GA-X58A-UD3R ver2: cpu heats up in bios, 6gb ram 4 usable

[briligg]

I just installed this motherboard yesterday, it replaced an Asus Rampage II Gene. I had the same ram issue with the Rampage and never resolved it. (Then the house got struck by lightening and the powerbar didn´t quite protect it.)

I haven´t run memtest on the ram recently (post-lightening) but the bios sees all three sticks. I can´t spend much time in bios because it makes the cpu heat up - it´s hit 89c twice after only a couple of minutes. Even during the boot process, the time spent in bios seems to heat the cpu, then it calms down once win7 is loaded. The LEDs for the cpu usually show green (over 60c) during early booting and often briefly hit red (over 80c). Also the LEDs for the north bridge show it running at full load during early boot. Once win7 is loaded, everest shows the cpu at 45 - 50c. And win7 says there is 6gb ram installed, 4 gb usable.

I updated the bios to FB - i don´t know what version, i downloaded it from the gigabyte site. That hasn´t helped. And at first the ethernet connection wasn´t working. I´m not sure what fixed that, at first i tried to run the ´smart lan´ tool in bios to see what it said, and it caused the bios to hang, twice. Then i tried enabling the ´onboard lan boot rom´. The connection still didn´t work when i rebooted, but then i went out, and when i came back and booted, it worked.

In the M.I.T. section of the bios, i went to a section that i think said ´current status´. It showed the ram setup. It showed slots 1, 3, and 5 occupied (which they are), but below that, it showed only slots 1 and 4 active. That´s how i remember it, since i can hardly spend any time in bios, i may not be remembering exactly the terms used.

I am about to go see if there is a more complete manual available for download. What do you think?

[briligg]

oh - system specs:

core i7 920
6gb ocz 1600mHz ddr3 (running at 1066mHz, that´s what the system chose)(OCZ3P1600LV6GK - pretty sure it´s on the list)
pny geforce gt 240 with 512mb gddr5
2 80gb sata drives, wd caviar - they´re old, but they do the trick
win7 x64

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum

Your manual is available below along with other useful items:
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449&dl=1#dl

You don't say what cooler you are running? If it is the stock one make sure that all four fixings are thoroughly home.
All the lights should illuminate on POSTing and then go out as booting proceeds.

6gb ocz 1600mHz ddr3 (running at 1066mHz, that´s what the system chose)(OCZ3P1600LV6GK - pretty sure it´s on the list)

You need to be more than pretty sure. 

[briligg]

Yes, it´s the stock cooler. I´ve taken it off and replaced it several times, during trials and tribulations with the Rampage, so i´m used to checking that the little black ´male´parts are sticking all the way out of the little white ´female´ parts. (tee hee.)
And i checked the list - the ram is on it.

[Dark Mantis]

Have you replaced the thermal compound each time you replaced the heatsink?

[briligg]

i got the manual, it´s the same as the printed one. i´d hoped it would be more complete.
The lights all go on at post as you say, but then throughout booting the cpu lights go off, and then start to come on again. When i say early boot, i mean before windows starts loading. Once windows is loading, the lights quickly go off.

Yes, it´s new compound each time. This time it was cheap stuff, i ran out of the coolermaster. But since the heating stops once windows has loaded, i have run the computer for a couple of hours in windows. Everest shows normal temps.

[Dark Mantis]

It's either that the temperatures are not being reported correctly or that there is something wrong with the type or the way you have applied the thermal compound. Did you clean the old off first? Some compounds take time to cure. Beyond that I cannot think of a way that it would start off hot and then cool down. It is contrary to normal usage.

[briligg]

yes, i cleaned off the old stuff each time, from both surfaces. What i used this time is white stuff, silicon grease i could buy here in town, the good stuff i have to order. rummaging around, i found a small tube of coolermaster, the kind that comes with one of their heatsinks. It should still have enough to replace the compound that´s there now.
The temperature LEDs haven´t come on while i was in windows, so it isn´t just everest. The side is off the case, so i always have my eye on them. Contrary to normal usage - yeah, tell me about it. My only thought was that it gets into some kind of loop and doesn´t get out of it again until windows has taken over. After all, at first it was hanging when i tried to run the ´smart lan´ tool.
A friend suggested removing the ram from slot 5 to see what happens. The manual says that isn´t an acceptable config for ram, but perhaps it would be useful to see if leaving just a stick in slot 1 makes a difference.
Then i want to return to the bios section that showed the ram slots occupied and the ram slots active. Is there a place to change that?

[Dark Mantis]

One thing to check is does the CPU fan start up and keep running as soon as you press the button? Also is it running at full speed?

[briligg]

Yep, it spins up right away. It also noticeably quietens once windows is running. Actually, i'm on it right now. I decided to pull the 2 dimm sticks and see what happened. I spent a little time in bios, not a lot. I went to the current status section and watched it for a bit. The temps were still climbing steadily, they'd reached 74c for core 0 by the time i left. I looked around a bit to see if you can adjust the active slots yourself, but didn't find anything. I was only in BIOS for maybe 3 min total. Probably less.

Since the machine was started from cold, i don't think there has been any improvement from yesterday, when BIOS got the cpu up to 89c. I downloaded an updated driver for the realtek sound chip and the lan chip. Perhaps installing those could help - it's a wild guess, but it can't hurt. There were a couple of other more recent drivers for raid arrays, but i'm not using one, so i suppose those wouldn't make any difference.

Right now everest says the cpu is 51c, and the fan is spinning at 1600 rpm. I've been in windows for maybe 15 min.

[Dark Mantis]

In that case it would seem to be that the fault lies with the BIOS not reporting the temperature correctly. The only way to be 100% sure would be to use an external meter to check the temps. I wouldn't say the sensor is faulty because it seems to work fine in Everest.

[briligg]

So, would that mean i should flash the BIOS again?
I powered down and replaced all the ram, in a different order this time - the sticks are numbered, because i went through this grief with the Rampage too, and it made memtesting them easier.  Bios again shows the right three slots occupied, but only 2 slots active, slots 1 and 3. I guess that´s an improvement, it doesn´t show an empty slot as active any more.
But when i exited BIOS, the machine never managed to get into windows, after a few seconds it shut down and started rebooting instead. So i did a forced shutdown, figuring it was probably because of an overheating alarm.
Lacking an external meter, my hand will have to do. I should have checked the cpu heatsink right away, but i didn´t think of it. I´m letting it cool off for a bit right now, in case it really is overheating. When i get back into windows on it, i´ll update those 2 realtek drivers. From there, i don´t know what else to try. Except maybe flashing the BIOS again.
As this board is new, i can return it for a replacement within 7 days. After that, i can only get a repair. I have opened a tech support ticket, but of course the forums are a huge help, while i wait for feedback from tech support. I am in Mexico, a warranty repair would take a long time, if i need to use it. I put up with 4gb of ram on the Rampage instead of rma-ing it because that board was bought out-of-country, and an rma would have cost more than the board itself.

[Dark Mantis]

Right there are two reasons for the wrong reporting of the memory.
The first is the BIOS not reporting it correctly which can be cure by a BIOS update if one is available.
The second is if any of the pins are bent in the CPU socket. If you want to check that you must be very careful and will need a magnifying glass and good lighting. If you take a couple of Macro shots(close ups) of the socket we can check the pins for you.
I would suggest that you try all the available options and then if you are running out of time take the board back for replacement.

[briligg]

Well, i flashed again, and loaded optimized defaults, and installed the new realtek drivers.
Then the machine started crashing on startup when it reached a line saying ´recovering lost dram size´. It crashed, and then start booting up again, so i did a cold shutdown. I flashed bios one last time, and reloaded optimized defaults, but it did the same thing at the same place.

The store recommended i return the board, so i went ahead and took everything apart and packed it up. Just wanted to leave a complete record of what happened, in case it might be of use to someone else.

Thanks for your help, Dark Mantis.

[Dark Mantis]

Thank you for keeping us informed of the progress. Please let us know if everything goes ok with the new component.