Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

[Ubernooblet]

I apologize about the length of this issue, but I saw how helpful this community has been for this board and I really want this to be fixed.

I recently had the unfortunate opportunity of several of my graphics cards going bad. I had originally sent this board in for an RMA because the PCI-E slots were defective and not working. I was told it was repaired and received the board back. I recently had two GTX 550 ti graphics cards running in SLi go bad. I could understand one card going bad, but both at the same time made me suspicious. I purchased a replacement GTX 670 FTW which upon connection to the board would not get recognized by the motherboard. I RMA'd that video card and received a replacement card. This replacement GTX 670 FTW did connect to the motherboard, but it would lose connection after about 5 minutes regardless if I was in the BIOS or in Windows. This happened in both PCI-Ex16 slots. This is my most current problem. I have spoken with the tech support for this card and am having this one RMA'd as well. It will be here in 4 days.

Due to the rare circumstances of 4 different graphics cards going bad within 10 days I was wondering if something is wrong with my motherboard again?

Some other symptoms I have been having are:
Sometimes the windows 7 themes will not launch correctly (random)
Sometimes I get a loading icon for what seems like several minutes when I try to right click on my desktop
motherboard cache errors (Only saw this come up twice and I think is likely due to clearing CMOS so much)
It has always powered up for about 5 seconds, then powering off for 2 seconds, then finally booting to BIOS after another 5-10 seconds of powering up.
Once it reaches the BIOS it can take up to 5 minutes before it finally enters windows.
It also starts crashing with more than 8GB of ram even though I am running windows 7x64 which is supposed to allow at least 16.
When booting to safe mode, it gets to the welcome screen and then restarts.

I was wondering if you could tell me whether or not these symptoms are being caused by something going wrong with my motherboard again.

Please note:
Most of these problems have been occurring with BIOS FH, but I had to clear my CMOS in an attempt to troubleshoot my graphics cards so I am back at stock.
My power supply has already been tested and replaced about 1 year ago
My ram has passed one memtest cycle
I would update the bios to FH, but I have no working graphics card to navigate so I can update it.

Some additional testing I performed:
I took the time to test my old 550ti's in a different computer and they passed a 15minute test on furmark without any errors, so I may have been RMA'ing cards for nothing.
Tested one of these back in my affected computer after it had been unplugged and with only 1 stick or ram inside and it didn't have any issues for the 20minutes I was on before rebooting.
I then tried 3 sticks of ram (slots 1,3,5) and it appeared to be running ok, then I hopped into a game of RisingStorm and the screen flashed white and then acted like there was no card connected again.
After this happened I have not been able to get the computer to get back into bios. I am hearing either 1long and 1 short or 1long and 2short beeps when it tries to post.

Again, sorry this is so long. I really just want my computer to work.

[Ubernooblet]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

Sorry forgot to include this in previous post.

I have(All stock, no overclocking):
corsair TX 750W PSU
i7-950
H100i water cooling with running push/pull config
2-8gb of Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333Hz
Haf-X Case with stock number of fans
4 Sata HDD
1 DVD/CDR+RW
GA-X58-UD3R Rev 2 Mobo in BIOS FF
GTX 670 FTW Sig 2 (New Card)
2x GTX 550ti in SLi (Old cards)

[rclark]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

Hey Ubernooblet.
I will include a link to my troubles a while back that I had with the exact same board with a Corsair 850 TX psu. Turns out that replacing the power supply with a more efficient gold rated psu solved problems I was having for a very long time. I thought some of the problems before were from my video card drivers, but now I have had " 0 " problems with anything ( knock on wood---ha !! ). Read through the post and see if this may help ( I sure learned a lot about the importance of a good psu from a great teacher --ProfJim--).
Here is the link http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte...e-ud3r-v2.html
I am sure some of the more seasoned guru's can give much more specific advice but this may be a good read none the less.
Also--I live close to Greensboro,NC so hello from another Carolinian.
see ya--- rclark


ps--A big hello to ProfJim and Wazza !!!

[Ubernooblet]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

Thanks, rclark!
Hello from Raleigh.

I will have to look into the PSU. I unfortunately don't have any better PSU's laying around and I prefer not to be that guy that buys something, use it for 2 days and return it haha. I will have to see if I can find something good to test with that's not too pricey. Would a tester be worth it, or its it likely something I wouldn't see on a tester?

I really hope its not the mobo, I don't want to wait the several weeks for them to repair it if I can. Sooner I can figure this out the better. I really hate being stuck using my 5 year old laptop at this point.

If anyone else has thoughts, comments, or suggestions I would love to hear them!

[profJim]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

I have a psu tester but it is little better than a voltmeter that will let you quickly scan psu cables for under or over voltage conditions when your power supply is at idle. When the voltages are within specification, this does not mean that your power supply is providing clean and stable power when it is under load. The best power supply review sites own and use test equipment that costs $5000 or more so that they can put various loads on each psu to see if it is stable and within spec in a high temperature environments for an extended period of time.

Most of the psu testers at Newegg sell for $15 - $25 and they are only good for a quick and dirty test to see if there are any gross voltage problems when the psu has a minimum load.

Newegg - PC tools/ Testers, psu testers

The Rosewill RTK-PST Digital LCD Power Supply Tester seems to be somewhat sturdier than the other units and it has an outer metal cover.

[Vinster]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

My first thought in reading your post I immediately started thinking your Power Supply.

that PSU is not a cheap PSU, but who know if it was damaged or degraded due to your past issues. I'd think that PSU should be fine for your system especially since now you are only running 1 GPU.

Issue with Computer Power supplies is they are switching Power Supplies, they require a load to output and all those meters that you plug in-line only tell you if there is a voltage there, says nothing about current which is 99% of the problems out there...

What normally happens is a leg of the PSU will start to fail and not be able to output it's expected 80%... it could be 50%... then once you get to using 50%+ the switching PSU just drops that leg and continues on with the other legs... once the load drops below what it can output and the PSU sees a load, it turns that leg back on...

if you have a totally failed leg then those meters will tell you, but when that happens something else won't start in the PC and the meter is just telling you something you already know.

PSU degradation is a pain to troubleshoot.... do you have a very small GPU that you can try and can you take out the platter HD's?

try to run the system with minimal components and see if it still happens.... I'd guess that the PCIe power connection going to your GPU's would be the leg causing you the issues.

and your system should be able to take and use 24GB of ram, as long as you are not using Home Edition of Win7.

Vin

[Ubernooblet]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

Thanks for the insight profJim and Vinster.

I may just purchase the new power supply and see what happens. The lowest power card I have is a very olt ATI card, not sure of the model, that does not require additional power. The computer boots up with this old card althrough the picture is very jagged and very unreadable text. The post screen information looks kind of like playing a game of centipede if you get what I mean. This may be because the card is more than 9 years old and has been sitting around in dust and was in a old computer that got lugged around just in case.

Not sure if the bad picture is due to damage, no drivers supporting it or the PCI-E slot. The fact that it does work and will boot leads me to think that it may in fact be my power supply.

If you guys think this is still PSU, do you think I should get a gold or platinum certification PSU?
Also what kind of wattage? I feel like 750W may have not been enough and was considering the HX 850 from corsair.
Was considering the enermax platimax 850, corsair AX 860i platinum series or the seasonic 860 platinum to rule out everything and make sure this doesn't happen again... Its my birthday tomorrow so I guess I could treat myself...lol

Thanks again for all your help.

[Vinster]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

those are all good choices but just make sure that you get a power supply that had a single rail.. multi-rail PSU's are garbage as they never have the power where you need it... if you pay attention to what goes where on the different +12V rails and their current allocation it's horrible. Single Rail PSU is the only way to go imo

I have a ~10yr old ATI Silent EH3650.. it's PCIe 1.0 and works like a champ in every rig I toss it in... it's my troubleshooting GPU.... I'll bet you have a driver issue or some odd-ball compatibility issue.

Vin

[Ubernooblet]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

Thanks, I actually went with the Seasonic 1000W platinum. I know it was probably overkill, but I want this problem GONE haha. It had great reviews and luckily enough has a single rail.

I will let you guys know how it goes!

[Vinster]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

Please do.

Vin

[Ubernooblet]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

Well to be thorough I tested my RMA'd card (arrived today) with the possible problem power supply and it gave me the graphics card beeps, then restarted and then got to the bios screen and lost picture immediately. So, I tore out my old PSU and am awaiting the arrival of the new one. Just giving you guys an update.

Thanks again for all your help!

[rclark]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

Hey Ubernooblet,
Great pick in power supplies. Looking forward to seeing how things go after the switch. I sent my Corsair 850 back ( 5 year warranty )and got a new one that I am keeping as a backup if I ever need one ( Corsair really honors their warranty ).
see ya ---rclark

[profJim]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

those are all good choices but just make sure that you get a power supply that had a single rail.. multi-rail PSU's are garbage as they never have the power where you need it... if you pay attention to what goes where on the different +12V rails and their current allocation it's horrible. Single Rail PSU is the only way to go imo

< snip >

Vin

I disagree.
A well designed multi-rail power supply is an equally good option if you know what to look for.
On the original Antec TP-750 New power supply web page, it was rated for 40 amps (480 watts) maximum on each of its four 12 volt rails. The nominal rating was 25 amps per 12 volt rail. In Antec TruePower New 750 W (TP-750) Power Supply Review | Hardware Secrets they drew 27 amps each from the +12V1 and +12V3 rails and 10 amps each from the 5 volt and 3 volt rails during their full load test. In their overload tests, two of the 12 volt rails were each loaded with 32 amps and the power supply's total output was 924 watts.

With a single 12 volt rail, you don't need to be concerned with over current limits (OCP) for each 12 volt rail or if the manufacturer properly balanced and allocated the electrical loads for each 12 volt rail. There have been a few high power power supplies that had six 12 volt rails with a nominal rating of 25 amps per rail.
I wonder if higher powered single rail power supplies can also do well as a light duty D.C. arc welder.

The rest of Vinster's psu information is right on the money.

[parsec]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

I disagree.
A well designed multi-rail power supply is an equally good option if you know what to look for.
On the original Antec TP-750 New power supply web page, it was rated for 40 amps (480 watts) maximum on each of its four 12 volt rails. The nominal rating was 25 amps per 12 volt rail. In Antec TruePower New 750 W (TP-750) Power Supply Review | Hardware Secrets they drew 27 amps each from the +12V1 and +12V3 rails and 10 amps each from the 5 volt and 3 volt rails during their full load test. In their overload tests, two of the 12 volt rails were each loaded with 32 amps and the power supply's total output was 924 watts.

With a single 12 volt rail, you don't need to be concerned with over current limits (OCP) for each 12 volt rail or if the manufacturer properly balanced and allocated the electrical loads for each 12 volt rail. There have been a few high power power supplies that had six 12 volt rails with a nominal rating of 25 amps per rail.
I wonder if higher powered single rail power supplies can also do well as a light duty D.C. arc welder.

The rest of Vinster's psu information is right on the money.

Our friend JonnyG has said the same thing, and said he's seen single rail PS's where you could short the 12V rail to ground, and the PS would not shut off. You've seen the 12V CPU power cable connector melted at the mother board input connection, due to shorts and then way more than the max specified 24Amps cooking it.

Single rail PS's were pushed on us by PS manufactures for several reasons:

Cheaper to make than multi-rail.

Far fewer problems from stupid users that cannot balance their loads, and have no concept of that in the first place. This is really the main reason why PSU manufactures do not want to deal with multi-rail designs.

Users do everything they can to use as few cables as possible, so rails are overloaded with multi-connector adapter cables connected to a main cable. Add modular PS's to the equation, same issue. Imagine telling users they must use two or three cables, when one would suffice in their eyes. That PSU would be labeled as no good.

They also don't want OC protection, if that kicks in on a multi rail design, the PSU is considered weak.

Actually, I'm wrong about single rail being pushed on us, they were accepted with open arms.

[profJim]

Re: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 2 list of problems

Aw shucks, you're just saying that because it's true.