GA P55A-UD3 BSOD's with memory management messages

[soarwitheagles]

Hi again soar

Well personally I would steer you away from playing around with overclocking your system as you are having enough trouble just getting it to run stably as standard but obviously it is your choice. Overclocking is fine if you understand all the principles involved and even then it is very hit and miss (and generally more miss). It is not a science more of an art as no two systems or even chips react the same. I would say this fellow is technically sound but he may get you into something that is a bit too involved that is beyond your scope. It doesn't hurt to listen to anyone but then pick out the bits that suit you is my advice.

So are you ready to format your drive and re-install windows? If so which version of the operating system do you want to use?

Thanks DM.  I have never overclocked, and I would like to stay away from it too.  At the other forum I told the guy I would try his suggested voltages.  Now I am having second thoughts.  He did notice some really low voltages in some areas on the HD monitor.  He noticed my system giving only 1-2 volts in areas that are suppose to be 12 volts.  That sounds really strange.  He asked me to double check in BIOS and with another program.

Ok, I'm a little nervous because for the first time, Microsoft did not let me reinstall my OS this last format.  Then, for some reason, afterI tried again, they did permit it.  So, since I have no choice, I will try again.  In the past, they have permitted me to reinstall Windows as many times as I liked [one copy on one computer at a time], and they never gave me a problem.

I receive free copies of Microsoft Windows each time a new version comes out.  Bill Gates is my uncle [just joking].

Actually, Microsoft, out of the great goodness of their heart, repeatedly invite me to their launch events for their OS's, Office suites, etc.  During the event they give me a free copy of the software.  I usually take my wife with me, so that covers for both our computers.

Presently, I have Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.  I have been told not to use Windows to reformat the HD.  Gparted seems to be the tool of choice in this matter, so if it is ok with you, I would like to use Gparted to clean off this present copy of Windows, reformat, and repartition the HD.

Is that ok with you?  Please let me know champ!

Soar

BTW The Memtest86+ showed the RAM is fine in slot 3 too.  So does this prove beyond any doubt that the RAM is indeed good?

BTW #2-I am using an ISO build #7600.16385.090713-1255 as the installation disc.  The reason I use this disc is because the disc MS gave me is only for 32-bit and I would like to use 64-bit.  MS has no problem with me using they install key they gave me for 64 bit.  Is this ok with you?

PSS Here is my plan: Set up 3 partitions on the 500gb WD Black HD.  100gb for OS.  100gb for program files. 300gb for storage.  Then set up the 1tb for storage 2.  

I usually set up all as primary using ntfs.  Not sure if some should be set up as Extended.  Please let me know if this ok.  I am willing to try something new.

Thanks!

[Peteruk]

Thanks DM.  I have never overclocked, and I would like to stay away from it too. 

Thats the thing you are!

BCLK Frequency - 160

^ this should be 133 when you load Load Optimized Defaults

[soarwitheagles]

Thanks DM.  I have never overclocked, and I would like to stay away from it too. 

Thats the thing you are!

BCLK Frequency - 160

^ this should be 133 when you load Load Optimized Defaults

Yes, I checked the BIOS and you are 100% correct.  The BCLk is running at 133 MHz.

Thank you,

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Soar,
Sorry for the delay but I needed some sleep too, that's the trouble with the time difference between us.

I receive free copies of Microsoft Windows each time a new version comes out.  Bill Gates is my uncle [just joking].

Real shame, things were looking up there for a moment
Your choice of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit is great, that would be my choice of OS too. I am not familiar with Gparted although I have heard of it but as long as you are happy using it that should be fine. I would have just allowed Windows to do the formatting but I must admit it does get a little more complicated when you want to partition the drive as well. Although if your drive is already partitioned as you want it there is no need to do it again. Please let me know?

It would definitely seem that your memory is fine, so that's great news.

The ISO disk that you have is the final RTM disk so that is fine as long as you have the appropriate code for it.

The first thing we are going to do is "clear the decks". We will flush the CMOS and load BIOS defaults. If you dont know how to do this I have listed it here. Any problems any time just let me know.:
To clear the CMOS you need to unplug the computer. Remove the CMOS battery(CR2032 silver disk)  and then change the jumper over on the block usually marked CLR_CMOS or CRTC etc. Leave it like this for a couple of minutes at least (officially it is ten seconds but I don't find that is long enough). Put the jumper back in it's default position and then replace the motherboard battery. The CMOS is now wiped. Now you can boot up into the bIOS and load the setup defaults, save and exit.

[soarwitheagles]

Hi Soar,
Sorry for the delay but I needed some sleep too, that's the trouble with the time difference between us.

I receive free copies of Microsoft Windows each time a new version comes out.  Bill Gates is my uncle [just joking].

Real shame, things were looking up there for a moment
Your choice of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit is great, that would be my choice of OS too. I am not familiar with Gparted although I have heard of it but as long as you are happy using it that should be fine. I would have just allowed Windows to do the formatting but I must admit it does get a little morer complicated when you want to partition the drive as well. Although if your drive is already partitioned as you want it there is no need to do it again. Please let me know?

It would definitely seem that your memory is fine, so that's great news.

The ISO disk that you have is the final RTM disk so that is fine as long as you have the appropriate code for it.

The first thing we are going to do is "clear the decks". We will flush the CMOS and load BIOS defaults. If you dont know how to do this I have listed it here. Any problems any time just let me know.:
To clear the CMOS you need to unplug the computer. Remove the CMOS battery(CR2032 silver disk)  and then change the jumper over on the block usually marked CLR_CMOS or CRTC etc. Leave it like this for a couple of minutes at least (officially it is ten seconds but I don't find that is long enough). Put the jumper back in it's default position and then replace the motherboard battery. The CMOS is now wiped. Now you can boot up into the bIOS and load the setup defaults, save and exit.

Thanks DM.

Ok, I cleared CMOS and loaded BIOS defaults as you requested.   I also downloaded and installed all Windows updates with the exception of the GPU.  I installed the most up to date GPU drivers directly from Nvidia's website.

Ok, what's next?  And is there something I could have done differently?

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

OK Soar
Was just grabbing some breakfast By the way what part of the States are you in? Just wondered about the time lag.

Ok, I cleared CMOS and loaded BIOS defaults as you requested.   I also downloaded and installed all Windows updates with the exception of the GPU.  I installed the most up to date GPU drivers directly from Nvidia's website.

No problem but we are going to wipe the drive next. Is your drive already partitioned how you want it? or do we have to do that first?

[Dark Mantis]

I have just been reading up on Gparted and it is incompatible with Windows7 64bit.

[runn3R]

Beeps, BSOD with 2 sticks while no problem with 1 stick definitely show incompatibility issue.

(...) I called Gigabyte and also emailed their tech support before purchasing this RAM and they assured me this RAM is on their QVL list for this MOBO.  I found it there when I looked at the site they gave me.  Some of it was in the 8GB [4x2gb'ers] category if I remember correctly. (...)

Sorry, but Dark Martis is right, your RAM it's not on our QVL, check here:
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/FileList/MemorySupport/mb_memory_ga-p55a-ud3.pdf

Runn,
Thanks for your concern.  I read those posts and they seem to indicate that the Gskil is not so great of a RAM to use with the Gigabyte board.
Wow, perhaps I too will need to sell my G.skil on ebay and buy some other RAM.
For now, I would like to try anything possible to see if we can get this system stable with this G.Skil RAM.  If it does not work, I will sell it.
I read at New Egg, many poster/reviews saying the RAM I purchased is working fine with this MB. (...)

It's not that G.Skill is problematic in general but probably it needs more tune up than the standard memory. Especially that this particular model has not been tested by us.

Please notice that you can find also positive opinions about Gigabyte and GSkill working together, like these:
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,1910.0.html
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,1609.0.html
http://hwbot.org/community/submission/1006371_absot_aquamark_geforce_8800_gts_320_mb_266601_marks

It all matters which exact modules and settings are used.

As you probably have this model: F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM (2Gx2) of G.Skill Ripjaws, then as G.Skill wrote it's compatible with our MB: http://gskill.com/products.php?index=243
so please check in BIOS if:
CAS Latency is set: 7-8-7-24-2N
Voltage is set to 1.6V

You may also contact GSkill at http://www.gskill.us/forum/

[soarwitheagles]

OK Soar
Was just grabbing some breakfast By the way what part of the States are you in? Just wondered about the time lag.

Ok, I cleared CMOS and loaded BIOS defaults as you requested.   I also downloaded and installed all Windows updates with the exception of the GPU.  I installed the most up to date GPU drivers directly from Nvidia's website.

No problem but we are going to wipe the drive next. Is your drive already partitioned how you want it? or do we have to do that first?

DM,

Good morning to you!  What's for breakfast?

I like dried cranberries on raw oats, with very cold soy milk...no, I am not a horse!  It is very healthy..it actually reduces cholesterol in the blood if you can believe that!  I have it every morning without fail.

DM, I grew up in Silicon Valley.  Silicon Valley is about one hour drive  south of San Francisco, CA.  The exact city is Cupertino, CA.  This is the Apple Headquarters city.  I've lived there for most of my life.  My mom, dad, and most of siblings still reside there.  Presently I live near Sacramento, CA.  This is the capitol of California.

I've served in over 30 countries all over the world.  I really enjoy living in California.  It is my favorite place.  I work as a teacher.  Often, I am the only white person in my class.  I love learning from and being with people of various cultures.  Things have changed very much in California, white people are now the minority...isn't that strange?  When I went to high school in Cupertino many years ago, it was 99.9% white.  So California is a wonderful place to live if you like lots of diversity, mixed cultures, and cutting edge electronics.

Here is a little trivia that you may find amusing: my sixth grade class that I attended was the very first computer class in the entire world that had a computer lab with a station set up for every student.  It was in Palo Alto, CA back in the sixties.  The lab was tied into Stanford University, where the monstrous main computers where housed.

Building computers is my hobby, but I am thinking of one day completing my A+ certification and starting a computer repair business on the side.  I find computers fascinating, even though I know so little about them!

Well, enough about me.  How about you?  What do you like for breakfast, where in UK do you live, and do you have any hobbies?

And now, back to computers....

First, please let me apologize for not waiting for you.  I grew impatient.  Here's my story on this new build: I have patiently waited 3 months carefully gathering all these components.  I often wait for super deals where I can buy cutting edge items at deeply discounted prices.  Many times I will ebay or craigslist the items.  Then, for the most part, these systems are free, or near a no cost solution to build.  I like  that. So I have finally obtained every thing I needed after a 3 month wait and I grew impatient.  Please forgive me for not waiting...

Ok, I already wiped the drives completely clean after clearing the CMOS and setting the BIOS to default settings.  I used Gparted for wiping and repartitioning, and often I then use a software that cleans everything to military grade specs.  

Next, I repartioned my WD Caviar Black 500 GB 7200 RPM to have 3 partitions: 100gb for OS.  100gb for programs.  270gb for the storage.  I also partitioned and slapped in a Maxtor 1tb.  I realize 100gb for OS and 100gb for programs are a bit large.  I would like to avoid the nervousness that occurs from the partition getting too close to maxing out from too much data.

Then I reinstalled Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and it installed flawlessly [this time I unplugged my wireless keyboard and mouse and used a wired keyboard and a wired mouse].

Microsoft validated the install and gave me their thumbs up.

Finally, I downloaded and installed all of Microsoft's updates for Windows.  The only update I did not install was their recommended driver for the GPU.  For the GPU, I first uninstalled the driver with Driver Sweeper in safe mode. Next, I installed the newest drivers from Nvidia.

Everything appears to work fine at this given moment.  No crashes, no freeze ups, and BSOD's.  BUT, I have not ran even one test yet.  The RAM appears to be set automatically to 1333MHz with timings of 9-9-9-24.

Please let me know what you would have done differently and why.

Ok, where do we go from here?

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Well Soar my friend, I don't blame you for not waiting and you seem to have done a grand job of the installation. It is all looking rosy at the moment(quickly touches wooden desk). I really don't think I would have done anything differently to you(except probably drank tea rather than coffee) whilst doing it. Let me know how it goes in the long run, I would be interested. As a matter of interest is your ram the F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM variety?

Ah, you live in sunny California. That's why I was out on my timing I thought that you were on the East coast and so were a few  hours ahead of what you really were. My uncle used to live in the outskirts of San Francisco and we used to converse over the compute. He was always send me these jokes etc, but I think he must have died because I haven't been able contact him for over a year(you would have thought that someone in the family would have let me know). He was  a great old man.

I'm afraid you are a little late for breakfast! It's two o'clock in the afternoon here now, but very dull and cool. Just the usaul British weather. I must admit I envy your lifestyle where you are, it must be wonderfull. You even have a cool Governor.
Anyway keep in touch. My personal email is available under my avatar.

[soarwitheagles]

Beeps, BSOD with 2 sticks while no problem with 1 stick definitely show incompatibility issue.

(...) I called Gigabyte and also emailed their tech support before purchasing this RAM and they assured me this RAM is on their QVL list for this MOBO.  I found it there when I looked at the site they gave me.  Some of it was in the 8GB [4x2gb'ers] category if I remember correctly. (...)

Sorry, but Dark Martis is right, your RAM it's not on our QVL, check here:
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/FileList/MemorySupport/mb_memory_ga-p55a-ud3.pdf

Runn,
Thanks for your concern.  I read those posts and they seem to indicate that the Gskil is not so great of a RAM to use with the Gigabyte board.
Wow, perhaps I too will need to sell my G.skil on ebay and buy some other RAM.
For now, I would like to try anything possible to see if we can get this system stable with this G.Skil RAM.  If it does not work, I will sell it.
I read at New Egg, many poster/reviews saying the RAM I purchased is working fine with this MB. (...)

It's not that G.Skill is problematic in general but probably it needs more tune up than the standard memory. Especially that this particular model has not been tested by us.

Please notice that you can find also positive opinions about Gigabyte and GSkill working together, like these:
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,1910.0.html
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,1609.0.html
http://hwbot.org/community/submission/1006371_absot_aquamark_geforce_8800_gts_320_mb_266601_marks

It all matters which exact modules and settings are used.

As you probably have this model: F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM (2Gx2) of G.Skill Ripjaws, then as G.Skill wrote it's compatible with our MB: http://gskill.com/products.php?index=243
so please check in BIOS if:
CAS Latency is set: 7-8-7-24-2N
Voltage is set to 1.6V

You may also contact GSkill at http://www.gskill.us/forum/

Runn,

Thank you for helping me.  Please let me respond.

Wow!  I never knew how to read the 2 beep, then 1 beep MB signal.  Are you certain this signals a compatibility issue?

The RAM I purchased definitely is on the compatibility list at G.skil.

You can find their list here: http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=243

Yes, I totally agree that using the correct settings is absolutely crucial to obtain the most efficient speed and stability.

Here's the problem:  I know nearly nothing at all about adjusting RAM settings.  There appears to be so many variables [all types of voltage adjustments, timings, etc.] that I feel totally lost in this area.  I was hoping to get the full 1600 MHz out of these RAM [that is why I purchased them].

I am not willing to sacrifice stability for speed [I very rarely do any gaming at all].

Yet, I have read many reviews here where people say they are easily obtaining 1600MHz with this specific RAM [G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL7D], and this specific MOBO [Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3].

My goal in coming here was to discover the exact settings that would help me achieve the goal of 1600 MHz.  But once I joined this forum and began to read everyone's posts, I realized I could learn a lot more than merely these specific RAM settings.

Now I am not sure what to do!  Is it possible to make some simple adjustments in this all important area of voltages and settings and achieve 1600Mhz with stability?  Or, should I just be content with the 1333 MHz?

One of the posts I read iis recommending these specific adjustments:

CAS Latency - 7
tRCD - 8
tRP - 7
tRAS - 24
Command Rate - 2

CPU VCore - 1.2875v
QPI/VTT - 1.3v
DRAM Voltage - 1.65v

I have some questions:

Do you think it will work?
Do you know of any other sites where people with these same RAM and MOBO are posting the exact adjustments that are working stable?
Have you any other suggestions for adjusting the RAM voltages and timings?
If this throws my system into the realm of instability, can I merely clear the CMOS and set BIOS to default settings and everything is back to normal?

Ok, I hope I haven't offended you guys or upset you.

Just trying to discover the various options I have now.

Thanks,

Soar

[soarwitheagles]

Well Soar my friend, I don't blame you for not waiting and you seem to have done a grand job of the installation. It is all looking rosy at the moment(quickly touches wooden desk). I really don't think I would have done anything differently to you(except probably drank tea rather than coffee) whilst doing it. Let me know how it goes in the long run, I would be interested. As a matter of interest is your ram the F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM variety?

Ah, you live in sunny California. That's why I was out on my timing I thought that you were on the East coast and so were a few  hours ahead of what you really were. My uncle used to live in the outskirts of San Francisco and we used to converse over the compute. He was always send me these jokes etc, but I think he must have died because I haven't been able contact him for over a year(you would have thought that someone in the family would have let me know). He was  a great old man.

I'm afraid you are a little late for breakfast! It's two o'clock in the afternoon here now, but very dull and cool. Just the usaul British weather. I must admit I envy your lifestyle where you are, it must be wonderfull. You even have a cool Governor.
Anyway keep in touch. My personal email is available under my avatar.

DM, first let me say I am deeply saddened about your uncle.  I hope you can discover what happened to him.  I hope and pray he is healthy and that everything turns out ok for him and you too.

You know, you sure are easy to get along with!  You must have many, many friends DM.  You have a very good way with words.  Ok, please permit me to answer your Q's.

No, I like tea just like you!  Green tea.

Yes, I like the Terminator very, very much.  He has done a great job considering the enormous task he was entrusted with.

Yes, the RAM I purchased is G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL7D.

Thank you again for your kindness and friendship.

I appreciate you.

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Soar, no problem this end. As far as getting the best from your memory just let it run for a while to make sure you have no stability issues and then once you are happy with it go into the BIOS and you will find a section headed MIT. In there you will find a section for the ram and one of them offers you the chance to use XMP turn it on(enable it) then press F10 the save and exit and if it runs happliy you will have your full speed.

[soarwitheagles]

Soar, no problem this end. As far as getting the best from your memory just let it run for a while to make sure you have no stability issues and then once you are happy with it go into the BIOS and you will find a section headed MIT. Inthere you will find a section for the ram and one of them offers you the chance to use XMP turn it on(enable it) then press F10 the save and exit and if it runs happliy you will have your full speed.

Ok DM.

Thanks, I will do exactly as you say.  I'll wait a few days, then if everything is still stable, I will give it a shot.

You have a wonderful evening there friend!

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Your post still seems to be unlocked Soar. Try posting again my friend.