Solved Persistent cold boot issues

[chev65]

I tend to lean towards the PSU with cold boot issues. Maybe trying a different PSU would be worth while.

 

[domfjbrown]

It's a 650watt Bronze-rated PSU with not an awful lot barring the mobo and a single graphics card - I don't believe it's anything to do with the PSU when there's such a graphical demonstration of the RAM thing... I'm not wasting money on another PSU and more RAM after all the money I've already invested in this flipping thing GRRRR...

I mean, now, NONE of the DVD writers can write to blanks either - this is starting to really **** me off...

 

[Dwarf]

If your memory is faulty, it can cause all sorts of problems with your system. These problems may or may not be consistent. Another thing that I would do if your motherboard has on-board graphics is to remove your graphics card and use the on-board instead. This will ease the load on your PSU, which might be enough to solve the problems.

How much RAM do you have in your system, and how many sticks? Your tests seem to point to RAM being the culprit. What you need to do is to test each stick of RAM individually, preferably for 3 or more complete test runs in each memory slot. When you have found a stick/slot that yields no errors, try running your system with just that single stick in that slot and see if it still BSODs. If it doesn't, then you have probably found the problem.

 

[Night Hawk]

He has a pair of 2gb dimms listed in his specs where pulling one to test the other would be the thought. It's likely only one dimm is faulty which would cause a list of problems.

Another likely problem is knowing what the voltage is! Not raising the voltage when the board expects:
"4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory (Note 1)" GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1156 - GA-P55-USB3 (rev. 2.0)

That board like the one here runs 1.5v memory not 1.9v like they typically have listed in their supported memory list(which is out to lunch thinking there). I ran into that with the new build when first going with OCZ Gold and ending up with the memory speed seen at 1066 rather then the 1600 it was supposed to be until swapping to the Mushkin 1.5v memory installed since.

 

[domfjbrown]

Ahhh - should I try ramping the volts up as high as possible (1.9) then? I could have sworn that memory was listed as compatible on Gigabyte's website...

Re the graphics - I got a mobo without as the onboard graphics is usually fairly weedy, but then again, for games, the card I got is too (upgrade soon if I can lick the memory issues...)

I still don't understand why none of my DVD/CD writers will write to blank discs now though (admittedly, I pulled all the power to the optical drives while troubleshooting last week; could Win7 have got its knickers in a noodle? They all READ discs fine, but when you put a blank in, they claim they can't write to that type of disc. I got one disc to burn in my SATA drive last night, but that was it...

 

[domfjbrown]

A colleague has suggested I fiddle with the RAM voltage, and, if that solves it, burning and reinstalling the whole system. I'm leaning to this idea as well as all the data I have is also on an old HDD so I can just copy the data back again afterwards. Have ordered a cheapy USB-SATA dock to do just this Will have a fiddle with the voltages later and let you guys know

 

[Night Hawk]

That board runs memory at 1.5-1.65v at the max. If your memory speed is listed slower then the 1333 default you should be seeing the memory was rated for a higher voltage while the board simply backclocks it down to run at the 1.5v.

This is why I say their supposed memory supported list is in need of some work there listing 1.9v memory while the boards only run the 1.5v at the native speeds! But that still doesn't account for the cold boot issues.

When having the 1.9v OCZ memory in the system still ran fine except for seeing the memory speed reduced to 1066. Unfortunately the memory was ordered prior to reading the user manual which specifies 1.5v dimms. The supported list shows memory that will still be usable but not adequate.

You mentioned initially having run memtest at the top of the thread and that was advised again suggesting a look at the main drive for either bad sectors or some factory partitioning errors. As far as having a usb enclosure for adding a drive to back things up on I use one here that accepts both ide and sata drives for retrieving things from old cases as well as temp external storage.

 

[domfjbrown]

"You mentioned initially having run memtest at the top of the thread and that was advised again suggesting a look at the main drive for either bad sectors or some factory partitioning errors. As far as having a usb enclosure for adding a drive to back things up on I use one here that accepts both ide and sata drives for retrieving things from old cases as well as temp external storage."

I've got a USB SATA docking thingy on order

The memory is DEFINITELY registering as 1333 - correct. Mysterious...

I ran memtest originally after going through all the cold boot issues... The last couple of days, I've run it from cold (errors all over the place), once all day while at work (still erroring when I got back). Both times, a power cycle got memtest to produce NO errors at all!!! So I'm certain it's memory/motherboard-related.

Incidentally, I WAS able to ramp up the voltages to 1.9v (but it was in the "red zone" in the listings, whatever that meant) and I still had a cold boot error as before last night. So I'm going to yank out the chips and try one after another to see what happens...

 

[bobus123]

I'm in the same boat!

Very similar issues. If you Google (as I'm sure you have, sorry!) 'GA-P55-USB3 cold boot' there are LOADS of related problems (Ususally with OCZ memory).

It's really pi$$1n6 me off now. Tried to RMA the board and memory, but it passes Memtest with flying colours so they won't take it back. I'm in the process of moaning (sorry, raising a support request) with both OCZ and Gigabyte but not holding my breath.

At the moment, I just boot the system, go to BIOS, come back 5 mins later & hit the reset button and all boots OK. As you can imagine, this is not satisfatory for 'er indoors after us spending the best part of £600 on this upgrade.

You have my sympathy.

 

[Night Hawk]

As i was saying that board as well as the Gigabyte model here run any memory at 1.5v. It's no surprize seeing the higher voltage setting red flagged on the spot. You can't simply raise the voltages on their boards like you can or would on an Asus or other make.

Don't feel bad about swapping out the memory for a new set that runs at the 1.5v defaults. I got caught on that when going with a Gigabyte board for the recent build earlier this year. The other thing I would suggest is seeing what the bios is set for as far as Native ide or AHCI mode.

Here I have to run at the Native ide to see the best results. That applies to both Sata II and III drives having seen 7 installed on one of the Sata III at the start.

 

[domfjbrown]

I *think* I'm on the native IDE setting (certainly, no issues with HDD performance!)...

I swapped out the RAM and no dice, so it's defo an incompatibility (power cycled, and perfect again as usual!)... However, according to Gigabyte's compatibility list for the board I have, this should fit the bill (another £60 quid, but the amount of blood and sweat I've wasted is about 5x that!) Kingston KHX1600C9D3K2/4G HyperX / 4GB 1600MHz PC3-12800 DDR3 / Non-ECC CL9 DIMM Dual Channel Computer Memory - Computing at Play.com (UK)

Have to see if I get some chrimbo money...

If this works, I should be able to punt the Corsair RAM for a decent price, as it's definitely OK in itself.

BTW, is the 1.9/1.5v thing a red herring if you set the board to "Auto" for memory?

 

[domfjbrown]

Soz for additional waffly post, but noticed a Playtrade seller has this for £43 (damaged packaging, but seems potentially kosher). Wonder if it'll still be there on Tuesday...

 

[Night Hawk]

Well that's why I suggested a good look at the drive as well as the drive mode. Running a drive diagnostic along examing the board and supply even if found not to be regulating properly.

Besides a board issue of some type sudden dropoffs with supplies can be a cause for things. At startup that's where you typically see the largest pull on the supply especially during the post tests. And right as Windows starts loading device drivers.... the supply wimps out?

The other fright is finding out you have a bad cap on the board. You ruled out a bad dimm it seems.

 

[domfjbrown]

Thanks Night Hawk - I'm just hoping it's NOT the mobo or PSU (it easily comes out of sleep mode with no issues, and it does seem odd literally powercycling it immediately sorts it out...).

I've bitten the bullet and ordered that Kingston RAM (assuming they can fight through all the snow to get it to my house before New Year!!), as another person has this same combination confirmed as compatible (Is this compatible?) as well as on the relevant Gigabyte data sheet.

If I STILL have cold boot issues, I'll RMA the motherboard first, as the PSU seems really nice. I doubt I could get the machine to even power up with my old one (400 watt) so can't test that theory...

Watch this space...

 

[Night Hawk]

1.65v memory which is in the voltage range while the board will still tend the memory at 1.5v at the next lower speed. I ran Hyper X on the last build and that was good memory.

The board at the link supports DDR3 2200mhz memory where you wouldn't expect to see any problems with the Kingston on the one pointed to there. You would likely see the memory run at 1333 with the model you have however.

Memory listed as 1.5v is the preferred however for the Gigabyte boards while other makes like Asus, MSI, Abit wouldn't be as fussy? But the lower voltage serves to keep memory temps lower as well. Don't feel too bad if you do end up returning the board anyways. I just got done replacing board and supply on the last case rather then buying a used board from EBay since that will run Vista there.

 

[domfjbrown]

Well well well! After installing the first 2 2gb Kingston RAM chips and cold booting, it works perfectly. So I got another 4gb as well Ran Memtest86 from cold overnight and had 8 passes with 0 errors I got both sets of 4gig from the same seller on Play - £68 all-in for 8 gigs was pretty good for solving all my problems!

Now all I need is a SATA cable and I can then reinstall my entire system's software from scratch to sort out the registry. Thanks again for all the help, guys!