More problems with my EP45-UD3P

[dclayw]

This build is 3 years old now. Had a lot of problems early on with memory timings but has basically been running pretty well for a couple of years now. Gets used a lot, heavy gaming etc.

Today it just powered down while in Windows (7). No BSOD or anything, just shut down. It continually tried to power up but would not post at all. It wasn't the "normal" continuous reboot cycle that is common with these boards, it was simply just powering on for a few seconds, then powering off, then powering on etc. nothing being displayed on monitor, monitor remained in power save mode.

Disconnected all peripherals, keyboard, mouse, hard drives, same result. Removed gfx card and memory, same result. Took the motherboard out of the case, same result. Connected a working power supply from another machine, same result. What happens is the 6 phase leds light up, the CPU fan starts to spin for maybe 10 secs, then the power shuts down, then it repeats, indefinitely. Does the same with both power supplys. Do those phase leds give some indication of what the problem could be. I can't remember what those leds do under normal running conditions. Anyway, the leds are 2 green, 2 yellow, then 2 red.

What else can I try? Sounds like it's the motherboard? How can I confirm if it is the motherboard causing the problem.

One thing I did notice when I pulled the machine apart is that the case fan that sits directly behind the CPU wasn't working, looks like it had seized up, (I thought I had a BIOS warning on that). It wasn't dirty or anything, but was very stiff. Initially I thought power supply might have been having a hard time trying to spin this fan and fried itself. The CPU fan also seemed to be spinning much slower when it was going through the power cycle on/off, maybe I was just imagining that. Anyway, this power supply powers up another PC, but I didn't give it a full workout.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated. I want to rule out any other possible causes as best I can before I ditch the motherboard.

[dclayw]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

I've now fully tested the power supply by putting it in another machine, firing up windows and running prime95 to give it a bit of a stress test. So the power supply is OK.

I reconnect the power supply. I disconnect the case power switch cable from the board and manually jumper the power switch pins. All I got from that was a brief spin of the CPU fan. Why is this any different from just having the case power switch cable connected? Reconnected the case power switch.

I put one stick of memory in and power it up. It seems to fire up OK (I have no video card or hard drive yet). The CPU fan is now spinning at what I would call it's normal speed, i.e. faster (and it's leds are brighter), and it stays powered up. Without this memory stick the CPU fan spins slower (the leds are duller) and it just does the continuous power up/down every 10 secs or so. So I put a video card in and I get video output, looks normal. Connect the hard drive and it loads windows OK. Now running prime95 just to stress it a bit.

So it might be an intermittent problem with the board. Or there may have been a short when the board was in the case. But I was getting the exact same behaviour with the board out of the case. Things only start to look normal when I insert a single memory stick. Why is this so?

[Hyper530]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

Is it 1.0 or 1.6 revision of MB? Suggest you may check the RAM and PSU first, and try with latest version BIOS from website

[jimmor]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

I've now fully tested the power supply by putting it in another machine, firing up windows and running prime95 to give it a bit of a stress test. So the power supply is OK.

I reconnect the power supply. I disconnect the case power switch cable from the board and manually jumper the power switch pins. All I got from that was a brief spin of the CPU fan. Why is this any different from just having the case power switch cable connected? Reconnected the case power switch.

I put one stick of memory in and power it up. It seems to fire up OK (I have no video card or hard drive yet). The CPU fan is now spinning at what I would call it's normal speed, i.e. faster (and it's leds are brighter), and it stays powered up. Without this memory stick the CPU fan spins slower (the leds are duller) and it just does the continuous power up/down every 10 secs or so. So I put a video card in and I get video output, looks normal. Connect the hard drive and it loads windows OK. Now running prime95 just to stress it a bit.

So it might be an intermittent problem with the board. Or there may have been a short when the board was in the case. But I was getting the exact same behaviour with the board out of the case. Things only start to look normal when I insert a single memory stick. Why is this so?

I tend to find that the "RED" memory slots work best on this mobo !

So is it that your setup only works with 1 memory stick fitted, or have you yet tried with 2 sticks as a pair using both the YELLOW or RED slots --> maybe one of your mobo's memory slots has gone bad ?

[dclayw]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

The build was stable for around 2 years running with 2 sticks in the red slots. Currently have just one stick in red slot with the board sitting outside the case, 5 hours prime95 with no problems. There is the possibility that a short has developed somewhere when the board is the case, although, when I first took the board out of the case it had the same power cycle problem that it had when it was in the case. It did not start "working" again until I added this one memory stick to the bare board (nothing else connected except CPU and the case power cable). The board is very clean, no dust etc, and no broken traces or any signs of damage, as far as I can tell. Note that I have confirmed that the PSU is fine.

It's working right now but I expect I'm going to continue having problems, who knows with these boards. I just hate these intermittent type errors. Very hard to track down.

[jimmor]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

The build was stable for around 2 years running with 2 sticks in the red slots. Currently have just one stick in red slot with the board sitting outside the case, 5 hours prime95 with no problems. There is the possibility that a short has developed somewhere when the board is the case, although, when I first took the board out of the case it had the same power cycle problem that it had when it was in the case. It did not start "working" again until I added this one memory stick to the bare board (nothing else connected except CPU and the case power cable). The board is very clean, no dust etc, and no broken traces or any signs of damage, as far as I can tell. Note that I have confirmed that the PSU is fine.

It's working right now but I expect I'm going to continue having problems, who knows with these boards. I just hate these intermittent type errors. Very hard to track down.

Ok, so it works with 1 stick in a RED slot. Does it matter which RED slot is used ?

Also is it only one specific memory stick that works ok, or do you get same results nomatter which memory stick you try ?

And does same results happen when you try with the YELLOW slots ?

Just trying to establish that all mobo memory slots are ok; and that it isn't just that you have a faulty memory stick ?

Of course, I am also assuming that you have Manually set the DRAM volts in the Mobo's Bios. Try to set it a bit higher than recommended for whatever MHz you want it to run ?

Also, not that it would likely cause your particular problem, have you tried Shorting out the CMOS memory ---> just in case there is some corruption of data ?

When dealing with unexplained Shutdown or continuous Rebooting issues, shorting the CMOS memory should be one of the first things to try!

Removing BAD CMOS Data is the reason your Mobo comes fitted with 2 pins marked CLR_CMOS --> just need to short them together for a couple of seconds. Of course, since doing this will reset all your Bios's settings, it will then be necessary to enter the BIOS and change its settings to whatever you require for your setup !

[profJim]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

Removing BAD CMOS Data is the reason your Mobo comes fitted with 2 pins marked CLR_CMOS --> just need to short them together for a couple of seconds. Of course, since doing this will reset all your Bios's settings, it will then be necessary to enter the BIOS and change its settings to whatever you require for your setup !

In some cases, you will need to:

• unplug the power supply from the wall outlet
• remove the motherboard battery
• press and hold the front panel on/off switch for 15 - 30 seconds
• place a jumper block on the CLR_CMOS pins for 15 minutes, several hours or overnight

Don't forget to remove the jumper block and replace the battery before re-starting your system.
You should immediately:

• enter the bios
• load optimized settings
• save settings and exit
• re-enter the bios
• make any required bios settings
• save settings and exit

Read the user manual that describes saving and loading up to 8 different bios profiles.
This will make it easier for you to save different bios profiles while testing and/or overclocking.

[jimmor]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

In some cases, you will need to:

• unplug the power supply from the wall outlet
• remove the motherboard battery
• press and hold the front panel on/off switch for 15 - 30 seconds
• place a jumper block on the CLR_CMOS pins for 15 minutes, several hours or overnight

Don't forget to remove the jumper block and replace the battery before re-starting your system.
You should immediately:

• enter the bios
• load optimized settings
• save settings and exit
• re-enter the bios
• make any required bios settings
• save settings and exit

Read the user manual that describes saving and loading up to 8 different bios profiles.
This will make it easier for you to save different bios profiles while testing and/or overclocking.

Wow, you really know how to frighten people !

Fortunately however with this mobo it's only necessary to have the Computer switched off before Shorting the CLR_CMOS pins --> and shorting for more than just a very few seconds would be considered OVERKILL.

Everything else you say about setting the BIOS options and Bios Profiles however, is spot on

[profJim]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

shorting for more than just a very few seconds would be considered OVERKILL.

In theory, your are correct.
Your quickie approach often works, but.....
There are many instances in the forum when even the extended cmos clear did not work until it was repeated with the battery removed, psu unplugged, etc.
I didn't create the detailed approach, but I've seen many cases where the detailed cmos clear finally cleared things up and let the system boot.

What is so frightening about the detailed approach that I suggested?
Is it a PITA? Yep, kind of.
Does it often work when other approaches fail? Yes.
Does it always work? No.

[Acebmxer]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

Yes ProfJim is correct on this. Quite often a short clear fixes alot of this but also quite often a extended clear of upto 24hrs is need and has fix a lot of issues. So this is not overkill.

[jimmor]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

In theory, your are correct.
Your quickie approach often works, but.....
There are many instances in the forum when even the extended cmos clear did not work until it was repeated with the battery removed, psu unplugged, etc.
I didn't create the detailed approach, but I've seen many cases where the detailed cmos clear finally cleared things up and let the system boot.

What is so frightening about the detailed approach that I suggested?
Is it a PITA? Yep, kind of.
Does it often work when other approaches fail? Yes.
Does it always work? No.

I don't doubt that an extended OVERKILL approach may have been found necessary with some of the many mobo types out there.

However, my point was more about what was necessary for the EP45-UD3P; which is the subject of this thread. And it's a mobo which I've had a number of years experience with experimental hardware/software trials where clearing the CMOS had on occasion become a necessary part !

[profJim]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

The more I know, the more I know I don't know...

I find that hard to believe.
Readers of this thread are free to adopt either procedure.
We are here to share information and experience.
I originally said:

In some cases, you will need to:

Debating the cmos clearing options further will not help solve the issue at hand.
Any further posts in this thread debating quick versus extended cmos clearing techniques will be deleted.

[Koksik22]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

In some cases, you will need to:

• unplug the power supply from the wall outlet
• remove the motherboard battery
• press and hold the front panel on/off switch for 15 - 30 seconds
• place a jumper block on the CLR_CMOS pins for 15 minutes, several hours or overnight

Don't forget to remove the jumper block and replace the battery before re-starting your system.
You should immediately:

• enter the bios
• load optimized settings
• save settings and exit
• re-enter the bios
• make any required bios settings
• save settings and exit

Read the user manual that describes saving and loading up to 8 different bios profiles.
This will make it easier for you to save different bios profiles while testing and/or overclocking.

Man you save my EP45-UD3P, i tried everything and yesterday i was going to throw out my mainboard, somehow i found your post tried block cmos for 20hours and its working like new one. thank you soo much.

[profJim]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

You're welcome, glad to help out.

I have never needed to use the "overkill" procedure, but over the years I've seen this procedure fix many motherboards when other procedures failed.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting about your success.

[Koksik22]

Re: More problems with my EP45-UD3P

You're welcome, glad to help out.

I have never needed to use the "overkill" procedure, but over the years I've seen this procedure fix many motherboards when other procedures failed.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting about your success.

problem backs, in month pc turn off 2 times and i couldnt make him work till i used your overkill procedure again