Help!!!!

Hi everyone. I have a GA-MA790FX-DS5 motherboard from Gigabyte. This mb is has a 790FX chipset and currently the hardware that is installed is:

AMD X4 9950 CPU
Coolermaster Orb Heatsinc (it's HUGE)
2x 500Gb Seagate SATA drives
2x 3870 PCI-e Cards in Crossfire
4Gb RAM
Running Vista Ultimate 64-bit.

Now, I recently got my hands on a new Phenom II X4 920 CPU and when I went to install it I suddenly had some issues.

Firstly, the board did not pick up on the CPU. I looked on Gigabytes support page to see a BIOS update for the new CPU's...I flashed it and that did fix that particular problem but then some other weird things started to happen.

Firstly, the puter would take a VERY long time to boot. A disturbingly long think it died it's taking so long to boot anount of time. When it finally did boot, the CPU was identified but then inexplicitedly the screen would go black and the PC would reboot (and again take that scarey and massively long time). Again, I looked on some message boards and the best I could find was a beta bios from Gigabyte to fix some issues with "some" of the newer AMD CPU's. Even with this new beta bios those issues still persist.

The first thing that came to mind almost immediately was heat. But. I do have a VERY large orbit cooler on the CPU set at high, I am not over clocking and I have a good Antec case which has fans on the top, front and rear.

Another thing though which has come to mind is possibly the power supply. I have a very good ps from Antec as well (650). But shouldn't the new 45nm CPU use less power and make less heat then the Phenom X4 9950 I have in there right now? The system worked perfectly again once I put the old CPU back in it.

So, Techspot people I would gladly like to hear any suggestions anyone has...or if anyone else out there as had a similar issue with their rig and has a fix.



Thanks for your help.

Have you reinstalled Vista fresh, including all the motherboards drivers and updated Vista to SP2? A CPU change requires a fresh OS install so that we don't get the problems you describe here

True, I would think similar processors would yield less "omg is it dead" and more BSOD or refusing to boot into windows rather than a "long boot".

When you turn your computer on, do you see your motherboard logo and then start lagging?

No. I don't see the mb logo. It's simply a black screen for a very long time and then finally it starts to post.

I don't think a fresh install will do the trick as again the puter will finally boot but will freeze up and reboot after just a few minutes (certainly not long enough to get the install done).

Frankly I have been VERY dissapointed with this motherboard. This was the first non-Asus mb I have ever had and I can honestly say that the Asus boards have never given me the issues that this Gigabyte board has.

:"The system worked perfectly again once I put the old CPU back in it...

This comes down to "the new Phenom II X4 920 CPU is NOT compatible with the GA-MA790FX-DS5 motherboard"...

I have used Gigabyte boards in several builds (all Intel based) and I think they are just "ok" in quality and function. I really like DFI and ABIT, but DFI is expensive and Newegg no longer sells ABIT at all. I lost love for AMD several years ago, when I realized, through experience, that Intel was the way to go. My last AMD build was in 2006

And yet, according to the CPU support list (and bios updates) the CPU is in fact compatible with this motherboard. I am just at a loss as to why this is happening. Originally in this build I had a x2 5000 CPU. Later, I got a tripple core and then the X4 9950 CPU. All the CPU upgrades went without a hitch (the tripple core I did have to flash the bios but everything went smoothly).

So do you still have the "VERY long time to boot" problem that you first posted?

P.S. There's no reason to quote posts right under or over yours

Those are all older processors, the Phenom II is new, working with old processors doesn't really help.
I think Tmagic650 is right, the motherboard is not really compatible, you can try emailing tech support and ask them for a new bios or something.

Have you turned on ACC in the BIOS? Can you go into the BIOS in the first place?

TMagic...I have put the older X4 9950 back into the PC so everything is "normal".

Hellokitty...yes, I have sent tech support an email. I have read on other forums that people have put their new CPU in, flashed the bios to 7e and everything was fine.

Rage...I have not turned on the ACC in the BIOS. Once the new CPU is in there I am uncertain if I can get into the bios or not.

I have just gotten the latest bios update. Should I flash the bios first and then change the CPU...or change the CPU and then flash the bios? Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks everyone.

Flash the bios first then install the new CPU...

Good luck