GA-890GPA-UD3H (rev 2.1) BIOS Problems

[NotStephen]

Hi!

I'm having some weird BIOS issue with my recently purchased GA-890GPA-UD3H (rev 2.1).
The board came with "FF" BIOS and when I activate RAID for the SATA3 ports the BIOS menu disappears!
Same issue appears when using the older "FE" version as well.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr_2e66mRI0 (low quality cellphone video)

When I use the latest FGf beta BIOS and activate RAID, the BIOS works fine, but my computer becomes very unstable.
I get random freezes/lock-ups that requires reboot and bluescreens. When I try to run Prime95/OCCT, the test fails within minutes.
Running the FF bios in IDE mode (wont boot Windows in RAID because I cant set correct harddrive to boot from) will keep my computer stable, I've been running prime95 for over 4hours now.
I'm not overclocking anything and the computer ran stable with my old motherboard for months.
I've even run Memtest86+ for about 10 hours without errors.

Computer specs:
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2Ghz
4x Corsair XMS3 CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 4GB 1333Mhz
GA-890GPA-UD3H (rev 2.1)
Gigabyte HD7950 Windforce (GV-R795WF3-3GD)
Asus Xonar DS (PCI)
SiI 3132 (PCI-ex x1)
Fractal Design Newton R2 650W
2x OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD (RAID0)
Hitachi 250GB IDE
Western Digital 200GB IDE
2x Seagate SATA2 1.5TB
2x Samsung SATA2 2TB
2x Samsung SATA2 1TB
Hitachi SATA2 2TB
Samsung SH-B083L Blu-ray (sata)

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

Well just looking through your list of specs and there is only one thing that looks not quiten right and that is the PSU. It is a good quality but a little on the low side considering what you have got hooked up to it. Either try a bigger unit around about 750-800W or disconnect as many of your extra components that you can to lighten the load.

[NotStephen]

I find it very doubtful that the PSU isn't enough. Have been running it for two months with a different motherboard, and been running prime95 with the "FF" bios for over 12hours without issue. Only when using FGf BIOS does the computer become unstable.

And before that I used pretty much the same set-up, only with a HD5850 GPU instead, with a 450W Corsair without issue.
Looking at review sites, the maximum power consumption on a HD7970 with overclocked Intel Core i7 3960X consumes about 400W from the Wall.
So there is plenty of power left in the PSU for the system.


Also, I've tried runing with only the SSD RAID0 and FGf bios, the computer was still unstable and failed Prime95 in minutes.

[absic]

Hi there,

check in BIOS and see if RAID5 is enabled. If it isn't try enabling that as there were issues on some other AMD boards when this was disabled.

[NotStephen]

RAID5 is enable.

[absic]

Hi again,

from your description it would seem that there is something wrong with the actual BIOS. Have you reported this to Gigabyte Tech Support? If not then this would be the next best step as they may be aware of the problem and have a different BIOS to try. If they are not aware of the issue they can look into it for you better than the average user on the forum.

You can contact Tech Support here: http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/technical-support.aspx

[NotStephen]

Hi,

I did message the support 2 days ago and the answer I finally received wasn't helpful at all.

Please note that when updating BIOS the BIOS settings will be set to default. You need to readjust any IDE, AHCI or RAID settings to the AMD SATA controller.

So now I'm stuck waiting for a second reply...

[NotStephen]

I've been messaging back and forth with gigabyte support and so far the instability with the FGf BIOS is somehow related to me using all 4 slots of memory on the motherboard. When using 1 or 2 slots the computer is stable, doesn't seem to matter which pair of my 4 memory sticks I use, as long as there is only 1 or 2 connected. The memory seems very unlikely to be faulty since using all 4 with the old FF Bios is also completely stable, and I've been using all 4 on my older motherboard for 5 months without problems.
I've tried increasing both memory voltage and latency, but it hasn't helped.

So, is anyone here using all 4 RAM slots on their GA-890GPA-UD3H rev 2.1?

[Vezina]

So, is anyone here using all 4 RAM slots on their GA-890GPA-UD3H rev 2.1?

I have used 4 sticks of RAM but they were not identical.
I ve used 2 Corsair pairs ,one was 2X 2G rated at 1333 Mhz and one pair 2X 4G rated at 1600Mhz .
I ve used all the 12 Gigs for maybe 2 weeks at 1333Mhz  ,but the operating system had strange behaviour.

Also i was never able to run my Phenom X4 975BE with the RAM rated  at 1600Mhz at 1600Mhz speed ,although Memtest was always ok windows will get corrupt in maybe 3 weeks.
Also the pair of RAM dimms that starts with the DIMM near the CPU socket seems to be better for some reason Windows experience wise.

It s also disappointing that Gigabyte has not released a BIOS for this board version for such a long time.
My X4 975BE CPU is not even supported officially ,but it works

The board itself is excellent though ,boots fast into windows, thing that for my other Gigabyte board ,970-UD3 is a dream

Your CPU should run 4 sticks at 1333Mhz 100%.
Make sure you get 4 identical RAM sticks.

[NotStephen]

Thanks for your reply.

Turns out it isn't memory related, the computer crashes a few hours laters with 2 sticks. Even tried 2 completely different memory sticks from another, stable, computer and mine still crashed.

[Vezina]

What is your power supply ?!

I see a lot of HDD s connected there.

Instability can be very well caused in your case by insufficient power.

Use only one HDD for some time with the others disconnected from PSU and motherbaord and see if stability preserves

Also  keep the CnQ and C1E off ,  it may be some strange issue involving this 2 features.
The board itself with bios FF should be just fine .

If you want to troubleshoot just use a minimal config and add hardware after some days of intensive usage and no issues.

[WAWood8]

I had similar problems with the same BIOS version but with a different Gigabyte board. 

Fortunately, I saved the previous (FF) version, reflashed with that, and ALL the problems vanished. 

Sad to note that in all this time, Gigabyte has still NOT updated the FGF bios to something newer.