Official GIGABYTE Forum
Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with AMD processors => Topic started by: Ettan on December 05, 2010, 09:38:08 pm
-
Hi!
## General description ##
I just bought some new hardware and it is giving me a problem that i don't know what to do with. After the assembly and installation of an OS the computer hangs/freezez from time to time. I haven't found a
single action that is causing this, it is totally random, i could be surfing the web, playing WoW etc. When it freezez it stops responding in any way and i have to restart it with the reset/power button.
There is no articfacts on the screen or no BSOD and the audio dissappears (no stuttering left or anything). The freezez/hangs always occurs inside windows, as of yet it has never done this during the POST or
boot of the OS
## Hardware and OS ##
Case:Antec SLK3700AMB(With two 120mm fans, 2 x Noctua NF-P12 directly plugged in to the mobo)
Motherboard:Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P(Updated to the latest BIOS F7)
RAM:Corsair XMS DDR3 4GB(9-9-9-24)(TW3X4G1333C9A) 2x2GB
Graphics:XFX ATI Radeon HD4770
Processor:AMD Phenomen II X3 720BE(Stock HS and fan with AS5 applied, the 4'th core is NOT enabled)
HDD:Samsung spinPoint 500GB SATA(HD501LJ) No RAID, just one disk.
Powersupply:Corsair CMPSU-520HX 520W
DVD:Optiarc DVD RW AD-7243S SATA
Nothing is or has been overclocked, i have not made any changes in the BIOS, most of the settings are on automatic.
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1
Windows XP Pro 64-bit SP2
Windows XP Pro 32-bit SP3
## Detailed description of problem ##
I started of by installing Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1 and the installation was a success, no problems there. I then proceed with the first logon and 2-3 minutes after that the computer rebooted
itself. On its way up after the POST it couldn't find the bootloader for Vista. I then did a number of re-installs with the same result. Finally there was a reboot when the system found the bootloader after
the reboot. After this the system stopped rebooting by itself and allowed me to stay in the system. The problem now is that the system starts to freezez/hangs at any given moment. This usually happends after
a few minutes so there was basically no time to install drivers and so forth. I managed to check the event viewer but couldn't find any clues to these system halts.
I then tried installing Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1 on another HDD (Samsung SpinPoint 80GB SATA SP0812C) and i had some luck and the system didn't reboot the first time but the system halt is still
present.
I then tried installing Windows XP Pro 32-bit SP3 and later the 64-bit version on the smaller HDD (Samsung SpinPoint 80GB SATA SP0812C) and here there were no reboots after the first logon at all. The system
halts is still present in both these OSs but not nearly as often as in Windows Vista. I am now running Windows XP Pro 64-bit SP2 with all the drivers for the hardware installed and the system runs fine when
it is actually running but the system halts still occurs and some days it happends 5-10 times and other days i could be only one.
## What has been tried ##
- Ran MEMTEST86+ for 24h with no errors
- Ran HUTIL to check the Samsung spinPoint 500GB SATA disk, no errors
- Updated the BIOS to the latest version F7.
- Tried running the system with both Optimized defaults and fail-safe defaults.
- Ran all the test in 3Dmark06 to see if that could trigger any problems, went ok.
- Ran all the stress test in Everest Ultimate edition, went ok.
- Tried a different HDD, as i wrote earlier.
- Stressed the CPU with StressCPU from UBCD without any problem, ran it for about 30 min.
- I have tried the following different setups with the memory:
- Bank 1 and 2 - Dual channel mode with Unganged mode
- Bank 1 and 2 - Dual channel mode with Ganged mode
- Bank 1 and 3 - Single channel mode with Unganged mode
- Bank 1 and 3 - Single channel mode with Ganged mode
- Tested the RAM sticks on by one in singel channel mode and in both ganged/unganged mode
- Replaced the SATA cables to the HDD and DVD and tested them on the internal chipset controller and Gigabytes own SATA controller
- Disconnected the DVD
- Tried a PS2 keyboard
- Replaced the signal cable between the screen and graphics card.
- Tried a different wall jacket, although in the same room and none of the jackets is grounded but since my old system was plugged into the same wall jacket with this very PSU i don't think that is the issue.
- The temps are around 40-45 for the system after a freeze when i reboot and check in the BIOS. I also felt the different HS and they do not feel all that hot.
- Dissabling Cool n' Quiet.
- Have tried a different memorymodule, Kingston KVR1333D3N9/2G (which is on the recommended list) and Corsair have also replace my memory with a new pair.
- I have disassembled the whole system and put it back together again.
I have no idea where to go from here. I am now running Win XP Pro 32-bit with all the latest patches and the lates Drivers from Gigabyte/ATI. The system halts are less frequent nowdays for some reason but
they still appear. I have no clue where to go from here. One thing that is odd is that in BIOS under PC Health status it says DDR3 1.5V and in the column to the right it says 1.616V. I looke in the MIT menu but could only find the option to up the voltage for DDR3 not lower it. Could this be the casue for my problem?
Any ideas? At least it would be nice to narrow it down to the failing component so can buy a new one!!
-
After loading Optimized Defaults restart the PC. Manually set the DDR3 Memory Timing Items (9-9-9-24) and change the Command Rate to T2, instead of the default T1 setting. The memory should be in the first two slots and Unganged. It looks like the stock DDR3 voltage is 1.5volts on that motherboard, so that should be okay.
Run CPU-Z program and check the memory tab to see how it is running. The 1T/2T Command Timing setting is listed on page 41 of the manual.
-
Memory is in the first two slots, runs in unganged mode and i have manually set the timings items to 9-9-9-24/T2.
Report from CPU-Z:
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Size 4096 MBytes
Channels Dual, (Unganged)
Memory Frequency 669.7 MHz (3:10)
CAS# latency (CL) 9.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 9
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 9
Cycle Time (tRAS) 24
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 34
Command Rate (CR) 2T
Uncore Frequency 2009.2 MHz
Now we just have to wait and see i guess.
-
I can only add that you likely have the same "problem" as me and some others with RAM voltage. I have a different board, though. Most likely that reported value of 1.616v is the real voltage your sticks are getting.
Here's a link:
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,484.0.html
-
Hi,
Thats excatly the voltage my motherboard reports but a couple of times i have seen 1.600V reported. Now i'm at work so i just took a quick look (will read it when i come ohome) at the link you provided and as far as i can understand there is no solution to this right, i mean other than buying some new RAM or a different motherboard?
-
Basically, yeah. I've given up when Support started sounding like a broken record. It likely could be solved by some software fix but I figured it'd be too bothersome to try and make Gigabyte do it. I ended up overclocking my RAM and raising voltage to 1.73v ( real ) so it doesn't matter to me anymore.
Frankly I have no idea what else you could try with your problem. Maybe a different PSU? Still, this is grasping at straws. One thing that most likely isn't at fault is your RAM. As in, the sticks likely aren't defective. Who knows, maybe the looser timings will fix this, though. The HDD is probably out, too. Apart from that, who knows? Could be the CPU, MB or... ???
This is like my problem with PC not turning on every now and then. I couldn't figure it out and now it hasn't happened for a month or so even though everything's the same as before. Hmmm, except for a northbridge heatsink but it shouldn't have mattered ???.
-
Yeah i have had the same problem with Gigabyte support, i bought this HW a year back and i contacted their supoprt with this problem and made the same post as above with all the things i have tried. It were even more detailed.
I thought that it is better to try as much as possible by myself and be very detailed so we don't have to go over that since it takes some time for them to repsond. But after a while they started to ask me things and suggest things to do that i had already done and which i had written down in the lenghty post so after i while i also gave up trying to get them to help me.
Now i'm not sure what to do, either i'll go with an entirely new hardware ie Intel or i start to by new HW one thing at the time, sad thing here is if the last HW i buy shows to be the problem i am sitting on a lot of hardware and have lost some money on it.
Worst case i'll to learn to live with it.
-
Hi there,
are you running your system in AHCI Mode? I have come across problems when running in this mode with my own Samsung HDD when it was on the GA-790XTA-UD4 (Both boards use the same chipsets) and I found I had to run in Native IDE Mode.
-
Hi,
I'm not sure but i think i'm running in Native IDE (I have loaded optimized defaults and not changed those settings, maybe you what the default are?) . I have to check when i get home from work and get back to you.
-
I'm not saying that it is this but it is worth checking out as I think if you pressed "Y" on the initial BOOT it sets the controllers to AHCI Mode.
Other things to check would be:
Do you have Floppy Drive enabled? If yes try disabling this feature
Do you have S.M.A.R.T. enabled? If yes, disable this too.
Reading through your problems and what you have tried I would be looking at the Hard drive rather than the RAM or CPU especially as you are not getting any BSOD's and the system is just freezing. If I were to look at changing anything this is what I would try first.
-
Ok, i'll check all those settings out when i get home. I have tried a different HDD although that were also a Samsung disk but with IDE instead of SATA so i guess since they are the same brand the symptom would still be there right?
Thanks for your reply.
-
I was running in Native IDE and the S.M.A.R.T function were disabled. The only thing that wasn't disabled were the floppy support but i have now disabled it.
-
I have been able to borrow a 4-5 years old WD HDD, IDE. I'm gonna do a install on that disk and let the system run on that for a while.
Should i keep the setting i have made:
Native IDE
Disabled Floppy drive
Disabled SMART
Disabled Cool'n'Quiet
Manual timings for my RAM
Or should i load Optimized defaults and restart, or maybe reflash the BIOS altogether?
-
Hi Ettan,
Faced with your problem the first thing I would do is make sure the BIOS is the latest version. Doing this will at least give you the knowledge that your motherboard's software is not the possible cause.
I would do this before I swapped HDD's just to check that it hasn't been a BIOS problem all along.
After Updating BIOS and loading Optimized Defaults I would then disable the Floppy Support and any other on-board devices that you are not using, I disable things like e-SATA, Serial Port, Parallel Port etc.
Leave all the other settings alone including RAM Timings and voltages. The only reason to alter these will be if there is a known issue with your RAM at default settings.
If, after updating the BIOS, you are still getting the freeze problem then try swapping your Hard drive.
-
I'm currently running the latest BIOS F7 but i will reflash it with Qflash just to be on the safe side. I will then try to disable all things i don't use.
Should i even disable things like Cool'n'Quiet and one of the SATA-controllers since i only have disk and therefore only utilizing on of the controllers?
-
Hi,
No you don't really need to do that just disable the basic things. At this stage all we are trying to do is find out exactly where the problem lies. I think it could be with the HDD, as I mentioned before but, it really is a process of elimination.
The reason I feel it is more likely to be a hard drive issue is the fact that everything has passed all the tests you have thrown at them. Also the fact that you're not getting BSOD's rather that your system is freezing, also points towards this. If it were RAM or CPU then I would expect different symptoms.
The only times I have come across a system freezing, in the manner you describe, it has been either a hard drive problem, power issue or a bad install of the OS. I believe your PSU is OK and also you have had the same problem despite installing different versions of Windows. The only thing that you haven't changed is the HDD. If the HDD is locking up or failing then it would exhibit this "freezing" of windows, because the OS is waiting for the disk and is unable to progress because that access isn't occurring.
If, after you have re-flashed BIOS you are still getting the problem then the next thing would be to look and see if there is a firmware update for your Samsung drive or try a different make.
-
Ok, will do that and get back with the results although it could take some time before i'm able to tell if it made a difference.
Thanks for all the support!
-
I found this after i read about your suggestion to update the FW for my HDD, although this a page for Linux but the symptoms are the same:
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Known_issues#Samsung_HD501LJ_may_freeze (https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Known_issues#Samsung_HD501LJ_may_freeze)
Maybe this could be something?? But i guess that this symptom should have been present in my previous system also, which it wasn't, since i reused this disk in this new system??
-
Just because something works OK on one system doesn't automatically mean it will work on another one.
If your previous system was based on a motherboard from a different manufacturer or a different chipset that could be enough to make something work differently. That's why there are things such as software, BIOS and Firmware updates.
-
Samsung does not release firmwares for their HDDs..I'm thinking of ordering a new disk, even if it is not the Samsung disk that is the problem it never hurts to have a lot of diskspace. :)
I'm thinking of ordering this HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS 64MB 2TB
Any opinions or maybe someone can recommend a better one?
-
I wouldn't use this kind of drive as there can be issues with "Green" or "Energy Saving" HDD's especially if used as a boot drive. These are better for storage use only.
I'm using a Western Digital Caviar Black SATA3 640 GB HDD as my boot drive but I also have a couple of Hitachi Deskstar HDD's
( http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-hitachi-deskstar-0f10383-7k2000c-sata-3gb-s-7200rpm-32mb-cache-89-ms-ncq-oem ) which have proved pretty good and although I now use them as storage drives they have been reliable as Boot drives and also in RAID0.
-
Ok, i'll order this one:
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6402AAEX 64MB 640GB
-
Yes, that's the same model I have been using for some time now without problems.
-
Samsung does not release firmwares for their HDDs..I'm thinking of ordering a new disk, even if it is not the Samsung disk that is the problem it never hurts to have a lot of diskspace. :)
I feel I have to show you these links as a "last ditch" effort before you buy a new HDD:
http://files.hddguru.com/download/Firmware%20updates/Samsung/ or here: http://www.firmwarebase.com/index.php?act=category&id=5
-
Hi and thanks for the links. I could not find a specific FM for my HDD so i have no ordered the above mentioned HDD and as soon as it arrives i will reflash my BIOS and reinstall my system and then hopefully i'll finally have a stable system.
-
Hi again,
I have no installed my new WD HDD and removed the old Samsung drive. After the installation i've done the following:
1) Reflashed the F7 BIOS according to the guide here at the forum: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2441.0.html (http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2441.0.html)
2) After the reflash i altered the following items:
Standard CMOS Features
Disable the Floppy Drive Option
Advanced BIOS Features
Disable the Full Screen LOGO
Set your Graphic Card Priority to PEG
Integrated Peripherals
Set the Onchip SATA-Controllers to Native IDE
Disable the Serial Port
PC Health Status
Disable the Smart Fan Controls
3) Reinstalled Win XP Pro eng 32-bit
4) Re-Installed the drivers
5) Updated Win XP all the way to SP3
6) Installed some software like, AVG Anti-virus free ed and ZA FW free.
Everything went fine without any problems. Now it's just wait and see while keeping the fingers crossed.
-
The MB arrived today and I'm almost finished with putting together this old/new PC.
Anyway, everything went smoothly and my board ( bios F3 ) had no problems with Samsung 500GB F3 HDD working in AHCI mode ( Samsung HD502HJ ). Also, something I've figured out earlier, this particular board has normal RAM voltage. Set = reported and real. I wonder what's causing some of Gigabyte's boards to have this problem.
-
Sound great and hopefully it will work for me to with this new WD disk.
-
Hi all i'm back again!
I have now been running my computer for a week, although it haven't been powered on as much as i hoped to but anyways i have not seen any of these systems halts since i swapped to the WD HDD.
There was one system halt but i think that it were related to some application rather than to my initial problem and think that becasue even though i could not click on anything i could still move my mouse etc and wake the system from the screensaver so the system responded.
So i'm starting to feel very optimistic about this. I'll give my system one more week before i see this case as closed.
-
Nice Christmas present. ;D
-
Yeah, glad to hear it's working fine now! :)
-
Hi Ettan,
pleased to see that you seem to have resolved this and that it was the Samsung HDD causing the problem.