Need help determining if my motherboard is bad

[dsrtlzrd32]

Hello,

Here is my system and temperatures and voltages when it is running.

Case:Raidmax Blackstorm
Motherboard: Gigabyte z77x-ud5h
cpu: ivy bridge i5 3570 k
graphics: integrated intel 4000 hd (using until i get a stable system and get my geforce gtx 670)
heatsink: CoolerMaster hyper 212 evo
memory: 16 GB G-skill ripjaw 1600 DDR3
PSU: Coolermaster 700w silent pro
Ssd: Samsung 830
Blu ray LG drive

CPU temp: 31
PCH temp: 58
System temp: 40

CPU Vcore: 1.140V
Dram Voltage: 1.536V
+3.3V: 3.344V
12+V: 12.312V

CPU frequency: 3831.11 MHz
Memory frequency: 1345.41MHz
BCLK: 100.90 MHz

I Bought all of my parts at the beginning of may and received them last week. I built the computer on Wednesday. Everything started up without any problems, however, during the install of windows 7 it shutdown unexpectedly. The computer has shut down or just froze (mostly full shutdowns) periodically since. The computer has sometimes stayed on for three to four hours, others, it shuts down as early as five minutes after I turn it on. It will shutdown even in bios, not even in windows.

I searched the forums and read about breadboarding. I believed my motherboard was shorting out some how so I took the system back out to a breadboard setup. Even with just my motherboard, cpu, keyboard, monitor, and memory hooked up, the system is still shutting down.

I tried running a memory test from my ubuntu disc but the system shuts down before it can complete. The furthest it got was about 65% with no errors. The memory is not on the motherboard supported list ( dummy me did not look first) but from what I have read on the forums is that the memory will still work but only run at 1333 instead of 1600. I also don’t think memory would cause a hard shutdown of the whole system but correct me if I am wrong.
I tested the setup with my new PSU and an old one that I know works and both had the same results. I am thinking I need to rma the motherboard, as that seems to be the obvious problem but I wanted to see if any of your expertise would see the issue differently and how I might be able to test it. I do not have access to any more ddr3 ram without buying more, otherwise I would have tried replacing it.

I have been troubleshooting this since last Wednesday. Your help and knowledge is greatly appreciated.

 

[nekulturny]

Its possible that the motherboard is bad, but not impossible that the CPU is (since motherboard issues and CPU issues can have very similar symptoms.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about the RAM not being compatible, it will even say in the owners manual due to the numerous brands, models and speeds of various RAM available its impossible for the motherboard company to test all of them with their boards, the risk of RAM not being compatible with a new motherboard in 2012 is highly unlikely, although I won't go as far as to say impossible.

Yes, defective RAM can cause a hard shut down (although when I had a defective RAM stick it at least logged a blue screen event- but then again, without Windows installed, you wont have that)

As far as the CPU goes, it looks to me like you're running an overclock, the 3570K is 3.4GHZ by default with a turbo of 3.8, I'll plead ignorance if I'm wrong, but why would it run in turbo mode in BIOS? I would remove any overclocks if any are applied for starters.

You say you have 16GB of RAM what model number? Are they 8 gig sticks? 4 gig?, I ask because it seems like 8 gig sticks have been known to have quirks as far as I gather.

Without a spare motherboard to install all of your components on to see if they work, there really isnt a definitive way to diagnose the motherboard as the causal factor.

 

[nhasian]

I noticed that you posted the same issue three times. if you need to edit your post you can do that rather than resubmitting it a few mins later.

 

[dsrtlzrd32]

sorry, i didn't realize it posted, i only got an error message and a log in screen.

 

[dsrtlzrd32]

Its possible that the motherboard is bad, but not impossible that the CPU is (since motherboard issues and CPU issues can have very similar symptoms.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about the RAM not being compatible, it will even say in the owners manual due to the numerous brands, models and speeds of various RAM available its impossible for the motherboard company to test all of them with their boards, the risk of RAM not being compatible with a new motherboard in 2012 is highly unlikely, although I won't go as far as to say impossible.

Yes, defective RAM can cause a hard shut down (although when I had a defective RAM stick it at least logged a blue screen event- but then again, without Windows installed, you wont have that)

As far as the CPU goes, it looks to me like you're running an overclock, the 3570K is 3.4GHZ by default with a turbo of 3.8, I'll plead ignorance if I'm wrong, but why would it run in turbo mode in BIOS? I would remove any overclocks if any are applied for starters.

You say you have 16GB of RAM what model number? Are they 8 gig sticks? 4 gig?, I ask because it seems like 8 gig sticks have been known to have quirks as far as I gather.

Without a spare motherboard to install all of your components on to see if they work, there really isnt a definitive way to diagnose the motherboard as the causal factor.

I have not set any overclocking in the bios. I have set the "load optimized defaults" but that is about it. I am not sure how I would go about turning it down. (I have never overclocked before, so ignorance on my part). I am going to try one more thing here and then call gigabyte and see what they say. Thanks for the help

 

[dsrtlzrd32]

Best answer selected by dsrtlzrd32.