atikmpag.sys BSOD

[Jeepy]

I purchased 10 Gigabyte (GA-H67A-UD3H-B3) for classroom setups with the ability to provide video to Monitor/smartboard with specs (see below),

GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 (same results with all ver. of  bios up to F4)
Intel Core i5-2500K
Antec EarthWatts EA-500D
XFX HD-583X-ZAFC
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS
Sony Optical Drive

The 1st unit I setup I installed  64bit Win7 pro and the remaining 9 were cloned with Acronics, so all setups were exactly alike.

7 out of 10 are constantly experiencing BSOD at random, (idle/or load) with errors as follows:
(An attempt to reset display driver and recover from time out failed ***atikmpag.sys***) All 10 have done this but 7 constantly. Now if you think ati is prob, NO. I put in nvidia and same error only ***nvidkpag.sys***, so then I tried a usb wireless video setup and this time a intel error of ***intlkpag.sys***. Now after hrs. of research about this issue online I see it’s been a ongoing issue with (software blaming hardware and hardware blaming software) with a Vista/Win7 setup), now I also purchased 2 ASUS boards for other builds (ASUS P8H67-M PRO/CSM (REV 3.0) and I put all the same components in this board and (no errors) so that kinda eliminated the question of bad components.
      The only way (so far) I have found to eliminate the errors was to remove the XFX video card, and use the onboard video, with a VGA splitter (which works fine) but with this setup when the computer goes into sleep mode the monitor will not wake up, (you must turn the power button on the monitor off then back on to proceed). This I cant seem to find a fix for (YET!!)
Im not here to flame Gigabyte but I have always been an asus fan with about a hundred builds under my belt (not a lot but enough to figure out a quality build), don’t get me wrong I have had my issues with Asus as well, but for the most part ya build em and ferget-about-em, they run flawlessly, but for some reason I decided to try Gigabye this time for my builds.
I love what potentials/options the Gigabyte board has to offer but it’s the littlest things that make it a quality build as well. Maybe with a little help from Gigabyte forums and a couple more bios updates this board will be at 100% but until then the board gets about a 75% from me so far.

Any ones help or sugestions appriceated

Thanks
Jeepy

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

The first thing that hit me was that as you have cloned all the others off the first one if there is a problem with the original systems setup you have just copied it across to the others. I think it would be prudent to use one of the later builds to reinstall everything form scratch. That way you will at least see if  it is a faulty setup that has been transferred to the machine or  the issue is with the hardware.

Start by installing the latest BIOS and make sure that you discard the old DMI data when you do it. Next load Optimised BIOS Defaults and make any other changes to the boot sequence etc that you want to.

Next install Windows and use the latest downloaded drivers.

See how it goes from there.

[Jeepy]

Thank you sir for the reply, but The #1 I built has no issues at all...... so far ** lol**  (I should of mentioned that). I did wipe out #2 and start from scratch last thursday (no clone) as I thought maybe bad cloning software, I removed the secondary video, (using only onboard w/spliter to supply 2nd monitor) so now I dont have the luxury of extended, everything appeared ok until I tried sleep function, Acer lcd has to be turned off then back on again when coming out of sleep, so after that issue I updated the bios to see if bios update would cure that issue but no luck, the latest listed on 4-21-11 which was F4 and I did choose set bios to optimal settings after update as you suggest as well.

**and make sure that you discard the old DMI data when you do it**
There is no "reset configuration" in bios (should I reset jumper on board to do this?)

Thanks so much for the help
Jeepy

[Dark Mantis]

When you are doing the BIOS update with QFlash on the home screen there is an option to Keep DMI Data. You need to untick this box before continuing.

[Jeepy]

Ahhh not I did not touch any of the other options, I did not elect to disable.
Should I reflash with F4 again and choose to NOT keep DMI data?

Thanks
Jeepy

[Dark Mantis]

I am not sure that it will cure your problem but I think it is a prudent thing to do anyway and if it helps that is a bonus.

[Jeepy]

So I really should start all over again,
Flash to F4 or most recent w/DMI data deleted
reboot select Optimized default
reinstall XFX video card and wait to see if issues arise
(as I said before I didnt have the sleep issue with the XFX video's installed)

I shouldnt have to reinstall OS as it was a clean install of Win7 pro/prem with SP1 (correct?) (legal of course) if wondering

[Dark Mantis]

No I would agree that you should be able to leave the Windows installation as it is.

Never crossed my mind that it wouldn't be legal!

[Jeepy]

I havnt forgoten ya yet Im still redoin an testin, Done pretty much everything above, and discovered a new addition to this issue. I replaced the acer a181hl 18.5 wide screen monitor (that wont wake up) with a Dell 17" monitor and the problem goes away. Hmm not enough hrs in the day!!! will update ya later

Thanks
Jeepy

[Dark Mantis]

Thanks for the update and I am not surprised that the monitor was a problem as it was one of the things I had considered.

[Jeepy]

I also discovered another issue that may of caused the BSOD with the XFX HD5830 installed in the 1st place that started all this headache, While looking closer at the wiring harness of the 500 watt Antec AE500D Green PSU, I had noticed that the TWO 1 x 6-Pin, 1 x 6+2-Pin was piggy-backed, As stated in the specs (it does have TWO 6-Pin Plugs for PCI-E) but it should state that you must choose ethier/or not use both as lead to believe. So I am working on a possible resolution as that may be the issue for the BSOD's in the first place (low power to the card). As far as the monitor not firin back up after sleep mode, I still dont understand why it works properly when the xfx card is being used?


Thanks once again
Jeepy

[Dark Mantis]

Quite often it is down to lack of power especailly when there is a GPU card involved. They draw a lot more power especially at startup or restart than most people realise. Some of these power supplies sound meaty enough but have a split 12v rail and sometimes it is a case of the split rail not having enough power on it's own. For example you could have an output of  60amp 12v rail but if that is split into 4 then each is only 15 amp which is often not enough.

[Jeepy]

Here's a link to the PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035
Scroll down abit and note (Dual PCI-E Connectors) and the image next to it, It doesnt show that their piggy-backed together
I sent a trouble ticket to Antec and to Newegg explaining my situation
Here's the reply, from Antec CS:
Hello You can use the cable to plug into your Video Card still. just plug in the 2 - 6 pins on the cable and just leave the 2 pin one hanging there. they should fit in fine that way.
No update or reply from Newegg yet.

You Kinda tipped me off on your knowlage of PSU's so I'll ask your opinion on this PSU as to if you think this particular PS can handle what I have built.

Antec Case300 Illusion           http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
PSU Antec 500watt                 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035
Processor i5 2500k                 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
MB Gigabyte H67A-UD3H-B3    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128475
Ram 4gig                               http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231253
Video XFX HD5830                  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150502
Hard Drive Seagate 500gb       http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395
Sony DVD                              http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118040
Speakers                               http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121014
K/M                                       http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823575006
Acer Monitor A181HL
Epson PowerLite 410W Projector
Polaroid Micro Bluetooth Dongle
Polyvision white board
Eno stylist Pen

Software
Window7 Pro SP with all current updates
Office Suite  2007
AR (Accelerated Reader<-----Can run in DOS
Polyvision Smartboard Software


Thanks once again for your help and suggestions
Jeepy

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

Personally I would have gone for something a little bigger but in saying that the Antec 500 you have there should be plenty for what you are running. It has two 12v rails and each is rated at 22A so that should be fine.

[Jeepy]

I was hopin you'd say that

Do you agree with their statement that using the 2-6pin plugs that are piggy backed  are ok to use off of that 1 rail

Jeepy