ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger (Z170) Flashing power LED while awake?

NoxTek

NoxTek

The Geek Redneck
Joined
May 27, 2002
Messages
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A curious problem with my new ASUS Maximus Ranger VIII motherboard:

I've noticed that while the machine is powered up the power LED blinks constantly at a rate of about 1 per second. I can't find anything about this in the manual or using Google-FU eexcept that the power LED is only supposed to blink when the machine is in suspend mode or 'asleep'.

I have triple checked that the chassis power LED connection is properly connected to the motherboard power LED header.

During my extensive Google searches I did see ONE forum post from a few years ago that indicated that on many ASUS boards the power LED will blink like this is it detects abnormal voltage on one of the PSU rails, but I'm not seeing any other signs that would indicate this. Using software (I know, hardly accurate) all rails seem spot on and there really isn't any other outward signs that would seem to indicate a power problem.

I guess I'll break out a multimeter and start measuring things, maybe even try a spare PSU... but I wanted to get other opinions before I spend a morning wasting time and effort.

System is in my sig, but the PSU is a rather solidly built Corsair TX 750 v2. Admittedly it's approaching 4 years old now but I'd still be shocked if it ended up being the problem. :p
 
I have the same board and do not have this issue. never heard of this happening before
I should also point out they just releaed a new bios Version 0905
 
zaniix said:
I have the same board and do not have this issue. never heard of this happening before
I should also point out they just releaed a new bios Version 0905
Click to expand...

Yup, updated to it first thing yesterday morning.

They still don't seem to have fixed the compatibility issue with the G'Skill 3000mhz DDR4 that was in the infamous Newegg combo.
 
Blue Falcon said:
Yup, updated to it first thing yesterday morning.

They still don't seem to have fixed the compatibility issue with the G'Skill 3000mhz DDR4 that was in the infamous Newegg combo.
Click to expand...

I was actually running 0801 and updated shortly after I had posted, but I didnt find 0905 to be stable for me.

It booted up fine but my voltages were all over the place with the same exact settings. I tried running it stock with adaptive set to 1.20 and offset .001, it was reporting vcores over 1.4v
very odd behavior so I went back to 0801 and it is running fine.
 
zaniix said:
I was actually running 0801 and updated shortly after I had posted, but I didnt find 0905 to be stable for me.

It booted up fine but my voltages were all over the place with the same exact settings. I tried running it stock with adaptive set to 1.20 and offset .001, it was reporting vcores over 1.4v
very odd behavior so I went back to 0801 and it is running fine.
Click to expand...

Yup, I totally noticed that! I actually thought I must be doing something wrong... glad to know someone else experienced the same thing.

I saw the same problem with DDR4 voltages, I'd set one value and reboot and a completely different value would be reported in the BIOS. Like I'd set 1.353 volts and it would run 1.24v or something like that. Guess I'll be going back to 0801 too...
 
Blue Falcon said:
Yup, I totally noticed that! I actually thought I must be doing something wrong... glad to know someone else experienced the same thing.

I saw the same problem with DDR4 voltages, I'd set one value and reboot and a completely different value would be reported in the BIOS. Like I'd set 1.353 volts and it would run 1.24v or something like that. Guess I'll be going back to 0801 too...
Click to expand...

thanks for replying, I was so sure I must of made some mistake I tried 0905 a 2nd time, but no matter what I did voltages were just random, I did manage to finally get the vcore locked in with a manual voltage, but even then it fluctuated a tiny bit while previously vcore would stay at exactly what I manually set it to.

So I am back at 0801 again. They need to rewrite the description for 0905 to say "Made system less stable."
 
So I just got done trying a bunch of crap:

1. Disconnected devices one by one from both the PSU and the motherboard, after each one I tried powering up - no dice. Still flashing power LED while running.
2. Completely disconnected the PSU and tried using another known good spare PSU. No dice.
3. Tried different RAM. No dice.

About the only things I haven't tried are:

1. Removing the motherboard from the chassis entirely and running it bare minimum on the bench.
2. Removing the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 and backplate and running with another HSF. (thinking that the metal backplate could be shorting against the bottom of the motherboard somehow? Desperation, I know...)


It's really looking like the motherboard could be defective in some fashion - but aside from the blinking power LED I've (mostly) got it running stable. Mostly.

I guess I'm going to try firing off an email to Asus technical support... I'm not hopeful though as they're usually a bunch or morons. :p
 
FYI there is another new Bios for the Ranger
ASUS Maximus VIII RANGER BIOS version 1001
1. Update Intel® ME version to 1168
2. Improved compatibility with Samsung M.2 SSDs

I am not trying this one after the last one caused be headaches, but let me know the results if you try it out :D
 
zaniix said:
FYI there is another new Bios for the Ranger
ASUS Maximus VIII RANGER BIOS version 1001
1. Update Intel® ME version to 1168
2. Improved compatibility with Samsung M.2 SSDs

I am not trying this one after the last one caused be headaches, but let me know the results if you try it out :D
Click to expand...

I read on the ASUS ROG forums that this one is even worse with the voltages so I'm just going to stick with 0801 for awhile longer...
 
♪♫ HOLY SHIIIIIIT... CAN IT BE? ASUS FIXED THE BUNDLE MEEEMORYYYYY ♫♪





Flashed the new 1102 BIOS for the Maximus VIII Ranger this morning and immediately loaded the XMP profile off off the G'Skill 3000mhz DDR4. And how about that.... after almost FOUR MONTHS it finally works! Now granted, in the screenshot above I've only been testing for just over ten minutes but still, before this the board wouldn't even POST if you tried to run the memory at it's rated 3000mhz speeds... not without jacking up the SA and VCCIO and even then if it made it past POST it was an unstable mess.

It finally just works. I didn't even touch the SA or VCCIO either.

Maybe I'll end up taking back some of the harsh things I've had to say about ASUS and this bastard stepchild of a motherboard. Now if only I could get an answer out of them on this blinking power LED issue!
 
I will give you a few days before I try it :) Would be nice to just have it work properly.

Any issue with CPU voltages jumping around like some of the other BIOS updates?
 
zaniix said:
I will give you a few days before I try it :) Would be nice to just have it work properly.

Any issue with CPU voltages jumping around like some of the other BIOS updates?
Click to expand...

So far no, voltages seem to be pretty stable. I will note that the DRAM voltage still reads a little low in the BIOS. I have 1.353v set but it reads something like 1.348v - I can't remember if it was that way in the 080x BIOS that I was running prior. I have to say I kinda don't care either because the G'Skill 3000mhz DDR4 is finally running rock solid at it's XMP rated speeds. :D
 
I plan to give it a try tomorrow and see if I have the same experience you did, fingers crossed
 
xmp failed to post.

Mind sharing your CPU settings? what voltages did you set for the 4.6 OC.

I tried XMP with stock CPU and it failed, I am wondering if the CPU just needed more power

ok that was an epic failure I had instability even at my old settings. Really starting to feel sorry I chose this board. Back to 0801.
 
Last edited:
zaniix said:
xmp failed to post.

Mind sharing your CPU settings? what voltages did you set for the 4.6 OC.

I tried XMP with stock CPU and it failed, I am wondering if the CPU just needed more power

ok that was an epic failure I had instability even at my old settings. Really starting to feel sorry I chose this board. Back to 0801.
Click to expand...


Wow, that's odd.

After flashing the UEFI to 1102 I chose the XMP1 profile, set my CPU multiplier to 46, CPU vCore to 1.375v, and DDR4 voltage to 1.353v (actually it was already set just from loading the XMP profile). Changed a few other values not pertinent to CPU/RAM (like disabling onboard audio since I have a card, etc), saved and exited the UEFI and BAM. Completely stable and Prime95 was still going strong this morning - over 24 hours running.
 
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