Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

[a052171]

Re: Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

This week I bought a mainboard GA-EP45-DS2 and also have the same problem what nlwelle has.
my configuration is
Mainboard GA-EP45-DS3
4X1GB DDR Apacer PC6400
PCI Express GeForce 8600 GT
Intel Duo2Core E6700 2.66GH
Sata harddisk 160 GB

Can anyone help me how to solve this problem. I have been trying to install Windows Vista, after a short time it freezes. Sometimes the computer starts 4 to 5 times. Turns off and automatic starts again. Can anyone help to solve this problem. I have been working years with Gigabyte mainboards but this time it's working on my nerves.
Tkxs

[Sunburn74]

Re: Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

honestly i'd go into the bios and underclock everything to see what happens. put the chip on a 6x multiplier. run the ram at a 333 2.0 B multiplier and put in the manufacturer settings. Its possible the board can't figure out the proper default settings for your parts.

outside of that, then you need to start thinking RMA

[subwayrocket]

Re: Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

fwiw , I had this exact same problem with my Asus P5w-DH deulxe and a Q6600 slacr . Like the above posts, I tried different dimms in different slots, different HD's, different Video cards in different slots, clear cmos jumper, remove battery, remove all usb and 1394 headers, no matter what, I couldnt get into the bios. I tried with no HD, no CD, no dimms and even no cpu. I tried the cpu in another mobo and I got the same behavior so I concluded it was the CPu.

The rebooting loop did not happen in either mobo when that cpu was removed. Alot of people are having this problem and in different Mobo's . No one seems to really know what it is ... I RMA's the cpu and I decided on a different mobo, a GA-ep45c-ud3r , now im confused as I see people are having the same issue on Gigabytes and other Mobo's . . . Strange, but the common denominator in all the "Reboot Loop" threads are dual and quad core intel CPU's . . .

Edit... on the rare occasion i could get into bios for a brief moment, I was able to "load Safe defaults" . This had worked months before when I was trying to recognize my velociraptor. Got it working and always used "load defaults" to recover from a prob....but not this time... just "restart... reboot, restart, reboot 4ever" If I got into bios, I could only stay there a brief moment before, blank screen, rebooting loop start... no beeps, no message. . . never had anything like this in countless builds and re-builds over 13yrs .

[acidjive]

Re: Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

I have:

-Gigabyte EP43-UD3L
-Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
-2GB G.skill DDR2-1066 (2x1GB)
-nVidia 880gtx 768mb

I experienced the reboot loop after forced shutdowns (holding power button down for 5 seconds to shut power off).

I found that the reboot loop went away if I removed my PCI-E card and instead used an old Mach64 PCI graphics card. Obviously I can't live without using a PCI-E graphics card, so I next focused on the memory. I put back in the PCI-E card and swapped out the DDR2-1066 G.skill ram for some slower DDR2-800 Corsair ram (2x512mb). The problem went away. So why won't the G.skill work?

After seeing a post on another forum, I figured I'd try setting the voltage for the memory at 1.8v. It had been set at auto, and I assume was using 2.0 to 2.1 volts which is what the G.skill specifies. I bumped it down to 1.8v and the problem went away. I put it at 1.9v and it was still good. At 2.0v the problem came back.

Why the Gigabyte mobo cant's seem to supply the memory with 2v or higher without exhibiting the reboot loop problem I have no idea. But at least for now, there is a work around by setting your DDR voltage to 1.8v.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

Auto would have most likely been using 1.8V and that could be the issue, please set your memory voltage yourself to 2.0-2.1V

As for your memory, that would be the issue not the board. If the ram fails to work at spec voltage then it may be faulty. Not always do you need the full amount specified, but if you do and it wont run stable otherwise then you need to RMA the memory.

If your memory is stable at 1.8-1.9 and passes all your tests then that is fine, and up to you if you want to RMA it or not.

[acidjive]

Re: Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

Auto would have most likely been using 1.8V and that could be the issue, please set your memory voltage yourself to 2.0-2.1V

As for your memory, that would be the issue not the board. If the ram fails to work at spec voltage then it may be faulty. Not always do you need the full amount specified, but if you do and it wont run stable otherwise then you need to RMA the memory.

If your memory is stable at 1.8-1.9 and passes all your tests then that is fine, and up to you if you want to RMA it or not.

Nah, I checked. When set to AUTO the RAM runs at it's specified voltage of 2.1v. However, upon a hard shutdown and then reboot, the board goes into the reboot loop. When only supplying the RAM with 1.8 or 1.9v it boots fine even after hard shutdowns.

Being that the reboot loop problem is so widespread with the Gigabyte motherboards, I don't think it's a problem with the RAM. My guess is that the motherboard does funky things when supplying 2.0 or higher volts to some or even many types of higher voltage spec RAM. But that's just a guess.

All I know is that the system works like a champ now, and all I had to do was force the DDR to only get 1.8v. Yeah the RAM may run a little slower, but at least it works.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

I suspect it is just a slight incompatibility with the ram, and not that the board does not like ram voltage about 2.0V. Although you could be right, very well could be something faulty in your board, but I don't suspect that or it would be unstable otherwise as well.

Glad to see you are stable and happy though! If you ever have the chance to borrow some other memory for testing I would do that, or pickup a different set sometime since DDr2 is so cheap these days

[acidjive]

Re: Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

I tried using some Corsair DDR2-1066 and that had the same issue. My belief is that you are right and that it is a RAM incompatiblity issue. But I believe that this model and perhaps more of Gigabyte boards are finicky when it comes to DDR2-1066. My guess is that the board will pretty much run any RAM modules fine at the original standard voltage of DDR2 memory, 1.8v and would be able to run most at 1.9. That should include almost all DDR2-800, since they are mostly 1.9v and lower. Since most DDR2-1066 ram is just overvolted DDR2-800 modules, you start seeing incompatibility issues with the mobo trying to supply this higher than standard voltage to the modules (sort of like when you try to overclock other components). Perhaps some DDR2-1066 modules will be compatible at 2.0v+, but my guess is for real compatiblity you either have to find 1066 RAM that runs at 1.9v or less, use 800 RAM that runs 1.9v or less, or under-volt your high-voltage 1066 RAM to bring it back within the original max specification of DDR2 ram.

[xopheak]

Re: Gigabyte motherboard - GA-EP45-DS3 reboot loop

Hello there,

I'm new to this forum, and I'm facing the same problem described in this thread : my computer based on an EP45-DS3 mobo is doing the "famous" reboot loop... and it's a very anonying problem.

This is my current configuration:

• GA-EP45-DS3 with the lastest BIOS in date (F9, F10 is beta)
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
• Corsair XMS2 2x 2GB, CL5 ( 5-5-5-18 ), 1.8V (TWIN2X4096-6400C5C)

The memory is actually an upgrade, before now I was using a Corsair XMS2 2x 1GB kit, C4 (4-4-4-12), 2.10V (CM2X1024-6400C4), for several years (since 2008) without any problems.

Recently I switched to this new 2x 2GB kit described there.
I installed it, then I cleared the CMOS with the jumper on the mobo and selected the "Load Fail Safe" parameters in the BIOS.
Everything seems to be OK in the BIOS : DRAM modules are recognized well, the informations about voltage, CAS and speed are corrects.

But now, the computer is very unstable : it's doing the reboot loop randomly, sometimes it'll starts and I'll able to use Windows for hours, sometimes not.

I can temporary fix the problem by removing the new RAM from the DIMM sockets and putting them in another sockets in a random way, and again, sometimes it'll work, sometimes it won't.
So I ran a Memtest86+ memory test with the two memory modules for about 10 hours (when the computer is fine to boot...), it did 7 pass without find any RAM errors, so I'm pretty sure the RAM are corrects.

And when I put back the old RAM (2x 1GB kit), after a clear CMOS and BIOS reconfiguration, the computer is working great...

I'm stuck, what can I do ?
Many thanks for your replies and suggestions.