strange problem with ga-ma78gm-s2h

[vengeance]

I have a weird problem with this motherboard. I installed windows xp on this pc and the drivers from the dvd provided with the motherboard and if i leave the pc powered off for more than 5 minutes (remove power cord from psu) when i try to start it gives me a message that windows could not start "missing C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\system". If the psu is powered this won't happen. When it happens, after one or more restarts windows seems to restore itself and starts normally. I checked if the file was really missing on a preinstalled environment and it is there. Also I was able to reproduce this malfunction with several CPU's, memory modules and hard drives.

One thing I noticed is that this happens only when I use xpress install from the original cd. I installed a copy of windows and used an all driver cd to install the components and none of the software that the motherboard came with and it didn't do that anymore.

Any idea what could be causing this? Has this ever happened to anyone else? Please help.

 

[Guest]

Change your motherboard.
Your GA-MA78GM is broken.
My GA-MA78GM is same with yours.

 

[vengeance]

yes i know it is broken. No good motherboard would do that. But i have trouble RMAing it since the people that I bought it from fail to see the defect and they already sent it back to me twice with "test ok". Can anyone be more specific please?

 

[jeb1517]

One thing I noticed is that this happens only when I use xpress install from the original cd. I installed a copy of windows and used an all driver cd to install the components and none of the software that the motherboard came with and it didn't do that anymore.

Seems to me like you already solved your problem. I doubt your motherboard is "broken", more of a software issue if you ask me. People resort to RMA too quickly, IMO.

 

[ZootyGray]

Perhaps a difference re raid drivers - express might install different config to other install.

Perhaps bios settings being lost?? battery?? (doubt that)

It's a weird one - my best guess at the moment.

What's the other install? express or ?? full, manual, slow, boring, etc?

 

[vengeance]

The mobo is new, so no bios settings lost. And yes, by installing the drivers I solve the problem tamporarily, but im not the end user of this thing. The person who will use it probably doesn't have my experience so the first time he will lose his o.s. and reinstall he will end up with windows crashing daily. And also the xpress install cd is the original software released by gigabyte. It's supposed to work correctly and it does on other mobo's like this one but not on this one in particular. I have noticed other people complaining about the same problem on forums but i wasn't able to find any reasons for it.

 

[aadinfo35]

I have the same strange problem.
I'm an IT pro. I made about 4 identical computers with GA-MA78GM-S2H + AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e + 1 GB PC2-6400 DDR2 Kingston + Seagate 160 GB ST3160815AS.
The same image disk with Windows XP home SP3 worked fine on 3 computers, but failed on only one computer.
So, I changed the SATA cable, the SATA hard disk, the RAM, the power supply. I disconnected DVD IDE and made a BIOS fail-safe default with SATA as IDE (not AHCI).
But the problem remains on one computer: after more than 5 minutes off, the message "windows system32..." appears sometimes (but not every time !!!) when booting. After rebooting several times with the same error message, XP finally works fine !
Any idea ?
Thanks in advance.

 

[pcurtiss]

Has anyone found a solution to this problem? It's so bizarre. I built my wife a computer over the holidays and I am experience the same issue. I tried installing two different OS (Windows XP home and XP pro) and experienced the same issue with both. I thought it was the HD and replaced it - but the same issue came up. I did test all the other equipment and it is working fine. I'm starting to think it is the motherboard. Any new info, if anyone has received it, would be great. Thanks!

 

[aadinfo35]

Has anyone found a solution to this problem? It's so bizarre. I built my wife a computer over the holidays and I am experience the same issue. I tried installing two different OS (Windows XP home and XP pro) and experienced the same issue with both. I thought it was the HD and replaced it - but the same issue came up. I did test all the other equipment and it is working fine. I'm starting to think it is the motherboard. Any new info, if anyone has received it, would be great. Thanks!

I sent back the mobo to the reseller. I received a new one and the problem disappeared without any other changes. The original mobo was certainly out of order.
http://www.aadinfo35.fr

 

[pcurtiss]

aadinof35,

Thanks! Unfortunately I am outside my return date to the reseller. I am going to see if I can return it to Gigabyte. Thanks again.

 

[ZeFred]

Hi Guys,

just an addon on this topic: I haven't experienced this issue but I cannot get 3DMarck06 started with my new system with this motherboard ....

[ Changing a DLL in prgramfiles/futuremark/MSC/ allows a workaround and 3Dmark06 starts but get really slow ! ]

Does it come from memory management, system itself, ... any other guess ?
Shall I try to tweak any service, anthing ....

My system doesn't seem to get anyother issue with any other application.
So I am afraid I cannot send back the motherboard just having this issue ...

(My system: MOBO: MA78GM-S2H Memory:3 GB Kingston 1066Mhz (running 800)
same issue with 3 GB Kingston 800Mhz - no graphic card - HD sataII 250GB - DVD IDE reader)