GA-X58-UDR3 (2.0): BSOD with C1E or C3/C6/C7 enabled

[marcomk]

Hi,

  I recently build a system which is stable and fully working at stock speed with C1E support and C3/C6/C7 set to "disabled" (I only changed the Optimized Defaults setting SATA controller to AHCI). As soon as I enable one of the two options (or both) I experience BSOD code F4 or application crashes and disk data corruption (CHKDSK kicks in at the next reboot and find errors). Now I'm restricting my tests to just two stick of memory (2X2Gb) which I extensively tested with memtest and one HD (which is fine, because I had the same problems when I tried with another drive). I don't plan to overclock, I just want a stable system with the energy saving features fully working. I couldn't find other people on the Internet with the same kind of problem. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

Once installed the OS you can't just change the mode from IDE to AHCI without making registry changes. Otherwise a BSOD occurs.
You need to edit the registry and then reboot and change the mode to AHCI. Folllow these directions.

1.Exit all Windows-based programs.

2.Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

3.If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

4.Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci

5.In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.

6.In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

7.On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

After this you’ll have to restart your computer, go to BIOS and enable AHCI. When you log in to Windows again, you’ll notice the installation of drivers for AHCI. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.

[marcomk]

Once installed the OS you can't just change the mode from IDE to AHCI without making registry changes. Otherwise a BSOD occurs.
You need to edit the registry and then reboot and change the mode to AHCI. Folllow these directions.

Thanks for your reply but unfortunately this is not the problem. I installed my OS (Win7 64) with AHCI enabled and, as I said, my system is perfectly working with C1E and C3/C6/C7 disabled. When I enable one of the two options, system restarts, appears sluggish and after 1-2 min I experience BSOD or just application crashes (mainly explorer or some other critical process that cause the system to stop). After that, I have to recheck the disk for errors and generally I need to restore the system by formatting my hard drive and restoring the system image. Now I'm doing some more tests: I have a spare videocard and PSU, I'll replace them just to restict the possible causes. I'm afraid I have a faulty motherboard...

[Dark Mantis]

Oh sorry I didn't understand at first. Can you list your hardware please by make/model?

[marcomk]

Oh sorry I didn't understand at first. Can you list your hardware please by make/model?

It's all in my signature. I'm just using a 750Gb Caviar Green as HD instead of the Velociraptor, because at first I thought it was a HD problem. It wasn't.

I also tested my system with a Asus EAH 2400 instead of the Gigabyte HD5770, just to make sure that the problem was unrelated to graphics. It wasn't.

I can try to swap PSU, I have a spare Antec 430 Earthwatts, it should be enough just to run a quick test. So that I can also exclude the Corsair TX850 PSU from the possible causes.

My OS is Win 7 64bit.

[Dark Mantis]

There are two things I have noticed about your setup.

The first being that you shouldn't use a Western Digital "Green" drive for booting.

Secondly I take it that the 12 GB RAM that you are using is made upo of 6 x 2 GB modules. If this is correct then you will need to manually enter all the settings and voltage into the BIOS if you have filled all the slots.

[marcomk]

You are right, the Caviar Green is just a temporary solution because the Velociraptor failed after a bunch of installing and reformatting (the BIOS hangs when trying to detect it). I ordered a OCZ Vertex II 120GB drive as a final solution for booting, however I think the Caviar Green should be ok just for testing purposes. With the Velociraptor I had the same issues anyway.

For the memory, I'm testing with only two sticks of RAM at 1066, which are the default SPD settings according to Gigabyte optimised defaults. I didn't want to try to raise the frequencies before having a stable system at stock speed.

[Dark Mantis]

Fair enough then. You could put a HDD delay in the BIOS to help give the green time to spin up before being left behind. 5 - 10 secs should be fine.

Sensible approach as far as the memory is concerned. It is possible that it is a fault with the motherboard or you could have bent pins in the CPU socket causing it. If you want to check for bent pins folow these directions:


Very carefully remove the heatsink and fan. Probably a slight twisting motion is best to release the two as the thermal paste can act like a glue.

Once off remove the CPU taking extreme care both physically and electrically(static) and place somewhere safe.

Make sure that the lighting is very good and even.

Now scrutinise the socket for any pins that are out of alignment, even slightly.
If in any doubt whatsoever take a couple of macro (close up) photos of the socket and post them on here for us to check.

Also look at the bottom of the CPU at the lands (little copper circles) and make sure that there is a mark in each somewhere near the centre.
If there are any missing marks or any of the pins are obviously bent then that is your problem.

Before refitting the CPU clean off all residue of the old thermal paste and the same on the heatsink and then apply a small amount (about the size of a grain of rice) to the centre of the CPU once it is inserted in the socket.

[marcomk]

I removed the CPU and checked the pins. Actually, one of them was slightly bent (the one on the upper left corner of the inner square on the socket) but I'm not sure if the bending happened when I removed the CPU or before because the corresponding mark on the CPU was exactly in the center. Some other marks were a bit off, but every pin was marked in some ways. I took some pictures with my phone but unfortunately they were not very clear, since there is no a macro setting.

I pushed the pin slightly with a stick and it returned in line with the others. I refitted the CPU and tested my system again. Same results. Perfectly working with C1E and C3/C6/C7 disabled. With C1E enabled, system starts, seems stuttering and choppy, after a few seconds either an application crashes or a pop up window comes up saying there is some data corruption on disk, or I experience a BSOD.

I may be wrong but I have the feeling that the problem wasn't there, at least it wasn't obvious and visible. I received a new beta BIOS from Gigabyte Technical support, I will try with that. If it doesn't work, well, maybe I really have a faulty motherboard. Or could it be a bad CPU?

Thanks for your help. Please let me know if you have other suggestions or ideas on the issue.

[Dark Mantis]

No I would agree that maybe it's time to RMA the board. If you purchased both the board and CPU form the sam esupplier then see if you cna return both at the same time and let them sort out which is faulty.

[marcomk]

Well, unfortunately I bougth CPU and motherboard from two different online stores, so I have to guess which one to RMA first. I tend to blame the motherboard, do you have the same feeling?

[Dark Mantis]

In all honesty it is a bit of a toss up but going by numbers the motherboard would be more likely to be the culprit.