Hello,
I'm new to these forums.
I've done some searching, and in fact I came to these forums while looking for a solution.
First my system:
X58-GA-UDR3 Rev 2.0
i7-950 3.06GHz
CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600
Corsair PSU Gold AX1200
WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM
EVGA NVIDIA GTX 670
Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty
Coolermaster HAF-X
Windows 7 64bit
*No overclocking settings of any kind, I generally leave this alone as I don't feel knowledgeable enough to do it.
Second some history:
> I built the PC in sept 2010, originally with the following:
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600
Corsair TX950 PSU
ASUS NVIDIA GTX 470
> Original configuration had no issues, and everything was working smooth.
> 4 Months in the PSU began to fail, sent it in for RMA to Corsair and received AX1200 as a replacement.
> No issues after this for sometime.
> In December 2011 I upgraded, adding an extra 6GB of the same memory I had.
Bringing the PC to CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600
System was running smoothly,
with the slightly strange issue of only 10gigs of RAM being recognized by windows even though the BIOS displayed the full 12 installed.
**First major incident:I turned off my PC for its first regular dusting, turning off the PSU completely and unplugging the entire rig.
Upon attempting to restart the PC, it would continually fail at the Windows loading screen and I could not get into Windows.
I tried every option I could think of, every option in the advanced boot menu as well as attempting to load from and repair from disk.
Nothing worked.
Some searches & asking around lead me to the (erroneous) conclusion that the HDD might be corrupted.
I purchased a new HDD, the exact same model, and reinstalled windows.
The PC was up and running with no issue...
**Second major incidentThe PC was up and running with no issue until, once again, I turned the entire PC off and unplugged it for its regular dusting (no, I did not hold the cans upside down or sideways).
Once again, the previous issue began to repeat.
Windows would fail at the windows logo screen no matter what I did.
I began to suspect the memory & or mother board/BIOS.
I ran memtest86 for 7 passes on all sticks of RAM.
Then, I tried to get into the MB Intelligent Tweaker settings, at which point the menu would consistently freeze.
After a google search, I found an older more basic keyboard (but not PS/2) and was able to access the MIT menu.
In the menu some settings had been different than when I originally set them to. The most stand out was that the memory had been set to "Turbo".
I turned the memory back to "Standard".
The PC loaded up without issue, and in fact this solved the strange issue with Windows which now recognized the full 12g of RAM.
>In between this period and now, I performed 2 more regular cleanings on the PC with no issue (I generally like to dust about 1x per month).
>I also updated the graphics card to the GTX 670 during this period. PC has been running smoothly for a month.
**Third major incident (current problem)*sigh* I turned off the PC for its regular cleaning, which I have now come to dread like the plague.
My system went back to the original issue where Windows would again, fail at the logo screen.
However, this time I have been completely unable to enter the MIT menu. I have tried 5 different keyboards, including 2 different PS/2 based keyboards.
I tried reloading my previously last known good configuration in the BIOS (saved profile).
I tried removing all sticks of memory and attempting to load both to windows as well as just the MIT menu with only 1 stick at a time - unable to get to windows or into the MIT menu.
I found these forums and an explanation by Dark Mantis on Qflashing to a newer BIOS- I was running FC.
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=8475.0I decided to Qflash using FF, as this was under 1MB and I believe its not possible to Qflash using higher than 1MB which the newest BIOS for my rev was (approx 1.3MB)
I Qflashed the drive, the entire process went without issue. Including replacing the battery entirely during this process with a brand new battery for the CMOS.
I was about to proceed to the second step of Dark Mantis' instructions, to Synchronize the two BIOS versions.
However upon first reboot to proceed with this step, the PC failed to even go to the BIOS or BIOS splash screen and the processor fan would not turn on.
At this point, I decided to turn off the PC and once again use the Clear CMOS to revert back to factory defaults.
This actually worked and allows me to get back into the BIOS, although it did not revert to the factory default and I am in fact running the BIOS FF version now.
Windows no longer even shows the logo screen and is failing to POST completely.
I am at BIOS FF, and the back up is at FA.
I decided not to synchronize and to first post here to get some help as I am now well beyond my ability/knowledge level (and I am trying hard not to panic
).
Final Notes/Comments:MIT Menu still freezes
This all started when I added an extra 6 gigs of ram.
Perhaps my RAM is the issue and I should try new/different RAM.
Perhaps my MOBO is the issue and I should RMA.
Thank you in advance, and thank you to Dark Mantis for writing the Qflash steps which helped me walkthrough that process as well as lead me to this forum.
