GA-Z68MA-DH2-B3 Freezes

[Iceberg]

Hi all.

I'm experiencing random freezes on a new GA-Z68MA-DH2-B3.

This Are the specs.

CPU - I5 2500k (default at the moment)

RAM  DDR3 1333 Kingston 2x2 GB (QVL)

O.S. Windows 7 pro 32-bit.

I tested ram with memtest 4.2 , 8 hours overnight with no problems, hard disk and PSU coming from another system and anyway tested
ad no problems. Also Ram was tested on another system, it's perfect.

The system sometimes simply stop responding, even reset button dont work in that moment.

It happens once or two time per day, when browsing on the net, also when system is doing nothing on desktop. Last time freeze disappeared for 2 days then a few minutes ago happend again.

Tried several stress tests, single or multithreaded (Wprime, Furmark, S&M) no errors at all, no BSOD.

At the moment I'm using Bios F9.

I have tries latest beta bios F10C but things were worse, not only sometimes freezes but also some bsods, system was unstable.

Reverted to F9 and no Bsod, but random freeze is there.

I dont know if I should try to rma the board, the risk is that it passes all test and the board will sent back only charging me check and delivery costs.

Any idea, some bios setting to solve the problem?

Thank you in advance. 

[MiiCK]

Few things I could suggest would be:

1. Reinstall your OS on your hard drive
2. Test your hard drive for bad sectors using HD Tune, download link: http://www.hdtune.com/files/hdtune_255.exe (select error scan tab and press start
3. Did you run memtest on one ram stick per time, for 10 passes?
4. Check all internal connections are fully connected
5. Clear the CMOS, put your bios back to F9 and boot into the bios and select Load Optimized Defaults
6. You didn't list your PSU, what wattage is it and what brand? (model number if possible)

Hope any of those help, if not post back with more info

[Rolo42]

Yes, need full components list.

You can perform a throw-away install on a separate disk/partition to eliminate software issues.

[Iceberg]

Thank you for you answers.


Sorry, you are right, here are full components list.

GA-Z68MA-DH2-B3 rev 1.0 Bios F9

CPU - I5 2500k (default at the moment)

Heatsink Gelid Tranquillo Rev.2

RAM  DDR3 1333 Kingston 2x2 GB (QVL) KHX1333C9D3UK2/4GX

O.S. Windows 7 pro 32-bit.

PSU Corsair VX450W

HD 2xWD5000AAKS 500GB

Sony Optiarc AD-7280S DVD+RW

1 - I will a complete reinstall today.

2 - HD testing in this moment

3- I tested both sticks in dual channel, 8 or 9 passes.

4 - Checked, all seems to be properly connected

5 - Will do it before reinstall

6 - Corsair VX450W

Again thank you, will post results of tests and reinstall.

[absic]

Hi there,

I think your motherboard is actually the: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 but you don't say which revision it is.

Checking through the User's Manual, Gigabyte recommend a PSU of at least 500 Watts for this motherboard and it is possible that the PSU you are using is not supplying enough consistent power to the system, hence the random nature of the BSOD's and I would look at testing this theory first, if possible, by trying a larger PSU if available to you.

[Iceberg]

Hi there,

I think your motherboard is actually the: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 but you don't say which revision it is.

Checking through the User's Manual, Gigabyte recommend a PSU of at least 500 Watts for this motherboard and it is possible that the PSU you are using is not supplying enough consistent power to the system, hence the random nature of the BSOD's and I would look at testing this theory first, if possible, by trying a larger PSU if available to you.

You are right, sorry  i updated the configurations , it's a GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Rev 1.0.

At the moment i dont have a larger PSU to make a test, only a cheap OEM 400W on a older system, but i checked for power consumption and the system requires only 27W on idle and 95W on full load so the Corsair VX450W should be enough.

The VX450W worked well for a year in the old system, no problems at all but it's worth to test also the PSU.

I have made a fresh install of W7 with no problems, now i'm testing again RAM and after i will test HD.

 

[Iceberg]

I have completed the tests

Memtest 4.20
1st stick DDR1333 10 times  - Passed
2nd stick DDR1333 10 times -  Passed
Both sticks Dual channel 10 times  - Passed
Other DDR1600 Kingston non QVL dual channel 10 times - Passed

HD tune

2xWD5000AAKS 500GB - Passed, no damaged sectors

Prime 95

Small FFTs 10 hours - Passed
In place large FFTs 10 hours - Passed

Furmark

Burn In benchmark - Passed

Didnt have the opportunity to change PSU at the moment. Anyway i checked the PSU voltages in idle and full load with a multimeter and:

3V readings are 3.30/3.32V

5V readings are 5.05/5.09V

12V readings are 12.29/12.40V

They are not really very good but they are in standard range of +/- 5%. I will try another PSU as soon as possible but with the above readings i think that maybe thats not the reason of the problem.

It's only a few hours after the end of the tests, now i'm using the system and for now no other freezes occurred, but maybe it's too early.

[Iceberg]

Update.

Two days without problems then suddently without any reason, system shut down e restarted by itself while i was only simply watching a web page .

System was sitting idle. No load at all. Before were freezes, now shut down. 

I'm really pissed off by the new system, i cant say i have a faulty motherboard because i cant get an error whatever test i try to do but the system this way is really unusable.

Here in the forum have discovered this thread http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,7895.0.html that talk about Z68 cold boot problems. I dont know if there is any relation with my problems but for sure there are problems with this series of gigabyte motherboards.

Any ideas about what to do to get a barely stable system? 

[Iceberg]

About week without problems, after bios updating to F10.

Then a few minutes ago another freeze, like the others, system doing almost nothing.

I checked gigabyte website and not without surprise i saw that they deleted latest F10 bios version.

Latest available now is old F9 dated 2011/10/12.

I hope they are working to make a new bios, this time maybe it will be a stable one.

[shakerfawzi]

I'm experiencing the same exact problem, my PSU is a cooler master 500w and im hoping the PSU is the reason behind this problem,

Any solutions to this problem in the GIGABYTE GA z68ma d2h b3 motherboard? should i buy gigabyte again? 

[johnnybra]

Exact same problems tan iceberg. Same cpu. Random freezes at stock or with oc. No matter what voltage either BIOS. Uefi or legacy.

System pass prime95, linx or ibt with no problems, and temps are not a problem, it is a heavily watercooled ring

Any new about that?

[jgespi]

+1

To me I had the same problems ... Apparently is a BIOS problem. I did the testing with a diagnostic plate and that was the result.

To say that now, except the processor, I'm using the same components (hard drive, power supply and ram) in another motherboard-by other manufacturer- without any kind of problem. Is there any explanation for this, which allows re-use of gigabyte?

It is pointless to have to be forced to buy another new board when, in my case, only a year and a half when I bought it, new! : |

Please any answer!!?

[fisherg]

I had the same random freezing with this board when I was running Windows 8 pre release code.  I had to disable the U1C sleep state flag in the bios to prevent the processor from going into that power save mode.

[jgespi]

Well, I solved it after re-flash the Bios and recover the factory settings, apparently was broken and affected the disk controller...