GA-EX58-UD5 Will not Post reliably

[Quu]

Ok I have a bit of a problem. I got this Motherboard today and upon first boot up I've had issues with this Board.

First Boot: I enter the BIOS and change Hard Disk boot priority and activate USB Mouse and Keyboard. Just as I'm going through a menu reading what was available the BIOS freezes. I am unable to navigate through the BIOS.

2nd Post attempt fails, system will not turn on. However the Fans are going and the LED's near the RAM are on.

I clear CMOS using the back plate button, the system will still not post. However the Fans are going and the LED's near the RAM are on.

I go away for 10-15 minutes and return and try to boot the system again. I hit the Power button and this time it does post, I proceed once again to the BIOS and set the USB Keyboard & Mouse, set my Boot Priority and save the settings. The system reboots and I continue in to Vista x64 and install the necessary system software supplied with the Motherboard and Graphics cards (2xGTX260's). All is fine after a few reboots to complete installations of System Software I fire up some games.

I played Team Fortress 2 for 20-25 minutes whilst keeping an eye on temperatures via my 2nd Monitor. Temperatures were all fine, well within tolerances. I close Team Fortress 2 and this time I activate SLI mode and turn on Left 4 Dead, about 2 minutes in to the game I get a BSOD and the system turns off.

I try to turn the system back on but it will not Post again. I try clearing the CMOS, it still will not post. I again leave it for 15-20 minutes and return and this time it will post. It continues to boot but when I get to the Vista x64 Login Screen the system freezes and I have to forcibly restart the system via reset button on the Case.

Again the System will now no longer Post..

Basically the whole of today has had me attempt to get the system to post, it not posting, trying to get it post, it posting, it not posting, me trying to get it to post. You get the idea.

I've Google'd around and it seems a lot of people are having the same issues that I am with this motherboard, I get no Video on the screen but the Fans on the system are going and sometimes it will boot up, and other times it will not. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I've bought many Gigabyte boards in the past and always had great experiences so I'm saddened to have this happen.

Important Information:
Mobo: EX58-UD5 (BIOS: Shipped with F4)
CPU: Core i7 940
RAM: Corsair 1333MHz 6GB Matched Kit (3x2GB)
GFX: Two GTX260's connected via SLI Bridge
PSU: 1000Watt CoolerMaster Unit
Case: Lian Li PC-X2000
HDD: 3xHard Disks (All verified fully functional)

[Nickel020]

It's not necessarily the board itself.

Try all 3 RAM sticks seperately with memtest/windows memory diagnostic (on the windows cd) or prime 95 in windows. If one of them fails and the others work fine then the RAM is the problem.
I'd also try using just one video card.

[Quu]

Thanks for the advice Nickel. I tested 1 stick, then 2 and then all 3 at once and now the system seems to be working correctly. My machine is very heavy and I think perhaps moving it from my Build/Test area to its permanent home may have knocked the RAM just a little loose and caused these intermittent Post issues. I will reply in 24 hours if I encounter more problems.

[Quu]

Just thought I would reply that I've had no more issues with this motherboard after re-seating the RAM. It seems that my earlier idea about it being the RAM was correct.

I've since ran Prime95 for 8 hours with no issues as-well as many marathon gaming sessions. Everything seems good and I would recommend this motherboard in future.

If I have 1 criticism it is that when you have two Dual-Slot graphics cards installed the little display on the motherboard cannot be read due to it being hidden under the 2nd card.

--- The reason I'm writing this follow-up is because I saw a lot of bad experiences with this board when I Googled my own problem and I thought perhaps having some positive feedback might be good. From what I can see this board reacts very much the same no mater the issue which is why it can look from an outsiders view that everyone has the same problem. But its actually just the same Symptom with different causes. ---

[Nickel020]

The reason why you read so much about "bad experiences" is that people tend to only come to support forums when something is wrong. The 99% of people whose boards run fine have no reason to post here.

And thanks for updating, after 8 hours of prime is probably as stable as it needs to be :)