GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

[underfl0w]

Hello,

I've scoured the forum(s) here and elsewhere looking for things that I can try but cannot seem to resolve my problem.
I'm hoping that someone can maybe point me in the right direction.

Here's the specs:
Motherboard: GA-EX58-UD5 Revision 1.0
CPU: Core i7-920, S-spec: SLBCH
Memory: 12GB Corsair Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D, 1x v2.1 + 1x v3.2
PSU: Antec Signature 850 Watt SG-850 Revision 00F

Basically, the machine's been running solid for almost a year with all stock clocks running the F4 BIOS.
Then just a couple days ago I noticed that the RAM wasn't running at 1600 anymore, it was set to 1066.
So I entered the M.I.T section of the BIOS and chose Profile1 under the XMP dropdown.
I saved the changes and the machine went through POST fine and I was back in business, or so I thought.
After about 5-10 minutes of heavy graphics/cpu utilization the machine rebooted on me.
It did this several times while I tried to figure out what could be the cause, checking temperatures and running memtest and check disk.

Finally I went back into the BIOS under M.I.T and I received a bright red box telling me that some overclocking or voltages were set incorrectly and it was causing boot failures.
I chose to load the optimized defaults and save and the machine came back up.
I thought maybe I should flash the BIOS to a newer version since there have been 9 updates to it on Gigabyte's site since mine.
Without thinking I used the @BIOS windows utility to preform the flashing and then when the machine rebooted it got stuck in some POST boot cycle and that's where I'm at now.

I've tried several things that I've read on this forum for getting back into the BIOS.
Unseating all the ram and trying all the sticks in all the different slots individually.
Booting up with nothing connected but the DVD drive and the motherboard disc inside.
Unfortunately I had the floppy disabled in the BIOS before the flash so I couldn't try it with the flashspi.exe/EX58UD5.F12.
I've used the Clear CMOS button on the I/O panel, even left the CMOS battery out overnight.
Even tried kick starting the DualBIOS by performing some steps I read here, leaving the power button in when turning the PSU on, then turning the PSU off and trying to start it like normal.

If I boot up with no ram and just the CPU the machine stays on and stays at C1 in the POST. If I leave any of the sticks of ram in any of the slots it boots up for several seconds, POSTs C1 and then reboots.

I'm at a loss of things to try. I'm unclear now if I bricked it flashing in windows or if there's a problem elsewhere with the ram maybe.

Any suggestions on what else to try or what could be causing this?

Thanks so much and sorry for the novel!

[sin0822]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

I have a ud5 rev 2.0 and well when i get c1 and the clicks it means OC failed, it keeps flashing b/c thats the bios checking the cmos over and over to see if its stable to boot. You have a backup bios? if so there is a way to boot to it manually.

[underfl0w]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

Backup as in the Dual BIOS feature, or a copy of the flash file?
My understanding is that the board should have a secondary BIOS to boot to but I can't seem to get it to activate.
I do have an old copy of the F4 around on a floppy though too if that's what you mean. ( but the floppy drive is disabled with the current BIOS )

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

Do you have a steady hand?

If so I can show you how to boot from the Backup BIOS, that way you can reflash the MAIN BIOS.

[underfl0w]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

It's been a while since I've soldered or anything like that but if it'll get this board working again I'm game. Thanks!

What would you recommend reflashing the main BIOS to? The older F4 that seemed to work fine for such a long time for me or should I try the F12 again?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

No soldering is needed at all.

All I asked for was so you could hold a short. To flash from the backup BIOS you need to short the MAIN BIOS, I'll show you how if you want to do it (It's easy)

Do you have needle or fine tipped tweezers?

I'd go ahead and flash F12, but you MAIN BIOS will probably auto recover to F4 at first, then once you get it going again you can safely flash F12 using Qflash.

[wazza300]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

underflow i have the same board as you and been using f12 bios for months,works fine for me,i think with 12gb you needed to tweak the qpi/vtt voltage as settings will vary from bios to bios,meaning you will need to tweak things slightly to remain stable,i find f12 to be a good stable bios though and seems to need less voltage than the newer beta bios's

[underfl0w]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

Great, thanks a lot for the information.

I'll try the shorting in a little bit to see if I can back into the BIOS to tweak those settings.
I had read that the QPI voltage needs to remain within ~.5v of the ram voltage.
When selecting Profile1 for that ram it takes the voltage up to 1.65.
The strange thing is that I've used that setting for the ram for a very long time without changing it back and to have it switch and cause me problems when I tried to reinstate it seems odd to me.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

PM sent on recovery, let us know how you get along tonight.

1.65V is probably your rated memory voltage, that only means QPI/Vtt must be at least 1.15 or above in regards to the remaining within 0.5V rule.

[underfl0w]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

I tried bypassing the main BIOS for the backup BIOS and what happens is it initially boots and POSTs 88, then quickly reboots and POSTs C1 where it hangs for several seconds and repeats.
I did see a POST 11 briefly after a few runs through trying to get the secondary BIOS up but after it rebooted it started the previous pattern of boot cycle.
I'll try a bit longer seeing if anything different happens.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

Can you borrow another CPU from anyone, and PSU?

It could be either of those and not the board itself causing this, I've noted LED Code 11 means an overclock failed/Reset automatically or manually invoked, and on the next reboot it should boot from defaults.

So it may not be the board, it would be great if you were able to find some other hardware you could test things with, any friends with X58?

[underfl0w]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

Unfortunately nobody I know has a core i7 or uses gigabyte motherboards, that I could get easy access to anyway. =(

The only spare parts I do have laying around are from builds at least 5+ years old and none of them are compatible with this board.

I did get in touch with Gigabyte's support and Corsair, in case it is the ram.
This is the response I got from Gigabyte when asking about the dual bios and getting it to initiate: "All hardware are PnP and should be auto detection by default."

Is it possible that the board really is fine and the POST issues are memory related? If I remove the ram it doesn't reboot after several seconds, it just stops at C1. With the ram in it POSTs C1 and then reboots 4-5 seconds later.
I was getting barked at in the BIOS about the voltages after choosing the XMP Profile1 before I went and flashed to F12.
Maybe it's just coincidence that I flashed the BIOS and the ram was on it's way out at the same time.
(Although the ram did pass a memtest ran early that day)

[wazza300]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

have you tried with just one stick in the first white ram slot from cpu socket? c1 could be the ram or cpu's memory controller,checked for bent cpu socket pins?

removed the mb battery to fully clear the cmos???

[underfl0w]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

Yup, have used the I/O panel CMOS switch, also left the battery out overnight.
I have tried all 6 sticks of ram in all the slots individually.
There are no bent pins on the cpu, or at least none bent enough for me to notice with the naked eye.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-UD5 POST C1 Boot Cycle

Please take a picture of your CPU socket so we can look.

Please do so in a well lit room, with no flash. Set the camera to Macro mode, and take a few images from different angles.

That way we can rule this out as part of the problem, it's very unlikely that all your memory died at once. Can you take your memory to a friends to test, I'm sure it's not all dead though so this is probably nothing to think twice about.