X58a mobo issues

[Scrubbybearr]

Hello all I'm new to this forum so I apologize if I've put this in the wrong section.

My issue is my computer has been crashing for almost 3 weeks now, I've done everything I could possibly think of, reformatted my HD, rewired my mobo to make sure everything was grounded, flashed the latest BIOS update, ran a memtest, swapped out ram, graphics, and power supply, to test if one was faulty. After doing all of the above I still am having issues. My main issue is random crashes, prior to this I was flooded with BSOD non stop but after doing all of the above they have stopped all together.

When I boot up the first thing out of my speakers is a loud popping noise, after that the sound will cut out all together. Once this happens at almost 20 minutes later my computer will shut off, I've looked all of the internet for a solution to this but nothing has prevailed. All drivers are up to date, I'm running windows 7 64bit.

Currently all BIOS settings are set to optimal default I know this isn't the ideal settings but I don't know a lot about tweaking BIOS settings other then what I've read on forums and nothing seems to help.

Listed below is all of the hardware that is currently in my computer all purchased from newegg.

Thank you for the help guys.

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ

Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601960

EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

 

[suteck]

Sounds like your motherboard is shorting out on you. I think the sound you hear is the power surge. I take it you've disconnected everything but 1 hdd, 1 stick of ram and of course the cpu and 1 video card and tried running it that way?

 

[inzone]

Have you just purchased the motherboard within 30 days from Newegg, if so then call and get a RMA ASAP before the 30 days is up. Newegg is great at replacing any hardware that you purchase from them , but after 30 days you have to deal with the manufacturer and sometimes they can not be as cooperative. It most definatly sounds like a motherboard problem.

 

[Scrubbybearr]

Yes I've done all of that and I bought this mother board back in april of 2010 it just recently has been giving me these issues. I went back over my mobo groundings and I did find a screw that was not in all the way I tightened it up and I'm testing my computer now. Hopefully that was the issue and I solved it I will report back later. Thank you for the quick responses.

 

[bebangs]

I have the exactly the same motherboard and memory card.

Lately, ive been experiencing a lot of random crashing and bsod. And like you, i did everything i could to isolate the problem.

It's expensive to replace the motherboard.
So i bought a cheap videocard(gt440) to confirm it's not the videocard.
I also bought a new PSU just to confirm it's not the psu.

Untill finally, i bought a 1gb ram. It didnt crash at all.

It was confirmed that my memory card is causing all the problem. My pc was unstable @ 1600, so i just let motherboard run it at default at speed of 1200 (ithink), it help but it still crashes.

I was able to isolate it to just 1 of the rams. im now running at 2rams. 1 of them is defective. My computer does not crashes on the 2 other rams. Took me almost the whole day testing waiting for the computer to crash.

Funny that memtest didnt show any problems.

 

[Scrubbybearr]

I have the exactly the same motherboard and memory card.

Lately, ive been experiencing a lot of random crashing and bsod. And like you, i did everything i could to isolate the problem.

It's expensive to replace the motherboard.
So i bought a cheap videocard(gt440) to confirm it's not the videocard.
I also bought a new PSU just to confirm it's not the psu.

Untill finally, i bought a 1gb ram. It didnt crash at all.

It was confirmed that my memory card is causing all the problem. My pc was unstable @ 1600, so i just let motherboard run it at default at speed of 1200 (ithink), it help but it still crashes.

I was able to isolate it to just 1 of the rams. im now running at 2rams. 1 of them is defective. My computer does not crashes on the 2 other rams. Took me almost the whole day testing waiting for the computer to crash.

Funny that memtest didnt show any problems.

I might have to do that there's still the popping noise even after grounding the mobo again, I work tonight so I can't test till the morning but I will post back my findings.

 

[Scrubbybearr]

Ok so something new happened, I was playing a game and my monitors flickered then one turned red and the other black. I was forced to restart any ideas what that means?

 

[suteck]

I have a feeling that if you keep using that motherboard you're going to start burning out parts.

 

[Scrubbybearr]

Ya I'm going to get another one and rma this to the manufacturer.

 

[Scrubbybearr]

So I gave my motherboard one last look over and I think I found the issue!!! The screws that were holding my motherboard in were not the correct size. I thought I had swapped them all out when I remounted it but I guess I overlooked two of them. I let my girlfriend help me remount this mobo and I guess she grabbed the wrong screw when we went to mount it. I'm going to test it today if there are anymore issues it's getting rmaed. I feel confident that those screws were causing the short.

 

[Scrubbybearr]

Crashes are still happening going to rma this has to be the mobo.

 

[suteck]

Good luck and let us know

 

[Scrubbybearr]

So I have been error free for 4 days and today when I turn my computer on there's that damn popping noise again. I then restart my computer and it crashes, if I'm able to pull the crash files would that be able to tell me what is happening?

 

[suteck]

Is that the new motherboard?

 

[Scrubbybearr]

No I haven't rma'ed yet. I just took the board out and found scorch marks on the 24 pin connector. A ground peg was not screwed to the case all the way so when I pulled the mobo it came our with it. So is the mobo screwed or is it the case that needs to go.

 

[Scrubbybearr]

When I went to rma the board I was basically told I was sol because it was shorting out, I might try again but the customer service at gigabyte seems chaotic. I have the money to replace the board but I really don't want to any suggestions for handling gigabyte?

 

[bebangs]

>>monitors flickered then one turned red and the other black
loose wiring on the videocard? either that or the videocard itself.

regarding that popping sound, you might want to test that. cheap sound card?
you still need to confirm if it's your mobo is problem.


I would suggest taking your computer to the shop. they should have some spare mobo/ram/videocard/psu to diagnose your problem (or rewire the whole thing). They should be able to confirm that it's your motherboard or something else, you can RMA it again after that.

 

[jaquith]

Have you checked your Event Manager [+] Critical errors?

Also, a couple of things about that MOBO:
1. IF running AHCI then run 'Fix It' -> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976
BIOS = AHCI <=> Start = 0; BIOS = IDE <=> Start = 3
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV

Next, the UD3R is know to have problems with using XMP. So in the BIOS:
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.) -> [Disabled]

Further, SATA problems:
1. SSD use the Marvell SATA3 Port closet to the MOBO's PCB.
2. SATA corruption - often this is remedied by 'playing musical' SATA ports; it re-installs the drivers and rewrites the registry. Never plug in a HDD or SSD IF SATA = IDE and the PC is on.

Try (1) stick of RAM in the 2nd DIMM slot from the CPU, boot. Then test all 3 sticks regardless of Memtest.

Windows updates, there have been a couple 'Hot Fixes' that have caused issues.

HDD corruption - RUN SFC options, both, as shown below.

Good Luck!

Event Manager:

Registry for AHCI:

SFC Option - Schedule and reboot:

 

[Scrubbybearr]

The mobo has a short will gigabyte accept this as a reason to replace it I have only had this mobo for six months.

 

[jaquith]

The reason I posted above, SATA, is from my experiences; see -> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure

IF you have a short then the problem should be solved from a Full Breadboard where the MOBO is removed from the case, all headers removed (sound/USB/case), different Keyboard used, all peripherals removed, and the use of a stock HSF.

IF you have problems still then remove all but (1) stick of RAM, use the 2nd DIMM slot from the CPU.

IF failure again then RMA the MOBO. I would suggest that you examine the Event Manager [+] Critical error log first.

 

[Scrubbybearr]

The reason I posted above, SATA, is from my experiences; see -> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure

IF you have a short then the problem should be solved from a Full Breadboard where the MOBO is removed from the case, all headers removed (sound/USB/case), different Keyboard used, all peripherals removed, and the use of a stock HSF.

IF you have problems still then remove all but (1) stick of RAM, use the 2nd DIMM slot from the CPU.

IF failure again then RMA the MOBO. I would suggest that you examine the Event Manager [+] Critical error log first.

As of now the computer isn't stable enough for me to get to the critical error page. I did a bench test with all different peripherals and still shorts out. I put in a rma today I will post back once I get the new motherboard. Thank you guys for all the help.