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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Kinda want some more opinions about how to interpret this.
My newest cruncher was up and running for about 2 weeks. See my "Learning to OC" thread for specs. It didn't run too stable, I tried XP (twice) and Vista. Both blue screened numerous times. Microsoft has some built in tools to analyze the errors, but the results were all over. Virusscan caused a problem. Bad drivers. Memory issues (memory diagnostics showing zero issues when run).
2 days ago, I got home from work and found her dead again. Ugh. This time, however, she wouldn't come back up. I unplugged her, cleared CMOS, still she won't POST. PS and all fans spin for about 3 seconds, then they die. After about 5 seconds they try again, and die. If you leave her be, she just cycles through the process of trying to start, but never does.
I pinged Gigabyte for help on this. They recommended that one at a time I pull parts out to see if the symptoms change.
Unplugged hard drive and DVD burner. No luck.
Pulled the Video Card. No luck.
Pulled all the RAM. No luck.
Changed power supplies. No luck.
Finally I popped the HSF off, and pulled the CPU off the board. (this from advice from Gigabyte). With just the power supply and the HSF plugged in, now all the fans turn on and stay on...
Is my Q6600 dead? Man I hope not. I have about 5 days left to submit an RMA, but want to make sure it's for the right component.
I'm still waiting for Gigabyte to come back with their diagnosis after sending them a summary 5 minutes ago, however wanted to see if the experience here had any thought too.
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Joined: 7/29/2006
Posts: 289
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it could be the mobo is dead.
when you remove the cpu from the mobo, you remove the load off the vcore regulator.
usually the cpu is fine but the vcore regulator is dead on the Mobo.
take it from me, I burn up a lot of Mobo's [EMO]embarrassed.gif[/EMO]
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Thanks nutcase,
Damn, I just reseated the CPU and put the HSF back onto it. Same behavior - won't POST. Crud, if GB agrees, looks like I submit an RMA for my first dead MB. [EMO]Sad Gallery/sad-smiley-018.gif[/EMO]
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Joined: 7/4/2006
Posts: 1079
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I've seen that happen before on Gigabyte boards, and it's usually a memory issue of some kind. In my case, it was usually the memory multiplier being set back to automatic after a failed o/c. Unplug the pc so there's no power, and remove the cmos battery for about 15 minutes.
Then try rebooting with stock settings.
Other things to try: Remove all the fans (except the cpu fan) from the mobo headers.
HTH.
Gary
You can't fix dead.
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Joined: 7/9/2006
Posts: 1182
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Also have seen this issue with Gigabyte 965 boards and Ballistix ram. As Xaak says, do a hard clear cmos (no power at all as he described), see if it boots. I've always had better luck using some generic kingston 667 ram that runs just fine on vdimm of 1.8V to boot with, then get in bios to change it to 2.0-2.2V like the micron d9 based memory likes, save, then install those modules. JDEC specs call for memory voltages of 1.8, there are bios issues occasionally that prevents bios from reading the default memory settings for indiviual modules, and usually have to be set manually. I'm just waking up from a nap, so this may not sound quite right... 
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Hmm.. everything is unplugged. I'll wait for 20 or 30 minutes before I try again.
The Ballistix is rated for 2.2V, and the MB default is 1.8V, so I changed it to manual overvoltage of +0.4V - it's been running like that since I built it, and a lot of other people who reviewed this board wrote of having to do the same thing when using decent RAM. But then again, it hasn't run too smooth since I started. I don't have any other DDR2 around, unfortunately. When I ran RAM diagnostics, they passed everything, so I don't think that is the issue. It's either the motherboard or the CPU.
Thanks for the replies folks.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Rats, 20 minutes later popped the battery back in and hooked the power back up - no luck. We'll see what Gigabyte says. I'm thinking something was wrong with the board, and 2 weeks later it is now fried.
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Joined: 7/9/2006
Posts: 1182
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Yeah, I thought the same way when I first had troubles exactly like you describe. I actually had several Gigabyte boards laying idle for 6 months (thinking I would someday RMA them) until it had happened once to many times, got in the habit of first trying some generic ram before going any further. So this exact thing has happened to me about 5-6 times, enough to convince me to first suspect that issue before others.
And it also only has happened with Ballistix ram. Which, by the way, leads me to the second point. I have had massive amounts of failures with Ballistix, the dozen or so sets I have purchased the last few years. What ticks me off is I usually run them at 2.1V, and 350-400fsb, 4,4,4,12,4 timings. Basically stock speed. Try each module alone, to see if one has gone poof.
Beg borrow or steal a stick of generic ddr2 before you send it off for RMA.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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paul wrote
Beg borrow or steal a stick of generic ddr2 before you send it off for RMA.
I packed it up this morning and sent it back. If the replacement has similar issues, I'll prolly just buy a stick of generic DDR2 to have on hand for testing. Thanks for the advice all. Anyone know where I can pick up a pack of those little pyramids that hold motherboards off of the case? Square ones with a threaded hole at the top. You push em through the MB tray and they "pop" into place.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Got the new board earlier this week. The GA-X38-DQ6 was actually discontinued in favor of GA-EX38-DQ6 - same exact board with their new "Dynamic Energy Saver" that will probably never get used because I run at full load 24/7. Everything is running much more smoothly this time. It's been 3 days, no signs of instability like I had on the prior build. Musta been a bad board.
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Joined: 7/7/2006
Posts: 2507
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Excellent! It's nice when things run smooth. 
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Joined: 7/4/2006
Posts: 1079
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Jack Shaftoe wrote
Got the new board earlier this week. The GA-X38-DQ6 was actually discontinued in favor of GA-EX38-DQ6 - same exact board with their new "Dynamic Energy Saver" that will probably never get used because I run at full load 24/7. Everything is running much more smoothly this time. It's been 3 days, no signs of instability like I had on the prior build. Musta been a bad board.
Good to hear it. I just got a ga-ex38-ds4 delivered today. I'll probably install it sometime this weekend as a replacement for one iffy board, that is, until the penryn quads start shipping  .
Gary
You can't fix dead.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Gigabyte really makes some nice looking boards. When I opened the box, I was like "Ooooh.... look at her!" All that shiny copper and stuff, it's easy on the eyes! My gf was gettin a little jealous. "It's just a bunch of circuits and stuff. You're such a geek."
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Argh... [EMO]Sad Gallery/sad-smiley-018.gif[/EMO]
Woke up to the dreaded BEEP from around the corner in my office at 3:30am as she crashed and then recovered last night. Looks like Crucial Ballistix is going to get replaced with something very soon... The QMC WU being worked on at the time failed, I think Paul is right - time to find some different memory. I've read lots of bad reviews this morning about the Ballistix line and requiring 2.2v.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Went down to Microcenter this morning and picked up a stick of OCZ. Popped it in, 30 days to return it if there is no improvement. Here's hoping.
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Joined: 7/4/2006
Posts: 1079
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Jack Shaftoe wrote
Went down to Microcenter this morning and picked up a stick of OCZ. Popped it in, 30 days to return it if there is no improvement. Here's hoping.
Man, I hate microcenter. I went there for a HSF for a 4u server, and got attacked by a Q6600 G0. Resisted all attempts to remove it from my basket until I got to the register  .
Gary
You can't fix dead.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Xaak wrote
Jack Shaftoe wrote
Went down to Microcenter this morning and picked up a stick of OCZ. Popped it in, 30 days to return it if there is no improvement. Here's hoping. |
Man, I hate microcenter. I went there for a HSF for a 4u server, and got attacked by a Q6600 G0. Resisted all attempts to remove it from my basket until I got to the register  .
It is definitely a dangerous toy store...
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Joined: 7/9/2006
Posts: 1182
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A tool you should not be without when troubleshooting is Memtest86+ That link has bootable CD .iso, floppy boot disk and USB boot disk versions. An extremely handy memory checker run from boot, so if you have problems, the memory won't corrupt your OS install. And you are right about the Ballistix. Their QC is teh suck for their DDR-2 memory, and it all is Micron D9 chips. Which in itself is great, because D9 are some great chips, able to scale very high, or run tight timings at a lower speed. With the fire sales of memory over the last year, I've bought maybe a dozen sets of Ballistix, one by one they have failed. I suspect their heat spreaders are not glued on properly, they run rather warm.
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Joined: 7/4/2006
Posts: 1079
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Jack Shaftoe wrote
Argh... 
Woke up to the dreaded BEEP from around the corner in my office at 3:30am as she crashed and then recovered last night. Looks like Crucial Ballistix is going to get replaced with something very soon... The QMC WU being worked on at the time failed, I think Paul is right - time to find some different memory. I've read lots of bad reviews this morning about the Ballistix line and requiring 2.2v.
I got my board up and running yesterday, and no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to boot overclocked. It would hold 3.5ghz using easytune, so I knew it there was something in the bios preventing it from booting.
So this morning, I started playing around with it.
Seems it's VERY important which actual memory multiplier settings you chose. You need to ignore the actual FSB of the processor, and chose the option that relates to what you want the target fsb to be.
In my case, with DDR2-800, I chose the 2.0 multiplier, but initally I had chosen 2.0A which corresponds to 2.66FSB. I found by chosing 2.0D which corresponds to 400FSB, I was able to boot and run stable (so far) at 3.6ghz (400fsb) and the chip is running at 1.315v (1.375 bios setting, loadline calibration off). All other voltage settings are stock with memory voltage set per manufacturer specs.
Also, set the Performance Enhance With to normal. Problems overclocking were reported when using settings of turbo or extreme.
I hope this helps.
Gary
You can't fix dead.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Xaak wroteIn my case, with DDR2-800, I chose the 2.0 multiplier, but initally I had chosen 2.0A which corresponds to 2.66FSB. I found by chosing 2.0D which corresponds to 400FSB, I was able to boot and run stable (so far) at 3.6ghz (400fsb) and the chip is running at 1.315v (1.375 bios setting, loadline calibration off). All other voltage settings are stock with memory voltage set per manufacturer specs. Thanks Xaak,
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