Do I have the worst MB ever? Did it kill my SSD? Don't even know what to RMA...

[soundasleep]

i5 2500k + CM Hyper 212+
Gigabyte GA-H67A-UD3H-B3
Crucial 2x4GB CT2KIT51264BA1339
G.Skill 2x4GB F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
Intel 320 SSD 120GB + Win7 Home 64
2 x Samsung secondary drives
Cooler master Silent Pro M 600W
ASUS 24X SATA DVD-RW
Antec P183 V3

New build, barely used (pretty much just installed some software and ran some tests).

I started getting the dreaded Gigabyte Sandy Bridge "boot cycling" as described here and shown here. When it happens, you have to power down for quite awhile and try again later. When the system isn't doing that, it's occasionally crashing when I plug in a USB device, or distorting at the top of my display when I plug in a USB device. I tried a suggested remedy and disabled legacy USB, no change. Tried different RAM configurations, no change. Then I started getting BOOT DRIVE FAILURE, so as a last ditch before RMAing I flashed the BIOS to the latest version. Still getting BOOT DRIVE FAILURE, or NO OS FOUND...turns out the SSD is now showing up as 8MB in the BIOS (Samsungs normal). Or sometimes none of the drives show up in the BIOS.

Can a MB kill a drive like that? Should I just RMA the MB by itself first and see if the drive comes back? Something tells me it won't, seems like it's a controller issue.

I want a full ATX board with video (no graphics card), no OC so the and H67 board would be perfect. But there are only like three full ATX H67 boards in existence as far as I can tell. Maybe I'll just replace it with an Intel board.

First and last Giga, that's for sure.

 

[Syran]

Might want to check out some Z68 boards. Then you could use the SSD caching.
There's a BIOSTAR TZ68A+ on Newegg for $110 + shipping.

 

[bankster55]

Yeah, I agree. You need at least the ASRock Z68 basic
Each one of your problems could be an hours worth of digging.
Like your "silent" PSU which prob means fanless?
Would explain why after long period off (cool down) it works
Same for a Heatsink not down flat
There is also a shutdown temp in bios - may be too low
CPU socket with bent pin
Even a bad CPU
And on and on
Cut your losses and trade up to the ASRock Z68 and get a real PSU
That really sucks, feel your pain.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

I've heard of this issue from two other local builders. I'm avoiding Gigabyte H67 boards in particular and Gigabyte Sandy Bridge boards in general because of it. The issue appears sufficiently widespread that I think it would behoove Gigabyte to recall this model, and possibly others as well. They have a good reputation and this fiasco will surely tarnish it.

 

[BTA]

I gotta say I haven't been happy with my last two Gigabyte purchases. I'd used them for years and they were great but my wife's AM3 board is flaky and I had big issues with my P67 board I had before returning it during the chipset recall.

I really hope they get their act together because they were my go-to mb maker.

To the OP, I'd probably try to return the MB and try something else. My ASRock has been stellar.

 

[soundasleep]

I agree that the symptoms could also point to a bad CPU or PSU, but it seems like there are enough documented cases of bad Sandy Bridge boards that I'm probably just going to send it back. Not sure if I should even bother trying another PSU (which will disable my WORKING system). I just really wish I had found this info BEFORE this build. You think you've done your homework...

The thing that's really bothering me is the SSD. I've found some similar cases online and they always have to RMA (i.e., it doesn't come back to life). Did I get TWO bad major components this time? Or did the Giga kill the SSD?

 

[BTA]

It's possible its just the bad SSD alone. Although the Intel drives are supposedly more reliable. Have you tried installing Windows to one of your secondary hard drives just to see if it is stable?

 

[bankster55]

or you could try a secure erase on the SSD
http://www.kingston.com/redtech/articles/00007/00007.asp

 

[soundasleep]

I was thinking maybe I'd try another drive, but now I'm afraid of what this board might be doing to the drives. Even though all of the drives are SATA 3Gb, I had the SSD on an SATA 6Gb port. I believe it's a problem with the 6Gb ports, because they were also causing HDD errors on the Samsungs when using Samsung's diagnostic tool, but no errors occurred on the 3Gb ports.

But there's still the boot cycling problem, so it doesn't even seem worth investigating the MOBO any further.

I just need to determine if the SSD is really dead or not. Maybe I'll try that secure erase.

 

[soundasleep]

UPDATE!! The answer to Question #2 is YES. I found this thread and it seems that there is emerging evidence that the Intel 320 SSDs can revert to 8MB when they are power cycled. This explains it. So basically I have a bad motherboard which then killed my SDD. Lucky me. Of course these problems just started getting discussed right around/after I ordered this system (around May 23). The plan was to go for stability. I'm not even gonna bother researching components next time. I'll probably have better luck just picking them randomly.

I know, I'm a whiner.

 

[BTA]

It really just goes to show you that you can't trust any manufactuer anymore. They can all have a bad batch, bad design, or just bad quality assurance. Luck of the draw really.

If I were in your shoes now I'd probably RMA the SSD since it looks like thats your only option, and return the gigabyte mb and try another manufactuer of your choice.

 

[bankster55]

Wow, nice find.
Glad you came back with update
Saved for future use

 

[soundasleep]

If I were in your shoes now I'd probably RMA the SSD since it looks like thats your only option, and return the gigabyte mb and try another manufactuer of your choice.

Yeah, trying to decide if I want to RMA the SSD or just get a refund and replace it with something else. If they really do come out with a firmware update in July that fixes the problem, it would be fine. But they haven't admitted to the problem yet so I'd be rolling the dice. Don't want to lose my boot drive on a power outage. Ugh.

The Giga's definitely getting swapped though. I want to keep the cost in the same ballpark so I think ASUS is out. Probably Intel H67 or Z68. Intel boards are stable, right? That's conventional wisdom. But I heard their SSDs were pretty darn good too...

 

[BTA]

Yeah, reliability is kind of why I haven't personally jumped on the SSD train yet. Although lots of people have no issues at all so who knows.

As far as MB manufactuers I am liking my AsRock P67 very much, and my Biostar AM3 board in my HTPC has been good as well.

 

[soundasleep]

Yeah, reliability is kind of why I haven't personally jumped on the SSD train yet. Although lots of people have no issues at all so who knows.

I had the same though at first but the lure of flash speed was too great. Plus, I figured with the 5 year warranty, as long as I could get the thing up and running with tweaks, and then imaged, I'd be OK. Silly me.

 

[Smartazz]

SSDs might not be 100% reliable, but hard drives aren't either. I've had a couple hard drives die on me, one Seagate, one WD. I've had no problems at all with my Corsair SSD and yes the allure of its speed is pretty great.

 

[soundasleep]

Oh don't I know it. And I don't really trust any one brand over others. Over the years, I've had a Maxtor, an IBM (aahhh, the Deathstar...memories...), a Seagate and two Western Digitals go on me. Swore I'd never buy another WD. Bought 2 or 3 since then of course.

 

[Rvenger]

Biostar TZ68a+ for $99 + free ship

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138319

 

[Shmee]

just a thought, but according to your specs, you have 2 different 8 GB kits of ram in use, from 2 different manufacturers, correct? That makes for a total of 16 GB non matched ddr3 ram. I am not sure how finicky the controller is on the 2500K, but this brings up a red flag of potential memory issues to me.

Of course it may just be the boards fault, but this could be a potential issue on other boards if the memory combo isn't to the liking.

anyways, good luck, and I hope this isn't an issue as I fear it could be, but you might at least want to be aware of the possibility :C

 

[skipsneeky2]

Used Asus motherboards since the pentium 4 day's.

Not a single issue or problem with any of them and others bash asus .....

Appears Gigabyte is slacking and nice to see some companies like asrock picking up the slack Remember reading nothing but problems on the newegg reviews about their older boards.

 

[Kroze]

I just RMA my piece of shit Gigabyte P67 UD3-B3. After 2 months of ownership, it became a pile of junk.

Don't they R&D these thing anymore or do they just tack on a lot of stickers that said "2oz of solid coppers capacitor!" fuck!

 

[skipsneeky2]

I just RMA my piece of shit Gigabyte P67 UD3-B3. After 2 months of ownership, it became a pile of junk.

Don't they R&D these thing anymore or do they just tack on a lot of stickers that said "2oz of solid coppers capacitor!" fuck!

Could be 10 oz of solid coppers capacitor it still doesn't save the board from being a potential pile of shit!

 

[BTA]

Biostar TZ68a+ for $99 + free ship

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138319

That's a nice lookin board for $99 bucks.

 

[Rvenger]

That's a nice lookin board for $99 bucks.

I thought I was going to regret it when I got rid of my MSI P67a-C43 (B3) but I can honestly say it was worth every bit. The MSI had bad Coil whine and the overclocking options were skewed and got worse with bios updates. The newest Bios limited the Vcore to 1.35v which crippled OC capability. Since my 2500k is a weak overclocker, I couldn't get past 4.2ghz without running at the same speed 24/7. This Biostar has a ton of overclocking options plus I can throttle speeds and voltages at higher speeds now. No more coil whine either and Prime 95 reports it being 'slightly' faster.

 

[soundasleep]

just a thought, but according to your specs, you have 2 different 8 GB kits of ram in use, from 2 different manufacturers, correct? That makes for a total of 16 GB non matched ddr3 ram. I am not sure how finicky the controller is on the 2500K, but this brings up a red flag of potential memory issues to me.

Of course it may just be the boards fault, but this could be a potential issue on other boards if the memory combo isn't to the liking.

anyways, good luck, and I hope this isn't an issue as I fear it could be, but you might at least want to be aware of the possibility :C

I know that non-matched RAM can cause issues but the boot cycling problem started before I had the G.Skill modules (those were added weeks later). And I've tried the G.Skill modules by themselves too, same problem. (They are on the QVL for this motherboard by the way...though the Crucials are not). From what I've been reading, there have been enough people with this board and other Gigabyte SB boards, using many different RAM configurations, with the same problem - that I don't think it's RAM related. Or, if it is RAM related...I still think it's a defect of the boards that they are so sensitive to multiple RAM modules across a spectrum...