Constant Random Restarts...

[rhysj90]

I'm new to the community here, so if I don't use the right terminology for things, I do appologise in advance.

That being said, I am having a problem with my system where I will be on, and then the system will decide to restart itself without warning. Now I have recently had problems with my power in the area (rolling blackouts due to severe weather) and I am hoping that my system wasn't damaged due to power failures. If anybody is having this same problem, or better yet, found a way to deal with this problem, I am all ears at this point.

I did call Gigabyte about this, and they did say there was a recall with the motherboard, but I'm not sure if that is where this problem is from. 1 solution is they told me to remove one of the sticks of RAM, and that helped for about 6 hours, but then it restarted about 5 times, sometimes not even booting up, before I flipped the power switch on the PSU (Sorry if that was a bad move, figured I needed to get the computer turned off) and resolved the restarts.

System Details:

MOBO: Gigabyte P67A-UD3
CPU: Intel i5-2500k
Heatsink: Cooler Master V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
HDD:Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
GPU: EVGA 01G-P3-1370-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Media: LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Disc Combo

I hope I gave enough information for someone to be able to deduce this situation. Thank you very much in advance.

 

[o1die]

Look under "power protection" at newegg. They have some surge protectors and battery backup units in all price ranges. For the restarts, you may have one bad ram stick. Also try this: Under "search" type "services". Click on the third option: services (local), which takes you to the "system event notification service" menu. Then select "system event.. monitors sy" and select "recovery". Then change it from "restart" to "take no action" for the first two events. This may or may not give you an error message to troubleshoot with. Good luck.

 

[spooky2th]

I would send the board back for the recall. All sandybridge boards are being recalled from what I hear. A design flaw in certain Intel Sandy Bridge chips has lead to a product recall and disrupted sales from HP, Dell, MSI and Gigabyte and more. It might be a few months before you can purchase a good sandybridge board.

 

[rhysj90]

So would you suggest just returning the board, and maybe even the PCU for something else? I was thinking about the Sabertooth motherboard as a replacement.

 

[bilbat]

All second-gen Intel chipsets have had to be recalled - it's a major screw-up (~one billion loss - three hundred million in wasted production and replacements, seven hundred million in cost assumed from their board partners to recall and repair...) If you google the chipset, you will find thousands of articles about it! I believe they have quoted end of the month for replacement availability, which means likely week two of March for any significant motherboard availability.

 

[rhysj90]

Ok so does this mean that I will have to replace the CPU and the motherboard? I realize that the motherboard has a recall but I'm not sure if the Sandy Bridge is also being recalled and replaced.

 

[bilbat]

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/42875-gigabyte-retrieve-announcement-intel-6-series-b2-stepping-based-motherboards.html

 

[rhysj90]

Ok so if I read this correctly and understand it the way that its is being presented, then Gigabyte will send out the new motherboards AND chipsets, correct?

 

[o1die]

Yes, but it could take about two months.

 

[spooky2th]

The chipsets are part of the MoBo and the problem with them. You can hold on to your CPU till you get a good board.

 

[rhysj90]

Is it even worth waiting for a new MoBo from Gigabyte, or would it be better to go with a different brand.

 

[o1die]

They are all being recalled; The chipset is made by Intel, regardless of brand. You'll have to wait for any brand; it will take Intel some time to manufacturer and distribute the new chipset; then the boards have to be made. You can't just remove the chipset off the board; it's soldered on.

 

[rhysj90]

Sorry I didnt realize that it was every company that the problem with affecting, I only thought it was Gigabyte. Ok now I understand.

With that being said, would it be better to keep the i5-2500k or go with something else? Something that isn't having the same problem?

If I'm being redundant I'm sorry, trying to figure everything out at this point. I had a buddy tell me what to get and I was going off of his better computer knowledge, so if I can learn something then I won't mind. :]

 

[o1die]

If you have a spare pc, just wait for the new board. Unless you can return the cpu with no fee, you will end up paying a restocking fee or having to sell it at a loss. The cpu is fine; worth waiting for.

 

[BerylLee]

Good day. It's better to wait for motherboard replacement and see if the problem can be solved. Before it, maybe can keep only CPU and memories on the motherboard for the test to clarify the problem is due to memory compatibility. Or you can load fail safe in bios to see any improvement. Don't forget to update bios to the latest version, so far it is F6 released on 28/01/2011.

 

[rhysj90]

Don't forget to update bios to the latest version, so far it is F6 released on 28/01/2011.

How exactly do I do that? Like go to the Gigabyte website and check for a BIOS update?

 

[BerylLee]

yeh .. that's right ~
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3651#bios