Faulty GA-M57SLI-S4?

[Crlaozwyn]

Recently I purchased all-new components for a new computer:
an Antec nine hundred case
Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4
4 sticks of DDR2 800
AMD 5000+ Black with Zalman cooler
550W Rosewill PSU
an eVGA 8800GT SSC
(hard drives pulled from an older, working case)

I've had slight problems with it since the beginning - it would freeze up when trying to install Vista. I did some basic testing and thought it was two sticks of the memory. After pulling two sticks, Vista installed fine. After a few days of good performance (other than some expected Vista BSoDs), the computer has gotten quite finicky. When I turn it on, sometimes the vidcard won't engage (the fan spins at full speed for about 3 seconds and then slows down to 29% default when it works. If it freezes, it just stays at 100% and never gives output to monitor). Provided the vidcard DOES work, it will sometimes freeze when testing memory, and then again when scanning HDs. If it makes it past these things, it might freeze at the Vista loading screen, or BSoD as soon as I actually see the Vista desktop. Then there's always the off chance that it'll just die while I'm actually using it. I'm dual-booting XP and it does the same, although slightly less often.

It's obvious (at least it seems to me) that something in my box is faulty. Due to the timing of the errors, I'm guessing it's the mobo. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance!

Crlaozwyn

 

[LukeBird]

Yeah sounds like the mobo to me.
I had the pretty much the same problems with my board and sent it back. Would freeze on ost screen, in BIOS, changing settings in BIOS etc. although I never loaded as far as windows!
Unless its a HD (which it doesn't really sound like) I'd say it was the board.

 

[Crlaozwyn]

I've got 3 HDs (1 with vista and another with xp). I've booted it with just each of the OS's and still had freezes. On reading my description, it makes it sound unusable... Once I get it up and running, it might work for 7 or 8 hours before it freezes/crashes. And if it doesn't boot right, I usually just have to let it sit for 15 minutes or so, and then it might work. I did reseat the mobo to make sure that all the insulation-ring-things were properly placed, and they definitely are. Still doesn't fix the problem... and the machine is also much more likely to lock-up when it's under load.

 

[Crlaozwyn]

My apologies for the double-post, just have something important to add: it wouldn't boot for me at all, so I tried booting it up with all the DDR2 removed - no beeps or anything. Then I reinstalled the DDR2 in the other 2 slots and it booted up fine - I'm typing this message on it. Anyone else want to confirm that my mobo is crazy, or have other suggestions? Thanks!

 

[LukeBird]

Madness!
The really annoying thing for me, is that the board I ordered and received yesterday is one of these and I can't get it to boot either!
I just a black screen and nothing else....
Guess I'll try pulling the RAM tonight!

 

[Crlaozwyn]

Keep me posted on how your board does... Mine fired up fine today (which in some ways is even more maddening than having it not work), and has been working so far this morning. If I get anymore weirdness, I'll post it here... I'm just trying to figure out if anyone knows of anything else that could be causing this.

 

[LukeBird]

I'd pretty much narrowed the problem down to CPU or mobo until someone pointed out it could be a PSU problem...
I hadn't really thought about that as all fans etc. come on switch, but I do think that might be my problem...
I'm going to be able to pick up my old PSU over the weekend so I'm going to try that and see.
Damned annoying anyway, as my machine has been dead for over a week now

 

[evongugg]

Test the memory with memtest86+ also.
Test the hard drive with manufacturer diagnostics.

 

[Crlaozwyn]

Both hard drives and memory check out fine... I don't know of a way to test the PSU, but the computer has worked perfectly since switching the slots for memory. It looks like I'll be RMAing this mobo unless someone knows of a way to test the PSU or other ideas...

 

[LukeBird]

I tried my old PSU and nothing so I'm screwed if I know what the problem is!
I'm tempted to try a new PSU and RMA the current board and see what happens from there!
Damned annoying....

 

[Crlaozwyn]

Any chance these problems could be CPU related? Any way to test the CPU (or does it basically not boot if you have a bad CPU)?

 

[evongugg]

Did you set the memory to the right voltage?
Look at CPU-Z also. Anything out of norm?

 

[LukeBird]

Memory was fine before, it booted on looser settings and lower voltage fine.
I tightened them and upped the voltage a long time ago, so no problem there.

I guess the problems could be CPU related... but the fact my old system wouldn't boot with the new PSU, to me indicates PSU. I have a new one coming in a couple of days so I'll try again then.
Hope that if the PSU was faulty it didn't fry the replacement mobo either
That will be a major pain in the ass, because I'll have no PC until mid Jan I'd imagine!

 

[Crlaozwyn]

I'm with you on that LukeBird... my new memory comes today - if that doesn't fix all my probs, my mobo is going home for a replacement, and I'll be back on my old turtle of a computer for a few weeks...

 

[LukeBird]

Well I should get my PSU tomorrow so I'll test tomorrow evening (i'm in the UK) and post m results following.
Will be a royal pain in the arse if it has screwed the mobo, because that pretty much means my PC will not be a PC until mid-jan I'd have thought, at best!
I'm trying to buy a Powerbook 12" for an everyday thing and keep my PC for gaming

 

[hands11112]

I recently built a system with the same motherboard, an AMD 4800 processor, 2 1GB sticks of Crucial Ballistic DDR2 800 PC6400, a 750W Vortec PS. At first I had frquent blue screen crashes. It turns out the default memory voltage on this motherboard is 1.8VDC and the memory requires 2.2VDC. Once I adjusted the voltage in the BIOS the problem disappeared. Recently I added a wireless adapter and it has happened a couple of times.
Hope that helps.

Recently I purchased all-new components for a new computer:
an Antec nine hundred case
Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4
4 sticks of DDR2 800
AMD 5000+ Black with Zalman cooler
550W Rosewill PSU
an eVGA 8800GT SSC
(hard drives pulled from an older, working case)

I've had slight problems with it since the beginning - it would freeze up when trying to install Vista. I did some basic testing and thought it was two sticks of the memory. After pulling two sticks, Vista installed fine. After a few days of good performance (other than some expected Vista BSoDs), the computer has gotten quite finicky. When I turn it on, sometimes the vidcard won't engage (the fan spins at full speed for about 3 seconds and then slows down to 29% default when it works. If it freezes, it just stays at 100% and never gives output to monitor). Provided the vidcard DOES work, it will sometimes freeze when testing memory, and then again when scanning HDs. If it makes it past these things, it might freeze at the Vista loading screen, or BSoD as soon as I actually see the Vista desktop. Then there's always the off chance that it'll just die while I'm actually using it. I'm dual-booting XP and it does the same, although slightly less often.

It's obvious (at least it seems to me) that something in my box is faulty. Due to the timing of the errors, I'm guessing it's the mobo. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance!

Crlaozwyn

 

[LukeBird]

I tried my new PSU just now and NOTHING!!
Still getting no display on boot and nothing else.
I cleared CMOS and pulled everything except CPU, still no boot.
Point at faulty CPU?
I have posted another thread in the CPU forums...
I am well and truly pissed off and ready to throw my PC out of the window!!

 

[sporadic]

I'm with you on that LukeBird... my new memory comes today - if that doesn't fix all my probs, my mobo is going home for a replacement, and I'll be back on my old turtle of a computer for a few weeks...

AMD athlon 6000 AM2
Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4
Corsair 2GB ddr2 800 4-4-4-12
nVidia 7950GX2
Audigy 2
Samsung Spinpoint 500GB sata2 3gb/s


I seem to have a very similar problem.
I bought mobo, video and cpu on ebay to save costs and now I am wishing I had just gone the usual channels. Seems to only like to boot if it is warmed up, It has to be repeatedly reset maybe 10 or more times before it will start to boot and that is just to get to the bios, most of the time it just stops before kicking on the monitor. When it gets warmed up a bit then it will beep and start windows, it might then keep going or lock up a few times. But then it will eventually get windows booted up and may freeze on blue screen of death, or just freeze. But eventually once it is really warmed up it seems to be ok and runs fine....As long as you never switch it off.... Doing my head in this thing!! have tried changing voltages to ram, re-flashing bios, got a new power supply, swopping memory around. Ordered a new mobo Asus this time, with onboard video so hopefully i will be a bit closer to solving this issue then. Anybody give me any kind advice to put me out of my misery?

 

[achew]

it sounds like your ram to me try new ones or borrow some from a friend sounds like your getting alot of ram dumps. might be the cpu as well i'm not a comp expert.

 

[sporadic]

it sounds like your ram to me try new ones or borrow some from a friend sounds like your getting alot of ram dumps. might be the cpu as well i'm not a comp expert.

Cheers for the help, I think you are right that it is either the memory or the cpu. I had previously swopped the memory about as a pair putting it in dual channel mode but last night i tried just putting one stick of 1gb ram in so it is in single channel mode and it booted up fine. The cpu has the memory controller on it with the latest Athlons as far as I can gather, so maybe dodgy ram or cpu? Gonna order some more ram, maybe try geil this time see if that helps.





AMD athlon 6000 AM2 dual core
Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4
Corsair 2GB (2x1gb) ddr2 800 4-4-4-12
nVidia 7950GX2
Audigy 2
Samsung Spinpoint 500GB sata2 3gb/s
OCZ StealthXStream 600W power supply

 

[amdalex]

What kind of new PSU did you try? The Rosewill PSU's are pieces of ****. If you have one that works you're sitting on a bomb, that will probably take your pc with it when it goes. You should get something well known like an Antec, Cooler master, Thermaltake, Seasonic, Xclio, Corsiar, and others. If I were you I would buy a well known high quality PSU and then see how your pc works.

 

[amdalex]

Also if something was wrong with the CPU it would not boot up or turn on at all.

 

[pictone]

Hey guys! It seems like I found the right place. Unfortunately, I don't have any answers either.

I just built a new system with AMD 5200+, GA-M57SLI-S4, 2x1GB DDR2 800 from A-Data, XFX Geoforce 8600GT and an Antec Sonata III case with 500W power supply. I have not modified any default BIOS settings. All are set to auto.

I can install 32-bit Vista successfully, but then as I work on the system, I experience random lockups, requiring hard reboot. When I do this, the disk gets corrupted, and if I do enough chkdsks, eventually it wont restart at all and then I must reinstall Windows. The lockups seem to occur when I start multitasking.

So, when it first started happening, I RMA'd both the mobo and processor back to Newegg. I received the replacements for both and the exact same thing happens. I can successfully run memtest and prime95 without any errors.

So, I took out the new DDR2 800 ram and put back DDR2 533. Same problem. I took out the new XFX graphics board for my old ATI Radeon X850. Same problem.

Basically, the only constant through all this is the power supply. The PS came with the Antec case. It is an Earthwatts 500 watt power supply. Here are the readings from Speedfan. Perhaps someone can assist with this, because I don't know what to make of it:

vcore1: 1.1v
vcore2: 1.92v
+3.3v: 3.25v
+5v: 4.89v
+12v: 12.29v
-12v: -16.72v
-5v: -8.78v
vbat: 3.07

The -12 and -5 look way off, but I don't know much about this. If it's not the PS, then could it be the chipset drivers with Vista?

Any direction would be greatly appreciated. I'm about to RMA the mobo and processor again. This time for Intel.

Thanks.

 

[nufio]

I pretty much have the same problem!!!!

mobo : GA-M57SLI-S4
proc : athlon 64 x2 6000
mem : 4 x 1GB ddr2
hdd : 500 gb segate sata 3gbps
video : 8800 gts 320
wireless card: dlink

But I am pretty sure its something wrong with the vista drivers.... I have dual boot and in Xp it runs perfectly fine. So im guessing it is some motherboard, driver for vista thats screwed up. or it could be my wireless card driver. the wireless card driver. Sadly i cant update vista because to get connected I need the lousy wireless card. It could never get past windows update. It does freeze up even without that. Im thinking its the mobo drivers though. I can see that my mobo is rev 2. but they have given me drivers for 1.1. I guess it doesnt make any difference, as I tried downloading the rev 2.0 drivers from their website and it still freezes.

 

[mpnuttall]

I'm having problems with a new build PC with this mobo in too. Crashes, non-boots and the like. It seems that the only constant throughout all these posts is the same mobo - some suggestions about memory and power supplies, but different ones in each case. Thinking about ditching the mobo and getting an entirely different one...and keeping my fingers crossed that this solves the problem.