Cold boot failures x58A-ud3r Rev2 bios FB

[Dark Mantis]

Oh yes for some people it could be very useful.

[jdvoracek]

If you take my advice you will uninstall it and leave it that way No, I do understand some people like these free toy programs but to my way of thinking there are always better alternative ways of doing the same thing. Often as you have found out they come at a price.

I find EasyTune6 useful and have never had a problem with it.  I read about Smart6 and decided I'd be smart and not install it.  From Gigabyte's description it sounds as if it interacts with (changes somehow) the BIOS.  If I were have problems with BSOD's, I'd surely get rid of it.  I had (have?) enough without it!  From Gigabyte:

BIOS QuickBoot : Shorten boot up POST time !!!
 
There is nothing more frustrating than having to wait ages for your PC to boot.That is why GIGABYTE developed Smart Quickboot. Smart Quickboot speeds up the system boot-up process and shortens time it takes to enter the operating system. This is done in two ways. Part one is a BIOS QuickBoot. Normally, every time you boot up your PC, your BIOS checks your hardware to make sure everything is working properly. This takes time, as your system checks the memory, hard drives, etc. By enabling Smart QuickBoot, your BIOS will only run through the hardware scan once. If all your hardware checks out ok, the next time you boot, your PC will only scan the most critical components. This allows for a time saving of up to 3-5 seconds on the BIOS boot time alone.   
 
The second part of Smart QuickBoot is OS QuickBoot. This utility allows you to power down your PC into a combination of Suspend Mode (S3) and Hibernate Mode (S4). By putting your PC into S3 and S4 mode is like putting your PC to sleep, allowing you to maintain your data, while at the same time, saving energy. When you power your PC back on, Smart QuickBoot will resume from Suspend Mode in a matter of seconds, rather than the time it takes to boot the OS. The great thing about OS QuickBoot is that your data is stored in both the memory thanks to the S3 state as well as being stored on your hard drive for the even deeper S4 state. This means that even if your PC is unplugged or you lose power, the next time when you boot your PC, it will resume from S4 automatically, using the data that was stored on the hard drive. 

[Dark Mantis]

Yes I can understand your position and as I said some people will find them useful. However a few BIOS changes and you have done the same thing. Same with Windows. It can be made to start and in particular shut down quicker. It is handy for people who don't want to delve into the workings of their systems I suppose.

[FunkyErn]

FYI - after flashing to FC1 I left machine off for 7.hours and same cold boot issues of BCCode 50 and 1A. This is driving me nuts.

Dark Mantis - I agree with you that one should only change one variable at a time. I will power down the PC tonight and leave plugged in to the mains. I currently have all my gear powered via a Samson Powerbrite power conditioner (mainly to protect my audio gear). I will leave the PC plugged directly into the main socket over night and see what happens. I am not convinced this is issue as with bios FA it worked fine being disconnected overnight. I still suspect the bios. Still no reply from GTS!  

Hello People - I will pm you my email address. I will give FC2 a go. Regarding Smart 6 and Easy Tuner I only installed ET on my initial build to test them out along with all the variants of the drivers (audio and midi interfaces). I have uninstalled ET using the add/remove programs. I would suggest doing a completely clean build and reformatting the discs once the system has stabilised. This is what I intend to do as during the build/debug process one needs up installing and trying out all sorts of utilities - e.g. SMART and ET.

[Dark Mantis]

I am in total agreement with what you have just posted. Especially the end part . When everything is sorted it's best to do a clean install and get rid of all the rubbish before you start using your system properly.

[fatbobuk]

The sooner the cold boot issue is sorted the better it is driving me mental

May even go back to FA to sort this and hope my memory doesnt start disappearing again

[Dark Mantis]

I must admit I come down on the side of the BIOS issue. I think that GGTS needs to get this addressed as soon as possible and the more people complain to them the quicker it will get done.

[jdvoracek]

It is handy for people who don't want to delve into the workings of their systems I suppose.

Or for people who think the engineers and programmers at Gigabyte just might know a little more than they do.

[Dark Mantis]

It is handy for people who don't want to delve into the workings of their systems I suppose.

Or for people who think the engineers and programmers at Gigabyte just might know a little more than they do.

I am not sure if they are even written by Gigabyte staff, more likely farmed out to outsdide contractors to write.

[hello people]

You guys having the cold boot issues still...what kind of ram are you using? I ask because once I ditched that initial ADATA ram and started using other ram, my cold boot failures completely stopped. Maybe your ram is causing the problems. I have no idea why a PC would fail to cold boot but would operate normally once finally booted up...but my cold boot failures did stop once I got new ram. It's just a thought...maybe there's no use trying to bash a square peg into a round hole...it seems that's exactly what I was doing with my old ram.

[FunkyErn]

Latest update...

Left PC plugged in to mains overnight with latest bios FC2 and.... still BSOD on cold start up this morning  I ran MemTest86 straight away and was getting 300+ errors in the first 5 secs!! I rebooted and set the DRAM v from 1.5v to 1.65v and reran - suddenly no errors. Switched back to 1.5v from 1.65v and still no errors. It is not the DRAM voltage - I am running at 1066 which according to the SPD spec runs at 1.5v.

I am stumped... it has to be either the memory or the motherboard. This is bizarre. Is there anyone else out there using TR3X6G1600C9 with the GA-X58A-UD3R rev 2.0?

Next steps:
a) RMA the memory?
b) RMA the motherboard?
c) RMA both?

I am inclined to think it is the motherboard/bios - the reason for this is that the memory works fine with bios FA. I will reflash to FA and leave off overnight and see if thiis confirms it.

Dark Mantis - what do you suggest? I still have not had a reply from Gigabyte.

[Dark Mantis]

I would be inclined to RMA the memory mainly due to the time factor. I am sure it will take less time to have the memory replaced than to have the motherboard checked/ repaired/ replaced. Don't forget it could be the CPU itself as now the memory controller is part of the CPU die.

[FunkyErn]

Well I have thrown in the towel and RMA'd both the board and RAM back to the supplier. I have wasted over 3 weeks trying to get this to work and now have to wait another 10 working days. And as sod's law would have it GTS finally respond after I am arranged the RMA and dismantled the computer and packed up the bits. I have passed their suggestions on to the supplier's tech support.

I almost ordered an ASUS P6X58D-E today - it has a more extensive list of memory on the QVL and actually includes my memory model! The only thing that stopped me is that it uses a VIA chipset for its firewire vs the TI one on the UD3R. This is an issue for my audio firewire interface. I might reconsider it in a couple of weeks time. Any idea what the ASUS P6X58D-E is like? Is it as problematic as this board?

A word of warning to people out there using the stock Intel cooler - remove the thermal paste before you attach and check there are no defects hidden under it! And then use a quality thermal paste to apply. While dismantling the board today I discovered that there was a nick in the surface of the copper cooler core which has slightly dented my processor heatsink cover!!! This defect was hidden by the thermal paste. Boy was I £"^$*&"^*&$()!!! I might well now need to RMA that back as well...

Dark Mantis - that is a good point about it might possibly being the processor as well. The memory controller is on it!! My money is still on a poor quality bios, or way too tight specs required of the mother board. We are pushing the limits of engineering with these boards, and the wealth of complex features on them. I actually write software for a living so I know a thing or two about increasing complexity bringing about increased likelihood of bugs.

Will keep everyone informed of how the saga progresses...

[hello people]

Good luck funky....yeah...funny old board this one...lots of issues. From time to time I swear I can hear that high pitched digital whining that heaps of others have been complaining about

 

[Dark Mantis]

Good luck funky....yeah...funny old board this one...lots of issues. From time to time I swear I can hear that high pitched digital whining that heaps of others have been complaining about

 

Nice quick fix for that is to Disable C1E and maybe EIST as well in the BIOS. Not perfect but a good workaround for now.