P55A-UD4P won't reliably wake from sleep

[Slider]

I have a strange sleep/resume problem with our new Gigabyte P55A-UD4P motherboard. 

At least once per day the system stops responding and locks up instead of resuming from S3 sleep.  When this happens the only way to get the system back up is to shut down the power supply itself, press the power button to use up any residual power, and then power it back up.  If I don't do this the motherboard won't get through the POST and just sits there with a locked up screen.  In addition to this, when it does boot the next time, Windows 7 attempts to resume and right before showing the log in screen the system locks up again with a black screen and again won't respond (until the power shut down... cycle again).

It is a fairly basic system so I don't know why this is happening.  I have ALL of the latest drivers installed as well as ALL Windows 7 updates installed.  I've tried running everything at default speeds, rated memory speeds, and slightly overclocked (3.2 GHz CPU) and the problem is always there.

Hardware wise it has 8 GB of G.Skill PC1600 memory (listed on the supported list), an i5-760 CPU, an ATI 6850 video card and an older, basic PCI modem (in case our broadband connection goes down).

I've tried resetting the BIOS several times (latest version) and nothing seems to help.

One thing I suspect might be related is I installed, tried out and then uninstalled all of the Gigabyte utilities about a week ago.  Prior to this this lock up situation was very rare (happened once or twice).  Now it happens all the time.  I wonder if DES2 or something might have messed up something and caused this issue.

Have any of you experienced this?  How did you fix it?

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

It could be a leftover problem from the Gigabyte utilities that you installed and then removed as they can cause all sorts of problems and that is one reason I never install them.

I would suggest updating your BIOS to the latest version from the website and make sure that you use the QFlash utility to do so.

The first thing to do is go to the Gigabyte wesite and find the "Support and Downloads" section

(http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/support-downloads.aspx).

Select your motherboard and revision number which can be found printed on the bottom left corner of the motherboard.

Click on the "BIOS" tab. This will take you to the BIOS versions download page.The newest BIOS versions are at the top of the page.

Click on your region under the "Download Here" section heading. A dialogue box will then pop up asking what you want to do with this file.

Click on "save" and note where you are saving it to.

Take a USB pendrive and make sure it is formatted with a FAT32 file system. If the file ends with .exe run it, or if it is a zip file Unzip it, and save the files (usually contains 3 files) that you just expanded to the Boot sector or a folder of your choice on this drive and insert the pendrive into a USB port.

Re-boot.

Press the"End" key as the computer is POSTing and you will be taken into the BIOS flashing utility "Q-Flash".

At the QFlash homescreen disable the Keep DMI Data option before proceeding.

From there just follow the prompts to find your file and DO NOT TURN OFF THE POWER under any circumstances. It will look for the pendrive with the file on it and use that to update the BIOS.

One thing to note is that the pendrive may show up as a floppy or hard disk instead of a USB drive. Once it has completed you can reboot.

We have since found out that the problem with getting some motherboards to "see" the USB drive is a case of using as small a drive as possible, well at least under 2Gb, and even then some will be seen and some won't. Just a matter of luck.

If this doesn't cure your problem I advise checking your power options in Windows as they can cause this type of problem.

[Slider]

Hi DM, somehow I missed your post yesterday.

Unfortunately the BIOS is already the latest (F14) and I did try (before posting) upgrading to all of the latest drivers.

What is strange about this issue is this system worked almost flawlessly (I think there was one, possibly two lockups but I did at one point experiment with mild overclocking of the CPU and graphics card and it could have occured then) for 2 weeks prior to me getting curious and installing the Gigabyte Utilities.  I experimented with them for a few hours and then uninstalled them.  Then, since Easy Tune 6 and DES 2.0 (energy saver) caused an instant system lockup any time I touched the BCLK, I decided to give the latest and greatest versions a try from the Gigabyte web site.  When I discovered the same instant lockup issues with them whenever I touched BCLK, I uninstalled them for good.  BTW, BCLK can be tweaked through the BIOS without any issues (I never tried higher than 160).

Starting the very next day the system will not wake up from sleep properly all the time.  Oddly, if I manually put it to sleep it will wake up fine.  If I just let the system sit for hours on end, it will eventually go to sleep and the next time I check it there is a black screen and no way to revive the system.  Powering it off and back on or resetting it puts it into an infinite loop of going through the POST, firing up the drives and then shutting down over and over.  The only way to get the system back to life is to shut down the power supply itself, press the power button to bleed off any residual power, and then power it back up.

Instead of powering up properly, Windows will then attempt to resume from Hybernation (I have hybrid sleep enabled).  Instead of showing a login screen, the screen suddenly goes blank and I'm left with the same locked up system again.  The only way to boot is to once again shut down the power supply and go through the cold boot process again.

This time when it attempts to boot I get an option to delete restore data and when I do the hard drive typically goes through a file check and then the system boots fine.

Every single time I leave the system alone for several hours it ends up with the same black screen lockup.  It is driving me crazy.

[Slider]

I forgot to mention I've tried resetting the BIOS several times, running without any overclock, removing all but one stick of RAM, removing USB devices (except keyboard), using a very basic BIOS configuration, no overclocking, checking all powercfg settings carefully, running powercfg -energy tests to see if anything looks out of line (it responds that 4 USB ports refuse to sleep when requested and that there is a known problem with the PCI express bus so it can't sleep).

I've tried uninstalling and updating all of the USB drivers, forced an "-overall" installation of Intel's latest inf from the Intel website, etc.  Nothing I've tried has worked.

I also tried both the older NEC and latest Renasas USB 3.0 drivers and again nothing has changed the situation.

Thinking about it now as I type this, I just thought of something....

The fact that it sleeps fine and wakes fine if I press the sleep button on the keyboard but doesn't when the system is left alone probably suggests that the problem is when a power saving feature in Windows 7 attempt to sleep individual components as opposed to putting the entire system to sleep.

Which component is causing the issue I wonder...

I think the first thing to try is to disable USB selective suspend.  I'll report back tomorrow if this fixes the issue or not (it's 3:00 AM right now and I'm still researching, trying to figure out what to try next...).

BTW, I keep suspecting that DES 2.0 did something to the system to cause this issue.  I don't know why; I guess because DES 2.0 affects power features and the issue seems to be related to power saving features.

[Slider]

One more thing I forgot to mention is before I installed DES 2.0, I did not notice the power level lights turning on or off on the motherboard.

Now the lights are always fully lit.  I suspected that DES 2.0 either left something behind or modified something in the BIOS.  It turns out that the DES 2.0 service was left on the system and configured to start automatically.

Disabling the DES 2.0 service and deleting the files didn't change anything (lights still on and black screen lockups continue).

I then tried fully resetting the BIOS again, combined with loading optimized defaults and setting all of the settings again.  Unfortunately the black screen lockups and lights remain.

Now I keep second guessing myself if the power level lights on the motherboard were on or not when the system was brand new, but I am convinced they were off originally.  The lights turn on (all of them) the instant the motherboard gets power (before POST even starts testing things).

When DES 2.0 was installed I was able to turn the lights on and off by enabling/disabling DES 2.0 lights (there is a button that turns the lights on and off).  For certain I had the lights disabled in DES 2.0 when I uninstalled DES 2.0, but thinking about it now the DES 2.0 service that didn't uninstall might have somehow re-enabled the lights.

I do have a tech support call open with Gigabyte Tech support, but so far they keep pointing me to testing my memory, resetting the BIOS, removing extra hardware, etc.  These are all things I have already done and I said so in my first message to them (almost a week ago now).  They don't seem to think DES 2.0 has anything to do with the black screen lockups.

[Dark Mantis]

All the LEDs should light when you hit the power button and then flash and go out in stages a s POST progresses. Ideally there should be none left on when POSTing is complete. Sometimes there might be a green or two but that is ok.

The only way to make sure that you have got rid of all the DES program is to do a full format of the drive and then clear the CMOS completely and load the BIOS Optimised Defaults. If you decide to do this and need any help just ask.

[Slider]

Finally!!! The computer has not locked up during the past 10 hours of mostly idle use!

As a test I disabled all of the component power saving features within Windows 7 (USB suspend, PCIe power saving modes, Wireless NIC (although there is no wireless on this PC), etc.).  I left the CPU specific settings using default power saving settings in both Windows 7 and the BIOS.

So, now I know that the lockups are caused by Windows 7 attempting to use power saving features on some of the motherboard components, although at this point I don't know exactly which component.  Are there any known power saving issues with the P55A-UD4P?  Our 2 P55A-UD3R motherboards do not have any issues with the Windows 7 power saving features - BUT I never installed DES 2.0, Smart 6, Easy Tune 6, etc. on them.

Although a full wipe and reinstall of Windows 7 is obviously a reliable way to get rid of all of the junk Gigabyte utilities from the OS, I really don't want to do it if I can find another solution (perhaps as it is configured now with some of the power saving features disabled).  This computer is used by my wife for her work so it has a lot of extra software installed on it and to do a complete reinstall would probably take something like 20 hours.  Note I have already gone through the registry and removed the majority of startup and service remnants from the Gigabyte utilities (after being uninstalled all of the services and startup programs remain STILL installed and STILL being run; I find this sort of messy software installation/uninstallation EXTREMELY annoying).

As far as the power level lights on the motherboard, they definitely do NOT go out at all during POST at the moment.  As soon as the power is turned on, they ALL light up and stay that way.  Even after resetting the BIOS to optimized defaults the lights remain on during the very next POST.  It is almost as if DES 2.0 has loaded something into the BIOS that can not be removed.  I am almost 100% certain that when I checked the lights when Windows 7 was first installed and up and running that they were out.

I wonder if reflashing the current BIOS might be the only way to properly remove DES2.0?  The other option I suppose is to re-install DES 2.0 and leave it installed using settings that don't cause the system to lock up (defeating any power saving features).  When installed it has the ability to control the power stage lights, including turn them off.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes the LEDs should definitely go out after POST and as you say it sounds like a leftover from DES2. I am not sure if a BIOS flash on it's own would get rid of the remnants or whether you would have to do a complete format.

[Slider]

The fact that the lights normally go out and on my system they do not - even before the operating system has started to load, suggests to me that something in the BIOS itself is configured to turn the lights on and leave them on.

DES 2.0 must have somehow interacted with the BIOS and/or the Intersil DES chip and configured the board to always run all power phases as well as always light up all of the lights.  I'm not certain, but I suspect by default on a new board all power phases are enabled and running, but the lights are turned off.  During POST, the Intersil chip must cycle through all of the lights as a test and then leave them off by default.  Once DES 2.0 is installed the software controls the number of PWM power supplies that are running dynamically through the Intersil chip and the chip also turns on the appropriate number of lights based on how many of the PWM power supplies are running.  From then on it seems that the lights are now showing how many power phases are in use and even uninstalling DES 2.0 and killing off the DES service, the Intersil chip keeps the lights enabled.

NOTE:  I am still reading up on DES so what I said above is likely only partially correct...  based on a bit more reading it seems that the power phase controller is actually built into the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) Intersil power supplies themselves and there is no independent chip that controls the PWM chips.  The articles explain how everything works...

It probably makes more sense for me to just get DES 2.0 up and running again.  Reading some of the technical information on it, it doesn't sound all that bad - as long as it works properly and doesn't introduce any system instability...

Here are a few interesting reads on what DES 2.0 really is, how the software/service interact with the Intersil chip on the motherboard, and what the Intersil chip actually does:

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1272/gigabyte_s_dynamic_energy_saver_detailed/index2.html
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1275/closer_look_at_gigabyte_s_des_system/index.html
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/12351/gigabyte_details_new_smart_6_software_and_des2/index.html

Here is another review that compares the power saving capabilities of DES 2.0 to competing power saving systems:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2009/09/22/gigabyte-ga-p55m-ud4-review/6

[Slider]

I'm going to leave things as they are for now and probably try reinstalling DES 2.0 this evening.

One additional thing I should mention is I have all of the CPU power saving/thermal/etc. features enabled in the BIOS and according to CPU-Z the CPU voltage is stuck at 1.26 V.  Prior to me installing DES 2.0 the voltage used to drop to 0.8 V when the CPU was idle and the multiplier dropped to 9x.  The CPU still drops to 9x when the system is idle, but the voltage no longer drops to 0.8 V.

With my two other P55 Gigabyte motherboards (both P55A-UD3R), the CPU voltage still varies automatically depending on load.  1.26 V at high load and 0.8 at low load.  I never installed DES 2.0 on them.

As soon as I installed the original DES 2.0 from the CD the CPU voltage became stuck at 1.26 V.  Unfortunately when I installed the new version of DES 2.0 from the Gigabyte web site it did not fix the problem.  Uninstalling it, removing all traces of DES 2.0 and the DES service, resetting the BIOS to defaults, etc. and the system still is stuck at 1.26 V for the CPU.

Any suggestions other than reinstalling the operating system (since the problem seems to be with the BIOS now, not the operating system)?  How can I fully reset the motherboard to original settings?

One last thing I noticed.  When DES 2.0 was installed, it claimed there was all sorts of power being saved, including a lower voltage for the CPU but in reality it broke Intel's power saving features and cranked up the voltage to 1.26 V full time.  The idle CPU temperature also went up from 25°C (in an 18°C room) to 32°C so I know that the CPU is now running at a higher voltage when idle.  At 100% load the CPU now climbs to 95°C when prior to DES 2.0 it never got above 90°C.

The only thing DES 2.0 was able to do was shut down some of the PWM power supplies which according to my power meter resulted in a net change of 0 W.  With DES 2.0 installed, the CPU now burns more power, while the motherboard burns less.  Now with DES 2.0 uninstalled the system now burns up an extra 10+ W at idle according to my in-line power meter.

The more I mess with this system, the more I am convinced it is DES 2.0 that has caused the "black screen crashes" and all of the messed up disfunctional power saving performance.

[Dark Mantis]

As I said before that is why I don't install these programs to start with. They often end up being a lot of hard work to get rid of.

Any suggestions other than reinstalling the operating system (since the problem seems to be with the BIOS now, not the operating system)?  How can I fully reset the motherboard to original settings?

The only way to clear the settings completely is to do an extended CMOS clear.

Remove the power cable from the mains supply and then press the power switch on the case for a few seconds just to drain any residual energy in the PSU capacitors.

Once done remove the motherboard battery overnight  before replacing it.
 
Next plug back into the mains supply and boot.
 
You will now need to enter the BIOS by pressing DEL and load Opimised BIOS Defaults.

Make any other changes to the BIOS settings to suit your self and then press F10 to save and exit.

[Slider]

Unfortunately I just found the computer locked up again with a black screen.  After getting it back up I checked the power saving features and all of the periferal power saving features are still disabled (USB suspend, PCIe power savings, Wireless power savings, etc.).

This is extremely annoying.  I might end up reformatting and reinstalling but I'm still stumped on how to get the BIOS fully back to normal.  I'll try the full method you suggested above, but I've already done that with the exception to waiting 10 hours (I waited about 15 minutes but I also had the CMOS reset jumper shorted with the battery out during that time and in the past this seems to provide a full reset).

I might try reflashing the BIOS with the same version (forcing it to install) combined with resetting the BIOS data at the same time.  Do you think that would work?

I still have not tried reinstalling DES 2.0.  Perhaps I should try that first and if it works just leave it installed.

[jaggedReef]

 I had exactly the same problem with my EP43T-UDL3 system. I know this sounds obvious so I apologize if it is but I fixed this issue by updating windows 7 and installing the newest drivers for my graphics card (direct from manufacturers website not windows found ones). And that sorted it.

[Slider]

BTW, I did some more research into DES 2.0 and how it works.  Here is my current understanding...

Since these modern CPUs demand such high currents when the CPU is being pushed hard (as high as 100+ A), motherboard manufacturers are resorting to using multiple Pulse Width Modulating (PWM) "power supply" chips with the outputs in parallel.  This allows them to both handle the high current loads as well as very accurately fine tune the voltage to facilitate overclocking.  In order to minimize the voltage ripple, each PWM chip has the "pulse" at a different phase (hence why Gigabyte talks about running multiple power phases).

When CPU demands are low, the current demand drops way down and a reduced number of PWM chips are required to generate this current.  Without the DES 2.0 software, all of the PWM run all of the time but using shorter and shorter pulse durations in order to maintain the desired operating voltage.  Since each PWM chip wastes some power, by shutting unnecessary ones down overall power can be saved.  I assume voltage ripple is handled through a capacitor or two, but in theory the CPU power will not be as clean when fewer out of phase PWM chips are running.

So, other than slightly worse voltage ripple, enabling DES 2.0 doesn't sound like a bad thing as long as it works properly.

The problem is that the DES 2.0 software not only enables shutting down the PWM chips, it also attempts to save power by performing other power saving techniques.  I suspect that some of these are causing my issues, but I don't know for certain.  I did try enabling levels 2 and 3 as well as using custom settings at one point before uninstalling it (and being left with a crippled system with the power phase lights all on all of the time indicating that something is now messed up in the BIOS somewhere).

[Slider]

Finally I can say the black screen crashes are finally fixed!

After trying just about everything I could think of I cleaned up every trace of DES 2.0 and UT6 I could find (resulting in it still crashing), followed by re-installing DES 2.0.  Until I actually ran DES 2.0 it would still crash, but once I ran it, no more crashes (as long as I don't attempt to lower BCLK during low CPU loads; if I touch BCLK it almost always locks up right away).

From what I can tell the Intersil PWM chips are controlled by DES 2.0 entirely (resetting the BIOS doesn't reset the Intersil chip configuration) and when DES 2.0 is uninstalled it can leave the PWM chips in an unstable state.  All of the power phase lights were fully on all the time, yet the case power light was also on solid (not flashing) and the system would crash/lock up with a black screen during PCIe (or possibly USB) power saving state changes by Windows 7 (even if I disabled all of the advanced power saving features, it would still black screen lockup after extended periods of idle).

Another feature that came back with DES 2.0 installed when the CPU is idle the voltage can now drop to 0.88V (with a multiplier of 9x).  When the CPU is running at 100%, the voltage now climbs to 1.26 V (was 1.36 V all the time after uninstalling DES 2.0 and I couldn't find any BIOS setting that would allow it to vary with CPU load) with the CPU at 20x (bclk is 160 MHz for a total of 3.2 GHz).

It looks like DES 2.0 is here to stay with our P55A-UD4P. Our two P55A-UD3's don't have any utilities installed.