ASUS Official X79 Motherboards Support Thread

Rampage IV Extreme (1305) BACK ports Not recognizing USB 3.0 External HD (Seagate, WD etc) windows 7 x64 --- any suggestions? I have to unplug and re-plug the USB drive to get windows to see it EVERY TIME I reboot. Also, It does not matter which USB 3.0 port it's in, if there is more than one USB 3.0 Drive in the 3.0 ports it only sees 1 or 2, not all 3 that I have. It was like this out of the box, I am running no OCs right now. Nothing. I have flashed/upgraded the BIOS (1305), cleared CMOS, reset again etc....the UEFI also only sees 2 of the 3 USB 3.0 external USB drives at any one time and only 3 of 6 total (including the USB 2.0 drives). So, to be clear, if I change the port, put a different drive in there, but keep all 3 USB 3.0 drives plugged in, it will still only see 2 of the 3 USB 3.0 drives....Suggestions please??

SPECS: Rampage IV Extreme BIOS=1305, 1000w Antec Platinum, 3930k, 32gb samsung 30nm DRAM, C drive:Crucial m4 SSD 128gb; D: barracuda Xt 3gb, 6 USB externals (WD Hitachi and Seagate 3 are 3.0, 3 are 2.0, only the 3.0 are plugged into the 3.0 ports). Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit; *RUNNING STOCK* until I get this sorted, the build is about a month old, or less
 
reeltape said:
Rampage IV Extreme (1305) BACK ports Not recognizing USB 3.0 External HD (Seagate, WD etc) windows 7 x64 --- any suggestions? I have to unplug and re-plug the USB drive to get windows to see it EVERY TIME I reboot. Also, It does not matter which USB 3.0 port it's in, if there is more than one USB 3.0 Drive in the 3.0 ports it only sees 1 or 2, not all 3 that I have. It was like this out of the box, I am running no OCs right now. Nothing. I have flashed/upgraded the BIOS (1305), cleared CMOS, reset again etc....the UEFI also only sees 2 of the 3 USB 3.0 external USB drives at any one time and only 3 of 6 total (including the USB 2.0 drives). So, to be clear, if I change the port, put a different drive in there, but keep all 3 USB 3.0 drives plugged in, it will still only see 2 of the 3 USB 3.0 drives....Suggestions please??

SPECS: Rampage IV Extreme BIOS=1305, 1000w Antec Platinum, 3930k, 32gb samsung 30nm DRAM, C drive:Crucial m4 SSD 128gb; D: barracuda Xt 3gb, 6 USB externals (WD Hitachi and Seagate 3 are 3.0, 3 are 2.0, only the 3.0 are plugged into the 3.0 ports). Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit; *RUNNING STOCK* until I get this sorted, the build is about a month old, or less
Click to expand...

Quoting myself and answering my own question if anyone else comes across this. Here is the solution for Seagate USB External Drives in Win 7:
http://forums.seagate.com/t5/GoFlex-Satellite/solution-to-drive-not-recognized-under-windows-7/m-p/155743

Turns out it has nothing to do with the board, ports or the power! I am guessing the same applies to the WD drive etc. But this solution works for Seagate so I presume all will be fine once I tweak the "usbstor.inf" file accordingly if this file is not already comprehensive - it's a pretty big text file to read through but it might be what you are looking for if you found my post. Good luck
 
Hi raja the new bios released 1203 for x79 pro is weird.

I found that with negative offset, the voltages does not drop as much as before. Not sure if it is a bug.

On the other hand, the LLC is more tolerant to a larger negative offset.

pre-1203 bios, my voltages ranged from 0.75-1.328 for a 4.5ghz oc with llc regular and -0.05v negative offset
1203 bios, my voltages is now 0.78v-1.312 for same 4.5ghz oc with llc medium and -0.30v negative offset

I cannot get the same results if i swap the settings the other way
I am still testing 1203v bios, but it seems stable with the new settings.

Will asus give more details of new bios rather than bog standard "improve stability" and "improve compatibility". It is kind annonying to have to test randomly every new bios.
 
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uCode change, so you will need to find optimal settings. I don't have any control over the bug reports. But I can say that improve stability generally refers to an updated microcode from Intel. That also explains why the offset levels have changed for you.

-Raja
 
thanks raja. btw i take back what i said about the new bios. the idle offset voltage is definitely conked while not offering any lower vcore during overclocking. further testing reveals i still need the same vcore for stability. now my idle vcore is substantially higher...

not sure if this is intended for the new ucode but i like to pass this as a bug report. could you help to inform asus hq? i hope a new bios can be issued to fix this or allow me to downgrade. i dont like the new bios...:(

thanks.
 
danxi said:
thanks raja. btw i take back what i said about the new bios. the idle offset voltage is definitely conked while not offering any lower vcore during overclocking. further testing reveals i still need the same vcore for stability. now my idle vcore is substantially higher...

not sure if this is intended for the new ucode but i like to pass this as a bug report. could you help to inform asus hq? i hope a new bios can be issued to fix this or allow me to downgrade. i dont like the new bios...:(

thanks.
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We can't change that part of the ucode - it's all set by Intel so there's nothing we can do. Intel have increased it to stop CPUs crashing when they ramp from idle to load. Another thing, your CPU pulls no real current at idle so the higher Vcore is not something that should be of major concern and this isn't really a bug - it's just something you'd like to be lower that cannot be done. That's just one of the things about ucode updates we all have to live with if we want to run the latest build.
 
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still i hope asus can look into things as idle and average temps went up 2-3 degrees with the new bios.

btw is there a better explanation between LLC and Additional Turbo Voltage, are they the same thing, one being auto (LLC) and the other manual adjustments? Feels that way to me.

Found that Asus X79 tends to substantially overvolt with LLC on unlike gigabyte or asrock implementation...can this ever be fixed at bios level?
 
danxi said:
still i hope asus can look into things as idle and average temps went up 2-3 degrees with the new bios.

btw is there a better explanation between LLC and Additional Turbo Voltage, are they the same thing, one being auto (LLC) and the other manual adjustments? Feels that way to me.

Found that Asus X79 tends to substantially overvolt with LLC on unlike gigabyte or asrock implementation...can this ever be fixed at bios level?
Click to expand...

Use a lower LLC if you don't want overvoltage past applied VID, there are at least two levels you can use that won't over-volt. On top of that, when using offset mode for Vcore it's hard knowing what the base assigned VID is at full load.


LLC and additional tubo mode voltage are not the same thing even though one gets a perception that both alter voltage. LLC compensates against line sag (the sag is due to resistance of the power plane and other interconnect losses). The control itself is to do with loop gain and Voffset, while additional turbo voltage increases Turbo VID.

As I said earlier the addition of idle voltage is down to uCode and we don't control it so nothing we can do about that. You have to consider the fact that intel are more concerned that all CPUs work at the minimum applied voltage. The applied VID takes worst case scenarios into account rather than better sample case scenarios.


-Raja
 
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I'm experiencing a weird issue on my setup and was wondering if anyone has experienced this as well. I'm running dual GTX 690's in slots 1 and 3. If both cards are online with the drivers installed the PC freezes. If I uninstall the drivers the PC runs fine. If I disable slot 3 via the onboard switch to only leave the card on slot 1 online with the drivers installed the PC runs fine. If I turn back on slot 3 and disable slot 1 the PC also runs fine. It's only if I have both cards online with the drivers installed that I have problems. Anyone have any ideas? I had these same two cards running in quad-sli on a maximus iv extreme with no problems. Could the board be defective somehow?
 
It could be down to memory instability looking at that DDR3-2133 32GB config you have there. Not easy to get 32GB stable at DDR3-2133 in my experience, some CPUs won't do it. Worse still when users combine multiple kits.
 
Raja@ASUS said:
It could be down to memory instability looking at that DDR3-2133 32GB config you have there. Not easy to get 32GB stable at DDR3-2133 in my experience, some CPUs won't do it. Worse still when users combine multiple kits.
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I tried running the RAM at 1333 and this still does not work. There are multiple kits but are all identical RAM kits. Also, I had this same RAM on the Maximus IV Extreme running at 2133 with the CPU @ 5GHz but it was obviously half the RAM on that board and all was fully stable and ran fine. I do have both EZ plugs connected on the board for both the RAM and the PCIe slots. I'll test again with half the RAM later tonight and see if it resolves this.
 
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HydrasunGQ said:
I tried running the RAM at 1333 and this still does not work. There are multiple kits but are all identical RAM kits. Also, I had this same RAM on the Maximus IV Extreme running at 2133 with the CPU @ 5GHz but it was obviously half the RAM on that board and all was fully stable and ran fine. I do have both EZ plugs connected on the board for both the RAM and the PCIe slots. I'll test again with half the RAM later tonight and see if it resolves this.
Click to expand...

So I took out half the RAM and the system is running fine. So does this mean I can't run 8 DIMMs? If that's the case why would I get the Extreme over the Formula?
 
HydrasunGQ said:
So I took out half the RAM and the system is running fine. So does this mean I can't run 8 DIMMs? If that's the case why would I get the Extreme over the Formula?
Click to expand...

Your issue is combining multiple kits. Even if they are the SAME, the issue is that they have been binned at their respective density only, NOT at 32GB. That's why 32GB kits are expensive, especially those that can run DDR3-2133. The SPD on the modules and the XMP timing set is configured for a single kit only. Lots of X79 users have made this mistake as they don't understand memory signaling or timing.


First of all, anything past DDR3-1600 is essentially overclocked. That means that stability depends on how good the memory controller in your CPU is, so even if the kit is rated at 32GB DDR3-2133 there are no guarantees that your CPU memory controller will be stable at that frequency and density. Secondly, the ICs used in high density kits are often cream of the crop, and take time to screen, that's why you have to pay a premium for them.

On other platforms users get away with more combining because the maximum density is over two channels only and 4 slots. 8 slots, and 4 channels is an entirely different type of load, and after a certain frequency plug-and-play cannot be guaranteed.

-Raja
 
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thanks raja for reply.
i am still sadden at this news and would advise asus x79 guys to hold off the new bios.
 
danxi said:
thanks raja for reply.
i am still sadden at this news and would advise asus x79 guys to hold off the new bios.
Click to expand...

I would advise people DO use this build. It's just a uCode update with a slight VID change - nothing to worry about. Intel will not be changing this back. On top of that the current consumed when the CPU is near idle is miniscule, so I think you are looking at this way too deeply.
 
hi raja, what else does a ucode update bring? this dont look like it has updated intel rste rom either?

vid change has affected me trying to bring the lowest idle temps, wattage and vcore whilst overclocking.
 
the new bios seems to solve crash from sleep i faced previously after which i disabled win7 sleep.
with this i awake my pc from sleep and throw a couple of stress tests in addition to normal chrome surfing and it is still rock stable....but i rather turn off sleep and go for a lower idle vid.

hi raja what is your advice towards flashing back an older bios? will there be traces of the new bios leftover? or the flash back will fully replace the new ucode with the old ucode completely?
i not like traces of different versions as this will make things messy...

with regards to sleep/crash bug....guess it is still not perfect, i got this error once again...though pc did not crash..looks like i may wish to flashback the bios...

The platform firmware has corrupted memory across the previous system power transition. Please check for updated firmware for your system.
Click to expand...
 
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Hi all,

I have an Asus P9X79PRO with an Asus GTX670 graphics card. If I only have the main (HDMI) monitor plugged in then the BIOS displays normally during boot-up. If I have the second (DVI) monitor plugged in as well then the BIOS boot dialogue shows on the second monitor but at the wrong resolution. Everything works fine once I get into Win 7 and the Nvidia drivers take over.

Is there any way to force the BIOS to use a particular monitor?
 
pwrusr said:
Have you tried swapping monitors/ports on the video card?
Click to expand...

My main monitor is 1920x1200 HDMI
My second monitor is 1280x1024 DVI-I

There is only one way to connect these to a GTX670 (the second connector is DVI-D).
 
Loving my new Asus x79 Workstation board. Had a devil of a time getting the board to overclock with new Corsair Vengeance 4 x 4 2133 1.5v memory but after a few days of getting really discouraged I finally found the answers I was needing. Seems 1.5v needs bumped to 1.65v and speed lowered to get stability. As soon as I did that was able to hit 4.8Ghz rock solid stable. Very happy.
 
I'm using a Sabertooth x79 (which has PCIe 3.0 ready stamped on every side of the box!), however nVidia seem to believe otherwise claiming it isn't a true PCIe 3.0 platform.

Anyway, nVidia have released a tool to let users enable PCIe 3.0 on a per user basis with no support which I am using and things seem fine - is there any word from Asus on this? Is my (very expensive) box going to spontaneously combust?

EDIT/ I see the quandary now, none of the current SB-E processors officially state PCIe 2.0 in their spec sheets - and Asus state PCIe 3.0 ready, well Asus, the boards will have to stay ready for a long time as no processor is imminent for SB-E with native PCIe 3.0.
 
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HI All

I just recently got my Asus P9X79 Deluxe build up and running. But I noticed that it is only recognizing 12 of the 16GB of memory. I checked the BIOS in DIMM A1 it is showing as "Abnormal. While DIMMS B1, C1 & D1 show "OK" and DIMMS A2, B2, C2 and D2 show NA. Also they are running ar 1648 instead of 1866. Memory in slot A1 runs at 444Mhz, B1 at 518Mhz, C1 at 592Mhz and D1 at 66Mhz.

Here are some specs:
Asus P9X79 Deluxe - BIOS 1203
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 X 4GB) DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9B
Intel Core i7 3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2Ghz
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 2GB
Seasonic X850 PSU
Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit
***CPU and Memory is not overclocked atm. Hoping to fix the problem before overclocking just in case I have to RMA it

So far I've tried:
I reseated the RAM making sure is was in correctly.
I swapped out the RAM from B1 into A1 and then swapped it with C1.
Checked the voltage and latency which are stock 1.5v and 9-10-9-24 Lat.
I tried playing with the Ai Tweaker. Set the Tuner from Auto to XMP then set the Memory Frequency to DDR3 1866. Saved it and reset but I heard it power and cycle off then on again only to see the settings back to default .
All with the same result - DIMM A1 still reads abnormal and only 12 of 16GB being recognized.

Any ideas on how I can fix this? Does anyone have the same RAM with stable settings I can copy from. I know I've only touched the surface of the potential of this mobo. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
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I had an abnormal slot on my x79 sabertooth board. It was a bent CPU pin :'(

You might want to try an inspection and re-seat of the processor.
 
Quick question about the Rampage IV Formula, do I need to use the 4pin EZ-Plug for the system to power on?
 
Hello, my first post :) I have a cold boot issue with my newly assembled computer, every time i run the first startup Windows says it have a recently hardware change and have to run repair, if i click on start Windows normal instead of repair, it starts and run smoothly and I Can Then restart without any problems. I have tried everything i could possibly Think of, i have Studied these forums without luck. Is there anyone that have this problem?

System spec
I7-3930k C2 with EK Supremacy, Asus P9X79 Deluxe Firm.1203, 16gb Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9, Asus GTX680-DC20-2GD5, 2xOCZ Vertex 4 Firm.1.5 raid 0, OCZ PSU 1000w. Win 7 pro 64-bit. All run at Stock speed.
 
Is this is indeed happening on a fresh installation then it is likely down to instability. Try setting the XMP profile for that memory kit and see if it helps.

-Raja
 
Raja@ASUS said:
Is this is indeed happening on a fresh installation then it is likely down to instability. Try setting the XMP profile for that memory kit and see if it helps.

-Raja
Click to expand...

Hi Raja, I did try XMP profile, without luck, as Said its only on the first boot, volts looks fine, about 1,505 v on ram.

Thanks for the fast reply. At the moment i havent loadet any drivers, only the RSTe raid driver. I did load and configure All my devices the first time i installed win 7, i even took All out and tried again. Secure erase both ssd, used boot flash drive and dvd no difference, gpt install and mbr install no diff, one 4gb mem Block no diff. Ist only a issue first time i boot, every time i use the power Botton, if i restart from Windows no problem. I tried volt Boost the cpu no diff. What to do next?
 
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Odd. Are any of the drives from a previous install? Have you reformatted them completely before the install? It is possible there is some RAID meta data on that array if you used it before and did not disassemble it on the previous chipset OROM.
 
Raja@ASUS said:
Odd. Are any of the drives from a previous install? Have you reformatted them completely before the install? It is possible there is some RAID meta data on that array if you used it before and did not disassemble it on the previous chipset OROM.
Click to expand...

I did use one of the drives on a other chipset, I Secure erase both of Them, the drivers are downloadet from Asus website. 3.0.0.2022 i Think.
 
Not sure then, but that error you are seeing is not common. Maybe low level format all o your drives in case there is anything on them. It sounds like something is left over somewhere which is why Windows instigates a repair.

You can try runnign some stress tests to find out if there is any instability in the system also.
 
Raja@ASUS said:
Not sure then, but that error you are seeing is not common. Maybe low level format all o your drives in case there is anything on them. It sounds like something is left over somewhere which is why Windows instigates a repair.

You can try runnign some stress tests to find out if there is any instability in the system also.
Click to expand...

When you say low level format, do you mean full format? Or Quick, is that an good idea on ssd?. Did try run 3dmark and some other test without any problem.
 
I mean a low level format - you can search the web for that. A secure erase should delete all header information so if you have done that it should be okay. I am wondering if the MBR for that old install was on one of your other drives, though.
 
Code 19 = Pre-memory PCH initialization is started

Hi,

I've been using many Asus boards since 1998 without any severe problems. Asus simply rocks! I really love the new R4E board too, but ... it's been killing me this time!
I haven't been able to get it working properly on its stock settings yet... Its OC features seem miles away at this point.

THE SYSTEM
MB: Asus Rampage IV Extreme (BIOS 2003, I've tried them all)
CPU: Intel Core i7-3960x Extreme 3.3G
RAM: 32G (8x Kingston HyperX 4G 1600)
GPU: Nvidia GTX590 (2x embedded GTX580 in SLI mode)
HDD: Intel 520 240G (SSD)
OS: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate (clean install)
Watercooling: MB, CPU, RAM, GPU
Ambient temperatures between 30°..40° C for all components​

THE PROBLEM
After eliminating various "startup" issues, I still have one serious problem remaining. R4E tends to get stuck into a debug code 19 cycle during POST, meaning that it indefinitely stops on code 19 after each manual restart attempted immediately. I have to wait about 5 minutes or so, whereas I typically have to unplug the power cord from the wall in order to get out of this "code 19" cycle. I'm not sure why the R4E needs this time to reset itself, and what exactly needs to get reset. Asus support suggested that the CPU is not getting enough power, so I replaced the PSU with a Corsair AX1200 and it seemingly worked out to begin with, but not really. I probably just had a lucky crashfree period of time, and as soon as Windows crashed the "code 19" cycle reappeared again.

NOT A HW PROBLEM?
When the R4E POST eventually gets thru to the Windows startup again, the first time after such a "code 19" cycle Windows would crash again with a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION error. Thereafter Windows works fine again. System diagnostics testing does not report any HW/SW problems and everything seems just fine. I can run programs, shutdown, restart / reboot the PC, etc., until next time Windows crashes and triggers the "code 19" cycle nightmare all over again. It seems to me that these Windows crashes are linked to some part of the R4E getting into this persistent "code 19" state, until repowering the system after being at least 5 minutes completely disconnected from the wall. Since Windows is working fine in between and diagnostics are fine too, it makes me think that maybe the HW is Ok but R4E is not reporting right its HW information to Windows at times? (FW problem?)

OBSERVED PROBLEM TRIGGERS
I've noticed that particualr tools like AIDA64, SiSandra, BiTPro, etc. are crashing Windows when gathering HW information related to the R4E "graphic processor" capabilities, while CPU-Z, GPU-Z, etc. collecting similar information have never caused any problem on this system. Besides, I've never experienced any problems with the GPU (GTX590) itself, and neither R4E nor Windows have reported any problems with it thus far. Still, it's definitely some specific interaction between Windows and R4E causing the problem. But what exactly? And how to fix it?

IN SUMMARY
  • Windows crash would make R4E to get into a persistent "code 19" cycle during POST
  • The Windows crash is probably related to the R4E part causing the "code 19" cycle
  • To get out of the "code 19" cycle the rig needs to be disconnected from the wall for 5 minutes or more
  • After getting out of the "code 19" cycle, the first time Windows often crashes with BSOD "MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION"
  • In between Windows operates fine (for hours), and no HW/SW issues are being reported by the system

Any suggestions guys? Please help!

Best,
Willy


PS: Additional details
1) Sometimes it's very hard to get out of the "code 19" cycle (repowering doesn't always work), and I found a trick to get beyond it by using the "Memory OK!" button. For some peculiar reason, each time I have to use this workaround, the R4E first stops on code 94 once, before it reboots Ok (and gives me Ok report from the "Memory Ok!" mode with request to use F1 to enter the BIOS and store the settings). This is systematic behavior (though I don't know how codes 19 abd 94 are interrelated).
2) If I change anything in BIOS, the R4E is getting into the "code 19" cycle again (without being "assisted" by a Windows crash). Also this is a consistent behavior, i.e. it happens every time BIOS has been changed.

Code 94 = PCI Bus Enumeration
 
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Could be instability with your 32GB DRAM setup. What kit part number is that?

If it is a single 32GB kit, then load the XMP profile and try that. If you have combined two or more kits, this could take a lot of tuning to get stable.

-Raja
 
Thanks for the quick response, Raja. Much appreciated!
I bought 2 kits of 16G each (a single kit of 32G was hard to get and I didn't have time to wait).
The product type is: KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX, and yes it supports XMP (I can see it in BIOS setup too).

I'll try the XMP right away and let you know what happened. Thanks!
 
WillyK said:
Thanks for the quick response, Raja. Much appreciated!
I bought 2 kits of 16G each (a single kit of 32G was hard to get and I didn't have time to wait).
The product type is: KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX, and yes it supports XMP (I can see it in BIOS setup too).

I'll try the XMP right away and let you know what happened. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I did say above that the XMP should used if you are using a single kit, not two.

That XMP might not help as it will configured for a single kit only. It's never a good idea to combine kits on any platform, especially on X79 where we are playing with four channels. You ideally need a single kit rated at the timings and density you wish to run.

If the XMP profile does not help, you will need to make some voltage and memory timing adjustments, and even then the rated speed of those kits when combined might need to be reduced for them to be stable. Sadly, this is a mistake people make all too often, either to save money (single high density kits are more expensive as the binning is more stringent), or due to availability.
 
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Raja, you are so right! Nevertheless, it seems that going XMP definitely was a step in the right direction! Of course, I haven't had the time to test this setup extensively, but I did a number of restarts and cold boots and the setup survived. I got code 19 only one time but R4E didn't go into a cycle! I had a clean reboot and R4E stoped with a message that overclocking had failed. I went in and out of the BIOS setup without saving anything and that was it. Windows came up and everything was fine again. I'm also able to run thru WEI without a problem, reproducing the same WEI results I had in the beginning (everyting rates 7.9, only the CPU rates 7.8 for some peculiar reason).

I completely agree with the point you're making, and it was stupid of me to take this chance (the components are getting constantly more robust and reliable, and I've got spoiled I guess...). Never again!

I'd like to ask you about your advice in regards to further stabilizing this system, given the build I have. What would you have done (other than replacing the 32G RAM)?

BIG thanks!
Willy
 
You may need to increase VCCSA to about 1.15V (depends on how good the memory controller is in your CPU). May add +1 to CAS and tRCD, and use Command Rate 2N for now (DRAM timing section).


Your mistake is not the worst I have seen. Had some cases where users purchased four 2X8GB kits expecting to make 64GB stable plug-and-play...lol


What helped me diagnose your issue was the clear way you wrote everything out. Makes my job a lot easier if people lay things out like that in a single post.
 
Will do. Thanks a million! It's such a thrill getting in touch with someone knowing what he's talking about. It's definitely not an everyday experience, believe me :) I'll stay in touch about potential development.
Take care
Willy
 
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