Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L can't utilize GTX260?

[gandalf615]

Ok so I built a new system last night, consisting of the following:

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L
EVGA Geforce GTX260 216 Superclocked Edition
Corsair XMS DDR2 800 (2x2GB)
Intel C2D e8400
Corsair 750TX
Antec 900
Sony Optiarc 16x DVD-ROM
W.D. Caviar 500GB HDD
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1

Now here's the problem:

Trying to boot up a game (Crysis Warhead, Call of Duty 4) or a benchmark (3dMark06 and the Windows Vista performance...thing) makes the system lose its signal to the monitor. It doesn't shut off or anything but it hangs up until I reboot. Specifically, the monitor goes black and goes into Standby mode.

Here's what I've tried:

MemTest and Orthos to eliminate the memory and CPU.
Result: works perfectly

Swapping GTX260 for spare 8800GS.
Result: works perfectly

Reverting to old nVidia drivers, then to the newest from their website, then back again to the ones on the CD that came with the card.
Result: doesn't fix the problem

Swapping GTX260 into another build (with a cheapo Gigabyte G31M-ES2L).
Result: works perfectly


So at this point it looks like the issue has to do with my motherboard, or at least the way the board is interacting with the card. I guess the next step might be a BIOS flash (it's F8 right now)? I see on Gigabyte's website that version F5 "fixed VGA compatibility issues," but I already have a more up-to-date version than that...


Was just hoping that someone here might have additional suggestions, or maybe even have experience with this specific problem...


Thanks in advance!

 

[jlao03]

My friend had a similar problem with a different build. I told him to do the bios flash anyways and it worked. Other than that, update everything you can Direct3d drivers, nvidia drivers, os drivers, mobo drivers, and if all else fails. RMA.