm using 2+4. The reason I think dual channel isn't working is because my previous board had dual channel. When I put matched memory onto that motherboard and enabled it in the BIOS, the POST check would show "Dual Channel Enabled" and windows would only show 1/2 the installed RAM. (This was using 2x1GB Nvidia SLI-Ready memory.)
As you mention, it is probably due to the motherboard being different (HW and BIOS), but it still seems odd for it not to behave the same way...

I will check the CPU cores in the BIOS but each time I have checked them they have all been active prior to this.
msconfig > BOOT Advanced Options is set to 4 Processors.

This was NOT a clean install. This SSD was transfered to this HW configuration from my old HW (P4 Quad Core 2.4 Socket 775 with ASUS P5N32-E SLI PLUS Motherboard).  I have been attempting to achieve a clean install on another drive with Dark Mantis' help, but no luck with that either so far.

Best wishes, Niekell.

[Lsdmeasap]

Use Intel ports please 

It's just P67 is why you don't see Dual Channel, they haven't named/added a few things to the POST/BIOS that should be there, you can verify with Everest Ultimate and I assure you that you'll see Dual channel.  Here you can see when I did some 6GB (3x2GB) dual channel testing for someone a week or two ago.



You will always see ALL of the memory installed on Intel boards, dual channel or not.   The only time you might see half is if there is a problem.

Msconfig should not be set to anything, it should look like this (IE Nothing set/enabled/checked), so if you have cores set to ALL in the BIOS then the Msconfig options may be the problem



That system transfer is probably a huge part of your problems as well since it is such an older board/CPU setup.   What is the problem with a clean install?

[Dark Mantis]

I would agree. The only real option is to do a clean install each time you swap hardware. It can cause all sorts of other problems if you try the shortcut approach.

[niekell]

Hello Dark Mantis and Lsdmeasap,

Okay, fair enough having to do a clean OS install. I was planning on doing it anyway eventually so no big.
I just tried again with the BD-DVD and clean HDD both on SATA3.
Failure.

WIN7 ULT64 still BSODs at the same point in the install process.
It takes the following steps:
1) Boot from DVD,
2) Loading installer,
3) Loading install files,
4) Asks question about keyboard layout etc,
5) Disclaimer,
6) Copies files to disk,
7) Unpacks files,
8 ) Configures system,
9) Updates system,
10) Reboots,
11) Completing installation.... FAIL.

It goes through a bunch of HDD activity for "Completing Installation" then just idles for a while.
This alternates, HDD activity, then idling for about 10 minutes then there is a sudden BSOD that I cannot catch the details of.
This happened with the SATA3 BD-DVD and Marvell SATA2 as well. No change.
I cannot install my OS with this motherboard. It fails consistently at the same point.
So now I'm stuck.

Best wishes, Niekell

[Dark Mantis]

Have you actually removed the motherboard from the case and done a bench test yet? I know I suggested it but I don't remember actually doing it.

[Lsdmeasap]

Did you burn the disk yourself for the OS install?   If so you may want to reburn it again, at the slowest speed you can set.

If you didn't burn it you may want to download a new install ISO and burn it yourself as your install media may be messed up.

Try this if the above doesn't help, or you don't want to try it until later on.   Try installing with IDE mode set in the BIOS, using the SATAII Intel ports, then once finished you can change to AHCI mode and move to the 6Gb/s Intel ports.

If the install fails again the same way either your install media is messed up, or you have something causing a conflict.   To try to figure out which I would remove everything but the CD/DVD drive (Now that I mention that, use a CD/DVD drive instead of Blue Ray if at all possible in case that is the cause) and try the install again.   Meaning remove any additional PCIE/PCI cards, all USB Devices, ect just have your OS drive and the CD/DVD you are installing from.   If it still fails, from CD/DVD, then you need new install media