Cold boot failures x58A-ud3r Rev2 bios FB

[hello people]

btw guys.....If you HAD to go with your gut instincts on this....would you say I have bad ram?

and one last thing:

If I buy new ram....what bios should I use? Last official one?

Would I just install the ram physically and the bios will do the rest?

Will I have to go back to bios for my new ram to adjust its settings?

[hello people]

By the way.........I can run this PC at cpu spec speed (all this is shown in CPUZ) and at 1600 spec ram speed..........it just WONT COLD BOOT

So what do I do? Is there one tiny setting in bios that needs to go from .01 to .02?

[Dark Mantis]

Gut instincts are ok in some circumstances but can cost you a lot of dollars if they are wrong Always better to do proper testing and then you are more sure that what you are doing is right. I think it is quite likely that it is a memory problem but I could be wrong and if you want to gamble on that feel free. I would prefer to do the tests I suggested (Memtest86+) and check 100%.

[hello people]

Yep. I have time tonight. I will do the tests one module at a time....but at what bios settings?

Should I set bios so hardware runs at spec?

btw....Just cold booted (bios running hardware at spec) got BSOD:

Stop 0x0000000A (plus some other values I can type in if you think it's relevant)

Anyway...will test ram soon

[Dark Mantis]

I would try running the memory at the recommended settings to start with as that is what they were sold for and see what happens. If you start getting faults on each module the try running them at 1333 instead. Thing is they should run at 1600 so if they don't then they are faulty and you can return them but it would be best to know if they run at 1333 as well.

Microsoft think that the error message maybe to do with a bad or incompatible driver so you could always check that as well.

[notshy]

Hi guys,

I'm having the exact same issue with the same motherboard. I also have a i7-930 but have different RAM.

The RAM I bought was
OCZ DDR3 PC3-16000 / 2000 MHz /Gold Edition / Triple Channel Kit / 6GB / CL 10-10-10-30 / 1.65v
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_pc3_16000_gold_low_voltage_triple_channel

I bought this RAM because it was on the office gigabyte supported list for the board but I've just checked now and the supported OCZ 2000Mhz model number has changed ... I'll see if I can find the old supported list that I had downloaded.

I've been on the OCZ forum to get the right settings for the RAM (VTT/QPI = 1.35) and also tried running the RAM at 2000Mhz but I got Memtest errors in 5 seconds. So I dropped the RAM down to 1600 (133 x 12) and the memory passed with 9 hours Memtest but only on second boot.
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?79208

I booted last night straight into Windows from cold and ran Prime95 and it failed on 7 of the 8 workers in 5 seconds. I then rebooted and I have been running a Prime95 64 bit Blend test for 15 hours now and have no errors.

I don't quite understand why the motherboard can run fine on second boot but not on booting from cold.

Based on reading all the posts here - the fact that the RAM passes on Memtest with all 3 sticks for 9 hours doesn't mean anything and should test them 1 by one? Should I try to get them working at the full 2000Mhz or just 1600 ? Is there any difference in performance of having my RAM at 2000Mhz by either doing 133 x 15 or 166 x 12 ? I'd rather keep my BCLK down to avoid OC my CPU and I'd like to keep temps low.

So - Memtest for X58 boards linked above - 1 stick at a time at factory recommended settings for 8 passes each?

Should I post up my CPU-Z screenshots also for the settings I have now?

[hello people]

I THINK you should memtest it individually at spec (recommended settings).....but I'm not sure.

I think you should post up whatever screenshots you want...maybe something will fall into place for someone reading this and the key will be found...

[Fatman]

Did you have the same issues with the FA bios?

[Dark Mantis]

Hi notshy and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

Yes download and run Memtest86+ (preferably the beta version for X58 boards) on one module at a time for at least 10 loops each.Use the first slot for the memory testing.
 
To be honest unless you want to overclock above 4 Ghz then 2000Mhz RAM is pointless. As long as you can run it at 1600 Mhz then you are fine and you would never notice the difference in a real world scenario.

[notshy]

Hiya,

I'm running OSX on my machine and it was recommended to me to put the BIOS to FB for greater stability in OSX, so I was only running FA for 1 week or so.

Thanks for the welcome!

I will stop my Prime95 running now as 18 hours and no errors I think means that things are OK for second boot. I just have this issue with cold boot but will go and have another go with my BIOS settings - I'll post up here what my settings are using the template and also get my signature all sorted with my hardware.

I'll get some screen shots of CPUZ up here too! Good job it's a saturday - I get the feeling this could take a while.

Do you think that it could be something to do with the second boot loading a different BIOS (the back up one) rather than FB? How do you know when the back up BIOS kicks in? I've realised that when I flashed my main bios is used @Bios which I shouldn't have done and I'm guessing that wouldn't have flashed my back up BIOS.

I'm off to try loading FB to both main BIOS and back up ... write down all my current BIOS settings and my hardware and try some testing.

I'll update my Memtest boot USB to that new version and try 1 pass on all 3 and 1 pass on each stick first - then post up the findings. 8 passes will take a while to do ....... but that will be next!

[hello people]

Can I offer a summary?

Ok thanks...where do I begin!? At the beginning.

Some preliminaries (my PC now):

OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
CPU i7 930 2.8g
Motherboard x58A-Ud3R rev2.0 FC2 (FC2 is the latest beta BIOS, sent to me personally by Gigabyte)
Memory 6gig ADATA DDR3 1600
Graphics Card HIS ETI pcie HD5670
Sound Card Presonus Firebox
Monitor(s) Displays 19" LG Flatron
PSU Cooler Master 700W Silent Pro
Case Antec
Cooling Zalman CPU Cooler CNPS10x-Quiet
Hard Drives 2x1TB Seagate Sata2 7200

So two weeks ago it was time to buy a new PC. The last one I had I built in 2005. I assembled components for what I thought would be a powerful system for recording audio and mixing audio. These were the components on my list:

i7-930
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Rev2.0
6 GB (2 x 3 GB) Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8-8-8-24 DDR3 1600 RAM
Zalman CNPS10X Quiet CPU Cooler
HIS H465PS1GH Radeon HD 4650 fanless Video Card (I did not end up getting this card. I got the one listed above)
(2) Samsung F3 500 GB Hard Drives
Pioneer DVD-RW with Lightscribe
Cooler Master Silent Pro M700 PSU
Antec Solo Case

I showed this list to my friend (quite good with computers) and he suggested that the ram was not gettable...so recommended I get this ram:

A-DATA AX3U DDR3 - 1600g (9) 2G9-1G 2Gx16
A70-090131 Gaming Series
Voltage: 1.55-1.75v
CL: 9-9-9-24

Here's some pictures of one of the modules:








Ok...I came home and assembled the components carefully. In the back of my mind I kind of suspected there might be some teething problems especially considering my very low level knowledge of BIOS and RAM configurations. I hoped that the default BIOS configurations would be enough to drive my hardware to the best of its ability...to its spec. Anyway, the build was successful. The OS installed nicely and the PC booted up first go. I was pretty happy. I used the computer normally for 1 week. I installed some software...the usual things. Then after about a week I got curious...I wanted to find some apps to look under the hood. I started using CPUZ, realtemp and generally looking in Task Manager at things like Performance and Resource Monitor.

The first suspect thing I noticed was that not all of my RAM was being recognised. I had 3x2g modules in there but only one was being recognised. I also noticed when looking in Task Manager/ Resource Monitor/ Memory/ Hardware Reserved that 4096mb were allocated to 'Hardware Reserve'. This didn't sound right so I googled it. I found out that typically the Hardware Reserved is value is more like 10-60mb! So...I googled these problems and found out that the fix was commonly found to be a BIOS update. I went to the Gigabyte site and downloaded the newest official BIOS called FB. I flashed BIOS (from within BIOS) and rebooted. It was successful....all RAM modules showed up and my Hardware Reserved value was 2mb! I thought I was in the clear.

So I shut down the PC and went to work. In the afternoon I came home and turned my computer on....failure. I did not get any specific actual blue screen....the PC just keep cycling. It would reach the Windows loading screen and reboot itself. I was pretty worried! So anyway all I could do was turn it off. All I could think to do was to disconnect the HD cables (both the power and sata cables). I plugged them back in again and rebooted...and it worked. Then for a while as I restarted sometimes it would boot, other times not. That was maybe a week ago. Every cold boot for a week has failed. Eventually the PC boots. Once it's booted it seems to run fine. It's fast and responsive...but using the utilities like CPUZ and realtemp...I knew that there were problems.

For starters...it seemed that the RAM was not running at 1600. It also seemed that the CPU was not running to it's potential. That's when I started looking on forums to find an answer to the cold boot issues and to the RAM/ CPU issues. I opened up the hugest can of computing worms I've ever seen. There's people out there with this x58A-UD3R board in all sorts of trouble. I followed all kinds of advice...I used BIOS versions FB, FC1, FC2...I altered BIOS settings at will. dRam values, qpi/vtt, memory timings, uncore values, memory multi values. My aim was to get the RAM to run at spec and the CPU to do the same. Nothing I tried worked. The PC continued to fail on cold boots. Sometimes an actual blue screen would show...other times not. In altering settings in BIOS it seems that I was able to get the PC to run at spec. The CPU reported something like 2900mhz...slightly above the 2.8 spec. The RAM also ran at 1600. But the PC failed on cold boots every time.

I never went back to the initial BIOS FA to check that.


Before I forget...some info about my RAM...and the compatibility list:

RAM
http://oc.adata.com.tw/product-series.asp?sid=02

Compatibility List
http://download.gigabyte.asia/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-x58a-ud3r_v2.0.pdf

Ok...so I will show you my FC2 BIOS settings as they are now and with the PC idle. Also I'll post some images of CPUZ and realtemp.

These are in no real order...but they should cover pretty much all the main sections and subsections of my BIOS:







































Well...that is about at...can you please have a look...and if there is any other info you need or you think would be helpful, let me know

thanks very much

[Dark Mantis]

Well the first thing that I noticed on checking your memory on the QVLs it doesn't appear on either one.

The Gigabyte QVL lists this as the nearest:

AET16C2 2GB A-DATA AX3U1600GB2G9-AG DS v 6PCS

and the A-DATA QVL lists the GA-X58-UD3R but not your board. Similar but not the same.

You would have had less trouble if you had made sure that the memory had been tested as compatible. That is not to say that it cannot be persuaded to work with your board but it is more trouble getting the settings right.

[notshy]

I've just had a look in EastTune6 > Tuner > Advanced > Voltage I

And seen that my
QPI/VTT            power on 1.175v      target = 1.355V
DRAM Voltage   power on 1.3v      target = 1.64V

I turned up my QPI/VTT and DRAM voltage upon recommendation from the OCZ forum guys however it looks like that voltage isn't being applied.

Is this important at all?

[Dark Mantis]

I've just had a look in EastTune6 > Tuner > Advanced > Voltage I

And seen that my
QPI/VTT            power on 1.175v      target = 1.355V
DRAM Voltage   power on 1.3v      target = 1.64V
I turned up my QPI/VTT and DRAM voltage upon recommendation from the OCZ forum guys however it looks like that voltage isn't being applied.

Why are you using this utility when it can all be done from the BIOS? Personally I am not keen on any of these programs as they usually bring more trouble than they save.

[notshy]

Sorry - I'm not using it to change the voltages at all - I'm just using it to read what the current voltages are that are being applied.

The Target voltages are the ones that I set in my BIOS - I'm not changing those settings at all.

What I thought it was showing was that those voltages that I set in my BIOS are not being applied!