GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

[RedDwarf]

I have re-built my system almost three weeks ago using a Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 motherboard and Intel Q9450 CPU and so far I have not been able to get it to run stable. I have replaced the PSU as I needed a new one for my other system (the one I am using ATM as the new one is just too unstable to use), the memory has been tested with memtest86 and showed clear of errors for 11 hours of testing and 39 passes. But when in windows it constantly blue screens, meaning it is just too unstable to use. I had to turn it off a few minutes ago because every time I started Firefox and it started to load 30 tabs it blue screened on me. I lost count of the number of times I tried it and all with the same result.

I have disabled everything unnecessary in the Bios (Serial port, parallel port, all power saving features (which did seems to help reduce the blue screens by quite a lot), performance mode set to standard rather than the default Turbo. I have set the CPU voltage to 1.21875V, the default voltage (VID) is 1.2125V ( a low grade CPU).

The rest of my system is in my sig. I did manage to get it stable for just over 19 hours at one point before blue screening but using the same Bios settings (the settings were saved) today, it is blue screening on me in the space of a few minutes. I just cannot work out what is causing it. I am thinking about getting some other memory in case what I have is somehow incompatible even though others seems to be using it without a problem. But apart from that I am lost for ideas as this motherboard seems to be infected by Gremlins and I have wasted 3 weeks and a lot of money on something which is useless. Quite frankly I have had enough of it.

So can anyone make any useful suggestions on how to get it working and 100% stable before I throw it out the window?

[antifan]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

I had similar issues with my new system, but upping these voltages helped me:

PCI-E OverVoltage Control: +0.1
FSB OverVoltage Control: +0.1
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control: +0.1

The memory voltage should be set at recommended level by the manufacturer.

Not s single BSOD after it. My mb reports normal voltage for my CPU as 1.175v, but SiSoftSandra recommends it to be at 1.063v. If I do any mild overclocking I have it up there at 1.175v, but otherwise at the lower setting, but no BSODs with either.

Also try to set all of your settings with manual values.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

Yes as said above you need some voltage changes for 2x2gb and some other changes would help as well. I would suggest to set these manually, Items in BOLD are needed for sure for 2x2gb >>

Robust Graphics Booster___________ [Auto]
CPU Clock Ratio ____________ [8]
CPU Host Clock Control_ [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (MHz)__________ [333]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz)_______ [100] << Always set manually
C.I.A. 2__________________________ [Disabled]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD)____ [3.20] << For 1066
DRAM Timing Selectable_______ SPD __ [Manual]
Performance Enhance = [Standard]

CAS Latency Time________________4-5 << Set to spec
Dram RAS# to CAS# Delay_________ 4-5 << Set to spec
Dram RAS# Precharge Delay_______4-5 << Set to spec
Precharge Delay (tRAS)__________ 12/15/18 << Set to spec

Start With the highest setting, moving lower ONE setting at a time and testing after each move
ACT to ACT Delay (tRRD)_________ 3-4
Rank Write to READ Delay________ 9-11 May need 12-15
Write to Precharge Delay_________3-5
Refresh to ACT Delay______________ 52-62 (May need up to 68)
Read to Precharge Delay__________ 3-6
Static tRead Value_______________ 7-10
Static tRead Phase Adjust________ 1-31 << Leave on Auto or Zero Or 1-31

System Voltage Control____ [Manual]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control__ [+0.300V]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control_ [+0.1V]
FSB OverVoltage Control___ [+0.1V]
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [+0.1V - +0.125V - +01.50V] <<< Needed for 2x2gb
CPU Voltage Control_______ [ User Set] <<<< You may need a bit more then you are giving it. And actually since I see in your siggy you are not overclocking you may be giving it too much trying to make it stable. I would recommend setting back to Auto or since I always say Auto is too much or too little, manually set but close to defauly since you are not overclocking. Defualt when not overclocked is plenty


And yes, I personally feel OCZ has compatibility issues, do you have any older sticks to test to see if they are ok with?

And do you have the 8pin PSU/CPU wire connected or just the 4 pin? Use the 8pin if your psu has it

[Maxila]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

I have a feeling you have tried a lot of settings you can't be bothered to list.

Although you have run memtest successfully if you haven't done so already set your DDR2 overvoltage to about .3, this should give you 2.1 v to the memory which it warranted by the OCZ.

At first I woud leave the CPU voltage at default, leave the PCI-E over voltage at default and Increase the FSB and MCH over voltage's by either .05 or .10, (I'd try .05 first).

While may you have perfectly good memory the problem may be a result of sync timmings with the memory and memory controller onthe chipset. You may also want to try setting the memory speed to lower then 1066 (PC8500) that its rated for. Try to sync the memory at lower speed and to even multliple to your FSB speed (i.e. 2x or 3x).

I hope this helps.

[RedDwarf]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

Yes as said above you need some voltage changes for 2x2gb and some other changes would help as well. I would suggest to set these manually, Items in BOLD are needed for sure for 2x2gb >>

Robust Graphics Booster___________ [Auto]

I have tried this and Fast

CPU Clock Ratio ____________ [8]
CPU Host Clock Control_ [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (MHz)__________ [333]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz)_______ [100] << Always set manually

I have tried the above except for the PCI express direct setting.

C.I.A. 2__________________________ [Disabled]

I have always had this disabled as I am trying to get stability. Any overclocking will have to wait for stability and a new heatsink as I am using the retail heatsink which can get a bit warm when running 100% CPU usage for long periods

System Memory Multiplier (SPD)____ [3.20] << For 1066

I have tried Auto mainly but I have tried 3.20B as well.

DRAM Timing Selectable_______ SPD __ [Manual]
Performance Enhance = [Standard]

I have always set this last one to Standard instead of it's default, Fast.

CAS Latency Time________________4-5 << Set to spec
Dram RAS# to CAS# Delay_________ 4-5 << Set to spec
Dram RAS# Precharge Delay_______4-5 << Set to spec
Precharge Delay (tRAS)__________ 12/15/18 << Set to spec

The default module timings are 5-5-5-18 and I have tried numerous others from 5-5-5-15 to 7-7-7-20

Start With the highest setting, moving lower ONE setting at a time and testing after each move
ACT to ACT Delay (tRRD)_________ 3-4
Rank Write to READ Delay________ 9-11 May need 12-15
Write to Precharge Delay_________3-5
Refresh to ACT Delay______________ 52-62 (May need up to 68)

I have left most of these at default except for Refresh to ACT delay which I have tried from 64 to 72 which was recommended by OCZ.

Read to Precharge Delay__________ 3-6
Static tRead Value_______________ 7-10
Static tRead Phase Adjust________ 1-31 << Leave on Auto or Zero Or 1-31

I have always left these at default as I did not know what they were meant to do.

I have now tried 0, 16 & 31 for Static tRead phase adjust with no success, although it did manage to re-load the Firefox tabs a couple of times before blue screening on the third reload with it set to 31.

System Voltage Control____ [Manual]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control__ [+0.300V]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control_ [+0.1V]
FSB OverVoltage Control___ [+0.1V]
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [+0.1V - +0.125V - +01.50V] <<< Needed for 2x2gb

I have tried +0.1V for PC!-E, FSB & (G)MCH after the recommendations in this thread but I had not tried them previously.

I have now tried +0.150V for (G)MCH overvoltage with no success

CPU Voltage Control_______ [ User Set] <<<< You may need a bit more then you are giving it. And actually since I see in your siggy you are not overclocking you may be giving it too much trying to make it stable. I would recommend setting back to Auto or since I always say Auto is too much or too little, manually set but close to defauly since you are not overclocking. Defualt when not overclocked is plenty

This is the one that did seem to make a small difference, at least when disabling the power saving features in the Bios which causes the lowering of CPU speed and voltage. When disabling the power saving and the voltage reduction that made the biggest difference of anything I have tried.

And yes, I personally feel OCZ has compatibility issues, do you have any older sticks to test to see if they are ok with?

And do you have the 8pin PSU/CPU wire connected or just the 4 pin? Use the 8pin if your psu has it

I have ordered some 2x1GB Kingston memory which is on the Gigabyte compatibility list just in case the OCZ memory cannot be got stable. More of a last resort as I have had this motherboard for 3 weeks and have not got it stable so far. It is strange that the settings I was using which got it stable for 19+ hours, now will not get stability for a few minutes.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I have tried +0.1 overvolt for fsb, MCH and PCI-e but it still blue screened. Prime95 was fine for a short time but as soon as I tried opening Firefox with multiple tabs (30+) it blue screened. Firefox seems a better system test than the commonly used Prime95 IMO or at least in my case it is.

Why does my PC frequently power off after a Bios save? Not every time, even resaving the settings results in a seemingly random power off.

It does seem strange that disabling all the power saving settings in the Bios did seem to result in increased stability. That resulted in the most stable state I managed to get it.

During that 19+ hours I was doing intensive x264 video encoding so it should of certainly tested my system quite significantly.

The OCZ Reaper Dimms do have 2.2V on them even though OCZ recommend 2.1V so I have set them to 2.2V until it is stable. I will try reducing it as much as possible when it is stable as I prefer using the lowest voltage possible. OCZ do have a flash utility to change the Dimm timings. Maybe that will help once I verify that it will do what is necessary. I have ran it on this system (using OCZ DDR1 Dimms) as a test to see what it shows but I will not do any writing as it is mean for DDR2 modules only. It does show a lot of timing options that are not in the Gigabyte Bios. It's just whether it is possible to change the defaults as having default working timings would be an advantage but I suppose having settings that will allow entry into the Bios is the most important.

I have tried all the settings maxed out and Pime95 ran fine for an hour but as soon as I opened Firefox it blue screened when loading 27 tabs.

Opening Firefox with a lot of tabs is always what gets it more than any other program I have tried.

Yet again, increasing the Refresh to ACT to 72 has still blue screened when loading Firefox with 32 tabs.

So to me the motherboard seems to have problems which is what I originally thought.

What now? RMA? Or are there any other settings that will get it working.

I will add that I do have the 8 pin 12V cable connected.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

ALWAYS set PCI-E to 100 manually. If you do not and end up changing or overclocking in the future and forget you can corrupt your disk

Did you try all the settings I posted at the same time? If not, set them ALL manually as I suggested and see if it helps you anymore. I say this because trying one memory setting high and correct but another left on auto or not set high enough will still leave the system unstable. I suggested to set them all pretty high/loose at the same time, that will help you get started then later you can lower them ONE BY ONE

Good Luck, Kingston may be better in your board.

Is your NB hot when running memory tests? Can you touch it for more then 10 seconds? If not I would suggest you change/redo the thermal paste on it with some non conductive. I sometimes see the factory put it on partially covering the chips, sometimes way to much, and sometimes a combo of both. At the very least if it is hot you should add a fan to it and see if that helps as it could be the cause of part of your issue

[RedDwarf]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

ALWAYS set PCI-E to 100 manually. If you do not and end up changing or overclocking in the future and forget you can corrupt your disk

Did you try all the settings I posted at the same time? If not, set them ALL manually as I suggested and see if it helps you anymore. I say this because trying one memory setting high and correct but another left on auto or not set high enough will still leave the system unstable. I suggested to set them all pretty high/loose at the same time, that will help you get started then later you can lower them ONE BY ONE

Good Luck, Kingston may be better in your board.

Is your NB hot when running memory tests? Can you touch it for more then 10 seconds? If not I would suggest you change/redo the thermal paste on it with some non conductive. I sometimes see the factory put it on partially covering the chips, sometimes way to much, and sometimes a combo of both. At the very least if it is hot you should add a fan to it and see if that helps as it could be the cause of part of your issue

I did set them all at once and not individually. The PCI-E was also set to 100 as well.

They were all set to the maximum that you suggested.

But it is still not stable :(

The NB is not hot at all, I can put my finger on it for a long time and it only feels warm.

The only problem with the Kingston is it's only 2x1GB sticks and not the full 4GB that I wanted, actually 3.25GB for a 32bit windows system. I did not want to be spending lots more as I have already overspent buying PSU's that I had not planned on buying. I don't even have a decent CPU heatsink yet.

I have just received the Kingston Memory but I am now a bit reluctant to open it and try it as it does not look likely that I am going to get the OCZ 4GB working stable. Which would mean I would have to replace it with a set of 4GB of another brand which means more spending :( If I open it I will not be able to return it and put it towards a new set of 4GB modules.


Robust Graphics Booster [Auto]
CPU clock Ratio [8x]
Fine CPU Click Ratio [+0.0]
CPU Host Clock Control [Enabled]
CPU Host clock Frequency [333]
PCI Express Frequency [100]
CIA2 [Disabled]
Performance Enhance [Standard]
System Memory Multiplier [3.20B]
Dram Timing Selectable [Manual]
Cas Latency Time [5]
RAS to CAS Delay [5]
RAS Precharge [5]
Precharge Delay (tRAS) [18]
ACT to ACT Delay (tRLD) [4]
Rank Write to Read Delay [15]
Write to Precarge Delay [5]
Refresh to ACT Delay [68]
Read to Precharge Delay [6]
Static tRead Value [10]
Static tRead Phase Adjust [31]
Command Rate [2T]
CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control [800mV]
CPU Clock Skew Control [Normal]
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control [Normal]
System Voltage Control [Manual]
DDR2 Overvoltage [+0.3V]
PCI-E Overvoltage [+0.1V]
FSB Overvoltage [+0.1]
(G)MCH Overvoltage[+0.15]
Loadline Calibration [Enabled]
CPU Voltage Control [1.21875V]
Normal CPU VCore 1.2125V

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

You can try write to precharge 14+ and see if that helps any. Or try a 3.20 without the B strap selection if you have that choice.

And ya know, it actually could just all be caused by the BIOS version you are using, there has been a few versions for my board that error'd when others didn't and one that always error'd. Have you tried older ones? Well I guess you may not be able to with that CPU eh?

Have you tested the sticks one at a time at stock? You could have a DOA stick/sticks?

[RedDwarf]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

You can try write to precharge 14+ and see if that helps any. Or try a 3.20 without the B strap selection if you have that choice.

And ya know, it actually could just all be caused by the BIOS version you are using, there has been a few versions for my board that error'd when others didn't and one that always error'd. Have you tried older ones? Well I guess you may not be able to with that CPU eh?

Have you tested the sticks one at a time at stock? You could have a DOA stick/sticks?

There are only 2 Bioses available as it is a fairly new motherboard and one is a Beta. So I don't have a lot of choice and flashing a Bios with an unstable system does not seem a good idea.

I have tried each stick on it's own but it made no difference to the stability and both sticks have tested without errors with memtest86 so they cannot really be faulty. Just highly incompatible.

I have tried the Kingston memory, 2 sticks of 1GB KVR800D2N5/1G and in windows it blue screened when loading Firefox while running Prime95 blend test.

Gigabyte were supposed to of tested this memory in both single and dual channel. What timings were used to test this and validate it?

Do you know whether the 4GB G.Skill DDR2 PC2-8000 PQ Series (5-5-5-15) Dual Channel kit Model number F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ has been successfully used on this motherboard? I would like 4GB of memory without paying too much for it and this seems fairly good. There is very little on the validated list for 2x2GB modules and I don't want to make another mistake after the OCZ stuff :(

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

Tests done are normally done ONLY with stock settings.

What settings did you use on the kingstons that failed? Do you by chance have Legacy USB storage detect on in the BIOS? It is on by default. I would suggest that you disable this, and unhook any external storage if you have one connected. Just something else that has worked for others.

The QVL list is very dated! I have seen MANY users with DS4 use those sticks by G.Skill, but being in the US I rarely see any DS5 owners. And rarely see them online as well. But it is pretty much the same board anyway. Those sticks would be a better bet, as would mushkins. If you get either of those are still cannot find a stable point then it has to be the board or BIOS I would say

I would suggest you to underclock the CPU down to a 6 multi and ram at 667 or so and flash to the latest NON beta BIOS that supports your CPU. Use Qflash for sure. Beta BIOS could be your issue

[RedDwarf]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

My current Bios is the F5 which is the only none Beta available.

For the Kingston I used the default timings. Do they just test two sticks with the same timings as one? If so then my board must have a problem which does not bode well for any overclocking in the future. let alone getting 4GB of memory stable. I could of had it RMA'd as I told the company I purchased from of the stability problems and they arranged an RMA and sent a new replacement motherboard unexpectedly. I thought I was making progress so I told them that I would keep my current one, so they had the replacement picked back up. I wished I had dumped this board as something doesn't seem right with it. I have had the audio messing up and repeating sound very quickly even when sound is not being played. Re-installing the drivers did not seem to fix it but it could of been due to all the blue screens/reboots that I have had in the last 3 weeks....more than I have ever seen in windows, even going back to my win 98 days I did not see this many.

I only have a USB 2.0 memory card reader which is not always connected. Sometimes it is, other times it isn't as it is plugged into the Front USB which can get in the way if I am working on the PC. But I do use it to transfer files between my PC's until I can get them networked.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

Well I would say try test again with that setting disabled and see if it helps.

Sorry, I thought you was using a Beta BIOS

Yes, tests would be done with 2 sticks not just one

[RedDwarf]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

I want this board replaced. I have wasted far too much time on it and it is going no where. It has cost me too much time and money, new PSU, new Memory and it still is unstable. I had hoped to re-install windows to see if that made a difference but I am back to the same problem as I had with the OCZ memory, it will not even complete a windows install now I spent a hell of a lot of time making new Windows CD's (4 in total) and not one would complete install. I did not add any updates other than SP2 which my windows CD does not have. I have disabled the option in the Bios that you recommended but it has made zero difference.

STOP:C0000221 Unknown Hard Error
\systemRoot\System32\ntdll.dll

and various other hard errors, system freezes etc. I even rebuilt the PC, removed the motherboard and heatsink and used some new TIM but it has not made any difference. Blue screens in the working (?????) Windows install all weekend. This is totally ridiculous and a very bad example of Gigabyte motherboards IMO.

Memory which is on the validated Gigabyte memory list which will not operate at default timings so there is some kind of fault with this motherboard, so I want it replaced.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

When you burn these CD's are you using the SLOWEST burning option? This is a MUST when burning a OS CD

If you are then You may need a new board I would guess as I am not there to personally check things out, but sounds as if that is what you have decided.

Before you RMA burn your OS cd slowest speed if you did not before that is likely the cause of the hard error

[RedDwarf]

Re: GA-X48-DS5 totally unstable - need some help

The CD was burnt at x12 which is the slowest my drive will burn CD's. I did burn a previous Windows CD that I made at a higher speed and that one also failed so that is why I burnt the current one slower. The CD has been tested and works as I have used the CD to install a new windows XP in a spare partition I had on this computer I am using right now. I did want to make sure that the CD worked fine and it does. So there is nothing wrong with the CD and the DVD drives I use are identical on both PC's even using the same firmware.

There HAS TO BE some strange fault with the motherboard.

Both PC's are connected to an APC SmartUPS which I only received a week ago, so the power should be fine and the PC has also been tested plugged directly into the wall socket to rule out any problem with the UPS.

Can you tell me how long a RMA request is vaild for? It's been about 2.5 weeks since they arranged it. If it is still valid then I will contact the company who sold me the motherboard (and CPU, memory, graphics card and some other stuff) and see if the RMA they had arranged is still valid as I think that would be faster than dealing directly with Gigabyte as I do not want to be without it for weeks.

The validity of the RMA request is important as I want to phone them up about it. they might be reluctant to do anything as it is over the time that they are usually involved with faulty products (about 10 days).