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Just before anyone starts offering advice, I've solved my own problem, and am posting it here in case it helps someone else 
-- in my digging through the internet for a solution, it seemed like this was a major hub for Gigabyte support/troubleshooting.
Also, the short version: EuP support can cause boot problems. If you're having any problems with looping startups, rebooting instead of shutting down, or random "overclock failed!" messages with (what should be) a stable overclock (or no overclock at all), try disabling EuP support if it's enabled.
Now, the long version.
I purchased a GA-X58A-UD3R board a little over a week ago, and have been playing with it since it got here on Monday. To be honest, it gave me some major headaches setting it up! It overclocked well, but I soon ran into two intermittent problems, both related to booting/halting/rebooting. They're very similar to the problems documented in this thread about the X58A-UD7.
First, on a cold boot, the computer would have a large number of false starts (sometimes failing to start entirely, before I killed the power to it -- 5+ cycles at least). Sometimes it would manage to start up, but often I had to kill the power and reset the CMOS. By the way, in this case a cold boot meant a *literal* cold boot -- it would need somewhere between 30-90 minutes in the 'off' state before the problems occurred (I didn't time it exactly). I initially assumed this was heat-related, but I'm not as certain after discovering the solution.
Second, I would occasionally have issues (identical to the thread I linked) where the computer failed to shut down (from Windows, Linux boot CDs, and the power button in the BIOS), unless the power button was held down to shut off. Well, it would turn off and then start right back up again after ~5 seconds -- in exactly the same manner as when you make major BIOS changes and it restarts to apply them. Also, it seemed to only occur after a reboot-loop problem where I didn't reset the CMOS entirely. I don't know if that means anything or was just coincidence.
Initially, I thought I'd tracked these problems down to something as simple as a bad overclock (specifically voltage) setting, since it was presenting me (when I didn't reset the CMOS, and managed to get it to boot) with the "overclock failed!" message. I went through my overclock settings one at a time, applying them in small batches and trying to reproduce my cold boot issue. I eliminated all the overclock settings after a day or so, and finally tracked all these problems down to enabling EuP support.
As soon as I disabled this (and waited to check the cold boot issue), all my problems went away. While I would *like* to be able to turn this on for extra power savings (this computer is not on most nights), it's certainly better to just leave it disabled and be able to actually cold boot without needing to redo all my BIOS settings.
So, with any luck, this will help someone else out. All-in-all, it was a tricky board to set up (mainly as a result of this one little setting...), but it (so far, as I just solved this this afternoon) seems to be rock solid now.
Other possibly-relevant system information (in case there's a pattern for this occurring with specific hardware/settings):
Intel Core i7-930 CPU
Corsair XMS RAM (3x2GB, RAM slots 1/3/5)
X58A-UD3R MB
Corsair HX750 PSU
And the huge listing of (now successful, and so-far stable) BIOS/overclock settings:
-- in my digging through the internet for a solution, it seemed like this was a major hub for Gigabyte support/troubleshooting.Also, the short version: EuP support can cause boot problems. If you're having any problems with looping startups, rebooting instead of shutting down, or random "overclock failed!" messages with (what should be) a stable overclock (or no overclock at all), try disabling EuP support if it's enabled.
Now, the long version.
I purchased a GA-X58A-UD3R board a little over a week ago, and have been playing with it since it got here on Monday. To be honest, it gave me some major headaches setting it up! It overclocked well, but I soon ran into two intermittent problems, both related to booting/halting/rebooting. They're very similar to the problems documented in this thread about the X58A-UD7.
First, on a cold boot, the computer would have a large number of false starts (sometimes failing to start entirely, before I killed the power to it -- 5+ cycles at least). Sometimes it would manage to start up, but often I had to kill the power and reset the CMOS. By the way, in this case a cold boot meant a *literal* cold boot -- it would need somewhere between 30-90 minutes in the 'off' state before the problems occurred (I didn't time it exactly). I initially assumed this was heat-related, but I'm not as certain after discovering the solution.
Second, I would occasionally have issues (identical to the thread I linked) where the computer failed to shut down (from Windows, Linux boot CDs, and the power button in the BIOS), unless the power button was held down to shut off. Well, it would turn off and then start right back up again after ~5 seconds -- in exactly the same manner as when you make major BIOS changes and it restarts to apply them. Also, it seemed to only occur after a reboot-loop problem where I didn't reset the CMOS entirely. I don't know if that means anything or was just coincidence.
Initially, I thought I'd tracked these problems down to something as simple as a bad overclock (specifically voltage) setting, since it was presenting me (when I didn't reset the CMOS, and managed to get it to boot) with the "overclock failed!" message. I went through my overclock settings one at a time, applying them in small batches and trying to reproduce my cold boot issue. I eliminated all the overclock settings after a day or so, and finally tracked all these problems down to enabling EuP support.
As soon as I disabled this (and waited to check the cold boot issue), all my problems went away. While I would *like* to be able to turn this on for extra power savings (this computer is not on most nights), it's certainly better to just leave it disabled and be able to actually cold boot without needing to redo all my BIOS settings.
So, with any luck, this will help someone else out. All-in-all, it was a tricky board to set up (mainly as a result of this one little setting...), but it (so far, as I just solved this this afternoon) seems to be rock solid now.
Other possibly-relevant system information (in case there's a pattern for this occurring with specific hardware/settings):
Intel Core i7-930 CPU
Corsair XMS RAM (3x2GB, RAM slots 1/3/5)
X58A-UD3R MB
Corsair HX750 PSU
And the huge listing of (now successful, and so-far stable) BIOS/overclock settings:
Code:
** Assume "Auto" or unchanged (from Optimized Defaults) for missing settings. ** MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) =============================== CPU Clock Ratio: 21x Intel(R) Turbo Boost Tech.: Disabled CPU Cores Enabled: All CPU Multi-Threading: Enabled CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E): Enabled C3/C6/C7 State Support: Enabled CPU Thermal Monitor: Enabled CPU EIST Function: Enabled Bi-Directional PROCHOT: Enabled Virtualization Technology: Enabled QPI Clock Ratio: x36 Uncore Clock Ratio: x18 Isochronous Support: Enabled Base Clock (BCLK) Control: Enabled BCLK Frequency (MHz): 167 PCI Express Frequency (MHz): 100 CPU Clock Drive: 800mV PCI Express Clock Drive: 900mV CPU Clock Skew: 0ps IOH Clock Skew: 0ps Performance Enhance: Standard Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.): Disabled System Memory Multipler (SPD): 8.0 DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD): Quick Channel Interleaving: Auto Rank Interleaving: Auto CAS Latency Time: 6 tRCD: 6 tRP: 6 tRAS: 18 Command Rate (CMD): 1 Load-Line Calibration: Standard CPU Vcore: Normal Dynamic Vcore (DVID): Normal QPI/Vtt Voltage: Normal CPU PLL: Normal PCIE: Normal QPI PLL: Normal IOH Core: Normal ICH I/O: Normal ICH Core: Normal DRAM Voltage: Normal DRAM Termination: Normal Ch-A Data VRef.: Normal Ch-B Data VRef.: Normal Ch-C Data VRef.: Normal Ch-A Address VRef.: Normal Ch-B Address VRef.: Normal Ch-C Address VRef.: Normal Standard CMOS Features ====================== Drive A: None Halt: All, But Keyboard Advanced CMOS Features ====================== Quick Boot: Enabled First Boot Device: Hard Disk Second Boot Device: Disabled Third Boot Device: Disabled Password Check: Setup HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability: Enabled Limit CPUID Max. to 3: Disabled No-Execute Memory Protect: Enabled Delay For HDD (Secs): 0 Full Screen LOGO Show: Disabled Backup BIOS Image to HDD: Disabled Init Display Firs: PCIE x16-1 Integrated Peripherals ====================== eXtreme Hard Drive (XHD): Disabled ICH SATA Control Mode: AHCI SATA Port0-3 Native Mode: Disabled USB 1.0 Controller: Enabled USB 2.0 Controller: Enabled USB Keyboard Function: Disabled USB Mouse Function: Disabled USB Storage Function: Disabled Azalia Codec: Auto Onboard H/W 1394: Enabled Onboard H/W LAN: Enabled Green LAN: Enabled Onboard LAN1 Boot ROM: Disabled Onboard USB 3.0 Controller: Enabled eSATA Controller: Enabled eSATA Ctrl Mode: AHCI GSATA 6_7/IDE Controller: Enabled GSATA 6_7/IDE Ctrl Mode: AHCI SATA3 Firmware Selection: Onchip GSATA 8_9/IDE Controller: Enabled GSATA 8_9/IDE Ctrl Mode: AHCI Power Management Setup ====================== ACPI Suspend Type: S3 (STR) Soft-Off by PWR-BTTN: Instant-Off PME Event Wake Up: Disabled Power On by Ring: Disabled Resume by Alarm: Disabled HPET Support: Enabled HPET Mode: 64-bit Power On By Mouse: Disabled Power On By Keyboard: Disabled AC Back Function: Soft-Off EuP Support: Disabled
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