ASUS Z77 Motherboards - Official Support Thread

Quick noob question about overclocking the rig in my sig. I have read all the guides and forum posts I can find but I'm still a little confused:

I am aiming for 4.5GHz (x45 multi). Everything is on auto except that Speedstep is disabled, and I am using X.M.P. mode. I have entered a manual cpu voltage (in my case 1.230v in bios, which gives 1.224v idle and 1.216v under load) which in early testing seems fairly stable.

I would like to re-enable Speedstep and have lower power usage at idle, so as I understand it I have to use Offset voltage.

When I re-enter the bios and change from manual to offset cpu voltage, is the offset taken from my previously manually entered cpu voltage (ie 1.230v)?

The reason I ask is because when I did this, and then entered an offset of +0.005v (LLC at 50%), cpuz gives an idle of 1.280v and a load of 1.256v....:confused:
 
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pstack said:
Raja@ASUS:

First, thank you for the reply. I've seen you put a lot of patience and effort into helping customers in a number of forums across the net. I hated to add one more voice to the chorus of "help me", but since I've been at this new build non-stop for five straight days, I finally had to wave my hands for further insight.

Forgive the length of my reply. I intended to be thorough and while I know the help you might be able to provide at this point may be limited, perhaps something in my description will spark a thought (and maybe someone else reading this will have encountered something similar). At this point, I just know I have a very unstable system and I can't pinpoint what is the cause of it. I've had some real hitches with this motherboard, but a lot of that probably stems from the fact that it serves so many types of connections (and therefore drivers) and . . . well, this is my first go at UEFI which shouldn't be different at all, but . . . kind of is!

Anyway, whether you can assist further or not - I appreciate the time. And if you think I should pick this up further with ASUS support directly through a ticket, let me know. My board is registered.

==SLI ISSUE==
Since originally posting, here are further steps I have taken to diagnose the SLI problem:
+ Put the GPUs in another system (i7 930 with a Gigabyte x58 board). Was able to install Win7 from scratch, apply NVIDIA 301.42 drivers, enable SLI, and reboot -- all without issue.
+ Eventually, removed half of the ram from my ASUS P8Z77 WS board (I'm running 4x8gb). Suddenly, was able to reboot after enabling SLI without 'corrupting' the OS.
+ Here's the weird thing - reseated the RAM I'd removed and did another install of the OS from scratch. Enabled SLI, rebooted, and it was a success, too.

One would conclude that the RAM had somehow not been properly seated the first time and when I took out half for testing and put it back in, I'd seated it properly -- but POST, BIOS, and memtest86+ had all always reported the proper amount of ram and memtest86+ had tested for 16+hrs without complaint.

However, I am still having further problems . . . After some initial successful tests to validate stability, I began to encounter the following error which I understand is a TDR function introduced in Windows Vista and Windows 7 when the GPU fails to respond within two seconds. Many state they've fixed it by adjusting the TDR via the registry but every official comment I've seen regarding it (including from Microsoft) states that it is not the proper solution and should never be done (it is merely covering up another underlying problem). However, there is no consistent determination as to what the real underlying problem can be.

---
Display driver stopped responding and has recovered.
Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 301.42 stopped responding and has successfully recovered.
---

It seems it can be memory issues, motherboard issues, GPU hardware issues, driver issues, overclocking issues, etc. Nearly anything. I have tried multiple versions of drivers, reduced my 1600mhz certified RAM back to the default SPD in BIOS (1333mhz), and am now doing another memory test with a secondary utility (HCI's memtest).

I understand there is no particular "ownership" of this problem as it can purportedly arise from a flaw in any part of the environment. I'm merely hoping that you've some additional insight as to experiences with it on this particular motherboard or other suggestion I might consider (especially as far as the BIOS/UEFI or the supplied drivers for the board).


Which raises my next question:

There are a lot of drivers included with this. What are the minimal necessary drivers that must or should be installed? The only things I've been installing are:

+ Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility
+ Realtek Audio Driver
+ Intel Gigabit Ethernet Driver
+ USB3 (Asmedia USB 3.0 Controller Driver and also the Intel USB 3.0 Controller Driver)


==Keyboard and USB Device Detection==

I'm using a Unicomp IBM Model M - USB (Model #UB4044A - http://pckeyboard.com/page/Classic/UB4044A) from pckeyboard.com . Since the rebooting with SLI issue has improved, so has this - but no complete. I still often find myself at a "windows did not shut down properly last time / Windows Error Recovery" screen where NUMLOCK is lit, but nothing responds and where I'm unable to interrupt POST with DEL to get into the BIOS.

I'm not using any USB hubs for anything on this and I tend to get the same sporadic behavior whether I'm connecting via the USB 2.0 ports on the head of the chassis or any of the USB 2.0 ports on the back I/O port (I haven't even bothered with USB 3.0, yet). Actually, let me clarify one part - the mouse is a wireless mouse and the wireless USB receiver for it is plugged into my monitor (Apple Cinema Display) which then has a USB connection to the motherboard's I/O panel. However, the keyboard is connected directly to the board.

However, it does appear that UEFI is able to different between mouse and keyboard as both in UEFI and during POST, it states something like the following:

---
USB: 1 drive, 2 keyboards, 1 mouse, 3 hubs
---

It did not do this in the very beginning.

Also, just to reiterate - I am not overclocking anything - CPU, GPU, or RAM and using OCCT 4.20, Prime95, and the EVGA provided testing software, I'm not able to produce any significant temperatures (CPU temp at cores (not CPUTIN) tends to max out around 50-55 with an occasional 60c spike and GPU seems to stay under 80c at max -- from the limited testing I could do).
Click to expand...

Check this out:

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/3rd-gen-core-desktop-vol-1-datasheet.html

Page 25 lists supported memory speeds/timings and density. At DDR3-1600 all slots populated with 8GB DIMMs, the CPU supports 11-11-11 with CWL 8 at 2N. So if that kit is any faster in timings, the memory controller is essentially overclocked and may not be fully stable...
 
Can anyone with the fan/AiSuite issue post the version of firmware you are using with the shutdown problem and then also note if you have conflicts with your APIC embedded controllers (there are two I/O conflicts with the APIC controller)?

Apparently, Raja does not like to answer the question I asked about, but I should note that the I/O conflicts are with the NMI controller and LPC controller which could be a part of the fan controlling APIC functions.

Look a couple of posts back and you will see my conflict posts that I discovered. I do not use any of the fan controls, nor the software and have not an "issue." Nor do I recall the conflicts in the previous firmwares. It is a shot at least. Note: I use the Sabertooth Z77.

Edit: Look for Post 495 and 505 for the examples.
 
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Hello friends,

I have googled quite a bit and found no advice related to my keeping a sata cable attached to a port on the Sabretooth Z77 with no drive connected on the other end (no device right now waiting for future drive). If should likely be universal among mobo's but posting here seems prudent. I have an original 5 year old Antec 900 case I am so fond of that i built my new rig inside it. Then I yanked a 1st gen SSD to add to my old parts (and slapped that in a new Antec 300 Two which btw is absolutley a joy to build in). The issue is with the location of the sata ports on the SB Z77. Id spend a lot of time with tweezers and a screw driver to aim the cable correctly. To avoid this i left the cable where it is. What I did find out is that if a drive is connected via sata but not powered boot time will be longer. In my case its not connected period. Thank you for reading patiently :) Here is the million dollar question forgive its simple nature.

If I leave a sata cable connected to the mobo with nothing on the other end is it safe to do this until i have use for it. Will it damage the motherboard? Thanks for your help.
 
Shikami said:
Can anyone with the fan/AiSuite issue post the version of firmware you are using with the shutdown problem and then also note if you have conflicts with your APIC embedded controllers (there are two I/O conflicts with the APIC controller)?

Apparently, Raja does not like to answer the question I asked about, but I should note that the I/O conflicts are with the NMI controller and LPC controller which could be a part of the fan controlling APIC functions.

Look a couple of posts back and you will see my conflict posts that I discovered. I do not use any of the fan controls, nor the software and have not an "issue." Nor do I recall the conflicts in the previous firmwares. It is a shot at least. Note: I use the Sabertooth Z77.

Edit: Look for Post 495 and 505 for the examples.
Click to expand...

That's because I don't have an answer. You might want to go through the official ASUS support channels for insight into this (google ASUS Support for your region and take it from there). I have no contacts that can answer it.
 
Camberwell said:
Quick noob question about overclocking the rig in my sig. I have read all the guides and forum posts I can find but I'm still a little confused:

I am aiming for 4.5GHz (x45 multi). Everything is on auto except that Speedstep is disabled, and I am using X.M.P. mode. I have entered a manual cpu voltage (in my case 1.230v in bios, which gives 1.224v idle and 1.216v under load) which in early testing seems fairly stable.

I would like to re-enable Speedstep and have lower power usage at idle, so as I understand it I have to use Offset voltage.

When I re-enter the bios and change from manual to offset cpu voltage, is the offset taken from my previously manually entered cpu voltage (ie 1.230v)?

The reason I ask is because when I did this, and then entered an offset of +0.005v (LLC at 50%), cpuz gives an idle of 1.280v and a load of 1.256v....:confused:
Click to expand...

No, the applied voltage in offset mode is related to operating frequency. You will need to see what the full load voltage is, then offset accordingly.

-Raja
 
Hi Raja,

I was reading a preview of the upcoming ROG Maximus V Extreme. Here's an interesting part of how the PLX chip on that board works:

http://rog.asus.com/114332012/maxim...imus-v-extreme-pushing-lga1155-to-its-limits/

"The PLX chip multiples the single 16x by two, so that extreme gamers and benchmarkers are served up 8x bandwidth across all four PCIe slots.

However, adding an extra chip also adds a data hop, which means a bit of additional latency.

While necessary for 4-way users, 2-way benchmarkers (normal gamers won’t notice) don’t want the drop in scores.

t’s a similar situation that was firstly highlighted on older motherboards with the NF200 chip.

In light of this, ROG engineers took the time to device a custom system of PCI-Express lane switching where if only one or two graphics cards are installed then the PCI-Express 3.0 lanes are reassigned to connect directly to the CPU, bypassing the PLX chip altogether and completely minimizing the latency."

Is this "deactivation" of the PLX chip when using a single/dual videocard also found on the P8Z77 WS (which probably uses the exact same PLX chip)? Or is this single/dual videocard PLX optimization something that is exclusive to the Z77 Maximus board?
 
Hendrix83 said:
I confirm Xyrax fears. After Raja's advice, I reinstalled only Fan Xpert and after a few hours I had the classical shutdown. Hence shutdowns and Fan Xpert 2 (and maybe other AI suite modules) are totally related.

Raja can you speak with the HQ about this? I think we found the culprit.
Click to expand...

What kind of fan setup do you have and which headers have fans plugged in? Were any profiles saved by you at any point (previous to uninstall, too)..?


If Fan Xpert is causing shutdowns it will be related to CPU Fan RPM, the possibilites are:

1) No fans connected to the CPU Fan headers.
2) In addition to number 1 above, using Chassis Fan header for CPU Fan without specifying that the Chassis Fan header is a CPU cooling fan. Any old profiles you have will remain intact even if you uninstall so change the profiles accordingly if this applies to you.
3) Using another polling tool with Fan Xpert.

Any one of the above may cause the CPU Fan header to register at 0 RPM which would cause a shutdown.

-Raja
 
That's because I don't have an answer. You might want to go through the official ASUS support channels for insight into this (google ASUS Support for your region and take it from there). I have no contacts that can answer it.
Click to expand...

You were able to contact the very people necessary for the VT-d debacle; this is the same situation. This is a BIOS/UEFI issue. The P6T Deluxe APIC (Not ACPI http://support.asus.com.tw/faq/asus...D49E0A004DDF&model=P6T+Deluxe&SLanguage=cs-cz) conflict was discovered by me. The only thing they did was remove it from system devices, but is the same issue. However, this can be the problem that is causing fan control crashing, etc, since it is the LPC. It could be very beneficial for everyone to try in some manner, or at least inform them of this I/O resource conflict.
 
Shikami said:
You were able to contact the very people necessary for the VT-d debacle; this is the same situation. This is a BIOS/UEFI issue. The P6T Deluxe APIC (Not ACPI http://support.asus.com.tw/faq/asus...D49E0A004DDF&model=P6T+Deluxe&SLanguage=cs-cz) conflict was discovered by me. The only thing they did was remove it from system devices, but is the same issue. However, this can be the problem that is causing fan control crashing, etc, since it is the LPC. It could be very beneficial for everyone to try in some manner, or at least inform them of this I/O resource conflict.
Click to expand...


I have no reason to lie about what my contacts can do. Please refer to the support site and by all means report your findings here if you need to for the good of all. Nothing else I can do for you on this as it is outside my area and that of my contact chain.

-Raja
 
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I am faced with a mind boggling situation here that I just cant get my head around.

Tha splash screen with the Asus logo just stays on for about 3 to 4 mins sometimes even more before it progresses to windows boot animation. It is intermittent, sometimes its fast and somes slow as a slug (mostly slow though).

I have tried unplugging hard drives, removing sound blaster etc but it does not have any effect.

Does anyone have any idea what can be the cause for this?

On another note, I am have intermittent BSODs as well. Again, I cannot figure out why.

Here is what I have.

Asus P8z77-V Pro mobo (new)
Intel Sandy Bridge i7 3.4 Ghz 2600k
Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1333 MHz
Samsung 830 256GB 830 (latest firmware)
1GB Sapphire HD 5750 Vapor X Radeon Graphics Card
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro Series 7.1 Sound Card
Cooler Master Silent Pro M 600w PSU
WD Caviar 7200 2TB
Seagate 2TB 5900 green


I have tried different things here. I have rebuilt windows a few times in the hope that there were rogue drivers causing the BSOD, but that didnt fix it.

Then I started removing hardware like sound card and other hard disks from the system to see if any hardware was interfering with anything.

I then went ahead and changed my SSD to a new OCZ Vertex3 on latest firmware 2.22.

None of these ideas fixed the BSODs.

I have figured out how to recreate a BSOD. Whenever I try to install Windows 7 64 bit SP1, 6 mins in, BAM BSOD. Now that I know how I can test if the BSOD is gone is by running SP1 setup. Have been trying this by adding and removing hardware now to see if it does the trick, no luck so far so looking for more ideas and direction here.

One thing I have not tried is removing each of the memory DIMMs one after the other to see if that does anything, I doubt it though because upon running memory tests, it all seems fine.

Help!
 
When Windows 7 is installing, is this BSOD before the first reboot or after? If before, then some HW in your machine is probably bad since all Windows setup is doing is copying files to the disk. If after, it could be bad HW or a driver, because that phase includes the PnP driver installation. If one of the inbox drivers has a bug in it that happens to cause a BSOD on your HW, then you could try Win7 RTM or Win8 preview.

For troubleshooting, you could try running with half your RAM, then the other half. Also, take out your video card and use the processor graphics.

And if you know how to use WinDbg, you could make a bootable DVD or USB Win7 install, use bcdedit to enable debugging (prior to burning for the DVD), hook up your debugger and maybe find out which driver, if any, is involved. A little extreme, but doable for some folks.
 
Very similar setup to alitech (in sig), but no BSODs. In my experience BSOD are typically caused by memory issues. Have you replaced the RAM and tried?
 
Raja@ASUS said:
What kind of fan setup do you have and which headers have fans plugged in? Were any profiles saved by you at any point (previous to uninstall, too)..?


If Fan Xpert is causing shutdowns it will be related to CPU Fan RPM, the possibilites are:

1) No fans connected to the CPU Fan headers.
2) In addition to number 1 above, using Chassis Fan header for CPU Fan without specifying that the Chassis Fan header is a CPU cooling fan. Any old profiles you have will remain intact even if you uninstall so change the profiles accordingly if this applies to you.
3) Using another polling tool with Fan Xpert.

Any one of the above may cause the CPU Fan header to register at 0 RPM which would cause a shutdown.

-Raja
Click to expand...

For my setup, I use an Antec Kuhler 920 to cool my CPU. Since it draws more than 1 amp I can't plug it into the CPU fan header on the P8Z77-v Pro so I have it plugged into the PSU. I have the CPU monitoring in the BIOS turned off.
 
I can confirm the latest Fan Xpert with the latest BIOS still causes the issue. What I'm going to do tonight as go back to the previous Fan Xpert and see if the issue continues, cuz I have a feeling I didn't see these issues until I updated to the current Xpert version, because the first 2 weeks or so of having this computer with the original AI Suite and AIDA didn't have any issues.
 
bitgod said:
I can confirm the latest Fan Xpert with the latest BIOS still causes the issue. What I'm going to do tonight as go back to the previous Fan Xpert and see if the issue continues, cuz I have a feeling I didn't see these issues until I updated to the current Xpert version, because the first 2 weeks or so of having this computer with the original AI Suite and AIDA didn't have any issues.
Click to expand...

Same feeling here. I'll try to roll back to the older version too...
 
Hendrix83 said:
Same feeling here. I'll try to roll back to the older version too...
Click to expand...

Can you confirm what I said in my post here?

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038829830&postcount=530


If any of those apply to your setup then you may experience the issue regardless of Fan Xpert version (once a profile is loaded etc).

To re-iterate, if you are using any other header for CPU cooling, ensure you assign it as a CPU fan header in Fan Xpert. On top of that, do not use Aida etc to monitor if using Fan Xpert as if the CPU fan speed goes to 0 the board will shutdown for safety reasons.


-Raja
 
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Raja@ASUS said:
Check this out:

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/3rd-gen-core-desktop-vol-1-datasheet.html

Page 25 lists supported memory speeds/timings and density. At DDR3-1600 all slots populated with 8GB DIMMs, the CPU supports 11-11-11 with CWL 8 at 2N. So if that kit is any faster in timings, the memory controller is essentially overclocked and may not be fully stable...
Click to expand...

At 1333mhz, it used whatever the default timings were. However, the timings for the kit at 1600mhz is 9-9-9-24-2N and that is what the XMP profile uses when I set that. As soon as I changed to using the XMP profile yesterday, the problem seemed to go away. I had also made some minor changes as requested by EVGA for the GPUs, but I don't believe that change (disabling the HD Audio entries under System Devices that matched the same PCI-E slot as the GPUs were using) is what fixed it.

My guess is that either the limitations since publication of the data sheet have changed or perhaps the system somehow automatically downshifts them, but CPU-Z is still reporting it as 9-9-9-24-2N. Things seem to be fine and, hopefully, I'm not doing any damage. (Frankly, until I read your post, I wasn't even aware there was a limitation -- I figured any RAM cleared for this board/system would be fine at the default/marketed speeds and settings. At least I learned something new, here.)

Anyway, this seems to have done it -- I appreciate your help!
 
So here's an interesting tidbit I encountered, not sure if anyone has run into a similar issue or not.

I was getting BSOD's (later determined to be not related to the mobo, damn you McAfee!), so I decided to update my P8Z77-V PRO's firmware from 1015 to 1206.

Then, my Crucial m4 128 GB drive decided to not reliably boot any more. I could manually select it to boot in the UEFI, but otherwise it would not be recognized as a bootable device. This behavior persisted for a few days.

Then, last night, even manually selecting the drive to boot inside of the UEFI was unsuccessful in booting the drive. So I'm freaking out that my SSD has died a slow death. In a last ditch effort, I roll the BIOS back to 1015. SSD boots on first attempt, and I haven't had any issues since.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

edit: Oh I should mention I was using a normal SATA port for this drive.
 
Raja@ASUS said:
Can you confirm what I said in my post here?

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038829830&postcount=530


If any of those apply to your setup then you may experience the issue regardless of Fan Xpert version (once a profile is loaded etc).

To re-iterate, if you are using any other header for CPU cooling, ensure you assign it as a CPU fan header in Fan Xpert. On top of that, do not use Aida etc to monitor if using Fan Xpert as if the CPU fan speed goes to 0 the board will shutdown for safety reasons.


-Raja
Click to expand...

I'm using the cpu header for cpu fan, so nothing wrong there. Just like bitgod, I also had the impression that the first version of AI Suite (the one that came in the cd) was more stable. Too bad the update was already online so I updated it very soon, not being able to test.
On sunday I'll try the older version of Fan Xpert and I'll report my findings here...
 
Hendrix83 said:
I'm using the cpu header for cpu fan, so nothing wrong there. Just like bitgod, I also had the impression that the first version of AI Suite (the one that came in the cd) was more stable. Too bad the update was already online so I updated it very soon, not being able to test.
On sunday I'll try the older version of Fan Xpert and I'll report my findings here...
Click to expand...

Are you running AIDA, too? If you are no point in going back and forth because if there is a polling error and the CPU Fan RPM is reported as 0 the board will shutdown.

As for the changes to AI Suite from the CD version to current on site - the fix was to load profiles at Windows start-up which the original version of Fan Xpert II would not do.

Anyway, that's all the help I can provide on this. If anyone is using Aida with Fan Xpert the fix is simply not to use both tools at the same time.
 
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Raja@ASUS said:
Are you running AIDA, too? If you are no point in going back and forth because if there is a polling error and the CPU Fan RPM is reported as 0 the board will shutdown.

As for the changes to AI Suite from the CD version to current on site - the fix was to load profiles at Windows start-up which the original version of Fan Xpert II would not do.

Anyway, that's all the help I can provide on this. If anyone is using Aida with Fan Xpert the fix is simply not to use both tools at the same time.
Click to expand...

I'll try keeping AIDA closed and not loaded at boot to see if anything changes.
What puzzles me is that multiple polling has never been a problem with other motherboards (mostly Asus in my case) so far. Before this build, I had a P5Q-E with AIDA running at boot with sidebar gadget and other polling programs without ever getting such problems as I'm having right now.
Reading on AIDA forum, its developers are complaining (for quite a long time, it seems) about Asus total unwilling behavior to solve this known issue. They say it would be as simple as modifying something in the programming of AI Suite just to make it compatible with multiple polling softwares, but Asus always refused to take action about this...
I'm just a custumer, not a technician, but all this makes me think...

Thank you for your support Raja.
 
Hendrix83 said:
I'll try keeping AIDA closed and not loaded at boot to see if anything changes.
What puzzles me is that multiple polling has never been a problem with other motherboards (mostly Asus in my case) so far. Before this build, I had a P5Q-E with AIDA running at boot with sidebar gadget and other polling programs without ever getting such problems as I'm having right now.
Reading on AIDA forum, its developers are complaining (for quite a long time, it seems) about Asus total unwilling behavior to solve this known issue. They say it would be as simple as modifying something in the programming of AI Suite just to make it compatible with multiple polling softwares, but Asus always refused to take action about this...
I'm just a custumer, not a technician, but all this makes me think...

Thank you for your support Raja.
Click to expand...


I think you need to bear in mind that you probably did not have Fan Xpert II on those older boards :)
 
Raja@ASUS said:
Are you running AIDA, too? If you are no point in going back and forth because if there is a polling error and the CPU Fan RPM is reported as 0 the board will shutdown.

As for the changes to AI Suite from the CD version to current on site - the fix was to load profiles at Windows start-up which the original version of Fan Xpert II would not do.

Anyway, that's all the help I can provide on this. If anyone is using Aida with Fan Xpert the fix is simply not to use both tools at the same time.
Click to expand...

Would going into the BIOS Monitor section and telling it to ignore the CPU speed (I'm looking at page 3-32 of the manual) be a way around this?
 
bitgod said:
Would going into the BIOS Monitor section and telling it to ignore the CPU speed (I'm looking at page 3-32 of the manual) be a way around this?
Click to expand...

No, AFAIK it won't help but you can try if you wish.
 
Camberwell said:
I just completed my new build with a P8Z77-V Pro, a 3770k and an Intel 520 120Gb.
I upgraded the bios to 1206 before even hooking up the drive and that went fine. I could enter the bios from post (keyboard is in black 2.0 port and requires no drivers). Then I went about installing Win 7 (clean install onto new ssd) and drivers, mainly Intel chipset, usb 3.0, Realtek audio, and Intel RST. I only have the ssd and my optical drive installed.

Problem 1 is that now I cannot enter the bios from post, the text that says press delete to enter setup is gone, it just lists the ram and the 2 drives, although it also says I have 2 mice installed which is not the case! When I do press delete it just jumps straight to loading Win 7.

Problem 2 is that my ssd is not runing at full speed, and Intel Toolbox says it cannot communicate with the device. Device Manager shows SCSI drive instead of Intel 520. It is connected to an Intel sata header (grey).

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Did you ever find a solution to Problem 1? I'm having a similar problem that seems to related to my graphics card (ATI HD6970) but I'm not 100% convinced, especially after reading your post.

Like Camberwell I am unable to access bios after installing Windows 7 onto an SSD. What happened was that the windows install keep failing after restart so I tried switching my SSD from the Marvel controller port to the Intel port, I could then install but when I restarted after setting up Windows the bios splash screen was gone and I was unable to access bios by pressing del, I could however still boot to windows.

I then noticed that the VGA LED on the board was solid red after boot indicating an issue with the graphics card so I disconnected it and used the CPUs onboard GPU instead and could then enter bios at startup. Trying to put my graphics card in another PCI slot didn't help, still red vga led and could not enter bios. Using another graphics card (an old GeForce 9500GT) I can enter BIOS normally as well.

I've tried a few thing to rectify the issue:
* Switching back to my original SATA configuration, does not make a difference.
* Disconnecting all SATA devices, does not make a difference.
* Changing my RAM config (removed 2 modules), does not make a difference.
* Clearing CMOS, I get the screen where it says to press F1 to enter setup but after pressing F1 the screen just goes black.
* Flashing BIOS with latest update via BIOS flashback. does not make a difference.

Here's my setup:
P8Z77-Deluxe mobo
Intel Core i7-3770K CPU
XFX ATI HD6970 2GB XXX Edition graphics card
Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 16GB kit (4x4GB)
Fractal Design Newton R2, 800W
Apple branded Toshiba THNSNC256GBSJ 256GB SSD

All this seems to point towards there being an issue with my ATI HD6970 card but that seems weird as it was working flawlessly with my old motherboard a few days ago. The card is within warranty but the shop I bought it from has declared bankruptcy so returning it for a new one is going to be a pain.

Could this be anything else but the graphics card?
 
I had this happen to me after upgrading to 1206. Issue for me was having my hauppauge TV card installed. Once I removed it, the red VGA led was gone and I could post etc. Also, flashing back to 1015 would allow me to use the card. Something buggy with 1206 and the way it handles the pcie lanes.....
 
theonlybabyface said:
I had this happen to me after upgrading to 1206. Issue for me was having my hauppauge TV card installed. Once I removed it, the red VGA led was gone and I could post etc. Also, flashing back to 1015 would allow me to use the card. Something buggy with 1206 and the way it handles the pcie lanes.....
Click to expand...

Unfortunately none of that helps me, I don't have any other PCIe cards installed and I've tried flashing with every available BIOS for the board since my last post :( Thanks for the response though.
 
I read through all the posts here and earlier on people where having problems with memory in all 4 slots causing non booting/memory code errors or I think even BSOD. I am looking at building a system with P8Z77-V Pro and using Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit (4 x 4GB) [CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9] along with a i5-3570K. Will not be overclocking the system.

Have the memory problems been solved with this model of motherboard and can all 4 slots be populated?
 
This is my first time building a PC. My computer is running fine but q-code keep showing A0. "IDE initialization is started". No other warning LED on P8Z77-V Deluxe mobo.

1. Is the "A0" code means my system is running fine coz I don't understand what "IDE initialization is started" even means.

2. I have Kingston HyperX (KHX-1600-C9-D3-K2/8GX) installed. Its a (2x4gb) 1600Mhz 8gb RAM. But what I see in UEFI BIOS EZ Mode, it is only 1333Mhz. Why?

3. Also cannot install Marvell SATA 6GB Driver. Is it coz I have no HDD connected to 6GB BLUE SATA port?

4. I also cannot install two utilities. Intel Rapid Start Technology and Intel Smart Connect Technology. I don't have SSD installed just one WD Green 1TB HDD is installed. Must I have SSD first, only then I can install the IRST and ISCT?

Processor: Intel 3770k
M/Board: Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
Chasis: Thermaltake Chaser MK-1
CPU Cooling: Stock (still saving some cash)


Thanks in advance.
 
lleonidas004 said:
This is my first time building a PC. My computer is running fine but q-code keep showing A0. "IDE initialization is started". No other warning LED on P8Z77-V Deluxe mobo.

1. Is the "A0" code means my system is running fine coz I don't understand what "IDE initialization is started" even means.

2. I have Kingston HyperX (KHX-1600-C9-D3-K2/8GX) installed. Its a (2x4gb) 1600Mhz 8gb RAM. But what I see in UEFI BIOS EZ Mode, it is only 1333Mhz. Why?

3. Also cannot install Marvell SATA 6GB Driver. Is it coz I have no HDD connected to 6GB BLUE SATA port?

4. I also cannot install two utilities. Intel Rapid Start Technology and Intel Smart Connect Technology. I don't have SSD installed just one WD Green 1TB HDD is installed. Must I have SSD first, only then I can install the IRST and ISCT?

Processor: Intel 3770k
M/Board: Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
Chasis: Thermaltake Chaser MK-1
CPU Cooling: Stock (still saving some cash)


Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


1) That is a normal code displayed on these boards.


2) DDR3-1333 is the highest Jedec timing set on thiose modules. If you want DDR3-1600 simply set it manually or use the XMP to set it for you.

3) If you have no drive plugged in and don't intend to use the Marvell ports then you don't need the driver. Not sure which driver version you are trying to install or where, but the driver should install either way.


4) You need an SSD for caching for Smart response. For Rapid Start check the motherboard manual for instructions and requirements.


-Raja
 
So bought a 3rd Z77-V Deluxe, returning the 2nd, auctioning the 1st.

The way to tell if its refurbished is to look under the socket latch in the middle for discoloration.
 
A new development for my issue, it appears to be my display (Apple Cinema Display) that's causing the issue strangely enough, hooking up my TV to the DVI port on my graphics card with a DVI HDMI adapter I can see and enter BIOS and the vga led on the mobo is turned off, same thing connecting directly to the HDMI port on graphics card (strange because I could have sworn I tried that previously). *sigh* looks like I'll have to return the board and exchange it for a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H which was my second choice as this seems to be some kind of a wired compatibility issue between my monitor , GPU and mobo which I doubt can be easily resolved.

It is odd that it worked for about 24 hours though.
 
MaFi0s0 said:
This kept giving me qcode 55, didnt use washers, next time I will.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/u...YVbiAoKDAsiETUYjOQbqW-T4ed9IRuVv3Jz6xzcKVuVMo


So bought a new one from a different shop and I think it might be refurbished, is there anyway to tell for sure, I tried calling Asus but all there lines are closed right now.

The CPU socket latch looks used and the board isnt immaculate.
Click to expand...

The first thing I would do is compare the serial number on the mobo against the serial number on the box. They should match. If they don't I'd return the board immediately.
 
snowbound said:
I read through all the posts here and earlier on people where having problems with memory in all 4 slots causing non booting/memory code errors or I think even BSOD. I am looking at building a system with P8Z77-V Pro and using Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit (4 x 4GB) [CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9] along with a i5-3570K. Will not be overclocking the system.

Have the memory problems been solved with this model of motherboard and can all 4 slots be populated?
Click to expand...

Hey man, I'll be setting up my system tonight with the same RAM as yours, but with the i7 3770k and the regular P8Z77-V mobo. Hopefully I'll be posting here afterwards with my new beast!
 
snowbound said:
I read through all the posts here and earlier on people where having problems with memory in all 4 slots causing non booting/memory code errors or I think even BSOD. I am looking at building a system with P8Z77-V Pro and using Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit (4 x 4GB) [CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9] along with a i5-3570K. Will not be overclocking the system.

Have the memory problems been solved with this model of motherboard and can all 4 slots be populated?
Click to expand...

I've been using that board and that memory combo for a week and I'm rock stable. I had been using that memory for a year in my Z68 board and it was rock stable there.

(Some people call one BSOD a week stable. I *never* have BSODs. I don't OC, Stability is my goal in life)
 
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