EP45-DS3L Freeze on Dual Channel

[Dryluck]

Hi! I'm hoping you guys can help me out with a problem!

Okay, so I have a newly built machine which can post, but ends up freezing a little bit afterwards. I do not even have windows installed.

System Specs:
E8400
EP45-DS3L
G. Skill F2-8500L5D-4GBPK
eVGA 9800GTX
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500 GB Drive
Corsair 750w

The ram is not on the ram compatibility list. :(

I had to lower the MCH to 1.05v to get the machine stable. This would allow it to run through a couple memtests in single channel. Once I switch over to dual channel, it crashes again. I up'd the ram voltage to stay within the 2.0 - 2.1 range. But other than that, I haven't changed anything else.

Any ideas on how to get the machine stable while dual channeled?

Thanks.

[NimrodAUS]

Re: EP45-DS3L Freeze on Dual Channel

Entered the RAM Timing manually? Which appear to be 5-5-5-15 try @ 2.1v and if its ok lower to 2 and see what happens? Do you have any other ram to test in your MB? Buy the way what FW version are you running on your Seagate? Download SeaTools to tell you if its to hard to get it out and look. You should find out though as I think your drive might be one of the drives that have a new FW version out to fix a bricking issue.

[Dryluck]

Re: EP45-DS3L Freeze on Dual Channel

Hi NimrodAUS!

Thank you for your speedy reply, and sorry for my own slow one. T_T I have been unable to log on during the week due to work stuff. Apologies.

I have tried setting RAM timings manually as you suggested. It stalled 30 seconds into the memtest at 5-5-5-15 @ 2.1v. :(

I have two sticks of ddr2 generic ram (2x512MB = 1 GB) that i am trying from my dad's machine. I have run a memtest, and for the most part, it works. There are a couple of flags on the memtests, but the machine is not crashing on dual channel.

I have taken a taken a look at the FW version on the hard drive. It is version SD15. Hard drive is ST3500320AS.

I am probably going to look into getting some ram that is on the compatibility list on the Gigabyte website. Any other suggestions before I cave in?

Thanks for your help so far! It is much appreciated.

[NimrodAUS]

Re: EP45-DS3L Freeze on Dual Channel

Well Buddy I really dont know what else you can try with your ram, Id say that you have a dodgy stick or two, have you run memtest 86+ V2.11 on each stick individually?

There is a Fireware update for your HDD, however seagate seem to have removed the user download link from there website, I was lucky to be there when it came out but you may have to contact them, I updated my 1tb and I havent had any problems. However I had nothing on my drive, If you have mission critical data on yours then perhaps you should just leave it the way it is. heres the link Seagate issues new firmware updates for bad HDDs :: TweakTown