Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

[Precarious]

Hi all, I was told this was a good place to ask about this. I've just upgraded my system, new mobo and case, so I took everything and swapped it out of my old system, got everything installed and now I can't seem to get windows to run or even install sometimes (tried both Vista and 7 64-bit home premium about a dozen times each). Best case scenario so far is I get Vista installled and then it freezes or crashes while I try and install my wifi drivers.

I disabled C1E and EIST. Only one stick of memory is currently in the system, at 2.1 V. Everything else is 'stock' in the bios. I've tried setting the memory to 800, no good, tried changing the MCH voltage up and down, no good.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm a photography student and I have a TB or data on two externals right now waiting to be put back into the system... getting a little nervous.


Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P

Wolfdale E8400 @ 3.00 Ghz

PNY GTX 275 video card

8 GB OCZ Platinum Rev.2 DDR2 8500

OCZ Agility 60 GB SSD

Kingston 60 GB SSD

Corsair TX 750 psu

ATCS 840 coolermaster case

LG CD/DVD Burner

D-Link Xtreme-N DWA-552 wifi

[Chike]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

What is the board revision and BIOS version installed?

Begin with loading BIOS optimized defaults.
Set Perrformance enhance standard

Run 8+ pases of memtest86+. If you get any errors try to narrow the problem to which modules and/or slots it happens with. Test one pair in slots 1 & 3 and the other in slots 2 & 4. Test individaul sticks if a pair seems to be at fault, replace it with the other pair to see if the problem persists.

What is the default memory frequency and what is the ram voltage in PC Health status?

[Precarious]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Board Revision 1.6

Memory frequency is 1066 and DDR18V is 2.108 in PC Health Status

Memtest86+ is something that I'd have to install in Windows yes? I can't get that far, and only have a single memory stick installed at the moment on advice from others.

I also don't know how to find my BIOS version.

[Chike]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Memtest86+ runs under dos or from a bootable CD, you can download it and other programs from http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/late...y-tools-30530/
BIOS version is displayed near the upper left of the screen at POST, either disable Full Screen Logo (Advanced CMOS Features) or press tab at boot time.
BIOS versions would be Fx(where x is A B or D) for your board.

The system crash even with one memory stick only?

[Precarious]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Bios is Fd.

And yup the system is just as unstable with 1 stick as with all 4. I also have run windows memory diagnostic several tiems with several different configuratins of memory and no issues. I'll work on the memtest though.

[Chike]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Was the system installed with 1 stick of memory? It may already have corrupted files.
After you finish with memtest86+ maybe it would be best to reinstall OS with one stick of ram at DDR-800 and minimum hardware installed, and try to find out what exactly cause the problem.

Having your system specs in your forum signature will help to keep track. Add also the board rev. and BIOS vers. and a link to ram specs at manufacturer site if possuble.

[Precarious]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

The system has been installed several times with one stick of memory but I can't get through an entire install without having to restart. Sometimes windows will still boot but it isn't a clean install.

Memtest went smoothly, re-installing now at 800.

[Precarious]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Just can't get a clean install. Always freezes at some point.

Could it have something to do with the SSD's?

[Chike]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Could be, have you tried instaling on both of them?
Disconnect anything else, usb deviced, the wifi card, just one hard drive and the dvd.
Do you have a reg disk and another video card to test with?

[Precarious]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Only have the one video card and it dosen't seem to matter which hard drive I use.

[Precarious]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Could something be broken?

I've tried ten more installs with different settings and it's always the same. Freezes during install or the OS freezes as soon as it starts.

[Chike]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Something is broken, question is what.
Since you tried 2 different installations it's probably not the installation CD.
All memory sticks can't be faulty either, so if you tried at least 2 of them in 2 different slots (one memory stick configuration, slot 1 and slot 2) we can assume it is not the memory (unless there is a compatibility issue with this model and the board).
You tried 2 different hard drives, so it's probably not them either.
Now it's down to the PSU, video card, board and CPU.
If you can find other PSU/video card/CPU to test with it will be the best, otherwise you can contact GB support and try to get and RMA.

[Precarious]

Re: Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

Big surprise... iit suddenly worked? And I don`t really know why. But after installing with just one stick of ram and the SSD (for the dozenth time) I've now got all 8 GB or ram, six hard drives and two externals in and running without a freeze or shutdown.

The only thing that won't go is the DWA-552 wifi card. It's not giving me unsigned driver errors anymore but code 10 'device can't start' errors. I've used the newest D-Lik drivers as well as atheroes drivers with no luck and tried both PCI slots with the same results. I may just buy a new card as apparently this one is a pain in windows 7 (although it was fine with the RC).

I really appreciate all the help from everyone!