Known issues with GA-EP45-UD3P HW rev 1.6?

[zetafunction]

I ordered a GA-EP45-UD3P before Christmas and received it yesterday. I put the system together, and it POSTed with no issues.

However... it won't boot into Windows 7--it blue screens as soon as the OS begins loading. I can't reinstall Windows 7 either; if I boot from the DVD, WinPE loads and the wallpaper shows up... before it blue screens again. If I disconnect all the drives except the optical drive, it doesn't blue screen during setup, but setup doesn't go anywhere either: it locks up before the first dialog ever shows up.

I think the stop code is 0x7f (unhandled kernel mode trap). It seems like it's usually bad hardware that triggers this stop code, so I tried:
- running memtest. No failures.
- moving the DIMMs from slots 2 and 4 to 1 and 3.
- removing one of the DIMMs and leaving one DIMM in slot 1.
- moving the DIMM from slot 1 to slot 2.
- adjusting the voltage on the DIMMs to the max recommended (2.1v).
- using the fail-safe BIOS defaults
- using the optimized BIOS defaults
I tried quite a few other things as well, but nothing worked.

The specs are fairly unremarkable, as it's a fairly old computer and not overclocked:
Intel C2D E6700
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4
Gigabyte GVNX86S256H 8600 GTS
WD1500ADFD Raptor
4x WD5000AAKS

Looking at Newegg, it seems like quite a few other people have had trouble with HW rev 1.6. Is there a known bad run of 1.6 boards or is there something simple I'm overlooking?

[Chike]

How was Windows 7 installed?
No memtest errors with optimized defaults?
Things you may try:
Check PC Hea;th status for any suspesious reading.
Performance Enhance standard.
XMP disabled
MCH Core up to 1.2v, 1.05v down to 0.95v if more does not help.
Different memory if you can get one.
Different video card.

[zetafunction]

How was Windows 7 installed?
No memtest errors with optimized defaults?
Things you may try:
Check PC Hea;th status for any suspesious reading.
Performance Enhance standard.
XMP disabled
MCH Core up to 1.2v, 1.05v down to 0.95v if more does not help.
Different memory if you can get one.
Different video card.

Win7... was installed on the HD? Sorry, not sure what you're asking. Either way, the Win7 setup still bluescreens.
No memtest errors using optimized defaults.
PC Health page in the BIOS shows no obvious anomalies (voltages are all in normal ranges, no abnormal temperatures)
Performance enhance standard/turbo made no difference.
XMP doesn't show up in the memory settings once I swapped out the 6400C4's for some plain old 6400's.
MCH core 1.2v, 1.05v, .95v made no difference.
Swapping RAM with another system didn't help.
The only thing I didn't try is swapping video cards, but I don't /think/ the video card is defective. It worked fine in the past.
Upgrading the BIOS from FB to FD didn't fix it either.

At this point, I guess I might as well RMA and hope I don't get another bad board.

Edit: found an Ubuntu live CD lying around. It boots... but that really doesn't help me very much.

[Rick1002]

I purchased the same motherboard rev 1.6 from Newegg along with an HIS 4670 and a Q9650. Put it together on New Years eve. I installed XP Pro Sp3 and everything is running fine no problems so far.

[SolidBladez]

Are you running in AHCI?

Have you disabled any other connections? (Floppy, IDE, etc.) If not, try that.

[zetafunction]

I set all the onboard devices to AHCI. Floppy is disabled.

In any case, I've given up. I'm dismantling the system and doing an RMA replacement with Newegg (luckily I haven't sent in the rebate yet).

[Acebmxer]

1.6 boards were know to have a problem with ram working in the defaults slots and required less mch voltage. But if your having trouble installing Win7 how did you get Win 7 installed before? You said you ran Memtest but for how long how many passes? Did you run it on each stick separately?

[zetafunction]

1.6 boards were know to have a problem with ram working in the defaults slots and required less mch voltage. But if your having trouble installing Win7 how did you get Win 7 installed before? You said you ran Memtest but for how long how many passes? Did you run it on each stick separately?

This was a motherboard upgrade to solve issues with my old motherboard. That's how Win7 is already installed.

I've tried slots 1 + 3, 2 + 4, and 1 only and 2 only. None prevented the blue screen. I'm also as sure as one can reasonably be about the RAM; none of the DIMMs I'm using have been overclocked/volted, and in the past, I ran the memory through 10 hours of memtest or so.

[Psycho101]

Did you do a fresh install of Win 7 on the new board or try and |"re-use" the old install? if the latter then this explains with near certainty why you get BSOD's.

Unfortunately it seems that you have RMA'd the board rather prematurely. There were many things thet needed to be done before concluding the board was at fault. You may well find the exact same issue with the replacement, or if you're really unlucky it will be tested and returned to you as working, along with a bill/service charge.

Setting legacy IDE and trying an install, followed by installing Intel Matrix drivers, then switching to AHCI via the registry and the BIOS may have cured the issue. I notice you have 4 WD SE16/Cav. Blue's. Are they in RAID or all single disks? This alters how you'd set up the ICH SATA ports too.

Little thing like making sure the optical drive is on the yellow ports at position 6 (SATA_5) and not on the purple ports can effect Windows installs too. I was unable to install 7 using the purple ports.

There's not much I can do to help now, but if you have the same issue when the replacement arrives, post back here and we can help further.

The one thing that you didn't post that would have been extremely hlpful was a full BIOS template. If you have problems with the next board, load optimized defaults, followed by entering your custom settings, then post these settings using the template bellow:

 MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............:Fast
CPU Clock Ratio ..........................: 8
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:.+0.5
CPU Frequency ...........................: 401x8.5 3400
 
Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: 401Mhz
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) .........:100
C.I.A.2 .................................:[Disabled]
 
Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
CPU Clock Drive...........................: 800mv
PCI Express Clock Drive.................: 900mv
CPU Clock Skew (ps)....................: ops
MCH Clock Skew (ps)...................: 0ps
 
DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: Standard
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.).....: Disabled
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [Auto]
System Memory Multiplier ..............: 2.66D
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............:1066
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]
Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................5
tRCD .........................................5
tRP'...........................................5
tRAS..........................................15
Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...........................................4
tWTR..........................................4
tWR............................................5
tRFC...........................................57
tRTP...........................................4
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:2
Driving Strength Profiles A & B
Driving Strength ............................1066
Channel A
Static tRead Value.........................:9
 tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
 tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
 tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto  ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto  ps
Channel B
Static tRead Value.........................:9
 tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
 tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
 tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto  ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto  ps
Motherboard Voltage Control
Voltage Type.………... Manual
CPU
CPU Vcore….……….........................:1.16250V
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: 1.240v
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: Auto
CPU Referen.…………....0.760V*.......: Auto
MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....1.100V...........: 1.240V
MCH Reference….…….0.760V...........; Auto
MCH/DRAM Ref.…......0.900V...........: Auto
ICH I/O……………….....1.500V............: 1.500V
ICH Core…………...……1.100V............: 1.100V
DRAM
DRAM Voltage ……....1.800V............: 2.100V
DRAM Termination .…0.900V............: Auto
Channel A Reference 0.900V............: Auto
Channel B Reference 0.900V............: Auto
Advanced Settings
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology................: [Disabled]
Integrated Peripherals
Legacy USB Storage Detect ..............[Disabled]

Please replace all the values in the above template with your own. The data in the above template is just for demonstration purposes and will not apply completely to your components.

[zetafunction]

Did you do a fresh install of Win 7 on the new board or try and |"re-use" the old install? if the latter then this explains with near certainty why you get BSOD's.

Unfortunately it seems that you have RMA'd the board rather prematurely. There were many things thet needed to be done before concluding the board was at fault. You may well find the exact same issue with the replacement, or if you're really unlucky it will be tested and returned to you as working, along with a bill/service charge.

Setting legacy IDE and trying an install, followed by installing Intel Matrix drivers, then switching to AHCI via the registry and the BIOS may have cured the issue. I notice you have 4 WD SE16/Cav. Blue's. Are they in RAID or all single disks? This alters how you'd set up the ICH SATA ports too.

Little thing like making sure the optical drive is on the yellow ports at position 6 (SATA_5) and not on the purple ports can effect Windows installs too. I was unable to install 7 using the purple ports.

There's not much I can do to help now, but if you have the same issue when the replacement arrives, post back here and we can help further.

I tried a couple things with Windows 7:
- Booting to the existing install. BSOD. Not entirely unexpected.
- Booting to the existing install in recovery mode. This works, but well, there's not much you can do there.
- Booting off the Windows 7 setup disk. This results in a BSOD before anything useful happens.

I've tried every possible combination of legacy/native IDE/AHCI available in the BIOS. All resulted in a BSOD when attempting to install Windows 7 (I don't have XP or Vista install discs handy). I even disconnected all the drives except for the optical drive and one of the hard drives while testing (I tried both the Raptor and one of the Caviars for this), and still got the BSOD.

The one thing I didn't think of was moving the optical drive from the Gigabyte port (purple port) to one of the ICH10R ports; the reason is it seemed like the optical drive was working fine--I booted an Ubuntu live CD without problems. It's an interesting suggestion, so since I haven't sent out the RMA, I'll try it out when I get home from work today if I'm not feeling too lazy.