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**muelch** · 08-10-2008, 11:51 AM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

I also am experiencing this exact same issue with an GA-EP45-DS3R both with F6 or F8 bios. I have updated all my drivers, upped my RAM voltages, and applied windows patches. Everything is currently running at stock, and temperatures are not an issue. I have successfully returned from sleep one time with countless other crashes within 0-5 minutes. Furthermore, running a memory intensive app seems to hasten the crash.

The specs of my system are as follows:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
MB: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4870
RAM: 2x Corsair 2GB DDR2-800 CL5
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 500GB
PSU: Corsaid 520W
OS: Windows Vista 64-bit Home Premium
BIOS: Currently F8 (have tried F6 too)

As you may have noticed, the only thing in common with our systems is the motherboard! I have had no stability issues whatsoever outside of returning from sleep mode. Apart from the overly annoying placement of the RAM slots on the motherboard, I haven't experienced any other issues with the motherboard.

A solution to this would be nice, but I fear the only solution would be a bios update or perhaps different RAM. I've noticed that neither of our RAM's are listed on gigabyte's pathetic list of supported RAM.

**Lsdmeasap** · 08-10-2008, 03:16 PM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

Do you guys have External USB hard drives? If not please disable "Legacy USB Storage Detect" in the integrated Periphals section of the BIOS, this often helps with many issues. Also Disable USB mouse/Keyboard if you are not using those. If you are then leave them enabled, it is not as much of a issue as the USB Storage Detect is

Then please add +.1-.2 to MCH Core and see if this helps any

**mmoeller** · 08-10-2008, 03:35 PM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

I tried already +.1, +.16 and +.2 MCH Core, without influence.

I have an external USB Harddisk (Western Digital My Book 1TB Office Edition), which crashes the pc during booting of the bios. It did this on a 5 year old MSI mainboard and again on this GA-EP45-DS3R. It has not been a problem on some other Gigabyte mainboards. And disabling Legacy USB Storage Detect solved the problem already. Still, thx for the hint. Anyway for the S3 sleep and resume tests I had it always unplugged.

I use an USB keyboard and mouse, and I need to keep those options enabled. Otherwise I don't have any keyboard support on the Vista advanced boot options screen (the one that shows up after a Vista crash right before booting).

So far it seems to be either a hardware problem of the mainboard, a bug in the bios or a software problem of Vista.

**Lsdmeasap** · 08-10-2008, 03:41 PM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

Well it has been a known issue in P35 boards, But they have released recently BIOS fix that corrects it. So maybe The P45 boards will soon have a BIOS update to fix it as well.

Do you have your ram DDR2 Voltage Manually set to 2.1V? If not you should, and you should also manually set trfc to 52-62 for 4x1GB

It is a BIOS issue though really, but often times getting ram tweaked or other BIOS settings adjusted properly helps. In the end though you may need to wait on a BIOS update to fix the issue

**mmoeller** · 08-10-2008, 04:12 PM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

I have set the DDR2 voltage to 2.04V which yields 2.0V idle on the RAM. Kingston specified 2.0V.

Just tried setting it to 2.1V and trfc to 62, whithout influence. Vista returns from S3 and about two seconds after starting Prime95 Blend Test I get the BSOD.

**Lsdmeasap** · 08-10-2008, 04:21 PM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

So... If you do not do a resume from S3 does Prime95 Not BSOD?

Are you running blend on Prime95? Just have to ask incase you are unsure (Some people do not know so I thought I better ask) because if you are not then it would be more of a CPU issue.

And does it matter how long you wait after resuming before running Prime95 if it BSOD's or not? And really if this is the only issue you have with S3 then you are doing well, most cannot get it to resume. So you may just be stuck not running prime95 after a resume until a BIOS update is put out for your board. Not such a Big deal if everything else works fine I would think.

Not trying to "Blow You Off" or anything with that comment at all, just saying that you are lucky and that seems like something I would personally overlook for a while if it is the only issue you have with S3

But like I said it was a KNOWN issue with P35 boards and JUST recently fixed with BIOS updates, so maybe the P45 boards shipped out with the same issue and a BIOS fix has not yet been implemented for P45 boards.

**mmoeller** · 08-10-2008, 04:59 PM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

If Vista runs from a fresh boot, then Prime95 does not cause any bluescreen. I have run it four hours without any unstability or even rounding errors. So the CPU and voltage should be fine.

If I wait a bit longer to start Prime95, then Vista crashes just during any other random operation (but again of course, this happens only after resume from S3 sleep). The only reason I start a Prime95 Blend Test right after return from S3 is to see, if I could expect a random crash during any operation, or if the pc runs stable. Sometimes it can take a few minutes for Prime95 as well to actually cause a BSOD. So in its current form S3 sleep is of no use to me.

For the moment I have switched the BIOS back to S1 sleep, which is not that great, but at least it is stable.

If it was a known issue with P35 boards, then it is perhaps a design problem with the P45 as well, and not a defect of my board (which I feared most). My old MSI VIA mainboard caused rare bit corruption (like 1 Bit in 1GB) when copying files from one drive to another. Which I found out only after 1 year of using it, that it is actually the board doing it. So it is important to me, that I can actually trust the MB, and that there are not any random crashes or the like. If the problem is really limited to S3 not working properly, then it is not such a big problem for me.

Maybe I need to contact Gigabyte directly to see, if there is any known problem.

Anyway, good to know about the P35 problems.

**Lsdmeasap** · 08-10-2008, 11:27 PM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

Ya, it is likely a design/BIOS flaw and not just your board in particular at all.

Good luck on getting a real reply about it all though, Hopefully soon you will see a BIOS update for your board. I just saw one for mine the other day, but I don't use it anyway so no big deal to me

**muelch** · 08-10-2008, 11:47 PM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

Somewhat ironic that a board which brags about its power saving features can't use S3. Or maybe that's just to influence you to shut your pc down completely.

Thanks for the responses and the op's efforts to fix the problem, now I just have to decide if no S3 and having to remove my graphics card anytime I want to touch my RAM is worth RMA'ing an otherwise stable board. And btw, my crucial memory is working just fine, even at the default 1.8v which is below the memory specs.

**Lsdmeasap** · 08-11-2008, 12:02 AM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

Right, Shut it down saves the most power.

In all reality the Power you save from using DES is only about $2 a year for a 24/7 run commpared to one without it.

And we all buy the boards to overclock anyway so seems even more mute that they add the feature at all. Thus the new "Advanced" DES which allows for overclocking. "Kinda" I would assume, but I have no doubt not many overclockers would even give it a try anyhow, no control over things. Kinda waste of tech in my book

Glad to hear you are having good luck with your Crucials, Many others are not so lucky. But again my opinions on that is largely based on P35. I have not seen enough on P45 yet or have got myself one to make a more valid opinion though

Hey! Crucial Or Kingston, which is it???

**muelch** · 08-11-2008, 12:21 AM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

Yeah I really don't care about the power, it's more about the convenience and not having to listen to my case fans. I could just use hibernate I guess, but the bigger issue is paying for a feature I'm not getting (I didn't pay for DES, but I definitely did pay for a motherboard capable of sleeping). And I have crucial, the other guy is using kingston, did you confuse us?

**Lsdmeasap** · 08-11-2008, 12:30 AM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

Ahh yeah I must have gotten you two confused. Guess I better pay attention! HAHA

I guess you could hibernate......Have you tried it at all, I dont think S3 is really that much faster then S1 or hibernate is it? I dont know as I have never really "Used" any of them for anything real other then a test here or there to see if S3 worked on my board for someone

**mmoeller** · 08-11-2008, 01:29 AM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

Usually I hibernate anyway. The thing with S3 was just that the Vista shut down dialog always shows sleep as first option. And if I hit ok by accident I would just have started a guaranteed crash. But this can be fixed using S1. Still it does not make me happy to buy a new board where I have to find out some features don't really work lol.

But then again, I don't want to RMA it if it is really just S3 not working and maybe wait for month for the board to come back (aka having no pc) to find out that nothing is solved. And just buying a new board from another brand isn't worth it either to me.

Btw. the S1 sleep mode seems completely worthless. Maybe it saves I tiny bit of energy, but I really doubt it. It just switches the monitor off and continous running in idle. So I still have all the noise from fans etc (and perhaps if I am lucky the tiny bit of energy saved). So if I want to have the monitor switched off, then I do that with the power button on the monitor and not S1 lol.

**Lsdmeasap** · 08-11-2008, 01:47 AM

Re: GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state

You can change all of that in vista so you dont have to worry about a accidental crash, if you want to

Go To Control Panel, Power Options, Then click change plan settings on the selected Plan that is checked that you are using. From there you will see a "Put the Computer to Sleep" option. Then in that same box choose "Change Advanced Power Settings" and go down to start menu area and change the settings as shown in image to "Shut Down" (This will fix what you just addressed).

I hate it also and always change all 3 of these to never, and shut down soon as I install Vista Always

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