GA-P35C-DS3R problems

[Jackrip5]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

Are any of you folks seeing your system temp on the p35c-ds3r between about 49 - 51C? thats what mine is and I think it is kind of high.

Hi, your system temp is "so high" because of its location on the board. The sensor is just under the PCIE slot. I mean your graphic cards rounding temperature has an influence on the sensors measurements. I have somewhat around 53 degrees with a 8800 GTX. Greetz

[Jackrip5]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

Okay...so here's my update again...

I'm getting nowhere with troubleshooting. There is always the chance I have faulty parts, but I just find the probability of getting so many bad parts highly unlikely.

I mentioned that I was able to get my system stable by not playing with the overvoltage for the DDR2/DDR3. Although my ram is rated to run at 4-4-4-12 at 2.2v, I was able to keep my system stable at 4-4-4-12 but with the overvoltage set to normal. In EasyTune5, the memory voltage came up as 1.9v. I've read reviews that say Crucial Ballistix can run stable at 1.9v with no overclocking. But it's strange that when I push it to 2.2v, the system crashes.

I also mentioned that I RMA'd my first set of Ballistix and purchased a replacement set. I decided to put them in today since they are fresh and new and also tried to run them at the rated 2.2v. What do you know? My system is stable so far. Where I couldn't boot with my older set of ballistix, I was able to get the brand new ones stable.

What I find strange about this whole thing is, with my old set of ram, I was able to keep things stable as long as I didn't mess with the voltage. But with the new set, I can put the voltage to the correct setting.

Anyway, I still feel that all these issues with this board stem from the memory controller. It's odd that I was able to run on 4 sticks of Crucial ram for 1 month before seeing all these problems. And if my RAM is bad, I'm thinking the motherboard had something to do with it. Crucial isn't known to put out bad products.

So unless someone else can confirm my findings, I'm just going to have to wait another month to see if this new RAM will die on me. If it does, I'll be back here to post an update. Good luck everyone.

Dear Pakman,
I don't know exactly what could cause your problem. I only wanted to mention somme little details (if you didn't notice for yourself) :
- you don't have to set your bios settings exactly to the recommended settings of your ram. I mean the voltage. Your buy 4-4-4-12 and of course you want to use 4-4-4-12, that is alright, but you dont have to use the 2.2v. It indicates only the maximum vdimm you should use. They could indeed work correctly with 2.00 or even less.
- did you notice that the vdimm setting in the bios does NOT represent the reality ? Did you use Everest ? I have set the vdimm to +0.1 and i have a real vdimm of 2.00 V !!!

I tell you this because i was wondering why my ram (OCZ 800 Platinum Rev 2)is getting so dam hot. I was used to set the vdim to 2.1v (like i did on the other mb before) so +0.3v. A little look in everest showed me a vdimm higher than 2.2v. And this performance feature in the bios seems to have a real big influence on the ram timings (even if we dont see them). So i got in the bios set the vdimm at +0.1 v (real 2.00v), the performance setting back to "turbo" and the recommended 4-4-4-15. Everything runs smooth, the ram isnt getting so hot anymore and everything is fine.
The more you set the vdimm high, the more your ram gets hot AND can sustain damage or errors. And I think this performance setting takes over a part of your personal ram settings. I you want full control over the settings, i gues we should set performance to standard.
Greetings

[pHluid]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

I skimmed through and didn't see anything, so apologies if I missed it, but...

Has anyone had trouble/tried the F6 BIOS? It's officially released on the Taiwan site as of 9/7/07.

I'm running a very happily overclocked GA-P35-DS3R with the F2 BIOS and Crucial Ballistix matched memory, same as a lot of you with problems, so I'm learly to mess with it...

[mrfatboy]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

Here is my rig:

E6750 @ 3.6 1.45v (L722A495), (G)MCH +.1v | Gigabyte P35C DS3R -F4g Bios
2 X 1gig Crucial Ballistixs DDR2 800(1:1) 4-4-4-12 @ 2.2v
EVGA 8800 GTS 640 (690/1090) | Corsair HX 520 | Tuniq Tower 120
WD Caviar 320 | WD 120 | Sony Optiarc DVD | Antec 900 | XP Pro


I am currently playing with the OC now and trying to get the chip voltage further down.

@ 3.2 overclock my Crucial ram was fine at 1.8V. It is rated at 2.2V.

I will try to adjust the ram volts back down while I'm at 3.6.


Pakman, something definately is going on with your ram. I just don't know if it is the mem control or the actual ram yet.

[pakman916]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

JACKRIP,

Before I call you a genius, I need to understand something...

Why in the world would Everest's reading of vdimm differ so much from the setting in the BIOS?

So I took your advice. I used EVEREST to find my vdimm setting, and it was at 2.42v. I went into the BIOS and changed the DDR2 overvoltage to normal. Everest shows VDIMM is at 2.02v. As much as this makes sense now...I'm utterly confused.

I have to admit. I'm not an overclocker althought I built this system to take a stab at it. I am not an novice with computer equipment either (but neither am I a pro). I've read SO much about overclocking before buying the parts to build my system. I even found a walkthrough of similar Gigabyte P35 boards. They ALL state that the default memory voltage is 1.8v. In Easytune, it's showing me 1.9v. But in Everest it's showing me 2.02v.

Why are all the readings and settings so different?

I wish I knew this information earlier. I was trying to save money with this system that I built. Instead, I've had to spend more money RMA parts with the retailer. And now, I may have damaged my brand new 4GB of ram!!!

I'm so baffled now. You are a semi genius in my book until you can answer my questions.

FYI, I know I don't have to run my memory at 4-4-4-12 2.2v. But why would I spend the extra cash on memory if I don't maximize it's potential. It's like buying a corvette and then driving it like an old man.

Thanks for leading me to the promise land.

[pakman916]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

UPDATE:

So I've learned that when playing with the cpu voltage, it affects the vdimm. "Normal" on the board for my e4400 was 1.3250v. Just to see if I could run it lower, I changed it to 1.30v (-0.0250v). I set the overvoltage to +0.3. My vdimm dropped in Everest. (sorry...i forgot how much).

Anyway, here's the true test. I put all 4 sticks of ram into my system. I changed the cpu voltage to 1.3125 and the ddr2 overvoltage to +0.2. Everything booted and Everest shows vdimm at 2.14v.

I'm going to let Orthos run for a few days as well as use the computer to see if I can crash it somehow. If all goes well, my nightmare will be over and Jackrip will be my hero.

If you don't hear from me 1 month from now, my problems are solved and I'm a happy camper.

[workworkmcjerk]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

i've had the same problem that everyone is having here except with a ga-p35-ds3l 1.0 board. flashed the bios and now its stuck in a power cycle loop. rma'd to newegg.

[sturm]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

Same here: ga-p35-ds3p version 1.1, after 10 days it went into the eternal boot-loop. I got it going again last night, by moving my two corsair 6400 1Gb RAM sticks from slot 1/2 to slot 3/4, it suddenly got into the OS (Vista64). Enormous relief, cause I'm on a deadline in a video-editing project and really can't use this kind of problem at all. It took hours to solve it, with many thanks to this thread which made me see this is a common bug in this tipe of board, and that it's probably related to the memory bus.
I flashed bios from 4F to 6, but that doesn't give me the ram-slots back. For the moment I'll leave the thing alone, glad enough that it's alive again, and working along with crossed fingers.

[sturm]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

To add a few details for the troubleshooting: in this forum: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1216988
someone suggested the problem is related to setting the memory multiplier, and the PSU having been disconnected from the powernet.
Maybe that makes sense: I had manually set my memory to multiplier 2, (I ran my Q6600 at fsb 400 and multiplier 7 and wanted memory to run 1:1). I had also given Ram +0,2 Volt. After that I indeed disconnected the board from the powernet, because I changed the cpu-cooler.

[sturm]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

Kept on searching the web to find the solution for this. Some other victims of the eternal boot loop at http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=443748. So I found a lot of computer-literate users with this problem, and nobody has a clue how to solve it, except for RMA. The point is, if I'd send the board back I wouldn't trust the replacement board either.
At the top of this page I see the text: Gigabyte are here to provide free technical support for their motherboards, graphics cards and other products.
So Gigabyte, what do you say, isn't it time for some reaction?

[pakman916]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

Yeah...it doesn't seem that Gigabyte has an answer.

So far, the most stable setup for me has been to not overclock and leave everything at auto. Which kind of defeats the purpose of buying a board like this. Have you tried this with your RAM in the banks 1/2?

Currently, with new memory, I am able to keep my system stable with a mild overclock. As Jackrip suggested, I used Everest to determine what my vdimm was running at and that has made all the difference in the world. Don't follow the DD2/DD3 overvoltage number. It's misleading.

Something else of note, in the BIOS, under PC Health, my memory used to say "failed". After correcting the overvoltage confirmed by Everest, it now says "passed" or whatever it's suppose to say.

I'm going to wait a month with my BIOS setup like this to see if it will go bad. If not, then I think I found the solutions to my issues. I hope you find yours. Good luck.

[sturm]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

I too have everything on auto now, without any overclock, with RAM in slot 3/4 it works. I'm not too keen on changing anything now, too afraid it will return to it's bootlooping state, and I can't afford that risk.
I did find one interesting tip on a German forum (quite a few people with the same problem (they call this bug the "Endlosschleife"). Some people had success with: REMOVE THE CPU, then startup, put the CPU back. Or in beautiful german language:

CPU raus, board ohne CPU starten, CPU wieder rein!
Hatte ich auch schon mal mit einem DS3.

[damianicus]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

I too have everything on auto now, without any overclock, with RAM in slot 3/4 it works.

So you only have 1 simm of ram in [] [] [x] [] slot?

I built my system this weekend with this board. I started off following this advice and put my 1 gig DDR2 Corsairs in 2 and 4. My vista install kept freezing. Called Microsoft and they said install vista with only 1 ram simm in. Got vista going and still had some freezing. Once I put the ram back in 1 and 3 everything ran faster and without freezing.

I do not intend to overclock this board. Mostly because of everyones problems.
Note: I did not turn off SmartFan and both my cores are running just fine at 24c with no fan alarm. I do have a Artic Freezer Pro 7 CPU fan, not the stock Intel one.

Couple quick questions:

Will it be ok to buy 2 more sticks of Corsair 512mb DDR2? For a total of 3gig. I'm running Vista 32bit and know it won't recognize much more than 3. I read in the mobo manual, next to a smiley faced tip, that theres a feature that will make different capacities work together. And I want the most ram my 32 bit can run. Especially since I read vista eats up to a gig to run.

My ram is 1066 2.1v rated. Do I need to go up the voltage to +2 or will the mobo detect and run it correctly? Where do I look to confirm?

One last thing.. Anyone playing WoW with this mobo? I get great frame rate in full-screen mode but it drops to 4 to 7FPS in windowed mode (I have 2 monitors and kinda need the full-screen windowed mode).

Thanks

[chris57]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

Thought it was only XP that couldnt get full use out of 4Gb of RAM.

Get yourself a copy of Everest Ultimate to check out your RAM voltage etc.

[wayout44]

Re: GA-P35C-DS3R problems

Thought it was only XP that couldnt get full use out of 4Gb of RAM.

The 3GB limit applies to all 32bit operating systems (well for those that can get that far, win9x oses can't usually get past 512MB) to be able to use more then you'll need a 64bit os.