Here are my specs:

* Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core Processor 2.4GHz



* GIGABYTE Intel P35 + ICH9 Chipset DDR2 1066 ATX GA-P35-DS3L Rev 2.0 Motherboard



* Crucial Technology Ballistix BL2KIT12864AA804 2GB kit DDR2-800 PC2-6400 Memory


* Zalman CNPS9700 LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler w/Super Thermal Grease ZM-STG1, Fan Speed Controller FAN MATE 2


* Plus an HIS Ice3Q Radeon 3870 512

I am running this on a newer Rosewill 550 Watt SLI rated PS. I had no problems in the past with it, however I get two major problems with this build:

- When I turn it on, it stays on for about 3 seconds, shuts off, then turns back on.

- Two, when it does turn on, the screen gets artifacts, then I get some monitor error and it just goes black, but stays on.

I am wondering if the GPU is to blame...all of the temps and voltages look good using PC Wizard 2008 ...thoughts?

Ahh...the endless boot cycle from Gigabyte! Those motherboards are prone to this problem.

This is a common issue with this board, and many people has pinned the problem to the ram. It appears Crucial ram isn't very compatible with this board. To fix this problem, just use different ram.

I use Patriot ram, and I haven't had any issues with it...yet. I have this board too. The best way to solve this problem is RMA the board and get a different one.

^^ eh

Im not sure if its the memory
Im running Crucial perfectly well

agreed with the RMA

I had an old motherboard that had a sensitive RAM slot, it mystified me.. almost like the connections to the motherboard were barely touching. If I touched the ram or bumped the PC it would give me the 2 beeps (Indicating a RAM error), but if I pushed on the ram it would fix itself until the next bump.. man that was an annoying motherboard.

I'm using the same mother board with the same ram on another system and it is problem free. However, I am thinking the problem lays with the GPU drivers. Basically what happens is the system will get artifacts, then I get the following message:

"Your display driver has stopped responding and recovered"

then all the artifacts go away and the system runs fine. The turn on-off-on only happens when I have to reboot due to the driver error.

Well in Vista...there have been problems with some Nvidia drivers where the program will close and say driver nvmllsm (something like that) has stopped working and has recovered. I encountered it at first but it eventually went away

I'm going to RMA the board and try a new one.

Hmmm the screen gets artifacts. Maybe that overclocked HD3870 from HIS has problems.

I have the same board you have, but with Corsair memory. Mine boots, shuts back off, then powers back up again, just like you describe. The only thing is, when mine powers up the second time it loads normally. If, however, I have overclocked too aggressively, mine will do exactly what you describe (on the second boot, the screen stays dark). To fix it I have to reset the CMOS and try my OC settings again. So my question to you is, has it ever worked properly? If so, have you be OCing the FSB? If so, have you tried resetting the CMOS? Let me know!

Mine does boot normal the 2nd time around. I did OC my 6600 but my card is not OC'd. The PCI-e is set to 100MHZ. I will try to clear the cmos and start fresh, possibly with a fresh install of vista as well. The card, however, was getting artifacts even in bios. Swapping my 7800GT back in fixed that problem and it runs games just fine.

Other problem with the board is the front panel connector. I have the HD audio hooked up to the F_connector on the mobo, however when I plug my headset in, the screen just says "no signal" and goes black, requires a reboot.