Gigabyte MA 78GPM-DS2H hardware problem/conflict preventing install...

[Simon Bland]

Dear all,

Apologies that my first post is requesting help... but after much searching, I am yet to find anyone with the same problem I'm having and would appreciate any advice people have:

I am trying to build a HTPC based on the Gigabyte MA 78GPM-DS2H board after reading several good reviews, and always liking gigabyte boards for reliability... the complete comonent list is:
Phenom 9350e
Gigabyte MA 78GPM-DS2H
Corsair 4GB: 2X2GB UNBUFF DDR2 667MHZ 2X240 DIMM 5-5-5-18
LG Blu ray playher
Western Digital Green Power 750Gb sata
Zalman cooling fan set up in Antec Fusion Case
Vista ultimate 64

The system posts ok, and then starts to install vista... then one of 2 things happens. It gets to the 'loading windows files' screen and stalls before the bar indicating how far it has got completes or the 'loading windows files' screen disappear and is replaced by the windows boot loader screen saying there is an error with the install (all zeros)

So far I have narrowed it down quite a bit. Its not the blu ray or the hard disk, nor anything flaky with the power supply. I also tried vista 32 in case it was windows that but the same problem occurs.
I've tried out the memory in another machine and it works fine too. Also I've gone down to only one memory module and tried out all the memory slots in the 78GPm with it to no avail.

By the looks of things it is loading the windows files into memory then faulting before it writes the installation files to the hard disk. I'm wondering does anyone know if there is a memory incompatibility between the mobo and the memory, or if it could be a motherboard fault? (the other memory I have to hand is too fast for the board to try)

Any help you could give would be very gratefully received

Simon

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Gigabyte MA 78GPM-DS2H hardware problem/conflict preventing install...

Did you try each stick one by one in slot one? I noticed you said you tried one, just checking if you tried each one

Well First thing I would do is install one stick in slot one, and get in the BIOS and set the memory voltage to the spec on the ram sticker (Likely 2.0-2.1) then try to install.

What other ram do you have? You can likely clock it down some anyway right? Sorry, dont know much at all about AMD

Are you sure you have your disk settings correct for how you are trying to install? And you are loading the correct driver to install Vista right? >>
GIGABYTE - Support - Motherboard - Driver Download

Did you check to see if your HD shipped with a Jumper on it? If so remove it, it will be much smaller then a IDE Jumper.

In the end, do you have a older IDE DVD drive? If so, you may have a much easier time by putting it in and installing vista from it

[Simon Bland]

Re: Gigabyte MA 78GPM-DS2H hardware problem/conflict preventing install...

Hi,

First of all many thanks for the swift reply...working backwards through:
I checked the hard disk and have tried a different dvd rom drive (my initial thought was to suspect the blu-ray), just in case. I also swpped the board down to native IDE in case this was a problem...

I tried both memory sticks in every slot... but...hold on...

have just noticed something in bios... the stick is rated 5-5-5-18, but the board detects it as 5-5-5-15 *doh*. Thats fixed it :)

Yay... now we have an install screen. I should have checked the outside of the ram earlier

Many thanks once again

Simon (feeling very daft)

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Gigabyte MA 78GPM-DS2H hardware problem/conflict preventing install...

Well ya know the ram timing that you mention should not have caused that issue at all, as it is a very small difference between 15 and 18 for that setting, but Could have been it as I have not played with 667 ram for a while.

Glad you got it figured out!