Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

[Jrik]

I bought a GA-EP45-DS3L mobo, installed it, powered up; 4 LEDs & fans came on for 1/4 second, then shutdown, it kept repeating it till powered off. I put my old board back & it ran perfect, I then did it all again to make doubly sure, with the same result. I rang QCG (Brisbane Australia) who said to send it back for replacement, which I did; in the meantime they went out of business. I was about to order another one till I read of lots of people having problems getting the memory to work; is this a common problem, can it be fixed or should I stay away from this board.
PS. I don't want to overclock it. Thanks

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Memory works fine, you just have to set things up properly. And most you see are trying to overclock or use 8Gb of ram

Since you are not planning to overclock, depending on your ram amount and speed you may not have to change Anything.

But since you had one board already and sent it back, Maybe you do have 2x2 or 4x1 or more of ram right? If so you other board was likely fine and yes, you just needed to set things up properly

P35/X48 models would be much easier on your if you do not want to tweak many settings.

[Jrik]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Memory works fine, you just have to set things up properly. And most you see are trying to overclock or use 8Gb of ram

Since you are not planning to overclock, depending on your ram amount and speed you may not have to change Anything.

But since you had one board already and sent it back, Maybe you do have 2x2 or 4x1 or more of ram right? If so you other board was likely fine and yes, you just needed to set things up properly

P35/X48 models would be much easier on your if you do not want to tweak many settings.

That's reassuring & I only put 1GB RAM in though I intend 2GB; I didn't think this was the cause of the first mobos malfunction cos a millisecond wasn't even long enough for anything to happen or is there a way to change settings when things don't power up?. I've decided to get twin sticks of 800MHz, I can't find any Mushkin in Oz, should I be getting any particular brand?Thanks.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Na, you can only change things if you can get in the BIOS. If you cannot you should clear the CMOS. See my Pinned BIOS Flashing guide if you need to know about that.

Where is Oz, maybe I can help you shop. Brands I have tested personally to work well in Gigabyte boards are Mushkin, G.Skill, and GeIL

[Jrik]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Na, you can only change things if you can get in the BIOS. If you cannot you should clear the CMOS. See my Pinned BIOS Flashing guide if you need to know about that.

Where is Oz, maybe I can help you shop. Brands I have tested personally to work well in Gigabyte boards are Mushkin, G.Skill, and GeIL

I wish now I had tried clearing the CMOS (if only I'd known the seller would disappear) but I thought I'd better return it unmessed about with.
Oz is Australia, I live in Cairns, Far North Queensland so I buy parts online.
I looked at the QVL for GA-EP45-DS3L & I didn't see Mushkin or G.Skill, they do say due to the massive amounts... not all are listed but these are well known brands?
Thanks.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Clearing the CMOS is a normal procedure so you would be fine to do it anytime with any board. Alot of them even have a button to clear the CMOS, mine does.

So what happened finally with the board anyway, you sent it off and they went out of business. So did you get a board back or just get stiffed?

Yeah, that list is dated. Many I KNOW for sure work and are not listed, and many I think don't work are listed as well.

Yes, Mushkin and G.Skll are well known brands, as is GeIL. Where do you live, you say Oz, where is that? I can look around for you, or you can link me to your favorite stores and I could point you to some compatible ram if you like

[Jrik]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Clearing the CMOS is a normal procedure so you would be fine to do it anytime with any board. Alot of them even have a button to clear the CMOS, mine does.

So what happened finally with the board anyway, you sent it off and they went out of business. So did you get a board back or just get stiffed?

Yeah, that list is dated. Many I KNOW for sure work and are not listed, and many I think don't work are listed as well.

Yes, Mushkin and G.Skll are well known brands, as is GeIL. Where do you live, you say Oz, where is that? I can look around for you, or you can link me to your favorite stores and I could point you to some compatible ram if you like

Yes, I got stiffed, if I'd had foresight I'd have tried clearing the cmos. IF.
Oz is Australia; I found some Mushkin on Ebay & one of thier online stores Itsbits, there must be a little here but it's hard to find. Yes please
G.Skil,Geil,No Mushkin.
Computer Alliance
I've been looking at GA-EP45-UD3R released but not here yet, it might be worth waiting for, it looks really good, nice colour, good components, capacitors & it looks as if they've got descent cooling on the N & S Bdge chips.Do you like it?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Ahh Oz is Au eh? Why Oz? Just never heard that

So Itsbits, they have Mushkin? If so and it is not much more then those 2 places you linked for the others I would advise you to get that as it is much more smooth and easier to get going.

If not, what ram are you looking tio buy? I mean what amount and speed? And what is your price limit and I will suggest you some GeIL and G.Skills from those 2 stores

[Jrik]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Ahh Oz is Au eh? Why Oz? Just never heard that

So Itsbits, they have Mushkin? If so and it is not much more then those 2 places you linked for the others I would advise you to get that as it is much more smooth and easier to get going.

If not, what ram are you looking tio buy? I mean what amount and speed? And what is your price limit and I will suggest you some GeIL and G.Skills from those 2 stores

Oz is well known here, I assumed it was everywhere, it sounds the same as Aus.
I'm going to get 2 x 1GB sticks of PC-2 6400 800MHz. I want to get a twin kit, Itsbits only have twin kits of much slower than pc6400 so I'll watch them. I like the new board only thing my video card fan will use a pci-x bay, leaving me with only 2 pci-x 1 slots, GAEP45DS3L has 4 pci-x slots (leaving me 3) & 2 pci , the GAEP45UD3R has 3 pci-x & 3 pci slots (they both have pci-x 16), GAEP45DS3L has a better ratio considering pci is on the way out so I might still go with this, they do seem like a good board.
Thanks.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Ya, it does sound the same, I just wasn't sure with so many countries around the world where you meant

Good luck in deciding on a board.

[Jrik]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Ya, it does sound the same, I just wasn't sure with so many countries around the world where you meant

Good luck in deciding on a board.

I found Mushkin 2x1GB Kit, 800MHz, 5-5-5-15 latency green heatspreader (Aus$76.0 at Itsbits so I grabbed it. They are in Aus. you just have to look hard.
If I do have any problems, I see others post a memtest & you help them, can I do that? should I burn Memtest86 ISO onto a CD? & Gigabyte says for Qflash you need a floppy drive, should I get a floppy drive, in case? I have a USB 1GB flash drive FAT32.
Thanks Jrik

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Well, hope they do oK for you. The green ones are the old version of todays Silver ones, the "Value Ram" So they may not overclock so well. But they should be nice and stable

Yes, I will help you with settings for sure. I always suggest everyone has a floppy connected and set as first boot device incase you ever need to doa blind flash to recover a BAD BIOS BOOTBLOCK. But you can use USB for Qflash just as easy as a floppy (just put the BIOS file NOT the exe, on the USB and flash away) >>>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide-27576/

And do note, the "Bootable USB" method posted is not what you need, just the normal USB method mentioned above that section. That Bootable USB method is for some USB sticks give people issues

[Jrik]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Lsdmeasap; Should I burn Memtest86 onto a CD? ps I threw my floppy, cos I thought no-one ever uses floppies anymore; looks like I was wrong.
Thanks.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Floppy can save your life, grab ya a new one they are only $5-8!

You can use it from a CD in DOS, or you can put it on a Bootable USB if you like as well. If you need to know how to put it on USB let me know

[Jrik]

Re: Is GA-EP45-DS3L a problem

Floppy can save your life, grab ya a new one they are only $5-8!

You can use it from a CD in DOS, or you can put it on a Bootable USB if you like as well. If you need to know how to put it on USB let me know

I will get a new floppy, thanks, I shouldn't have thrown the old one.
Yes please, I didn't know you could have a bootable USB but it's logical. I downloaded the ISO, is that the right one?
I've only seen Mushkin blue, green & redline, not silver; though it sounds good.
Thanks.