GA-P55A-UD6 Reboot/BSOD Issues

[MickeyD]

I recently set up a new build about two weeks ago with a UD6 mobo, 4x2GB G.Skill Ripjaws CAS7 1.6v, Corsair 650w PSU, ati 5870. Everything seemed ok at first but then I got a few BSODs and CRC errors in installers etc. I assumed there was a RAM issue so I ran memtest86+ Memtest reported errors. After reseating the ram and running again I got no errors after 6 hours. However the next day I ran memtest again without touching the configuration and this time I got errors.

In addition, in the past day or two I've been getting reboots even just running memtest, and sometimes this will enter into a reboot loop where it shuts down then restarts, gets a little past the "c1" led panel status and then shuts down again. However this will resolve itself after some time.

I've tried setting voltages manually (e.g. 1.2 for vcore, 1.3 for qpi and 1.64 for dram) but doesnt seem to help. Sometimes the bios seems to reset the voltages and will give me a red warning screen in the MIT section saying there was a problem booting because of overclocking. I am not overclocking anything and the problem can happen even when running at stock memory timings and speed (cas9/1333). Also happens with just two ram sticks installed.

If it's any help, the memory led on the motherboard seems to be always yellow, even if i load the bios defaults and have only 1 stick of ram present.I am running the latest F10 BIOS. The temperatures seem fine: the cpu temps were hitting max 50 degrees when running prime95 in max heat mode.

Is this a problem with my motherboard or memory, or even my CPU/PSU? Or is it a matter of tweaking bios settings til it works? What makes it harder to test is that the problem seems to only happen intermittently or only after a long period of use.

[Dark Mantis]

Try running with only two slots filled with modules.

[MickeyD]

Same thing seems to happen, i.e. it can be fine for a long time, then fail

[Dark Mantis]

Can you list all your hardware please so that I have a better idea of what is going on.

[MickeyD]

Coolermaster Haf X case
Corsair hx650 psu
intel core i7 860 with a corsair h50 cooler
gigabyte ga-p55a-ud6 motherboard
4x2gb G.Skill ripjaws CAS7 1.6v (still fails with 2x2)
Ati Radeon 5870
Intel 80gb Gen2 SSD
2 Samsung Spinpoint F1 hdds

Think thats it.

Still fails without any of the hard drives attached (plugged out of power and motherboard). I have another PCIE gfx card & 200w psu i know are good that i can swap in but no other compatible ram or motherboards. I don't think it's the card that's the problem but a psu problem might be causing the reboots (although i doubt it as it is a new psu and the voltage rail levels seem ok in the PC Health BIOS screen).

[Dark Mantis]

Your PSU is too small I would say. Try the same make but 850W or similar. I don't think that it is much underpowered because they are good power supplies but I feel that it may not be quite enough.

[MickeyD]

Most of the time the computer will boot and stay on for hours. Would a PSU issue cause a bad memtest result like that?

When I'm booting the box up, the V_P_LED (cpu) is yellow, which from the manual indicates excessive cpu overloading/overvoltage. However i havn't overclocked the cpu and the voltage levels are pretty normal. Would this indicate a problem with the CPU or motherboard itself?

[Dark Mantis]

It could do but not necesserily. A bad or struggling power supply can cause all sorts of problems. It is one of the most important but underated bits of kit. See if you can just try one out or borrow one from a friend.

[MickeyD]

I think the rebooting issue has got to do with the yellow LED and the BIOS resetting the voltages etc. I will try reseat the CPU etc while I try source another PSU and maybe some other memory sticks.

[Dark Mantis]

If you are planning to reseat the CPU it would be worth removing it and checking the pins. Make sure that there are no bent ones as we have had a few instances recently on the forum.

[MickeyD]

I had a look and I couldn't see any bent pins although it was quite hard for me to make out as i have no magnifying glass or decent macro camera I am not cut out for this building pc thing at all! I took everything apart and reseated it all, reset cmos / took out battery and reset bios defaults and im running a memtest with everything plugged out except one stick of ram, cpu, vid card & psu. will see how that works out!

On closer inspection the yellow led thing seems to be a misnomer - i guess its part of the boot process to light up all 4 of the cpu/memory LEDs

[Dark Mantis]

Yes you really need a magnifying glass to see the pins properly. Some of us could do with an electron microscope I think

All the lights come on at first and then should go out as the POST proceedure continues. My board looks like a christmas tree for a few seconds

[MickeyD]

I think I need to invest in a magnifying glass and a multimeter!

I had a look around at the g.skill forums and it seems like a few people have reported similar issues with this memory so it's looking like it could be a RAM problem.  I will memtest the hell out of each stick and each possible dual channel mode and see if i can get at least one or two sticks working properly.

Thanks for the help btw, much appreciated.

[Dark Mantis]

You are very welcome and please let us know how your testing goes.

[MickeyD]

will do