Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

[TimT]

Hi,
Thanks for the useful forums. I learned how to test my PSU tonight.

Anyways I have the GA-EP45-UD3R rev 1.1 bios F12 board with the following:
q6600 @ 2.4ghz never oc'd
4 x 1 gb memory sticks DDR2-6400 Samsung and some other brand.
Nvidia 8800GTX 768mb,
Enermax Liberty 550watt PSU.
1 x Seagate 640gb HDD
system normally runs 24/7

Here is the problem: System is running fine. System gets shutdown/powered off. Then when I try to restart 30 seconds later it is completely dead. No lights on mb. Nothing, no fan twitches etc. I then remove a few USB cables and it sometimes starts. Sometimes I remove all the USB and ethernet cables and still no luck. I then open case and short out power switch pins on mb. Sometimes it starts other times it doesnt. When I remove the board from case it starts every time. My wife doesnt like using her computer with no case... then there is her cats... a caseless system is just not an option. LOL There is no extra standoffs under the mb etc. Nothing to short out the mb. I checked the power supply by jumping the "power on" lead to ground and it started every time. I have reset bios, removed cmos battery, tested with one stick of ram. I have done all the suggested troubleshooting ad nauseum and still no solution. It's my first Gigabyte build so any advice would be appreciated. My previous 20 builds were Asus boards with no issues and this one has me scratching my head. Hopefully someone can end this frustration??

[kick]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

Load and save optimised defaults.

1.
mixed memory is never ideal:
Even when running at rated speeds the minor timings will probably be a compromise.
Give it 1.9-2.0v in bios.
2.
Allways runs and restarts out of the case>>>.
If that is 100% definite and you have all the components connected:
There are like 3 possibilities.

a.Connections in and out of the case are slightly different,make sure they are all vertical(cables not bent to the side or stretched etc).
Wiring up a psu so the fan spins or so it powers up a 12v fan doesnt tell you its working properly and distributing the voltages evenly under load.
You need a meter for that or occt testing to ensure voltages are within limits.

b.There may still be a short with case flxing, or connections may move slightly.Place a sheet of v thin cardboard behind the mbrd (with suitable cutouts for the standoffs).
Tighten things up and use as normal. If the problem persists check the cardboard if u take the mbrd out again, make sure there are no indentations from solder points etc.

c.Temperature: Mbrd and components out of the case are going to remain cooler than inside.
Since you arent overclocking this shouldnt be a problem,but perhaps the "mixed memory" becomes quite warm from residual heat from cpu ,mch etc, when the fans turn off.
So when you turn the pc back on again the components are warmer than they would be in normal operation.
Give the memory a little voltage boost as above.Perhaps even a little mch voltage boost.
Also make sure filtration is working well. Cat hairs would provide heat insulation or mess up fan spin up times if they got in there.

[TimT]

[Chike]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

vcore2 is ram voltage.
maybe there is some short from the side of the case around the I/O panel?

[kick]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

On my hdd boot up I use speedfan 4.41(too lazy to get the new one)

When I use the ssd i have 4.42 they both read 12v incorrectly.
I get the correct values under load from either everest or whatever its called now, or OCCT.
OCCT will give you all the voltages correctly (at least on my board) and if you do a say 20 min cpu test it will give you graphical representations of voltages under load + noise and ripple.
I wouldnt use the occt psu test unless you really want to burn your pc hard.

Temp1 is the system sensor temp readout
Temp 2 is the main cpu temp sensor readout.
You can rename those if you wish.

There is no direct reading nb or sb temp(I use proprietary temp probes for those + an aftermarket nb cooler ,xigmatech porter)

system temp of 44 seems a little high on a standard clock machine,then again the temp sensor is somewhere close to your gx card so could be picking heat up from there.

At present Im not running my rig as I have it in my sig.
Im underclocking compared to what I usually use but thats for 8Gb and the ssd makes things so much faster.

If there is no short on the l/O as suggested by chilke.

Do memory test passes at full operating temperature using memtest.
If the memory passes ok with no errors and the problem is still there.
Bump your memory voltage in bios up to 2.0V and your mch voltage up to 1.24V

Yes they are voltages in excess of what you would normally need ,but if it cures the reboot problem(if high residual internal temps are the cause) the voltages arent like dangerous.

For example Im at present running 2x2gb gskill 6400 memory jn slots 1+3 and 2x2gb of samsung 5300 memory in slots 2+4
all 4 sticks are at ddr2 800mhz at 5-5-5-15 timings.
The gskills on their own could run 4-4-4-12 at 1.90v ,but if i just had those in Id be running them at over 900mhz anyway.

The point is to run the mixed memory at 800mhz i need 2.16v in bios(2.0D multiplier pl 9),its overkill for the gskills but the samsung 667mhz stuff needs it and its totally stable.
Nb there are articles out there showing the samsung memory clocking to 800-820mhz but beyond that it doesnt work.
2.16 v in itself isnt bad for ddr2 memory either if you need it,above 2.2 is where memory life may be reduced.
Im not sure what your mixed memory is but the 2.0v could be just what you need if there is a slight heat problem.

for interest at 400 cpu ref (1600 fsb) cpu =3.2ghz cpu v=1.30
cpu temp at idle 27c cores 0 and 1 31C.Cores 2 and 3 have stuck sensors,wont go below 40C, they will go higher tho.
System temp idle 30C
sb temp=31C(sensor)
nb/mch temp=28C (sensor)fan 2200rpm
gskill stick 1=32C sensor)
gskill stick 2=35C (sensor)
gx card vrm temps=35C {sensor)
gpu temp=27C
intake fan (gentle typhoon) 1600rpm
exhaust fan (akasa 120 low noise)1400 rpm
pci slot fan ,unknown but regulated at about 75%
cpu fan 1150 at idle, goes to max of 2100 approx.


nb on shelling out on 8gb of gskill ddr2 memory,I cant bring myself to buy 2 2x2 gb sticks of it cos its so expensive now compared to what it was and the newer intel cpus/mbrds all seem to be going for ddr3 whether its used in triple channel or not.

[TimT]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

I removed Speedtest and installed OCCT. The 12v voltage now reads in the right range. I ran lintest for 6minutes. none of the voltages fluctuated more than a couple hundredths of a volt and ripple was .06. The cpu temps went up to 45c for 2 cores and 50c for the other 2 cores. System temp remained the same at 44c so I think that it is heating from the gpu.

I had already removed the back panel shield as I thought it might be grounding the mb. Yesterday when I was trying to get system started I was repeatedly pressing power button on case while simultaneously removing USB cables. I had removed most of the USB cables when it decided to suddenly start. Has been running steady ever since.

[profJim]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

Glad to hear that you seem to have solved the problem.
What were the various usb cables connected to?

[rbmorse]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

Sometimes the switch in the case goes bad.

It's a simple spst momentary contact switch, if you can reach the header pins on the motherboard where the power switch connects you can remove the berg connector that goes to the switch and momentarily short the contacts with a small screw driver or something similar. Otherwise, you can disconnect the power switch from the motherboard header and connect the reset switch to the power switch header and use that to see if the machine's behavior changes.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

So did you narrow it down to one of the USB Cables?

Be sure when you are connecting USB Cables that you plug them into USB and not firewire :)

[TimT]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

I dont think the problem is solved yet as I have not tried to shut it down and start it. The wife has a bunch of work to do so she wants it to stay running until she is done. It runs fine once running, although it did do a sudden crash yesterday. Not even a blue screen, just went into post and restarted. Its the first time that has happened.

It has done this start up problem since the first day. The first thing I did in troubleshooting is to jump the MB header power switch pins.

USB cables are connected to:
Logitech MX510 mouse
Wacom Bamboo Tablet
USB hub
HP Laserjet 1022
Primera LX400 Label Printer
Datacolor Syder3Elite
Canon EOS 5 Mk 2 - not connected for start up.

I will check the USB cables and see if there is any cuts or slices.

The computer beeps at me every time I plug in a USB cable.

I try not to let the smoke out of the computer if I can. ;^)

[TimT]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

Just wanted to report what the final resolution was for this problem.

There was a USB cable that had some cuts in it. Since removing the cable the problem seems to have dissapeared.

Thanks for your help.

[profJim]

Re: Fickle re start behaviour on GA-EP45 UD3R

Thanks for your update.
Glad to hear that you found the problem with the damaged usb cable.