Hi guys,

I'm pretty sure that this is a motherboard issue, which is too bad for me, because I love this board. The board is a GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3P, and I'm running G-SKILL 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Ram, and my proccessor is a Core Duo E8400 Wolfdale.

I've got the BIOS settings for the board "use safest settings" instead of maxing everything out, and I've never overclocked anything. It's straight up.

Problem is, sometimes I'll be on the pc and everything on the screen freezes, and that's it. No keyboard function, no mouse, no nothing. And, if I'm listening to music, the music "skips" much like a music cd that skips, but it does it about 20 X's faster, producing a really nasty sound. I'd say on average it freezes anywhere from once a week to 3 x's a week, and I don't think it has anything to do with the load, as I'm rarely taxing this pc. Word, an SNES emulator, musc, not much else.

Also, I've tried multiple HDD's all SATA, but the problem persists, even after a fresh reformat.

I guess my question is, I really like this mobo, and they don't make it anymore. Is it possible that the RAM is faulty, or a BIOS error? I've never flashed the BIOS, and the board is a Rev 1.0. I can flash it, but I'd like to hear what you guys my have to say first.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

- Dizzy

memory will typicaly cause the system to blue screen. but if you want to check it:

memetest.org

I would place my money on power or heat.


when it freezes are you doing anything video or processor intensive?

^ I agree. Memory issues will usually cause a BSOD. If the cpu is overheating the system will usually shutdown or restart. Video problems sound more like you. Hesitations, lagging, getting booted to the Desktop while gaming are signs of a video problem, usually, not always. Check the temperature of your gpu while it's at an idle and under load. Uninstall the video driver, run Drivercleaner, restart and re-install your drivers and see if that helps. Have you added any additional fans, harddrives, etc... lately. They could be stressing out your power supply causing it to underpower your video card. Or the power supply could be going bad.

Quote: Originally Posted by Slaymate ^ I agree. Memory issues will usually cause a BSOD. If the cpu is overheating the system will usually shutdown or restart. Video problems sound more like you. Hesitations, lagging, getting booted to the Desktop while gaming are signs of a video problem, usually, not always. Check the temperature of your gpu while it's at an idle and under load. Uninstall the video driver, run Drivercleaner, restart and re-install your drivers and see if that helps. Have you added any additional fans, harddrives, etc... lately. They could be stressing out your power supply causing it to underpower your video card. Or the power supply could be going bad.

Damn guys, I really appreciate the responses, although what I entirely failed to mention is that the pc does NOT BSOD. It simply STOPS. Whatever screen or image was on the monitor will still be there, but other than that, it locks up tighter than the virgin Mary. And as far as as the power supply goes, it's a PC Power & Cooling 750 watt unit, and I'm certainly not taxing it with a Super Nintendo emulator.

I went to NewEgg where I bought it, and looked it up. Apparently I'm not the only one who has this problem. I'd say more people have it than don't.

Here's the board, and the link to NewEgg. I've read some of the "poor" reviews, and they're all having a similar problem. The damn thing just LOCKS THE F*UCK UP. Only solution is to reboot.

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Someone stated that by lowering the clock of the RAM, that did the trick. I don't know how to do that, but I'm sure it's not too difficult.

I'll keep an eye on this thread, and hope that some feedback will shed a bit of light on the problem. I'd like to thank evreyone who's contributed, and look forward to any further advice. I'm priveleged to be a part of this community, and again, thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by THRiLL KiLL memory will typicaly cause the system to blue screen. but if you want to check it: memetest.org I would place my money on power or heat. when it freezes are you doing anything video or processor intensive?

Nope, nothing intensive. Thanks bunches for that link, I'll give it a shot!

what temperature does your cpu run at normaly?

also what revision of firmware does your motherboard have?
GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - BIOS - GA-EP45T-UD3P (rev. 1.0)

Underclocking the RAM might help, but also consider your sound card. I've had sound card driver issues before, specifically with a SB Audigy 2 and Windows 7 RC. The Creative driver update killed my card. I had uninstall, physically remove the card, driverclean, then install the Audigy with the original set of drivers. That worked wonders for me.

Quote: Originally Posted by THRiLL KiLL what temperature does your cpu run at normaly? also what revision of firmware does your motherboard have? GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - BIOS - GA-EP45T-UD3P (rev. 1.0)

As far as my CPU's temp, to be honest I don't know. I'm using the standard fan that came with the E8400 Wolfdale. By to my knowledge, if a CPU is overheating, the mobo willl shut the system down completely and power off, not "freeze up" like mine does. However, I think I can view the temp in one of the BIOS screens. If not, I'll just pick up CPUZ, I belive you can monitor it that way.

Thanks for the mobo flash, I've got the download and plan to flash it this week. It certainly can't hurt.

Thanks guys!

Quote: Originally Posted by godling Underclocking the RAM might help, but also consider your sound card. I've had sound card driver issues before, specifically with a SB Audigy 2 and Windows 7 RC. The Creative driver update killed my card. I had uninstall, physically remove the card, driverclean, then install the Audigy with the original set of drivers. That worked wonders for me.

That's good advice godling, however my sound is onboard the mobo, realtek.

Thanks!

heat will cause your system to lockup.

here is what you need to do.

Either a: let th computer run for 30 or so minute and then reboot and go into bios, and check your temps there

or b: see if speed fan works with your system:
SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer