GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

[rjkardo]

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

So you tested your card in her PC and got the same issues? How about her card in your PC, no issue? Just trying to rule out the card

Freezes are almost always ram related, but it could be GFX card related since you see lines and distortion

I can say BIOS on default is not the best for sure. And with using 2x2GB I am surprised it has worked for you. You should always at the very least add some MCH voltage for 2x2 and set the ram voltage to the specified amount on the ram sticker. And generally you would need to set trfc to 52-62 (Which auto may do for you, but not the other things I suggested)

[rjkardo]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

So you tested your card in her PC and got the same issues? How about her card in your PC, no issue? Just trying to rule out the card

Correct. Our systems are identical, so I put my card in her PC and it is still having the same issue. My PC, with her card, is running fine.

Freezes are almost always ram related, but it could be GFX card related since you see lines and distortion

I can say BIOS on default is not the best for sure. And with using 2x2GB I am surprised it has worked for you. You should always at the very least add some MCH voltage for 2x2 and set the ram voltage to the specified amount on the ram sticker. And generally you would need to set trfc to 52-62 (Which auto may do for you, but not the other things I suggested)

Now, the RAM is set to run at 7-7-7-20 at 1.8. But I had it at 5-5-5-15 and 2.1 (might have been 2.0). When it started having troubles, one of the things I did was to set the bios back to default settings.

I will be going home soon, and will try swapping her RAM out with mine.
From what I read on these boards, G.Skill should work fine with the EP43, right?

Thanks again,
Rod

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

Yes it should, but 2x2 does need some manual setting to work properly.

Hmm If it is the EXACT same setup, can you try your disk/windows install in her system with her card to see if possibly something driver or disk related is to blame. Other then that the only thing I could think it would be is Ram.

Her if you do not have, test her ram ONE stick at a time in your system with memtest86+ >>>
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

[rjkardo]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

Yes it should, but 2x2 does need some manual setting to work properly.

Hmm If it is the EXACT same setup, can you try your disk/windows install in her system with her card to see if possibly something driver or disk related is to blame. Other then that the only thing I could think it would be is Ram.

Her if you do not have, test her ram ONE stick at a time in your system with memtest86+ >>>
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

I did not run memtest, but what I did was to swap the RAM in our systems.
Her system still has bugs, mine runs fine...

Trying to swap HDD now...

Rod

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

I would still suggest you test Her ram as well

Good luck with the disk swap, let me know if it lets her system run properly. If so then she just likely has a program or driver conflict somewhere you/we are not thinking of

[rjkardo]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

I would still suggest you test Her ram as well

Good luck with the disk swap, let me know if it lets her system run properly. If so then she just likely has a program or driver conflict somewhere you/we are not thinking of

Ok, no luck with the disk swap.
I also swapped her RAM with mine...same deal.
My PC runs fine, her's continues to have video issues.

The PC will lock up, and in Device Manager the adapter has the yellow ! (Yellow exclamation). After disabling/enabling it a few times I can usually get it to function again. But anything like a game will crash it again.

By now, I have pretty much pulled every part out of her machine except the dvd drive and the processor. I don't think it is one of those.
I am pretty much convinced it is the mobo.

I see that you don't like the @bios program for this mobo, what do you recommend? I tried to use Q-Flash but it wanted a floppy that I don't have and I did not have more time...
Any suggestions?

Thanks again for your help.

Rod

[mxcrowe]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

You have a really unique opportunity to test, having two identical systems. That's a luxury most testers never have!
I would also explore the possibility that the PSU is not sufficient for your power needs. Even though one of your systems is stable, PSU specs (output) can vary from one device to another. At 450w, I would think you're on the lower edge of what your machine needs, especially with the 8800gt card. Try swapping your PSU into her machine and see if it becomes stable.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

Ok when you say no luck with the disk deal, did it not work at all or do you mean the same issues are there?

Flashing, here is some info. You can use 3 things with Qflash.... USB Stick, Floppy, or FAT32 Partition on your disk >>>

DO NOT USE @BIOS

Here is your Download page incase you were unsure >>>
GIGABYTE - Support - Motherboard - BIOS - GA-EP43-DS3L (rev. 1.0)

The BIOS file you download is a EXE which is made just to extract to the Floppy drive or A: drive.

You can get the BIOS .Fxx (xx Being BIOS number and how the actual BIOS file extension will look) File out of this to flash with Qflash or DOS (DOS Flash files are also inside the Exe. by using winrar to extract the files.

Download Winrar Trial here (Scroll down to Winrar 3.71 and download) and then install and right click the BIOS exe file and choose extract here >>>
WinRAR archiver, a powerful tool to process RAR and ZIP files

Then you can either run any CD you have to get DOS loaded and use the files extracted. Or you can put them on a FAT32 USB drive and use Qflash. You may also make a new 1GB FAT32 partition on your disk if you like and keep BIOS files there as well.

To use USB you need Legacy Storage Detect Enabled in the Integrated Peripherals oage of the BIOS. You also need to leave the USB drive plugged in when you reboot to Qflash (Select "END" at bootup, or F8 Within the BIOS to enter Qflash)

Once inside Qflash you will be presented with Disks or Drives depending on what you have available, look thru each until you find your BIOS file and then flash it

And yeah as said above 450 is a little on the low side for a PSU with todays cards so if you can get a larger to test that would be great

[rjkardo]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

Ok when you say no luck with the disk deal, did it not work at all or do you mean the same issues are there?


Once inside Qflash you will be presented with Disks or Drives depending on what you have available, look thru each until you find your BIOS file and then flash it

And yeah as said above 450 is a little on the low side for a PSU with todays cards so if you can get a larger to test that would be great

Tried it, updated the bios to 7...no luck.
Same issues, no matter what I have tried.

Tried swapping the power supplies...same issues...my pc runs fine and her's crashes when I stress it a bit.

Anytime I try to run a game or do anything video intense, the screen whacks out... I get the device unable to start in Device manager.

Time to call Gigabyte?

Rod

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

Sounds like it to me. You can link them here so they can see the troubleshooting you have done as well

Sounds like the PCI-E slot has gone bad or something in the controller of it, can you test the second one?

Have you tried using the Second slot yet? If not, please in Integrated Peripherals Page of the BIOS set "Init First Display" to PEG2 (PEG for PCI-E Slot 1) and place card in Second PCI-E Slot and see if anything changes

[NielCompy85]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

SOLUTION : maybe

I have the same mobo and graphics card GA-EP43-DS3L and 512-P3-N801-AR with 2x1GB OCZ 1066 ram which on the modual says it runs at 5-5-5-15 2.1v . I also encountered alot of crashes and freezing tried it on both XP SP3 and Vista SP1 no difference. Didint know if it was the mobo, ram, gfx, or psu. Comp kept freezing and windows installations were very slow, any memory test would freeze the comp, and when I installed the nvidia drivers for the GFX card it would always freeze right after start up.

Eventually this is what worked for me i tried to manually set the ram to the correct 5-5-5-15 2.1v in the bios, that did not work, however as it turns out if you leave the timings set to auto and instead there is something in the bios a few options above that stuff called Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.) it had another profile option under that and when i selected it it loaded the correct timings automatically, I still had to set the voltage to 2.1v amnually, and I also bumped up the performance enhance to extreme, althoguh i think the turbo (which is the default) would also work fine. After doing that everything ran faster without any freezing or crashing and the GFX card drivers seemed to work fine after that. Hope that helps if you havnt figured it out already.

[NielCompy85]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

Ok, so even though from what i wrote in the post above greatly improoved things, I still had trouble durring memory intensive task, games, and memory tests. With 2x 1GB OCZ memory tests would fail, however each modual by itself would pass and perform fine in games, I called OCZ they think for some reason it is the memory, and they are simply not working together the way they should, told me to RMA the sticks, in the mean time I ordered new slightly better OCZ reaper moduals as suggested and I know other people have reported the reapers to be compatable with the board, and am running stable one stick of the 1gb while i wait. Have also done an instal of vista with the 1GB at the correct timings and everything went smoothly, no problems with installing graphics drivers which i had problems with before, however if I have the same problems with the new ram then i will most likely return the boardd for a different one.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

Mushkin FTW, Not a new board


*EDIT*

Oh yeah, good luck with things, I hope it works out for you really!

If you do need some help deciding on new ram, or help with settings feel free to make a new thread anytime and I will try my best to help you get going

Welcome aboard!

[efilah]

Re: GA-EP43-DS3L and Video

hey there.now im currently using the same motherboard, GA-EP43-DS3L with default BIOS, F4.currently i didnt have any problems. but when i tries to OC just a little,its always not stable.do i have to update my bios?if so,which bios the best one?

Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz E8400 Processor
Gigabyte EP43-DS3L
Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX DDR2-800 4GB Kit
Saphire ATi HD4850 Graphic Card
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 550w PSU
Western Digital 320GB SATAII 16MB Buffer

currently all setting default except for ram. MCH core i put 1.3v and DRAM voltage to 2.1v for the ram to run in 4-4-4-12 timing.