- Jul 22, 2014
- 14
- 0
- 10,510
EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 GPU
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboard
IntelCore i7-3770K CPU
CoolerMaster 750W Bronze PSU
So let’s start with the beginning. I built my computer around a year ago, and ever since I’d owned it it had been causing me problems. Most prominently these problems manifested themselves in an uncommonly lengthy startup procedure (The motherboard screen would stay up for about five minutes, maybe a bit less) where I was unable to access BIOS alongside a frequently crashing Graphics Driver. Assuming that this was a heating issue of some sort (I was new to the whole “PC maintenance” thing) I tried a variety of different attempts at fixing the issue to no avail. The driver would still crash frequently and I was still unable to access BIOS during the long startup.
Eventually, two or three weeks ago, the problem became so severe that I was unable to fully start the computer, as it would load the motherboard screen and then simply fade to black. I looked up a number of online fixes and tried my hand at a bunch of them, but it didn’t do me much good. Eventually, I admitted defeat and had the computer inspected at a Fry’s Electronics. Upon its completion, the inspectors told me that both one of the memory sticks and the GPU were faulty, and that I should get them replaced.
Okay, annoying, but nothing too difficult about that. I sent in the GPU almost immediately and sent in the RAM a few days later (I’m still waiting for that to return) but continued running my PC from the internal graphics and my single 8gb stick of RAM.
It ran flawlessly. I mean, sure, I could no longer run any of my games at higher levels, but the startup was about ten seconds long, the screen never froze up or hung, nothing went wrong at all. It was the first time in a very long time (read: ever) that the computer had absolutely no issues running for a full week and a half.
Anyways, my problems started up again two days ago when my replacement GPU arrived via UPS. Eager to get back to gaming, I turned of the system, popped the card it, booted it up, and - uh oh - received the extended booting time once again where I was unable to access BIOS. Concerned that the new GPU was faulty as well, I looked up a number of fixes online until I found this website (http://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?faqid=59421) posted by EVGA recommending fixes in the BIOS settings on different motherboards.
I thought that would be a fairly easy fix, so I temporarily popped the card out, changed the two settings shown under “Gigabyte” (though there was not a “PCIe Slot 1” option for Init Display First, I did change it to “PCI”), turned off the system, popped the card back in, and booted it up.
Sure enough, the system started flawlessly. Booted up in a fast ten seconds, gave me easily accessible BIOS, and all while running the graphics through the GPU. It seemed like a godsend, and it worked just fine for around an hour, so I decided to play League of Legends for a bit. There were no issues for a very long time, until during one of the games my screen simply froze. Unlike the other times, where the graphics driver had crashed before I’d ordered a new GPU and memory, the screen just immediately stopped moving and no sound playing through the headset. It was like someone had taken a picture of the screen and pasted it over the display. I restarted the computer, continued on my day, and was annoyed when it happened a few more times. Fearing the worst, I contacted my friend online who’d helped me build the computer.
My friend suggested that it may be the SSD failing, and recommended I download Seatools to check that out. I did as instructed, and the S.M.A.R.T. test failed on the SSD, even when I attempted plugging it into different SATA ports. I thought I’d found the issue, so I backed up the important data on my SSD/HDD to a flash drive, took out the SSD, and did a fresh install of Windows 8 onto the HDD. After installation, I booted up and installed drivers and whatnot, everything seeming to run flawlessly for about five hours until it - you guessed it- froze yet again in the exact same way. The HDD passed the S.M.A.R.T. test with flying colors and the Windows install had been completely clean, so I knew it couldn’t be either of those things, and I set out to try and find a solution.
Working with the advice of my friend, I began trying different methods to see if I could make the freezing stop. I uninstalled the Nvidia drivers with the GPU plugged in to see if that could help, which did nothing. I took out the GPU entirely and ran the PC using the internal grapics, nothing. I switched wall sockets, tried Windows repair, monitored the heat of different components using Speccy, un-plugged and re-plugged all the PSU’s power cables inside the case, jiggled the case to make sure nothing was falling out of place, checked for viruses and malware, and everything of the sort. No avail. Regardless of what I tried, the freezing still continued. It was eventually suggested that I run in Safe Mode, which gave me an...interesting result. At first I thought the PC had frozen again, since the mouse stopped moving, but I noticed the PC didn’t shut itself down and that the clock in the bottom left corner was still running. Un-plugging and re-plugging the keyboard and mouse (as well as some cheaper models that I typically use in my laptop that I could just plug in and use with anything) I determined that the USB ports simply stopped working, as nothing could connect to any of the ports anymore (and believe me, I tried all of them). Eventually the display turned off since I was unable to move the mouse, so I manually turned off the PC and booted it back up.
It took us a while, but my friend and I eventually found a few forums online where people with similar builds were having similar issues. these two (http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2244025, http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/48463-gz-z77x-ud5h-random-freezing-shutdowns-10.html) forums both offered similar solutions, so I figured that the BIOS changes that I’d made upon re-recieving the GPU must be causing the freezing issues, and I tried a step-by-step method to try and stop it. First I simply reset the BIOS using the button on the motherboard. Still froze. Then I removed the GPU and tried the same thing - still froze. Then I went into the BIOS and made the recommended changes (Intel Internal Graphics turned to “Activated, changed "DRAM Voltage" to 1.550 from 1.500, changed CPU/PCIe Base Clock to 101 MHz instead of 100 MHz, and set C6/C3 to "disabled") and booted up, hoping that would work. Still froze. I inserted the GPU and hoped that would work. Still froze. I retained those settings and also made the changes recommended on the EVGA website (Changed "PCI ROM Priority" from "EFF Compatible" to "Legacy", changed "Init Display First" from "Auto" to "PCI") and started it up. Still froze. The last few times I’ve attempted startup, I actually seem to receive the same issue as I had during the Safe Mode start (the USB ports will simply stop working and I will be unable to plug anything in/register), but it often times still simply freezes and shuts down after roughly two or three minutes. Occasionally I will have startup issues as well (I believe that sometimes it simply freezes on the ‘Gigabyte’ screen, as it will hang there for a minute or two before shutting down), and my computer may access Windows Recovery or attempt to install Windows Updates as though something was faulty with that.
Honestly, I have just about no idea what to do at this point, so any suggestions that may help me fix these issues would be a godsend.
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboard
IntelCore i7-3770K CPU
CoolerMaster 750W Bronze PSU
So let’s start with the beginning. I built my computer around a year ago, and ever since I’d owned it it had been causing me problems. Most prominently these problems manifested themselves in an uncommonly lengthy startup procedure (The motherboard screen would stay up for about five minutes, maybe a bit less) where I was unable to access BIOS alongside a frequently crashing Graphics Driver. Assuming that this was a heating issue of some sort (I was new to the whole “PC maintenance” thing) I tried a variety of different attempts at fixing the issue to no avail. The driver would still crash frequently and I was still unable to access BIOS during the long startup.
Eventually, two or three weeks ago, the problem became so severe that I was unable to fully start the computer, as it would load the motherboard screen and then simply fade to black. I looked up a number of online fixes and tried my hand at a bunch of them, but it didn’t do me much good. Eventually, I admitted defeat and had the computer inspected at a Fry’s Electronics. Upon its completion, the inspectors told me that both one of the memory sticks and the GPU were faulty, and that I should get them replaced.
Okay, annoying, but nothing too difficult about that. I sent in the GPU almost immediately and sent in the RAM a few days later (I’m still waiting for that to return) but continued running my PC from the internal graphics and my single 8gb stick of RAM.
It ran flawlessly. I mean, sure, I could no longer run any of my games at higher levels, but the startup was about ten seconds long, the screen never froze up or hung, nothing went wrong at all. It was the first time in a very long time (read: ever) that the computer had absolutely no issues running for a full week and a half.
Anyways, my problems started up again two days ago when my replacement GPU arrived via UPS. Eager to get back to gaming, I turned of the system, popped the card it, booted it up, and - uh oh - received the extended booting time once again where I was unable to access BIOS. Concerned that the new GPU was faulty as well, I looked up a number of fixes online until I found this website (http://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?faqid=59421) posted by EVGA recommending fixes in the BIOS settings on different motherboards.
I thought that would be a fairly easy fix, so I temporarily popped the card out, changed the two settings shown under “Gigabyte” (though there was not a “PCIe Slot 1” option for Init Display First, I did change it to “PCI”), turned off the system, popped the card back in, and booted it up.
Sure enough, the system started flawlessly. Booted up in a fast ten seconds, gave me easily accessible BIOS, and all while running the graphics through the GPU. It seemed like a godsend, and it worked just fine for around an hour, so I decided to play League of Legends for a bit. There were no issues for a very long time, until during one of the games my screen simply froze. Unlike the other times, where the graphics driver had crashed before I’d ordered a new GPU and memory, the screen just immediately stopped moving and no sound playing through the headset. It was like someone had taken a picture of the screen and pasted it over the display. I restarted the computer, continued on my day, and was annoyed when it happened a few more times. Fearing the worst, I contacted my friend online who’d helped me build the computer.
My friend suggested that it may be the SSD failing, and recommended I download Seatools to check that out. I did as instructed, and the S.M.A.R.T. test failed on the SSD, even when I attempted plugging it into different SATA ports. I thought I’d found the issue, so I backed up the important data on my SSD/HDD to a flash drive, took out the SSD, and did a fresh install of Windows 8 onto the HDD. After installation, I booted up and installed drivers and whatnot, everything seeming to run flawlessly for about five hours until it - you guessed it- froze yet again in the exact same way. The HDD passed the S.M.A.R.T. test with flying colors and the Windows install had been completely clean, so I knew it couldn’t be either of those things, and I set out to try and find a solution.
Working with the advice of my friend, I began trying different methods to see if I could make the freezing stop. I uninstalled the Nvidia drivers with the GPU plugged in to see if that could help, which did nothing. I took out the GPU entirely and ran the PC using the internal grapics, nothing. I switched wall sockets, tried Windows repair, monitored the heat of different components using Speccy, un-plugged and re-plugged all the PSU’s power cables inside the case, jiggled the case to make sure nothing was falling out of place, checked for viruses and malware, and everything of the sort. No avail. Regardless of what I tried, the freezing still continued. It was eventually suggested that I run in Safe Mode, which gave me an...interesting result. At first I thought the PC had frozen again, since the mouse stopped moving, but I noticed the PC didn’t shut itself down and that the clock in the bottom left corner was still running. Un-plugging and re-plugging the keyboard and mouse (as well as some cheaper models that I typically use in my laptop that I could just plug in and use with anything) I determined that the USB ports simply stopped working, as nothing could connect to any of the ports anymore (and believe me, I tried all of them). Eventually the display turned off since I was unable to move the mouse, so I manually turned off the PC and booted it back up.
It took us a while, but my friend and I eventually found a few forums online where people with similar builds were having similar issues. these two (http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2244025, http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/48463-gz-z77x-ud5h-random-freezing-shutdowns-10.html) forums both offered similar solutions, so I figured that the BIOS changes that I’d made upon re-recieving the GPU must be causing the freezing issues, and I tried a step-by-step method to try and stop it. First I simply reset the BIOS using the button on the motherboard. Still froze. Then I removed the GPU and tried the same thing - still froze. Then I went into the BIOS and made the recommended changes (Intel Internal Graphics turned to “Activated, changed "DRAM Voltage" to 1.550 from 1.500, changed CPU/PCIe Base Clock to 101 MHz instead of 100 MHz, and set C6/C3 to "disabled") and booted up, hoping that would work. Still froze. I inserted the GPU and hoped that would work. Still froze. I retained those settings and also made the changes recommended on the EVGA website (Changed "PCI ROM Priority" from "EFF Compatible" to "Legacy", changed "Init Display First" from "Auto" to "PCI") and started it up. Still froze. The last few times I’ve attempted startup, I actually seem to receive the same issue as I had during the Safe Mode start (the USB ports will simply stop working and I will be unable to plug anything in/register), but it often times still simply freezes and shuts down after roughly two or three minutes. Occasionally I will have startup issues as well (I believe that sometimes it simply freezes on the ‘Gigabyte’ screen, as it will hang there for a minute or two before shutting down), and my computer may access Windows Recovery or attempt to install Windows Updates as though something was faulty with that.
Honestly, I have just about no idea what to do at this point, so any suggestions that may help me fix these issues would be a godsend.
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