SOLVED - Cannot get GA-EP45-UD3P stable

[mcsemel]

Current nightmare:
Intel E8600 3.33Ghz (NOT overlocked)
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
Kingston kvr800d2/2gr 2x2GB DDR2-6400 RAM (6-6-6-18/800 Mhz)
Sapphire ATI HD4850 1GB DDR3
2 Western Digital 500 GB SATA HDDs (RAID 1)
ZeroTherm BTF80 CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste (installed according to Arctic Silver's directions for a Core 2 Duo chip)
Rosewill 750W Xtreme PS
Samsung 226CW LCD via DVI
PowMax ATX Case
Windows XP Professional SP3

I've been posting over at Tweaktown and despite suggestions there, cannot get a stable system after purchasing all new hardware at Newegg two weeks ago. The automatic settings the board set the first time allowed me to get Windows installed the first night after the build but then the system started shutting off on me randomly after I got all of the device drivers loaded. (See the entire gory story HERE.)

The BIOS settings as they stand right now are posted below. I'm running with one memory stick in slot 1, one IDE DVD, the GFX card, 2 SATA HDDs in RAID 1, a USB mouse, and a USB keyboard and nothing else at the suggestion of the TweakTown forum moderator, trying to get the thing to quit powering off on me during Windows install.

MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............: [Fast]
CPU Clock Ratio ...........................:10x
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:+0.0
CPU Frequency .............................:3.33Ghz (333x10)


Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: [Disabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: 333 Mhz
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) .........:100

C.I.A.2 ...........................................:[Disabled]


Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
CPU Clock Drive...........................: 800 mv
PCI Express Clock Drive................: 900 mv
CPU Clock Skew ..........................: 0 ps
MCH Clock Skew .........................: 100 ps

DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [Standard]
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [Auto]
System Memory Multiplier ..............:[2.40B]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ...............:800
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................: 6 [Auto]
tRCD ......................................... 6 [Auto]
tRP'........................................... 6 [Auto]
tRAS.......................................... 18 [Auto]

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD........................................... 3 [Auto]
tWTR.......................................... 3 [Auto]
tWR............................................ 6 [Auto]
tRFC........................................... 56
tRTP........................................... 3 [Auto]
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:0 [Auto]

Driving Strength Profiles
Driving Strength ............................ 800

Channel A
Static tRead Value.........................: 9
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:1 [Auto]
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:0 [Auto]
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:0 [Auto]
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:0 [Auto]
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:6 [Auto]
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:6 [Auto]
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:5 [Auto]
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:8 [Auto]
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:[Auto]
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:[Auto]
DDR write training..............................[Auto]

Channel B
Static tRead Value.........................: 9
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:1 [Auto]
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:0 [Auto]
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:0 [Auto]
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:0 [Auto]
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:6 [Auto]
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:6 [Auto]
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:5 [Auto]
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:8 [Auto]
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:[Auto]
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:[Auto]
DDR write training..............................[Auto]

Motherboard Voltage Control
Load Line Calibration........................[Disabled]
Voltage Type.………... [Auto]

CPU
CPU Vcore….……….........................:1.18750V [Auto]
CPU Termination…..... ......................:1.200V [Auto]
CPU PLL………………….....................:1.500V
CPU Reference.…………........................:0.760V [Auto]

MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....[Auto] (it WAS manually set to 1.260V and went further into the Windows install than it does now but still shut off without warning when I tried to input the computer name during setup.)
MCH Reference….…….0.760V [Auto]
MCH/DRAM Ref.…......0.900V [Auto]
ICH I/O……………….....1.570V
ICH Core…………...……1.200V

DRAM
DRAM Voltage ……....2.000V
DRAM Termination .…0.900V
Channel A Reference 0.900V
Channel B Reference 0.900V

Advanced Settings
Limit CPUID Max. to 3.....................: [Disabled]
No-Execute Memory Protect............: [Disabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)................: [Enabled]
C2/C2E State Support....................: [Disabled]
x C4/C4E State Support..................: [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Enabled]
Virtualization Technology................: [Disabled]
Dual bios Recovery Source.............:HPA

Integrated Peripherals
SATA RAID...................................:[RAID]
SATA Port 0-3 Native Mode.............:[Enabled]
USB Controller...............................:[Enabled]
USB 2.0 Controller.......................:[Enabled]
USB Keybord Support..................:[Enabled]
USB Mouse Support.......................:[Enabled]
Legacy USB Storage Detect ..............:[Enabled]
Onboard SATA/IDE........................:[Enabled] Nothing's plugged into the purple SATA ports
Onboard SATA/IDE Control Mode.....:[RAID/IDE]


I'm so tired of fighting with this system I'm about ready to ship the entire rig back to Newegg. I DON'T want to overclock my PC, I just want it to run! Help!

 

[chuckm]

Check this or post your problem here;
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=205132

 

[bilbat]

PERSISTENCE!

You only have five posts over at tweaktown; Lsd can certainly help you better than I can, and, if you'll look around, there are threads with more than five dozen posts...

Go back, and stick with it - he'll get you running and stable - he always does!

Good luck,

Bill

 

[mcsemel]

@chuckm - I can't post on this forum. Their site isn't sending verification e-mails so I can't complete the registration.

@bilbat - I'm not getting responses on my posts anymore. I'm running out of time to send this board and/or other components back for an RMA if there's something wrong with the hardware.

I read somewhere that the UD3P boards don't do the memory multi of 2.40B right. I changed it to 2.00B and managed to get Windows installed but the system dies as soon as I try to run an app.

I put the system back to 2.40B and lowered the DRAM voltage back to 1.84 and lowered the Vcore as well and the one time I managed to get into Windows and got Easy Tune running, my proc speed was fluctuating wildly from 1.9 Ghz to 3.33 Ghz. When I checked the PC Health in the BIOS, all of the voltages were fluctuating 100-300mV. This can't be normal, can it?

 

[bilbat]

Disable CPU EIST; it's 'throttling back' your system in response to perceived loading...

 

[jester_05]

I'd take a closer look at your psu, rosewill are not the most reliable, if you can, test the rest of the system with a new psu. Look in the bios and see how stable the voltages are, if they are fluctuating a lot then your psu is not doing its job.

 

[mcsemel]

SOLVED! The PSU and all the hardware was fine!

I finally had enough time to sit down with this PC and figure out what settings would make it stop powering off.

First, I reset the BIOS just to start back at square one.

Then the system went into the reboot loop. So, I pulled out one memory stick and booted successfully into the BIOS. I changed the PCI Express Frequency to 100, set the CPU PLL to 1.500v, the performance enhance to standard, set the RAID back up and set the memory timings manually to 6-6-6-18 with all other settings set to auto (as suggested by folks at TweakTown) and rebooted.

That still caused the system to shut down while booting Windows.

So, as a last resort, I disabled C1E and EIST.

THAT worked. The PC has now been up for several days and hasn't shut off once. I've gotten Windows and all my apps installed and finally have a stable system set to stock settings!

I can only guess that the mobo was thinking the CPU was idle even though it wasn't and was either undervolting or overvolting to the point where the system became completely unstable. No matter what setting I changed in the BIOS, I couldn't get the PC to stay on. I don't know if it's a BIOS code problem or what but clearly C1E and EIST was causing the instability in my system. Since it's turned off when overclocking anyway, I decided those settings just weren't necessary even though I was simply running the system at stock.

 

[dannymichel]

So, as a last resort, I disabled C1E and EIST.

i went through a similar nightmare. someone needs to tell everyone with this board that EIST SHOULD BE TUNRED OFF. if it is causing instability while turned on it needs to be known. it took me weeks to figure that out