Troubles with Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H

[altazi]

Hello All,

I have been having truly irritating problems with my GA-MA78G-DS3H motherboard (BIOS is F4, latest). Additional information: CPU is Athlon X2 5000+ BE @ 2.8GHz, RAM is Crucial Ballistix 2 x 1GB DDR2 800, HDD is WD SATA2 640GB, PSU is Antec TruePower 2.0 480W, video is on-board mobo (no video card is used), OS is Windows XP 32-bit home (SP3). System was tested as stable with Memtest86 and Prime95 for > 24 hours.

First problem: It has the nasty start-up/reboot problem, which I haven't been able to resolve. At start-up, the system doesn't always start; sometimes the fans and drives spin up, but nothing happens past that. It generally requires a total power-off (switch on the back of the PSU) to get a good start. Googled this numerous times, never found a good solution.

Second problem: Fails to restart, probably closely related to problem #1. Doing a restart from Windows results in a shut-off. This also requires a complete power-off cycle to restart properly.

Third Problem: System randomly shuts down. Sometimes this happens when you are using the system, other times we come up to the computer and see that it has shut itself off during the night. This doesn't appear to be thermal problem, as this happens during web browsing or playing simple solitaire game. I managed to catch one of these random shut-downs while I was running PC Wizard 2008; it showed CPU temp as 42*C, other temps and voltages were OK.

I would really appreciate some suggestions, as I am at wits end with this. Especially, I'd like to hear from other owners of the GA-MA78G-DS3H mobo.

Thanks!

 

[royalcrown]

I was just looking at one to buy , so if you guys know of other cases with this board, please do tell.

 

[altazi]

Awww. . . C'mon, guys. I know this isn't one of those posts where you can skate in and say "you need to use thermal compound on your heatsink" or "your power supply is crap", but I was hoping for at least a FEW suggestions!

 

[redrabbit803]

from what I've read a lot of people have had a similar problem. I think it has something to do with memory voltages (defaulted at 1.8V) check and see what voltage your memory needs and set it high until it is stable. 1.9V - 2.0V

 

[altazi]

Great suggestion. HWMON reports my RAM voltage as 2.18-2.19V, which is darn close to the 2.2V I set. The Crucial memory requires the higher voltage. The memory passes Memtest86, so not sure what else I could do with the memory.

Any other thoughts? Anyone? Is my mobo bad? Does this mobo have a design flaw? Will a new rev of BIOS fix this, or should I just toss it?

 

[toothtooth]

I have the same board. (GA-MA78G-DS3H)
I get problem with reboot after power up.

This happened after I upgraded to the latest drivers from amd/ati.



I thin the problem may be with the southbridge drivers in the package. Or possibley the catalyst control centre.

I have just gotten thyis board and am just getting familiar with it.

Cannot remember exaCTLY WHAT i did lat night . It may work with just the video display driver updated and the rest(catalyst control and southbridge drivers) left to gigabytes latest or cd version.

 

[altazi]

Toothtooth, are you saying that you had the same problem and fixed it? Can you try to remember what you did?

Surely there are other GA-MA78G-DS3H mobo owners besides toothtooth and myself. Any feedback? Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

 

[Guest]

I've got very similar problem. I'm using 2 hdd: seagate 500gb SATA and samsung 250gb IDE. After waking up system loses IDE drive. If i somehow solved the problem i'd let you know. (though it's more likely you would let me know

 

[Guest]

Altazi : Third Problem: System randomly shuts down. Sometimes this happens when you are using the system, other times we come up to the computer and see that it has shut itself off during the night. This doesn't appear to be thermal problem, as this happens during web browsing or playing simple solitaire game. I managed to catch one of these random shut-downs while I was running PC Wizard 2008; it showed CPU temp as 42*C, other temps and voltages were OK.

Try to switch power scheme to "home-office desk". Maybe it'll help.

 

[altazi]

Power scheme is set to home/office desk already. . .

 

[yo_stefan]

I have managed to fix the restart/boot problems with my GA-MA78G-DS3H motherboard. I have received my motherboard with the bios version F3. After contacting Gigabyte on their web I have received a standard response that did not help me at all and decided to fix the problem myself. Anyway here is the fix:
- at start-up pres DEL to enter the BIOS;
- once you have entered the BIOS setup press CTRL+F1 to view the hidden BIOS features;
- go "MB Intellingent tweaker" (M.I.T)
- set "EPP MODE" to "Disabled"
- set the "Set Memory Clock" option to "Manual"
Hope this helps all you GA-MA78G-DS3H owners out there as you will not get any useful info from Gigabyte.
Best of luck!
Stefan

 

[mcdrums]

Thanks for tips, i done everthing as you suggest and now my "devil machine" works as flash
BG

 

[seayhorse]

I have (had) the same board with the 5000+

The machine failed to restart, reboot (from DOS/ BIOS), and sometimes cold boot consistently. It would hang in lala land with fans going and hd's lights on, but nothing.
I tried different PSU, every bios setting. Crucial RAM is listed on the Supported hardware list at gigabyte's site.
At first the "tri-clock mem state" option in the DRAM BIOS setup [enabled] seeemed to fix the problem, but months later, nothing would. The boys at gigabyte eventually agreed to RMA (on my dime) the 3rd board (the first 2 RMA's at newegg).
Upon shipping Fedex to Gigabyte for RMA, Fedex broke the board, and I am waiting now for FedEx to send me the reimbursement for the board.

At this point, I have paid shipping at least six times from west coast to east coast and back. I have paid the value of the board or more in shipping, and have yet to get one that actually does what it's supposed to do. All had this problem.

When I talked to the Tech Support at Gigabyte, I was told that many customers with this board and the microATX version have the same problem.

I suspect we'll see more of it in their latest 790GX board that looks like it's made on the same lines.

 

[robertcowie]

Wow...I'm having the exact same problems as you all are having. Same board (latest BIOS), same Crucial Ballistix ram (4gb in 4 sticks), and everything happened after upgrading ATI drivers to the 8.10 version. things seemed to work better with 8.11, but then WOTLK came out, and I had to install it 9 times to get it working at all....within those 9 times were 3 reformats of my OS (XP Pro SP3), and several alcoholic beverages! I ran MemTest and several other tests last night and get errors anywhere between 2% - 15% through the tests. The results don't tell me which stick is bad, so I'm going to get new ram tonight and try that....and just RMA the Crucial. I'll use it in another system, or sell it.

I'll post my findings.
Cheers!

 

[lmbrguy]

This is probably the most stupid thing you ever heard but here goes. I had the exact same problems with my board.....I tryed everything. Something i had read which kinda made sence to me so i gave it a try. Most of the current m/b retention screws are a sort of countersunk head.....if you look at the m/b it had metallic spots all around each hole to make contact with the screw and ground the board. The countersunk screws CANT touch the grounding pads to properly ground the board. I just removed all the screws and replaced them with the old type screw with a washer made onto it . It touches the pads and makes perfect contact for a ground.All of the screws dont ground but a couple of them are tied to the ground circuitry of the board. I just soft booted 10 times in a row and hard booted 10 times perfectly. Approx 8 seconds to post beep each time.Be sure to manually set the dram timing to your particular memory and give it a try......youve got nothing to lose but a big headache.Oh Ya............i even unplugged the power cord between boots and pushed the power button to completely unload the board and it still boots like it should everytime...........Oh Ya.......since i grounded the board,ive been able to turn the cool and quiet feature off for a change.

 

[lmbrguy]

well guys.....sorry to say but this DIDNT fix the computer.......I think im gonna send the whole works back and start over.

 

[nthk106]

I bought this motherboard a little while ago and I am unable to boot. All I get is a blank monitor and these periodic long beeps. I've seen the other post about the codes..etc and from that it tells me I have a RAM problem. I've looked up as much as I can and can't find a solution. The RAM not compatible?

RAM I am using is CM2X2048-6400C5 G.

 

[lmbrguy]

remove the ram and see what ya get when you try to boot

 

[lmbrguy]

I changed the mb to a MSI.....It booted and set everything up properly from the beginning...........no more problems

 

[Guest]

lmbrguy:

I had EXACTLY the same problem. About eight months ago, I got a nice Antec case, a Phenom III 2.3 gHz, some of the same Crucial Ballistic RAM (4x1g) sticks, WD Caviar Black 500 gig drive, and put it all together and ... NOTHING. Dead. No beeps. No lights.

RMA'd the board to NewEgg. Second board .... also NOTHING.

Was talking to another tech on the phone (I do boring LAN/Networking stuff for work) and was telling him about the aggravation, and he said, "just for sh_*s and giggles, set it all up sitting on a cardboard box, and see what happens." Sure enough, it all boots up with things daisy-chained all over a cardboard box and a kitchen table.

The board was grounding on the case. Solution: went out to some hardware store and picked up those very thin almost clear poly washers, and put one (or two, depending on height, and checking against the fit of the rear panel connections) on all fasteners for the motherboard to the case. I also had to get the board high enough so this weird rectangular flange on the underside of the board - part of the heat sink assembly for the processor - would not directly hit the case metal, about an eighth of an inch extra clearance, if my memory serves me right.

I am happy to say (knock on my "Tiger Wood" ) I haven't had a single blue screen to date. I slipped in another WD drive and installed Windows 7 Pro Ultimate, and no hiccups at all in the dual boot setup with XP Pro - much to my pleasant astonishment.

I actually was looking for help on setting my memory timings manually, since I don't want to mess with anything too much .. buuuuut I am curious about speeding it up if I can.

Hope this helps some of you with the DOA's - I just think the board has some unprotected copper hitting metal.