ASUS Z87 Motherboards - Overview, Guides and Official Support

Thanks Raja.

I will test your suggestion, but I want to contact Corsair support first, and ask them why I need
to fiddle with voltages. In my opinion, that means something is wrong with the memory kit.

Regards.
 
Or the CPU memory controller is not very strong and needs over-voltage to run the frequency.
 
Alright, not sure if this is the right place to put this, but since an ASUS is here, I'll just put it here.

I've been having major issue with my computer with freezing and unfreezing of the OS. It usually occurs when I am surfing the web, watching flash videos, or just watching videos with windows media player, but it is almost completely random. I have done everything I can think of to fix this problem:
All drivers and bios is up to date
Full reformat
Different hard drives used as the OS
Different video cards
Switched the ram slots
Used different ram sets

I am guessing that it is time for a RMA?

Check event viewer logs for any timeouts when this freezing and unfreezing occurs.
 
There is no time outs when the computer freezes up, The closest thing that is pegged at the time of the freeze up is that windows error reporting service entered the running state. Other than that, event log simply ignored the fact that anything happened to the computer when it froze up and unfroze.

*edit* Also last night a new problem came to light. The computer would freeze up on at asus startup when the computer was just turned on, with the boot_device_led on. Took out all of my hard drives, dvd drives, video card and wireless card, the bios would say there is a bootable drive not compatible with the UEFI. Went into the CSM and completely disabled it. Turned off the power, reinstalled all of my drives, video card, and network card and gave the computer another shot. Booted up, and told me that CSM turned itself back on and there was no problem after that. Starting to think this motherboard is haunted or something :(.
 
Last edited:
Any USB storage devices connected?

I assume the system is not overclocked in any way as well?

Try removing as many components as you can to isolate if it's the board or one of the attached devices. Then RMA the board if you need to.

-Raja
 
Yes, there is a usb stick as well as an external hard drive plugged in. When I took out the hard drives, I also unplugged all of my usb ports as well.

The system is not overclocked.

As for isolating components, I have removed or replaced all of my components except for my wireless card or my cpu.
 
*edit* Also last night a new problem came to light. The computer would freeze up on at asus startup when the computer was just turned on, with the boot_device_led on.
Hello

This along with the freezing when in the operating system with no event log entries points to a possible issue with the boot drive.
 
Which why I tried it with a completely different OS boot drive. Freezing problem still exist with the second boot drive.
 
Or the CPU memory controller is not very strong and needs over-voltage to run the frequency.
Hmmm, if the CPU needs tweaking / fiddling to operate in a supported / validated mode,
then I would consider the CPU somewhat defective / unfit for the purpose it was sold for.
Wouldn't you agree?

And wouldn't Intel's screening process catch these types of problems?

The problem with boosting voltages is
1) I am not operating at nominal parameters (maybe that even voids the warranty?)
2) When I update the BIOS, I have to remember to tweak the param again
 
It is possible the memory controller is weak. On a sidenote you should update to the latest UEFI just in case you have not (it may help).

Other than that not much I can suggest - you'll have to debug as best you can and then decide what you'd like to do to suit your requirements.
 
It is possible the memory controller is weak. On a sidenote you should update to the latest UEFI just in case you have not (it may help).

Other than that not much I can suggest - you'll have to debug as best you can and then decide what you'd like to do to suit your requirements.
Something important turned up !!

Of course the first thing I did when my system froze inside the BIOS was to update the BIOS to
the latest version. Here's the full story:

I bought the board on January 16. It came with an obsolete version of the BIOS (B85M-G BIOS 0410,
dated 2013.07.05). According to the CPU support page, my Core i3-4130 was only supported since
version 0501 (dated 2013.08.29), so I supposed that my frequent lock-ups came from the incompatible
BIOS. I immediately updated to the latest B85M-G BIOS 0904 (dated 2014.01.17) and I did have fewer
lock-ups, but they didn't completely disappear.

At the time I downloaded BIOS 0904, the release notes only stated:

Code:
B85M-G BIOS 0904
Improve system stability.
5 (MBytes) 2014.01.17 update

But now the release notes state:

Code:
B85M-G BIOS 0904
1. Improve system stability.
2. Support New 4th-Generation Intel Core Processors
3. Before using the new Intel 4th Gen Core processors, we suggest that you first download the
BIOS updater for new Intel 4th Gen Core Processors and then update the BIOS using this tool.

Interesting... My 4130 is a so-called "new Intel 4th Gen Core processors" soooo I suppose I should
download this BIOS updater ? What is it exactly? I see that there is a new entry in the BIOS section:

Code:
Version v1.5
BIOS updater for New 4th Gen Intel Core Processors
Before using the new Intel 4th Gen Core processors, we suggest that you first download the
BIOS updater for new Intel 4th Gen Core Processors and then update the BIOS using this tool.
2,11 (MBytes) 2014.02.21 update

There is no README or documentation inside the archive, so I'm not sure how to go about this.
I will look for more info in the web, but I was hoping that you could shed some light?

(Sorry for the long message.) Regards.
 
Additional information. My BIOS states:

Code:
BIOS Version                     0904 x64
Build Date                     01/06/2014
ME Version                     9.0.2.1345
South Bridge Stepping               05/C2
Apparently, the "BIOS updater" upgrades the ME firmware to 9.0.30.1462
Looking for more info on this Management Engine firmware...
 
The processors that update eludes to have not been released yet. It's an ME update that's required to make them work.
 
The processors that update eludes to have not been released yet. It's an ME update that's required to make them work.
When you said "you should update to the latest UEFI" did you just mean to update the BIOS?
(I thought perhaps you meant some other firmware.)

Do you think it won't do any good to update the ME firmware? (stability-wise)

I was very hopeful when I read
http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/54860-about-intel-management-engine-firmware.html
http://www.win-raid.com/t171f39-Intel-Management-Engine-Drivers-Firmware-and-Tools.html

"ME firmware contains different modules : AMT (Active Management Technology), ASF (Alert Standard Format), QST (Quiet System Technology) and TPM (Trusted Platform Module) for hardware remotely management… but it also contains chipset settings (clocks, frequencies,...) which affect important parameters as BCLK, RAM, Turbo Boost, fans speeds…"
 
1) I meant to update UEFI - you may still know of it as BIOS.

2) The ME update is for new processors primarily. How it affects your CPU I do not know. Technically it should not.
 
1) I meant to update UEFI - you may still know of it as BIOS.
I say "BIOS" in the general sense (Basic I/O System) not in the 16-bit IBM pre-boot environment.
Even the Asus support site still labels the section "BIOS" ;-)

2) The ME update is for new processors primarily. How it affects your CPU I do not know. Technically it should not.
Well, I now have the latest Management Engine firmware (v9.0.31.1487) available for my platform,
along with the latest BIOS from Asus. I shall test it 48 hours, and if I still have stability issues,
I'll bump the voltage as you suggested.
 
I've been having major issue with my computer with freezing and unfreezing of the OS. It usually occurs when I am surfing the web, watching flash videos, or just watching videos with windows media player, but it is almost completely random.
Does it happen in 3D mode? Go play some games.
 
@Raja

I have flashed the Z87-PRO BIOS 1707 in December before anything about the "BIOS updater for New 4th Gen Intel Core Processors" was mentioned on the site.

So a few questions come up:

  1. Is my BIOS/UEFI now the same as what it would have been if had flashed with the "Bios updater"
  2. Can I reflash BIOS/UEFI with the Bios updater or would that not do anything?
  3. How do I use the BIOS updater?
Thanks :)

ps my 1707 shows currently:
Code:
BIOS Version                     1707 x64
Build Date                     12/13/2013
EC Version                    MBE0-Z87-0227
ME Version                     9.0.2.1345
South Bridge Stepping               04/C1
 
The 1707 build updates the ME for you (flash with USB BIOS flashback). The updater is for boards without USB BIOS flashback. Have not checked ME versions myself.
 
Hello Raja,

You have recommended that I increase VCCIO-D to improve system stability.

I've been doing some reading on memory overclocking, and several guides recommend increasing
VCCSA before tweaking VCCIO-D and VCCIO-A.

overclockers.com says:

For clocking RAM, good base voltage settings in my experience are:

RAM voltage at its rating (usually 1.65 V for high performance RAM)
System Agent (VCCSA) voltage: 1.15 V to 1.25 V

And TechPowerUp says:

Specifically memory overclocking requires a mix of VCCSA, VCCAIO, and VCCDIO voltages. For clocking at up to 2800 MHz, many chips will need no increases to anything other than the VCCSA. The other two I/O voltages become more important with my retail CPU samples as VCCSA reaches over 1.100 V, and all three are critical when increasing the BCLK, but keeping them as low as possible while maintaining stability is the best course of action overall.

I'm not touching BCLK, I'm only trying to run my DDR3-1600 pair of DIMMs at 800 MHz.

What tool can I use to check the current voltages VCCSA, VCCAIO, VCCDIO?
(Are they displayed in the BIOS?)

In your opinion, is it better to tweak VCCDIO before VCCSA?

Regards.
 
Okay, gonna be a bit more direct as we've been going over the same things over and over (there are other people I could be helping):

The advice stands, set VCCIO-D. If I wanted you to change the others I would have told you to. You need to stick with one source if you really want help. IO-D plays the biggest role for DRAM stability on the memory controller side of the system, out of the voltages you mention on this platform, which I why I told you to change it a few replies back. You are at DDR3-1600, you don't need to push the voltage rails as high as those guides are telling you to and given their impact is far less than VCCIO-D (in fact those other rails hardly help at all most of the time), you need to go for the jugular first. Make sense?

-Raja
 
Okay, gonna be a bit more direct as we've been going over the same things over and over (there are other people I could be helping):

The advice stands, set VCCIO-D. If I wanted you to change the others I would have told you to. You need to stick with one source if you really want help. IO-D plays the biggest role for DRAM stability on the memory controller side of the system, out of the voltages you mention on this platform, which I why I told you to change it a few replies back. You are at DDR3-1600, you don't need to push the voltage rails as high as those guides are telling you to and given their impact is far less than VCCIO-D (in fact those other rails hardly help at all most of the time), you need to go for the jugular first. Make sense?
Sorry Raja, I never meant to offend you.
I just started reading some docs, and saw conflicting advice, which I found confusing.
I will test your suggestion, and report back in a week.
Thanks for your time.
 
Not offended my friend. Just thinking we have spent the past few days on this, we could have been getting closer to the cause. I try to stay on point when I give advice, just to save time for both parties really. See how the change affects things. If it does not we can dig deeper if need be.
 
I came home to a BSOD that happened on shutdown (left early in the morning in a hurry, so I didn't check). It happens about once per week.

Have the new Intel RSTs or the new BIOSes fixed that?

Speaking of RST, doesn't one of the newer versions include a new BIOS block, and if it does, when can we expect a new mobo BIOS that includes it?
 
@Raja

Can the Impact DP and HDMI ports pass a DVI signal? Need to connect a 3rd 1600x1200 monitor to the onboard video for a P-L-P setup and the P monitors only have a DVI connection. Was thinking I might be able to buy a HMDI or DP to DVI cable to make this work but understand the signals are different. Just bought a Deluxe but would rather have the Impact for esata and beefier sound.
 
@Raja

Can the Impact DP and HDMI ports pass a DVI signal? Need to connect a 3rd 1600x1200 monitor to the onboard video for a P-L-P setup and the P monitors only have a DVI connection. Was thinking I might be able to buy a HMDI or DP to DVI cable to make this work but understand the signals are different. Just bought a Deluxe but would rather have the Impact for esata and beefier sound.

Not sure off the top of my head - sometimes these types of configuration are on shaky ground and have specific needs in terms of cables (may need to be active). I will ask around and find out if anyone knows. Give me a few days and nudge me again - next week (got so much on right now).

-Raja
 
Still have not had a user willing to perform a swap with me in the USA and we have not been able to replicate.

Your user name suggests you may be UK based, in which case you need to contact UK support and see if they can swap your board out.

Have to get a board back to HQ - otherwise this will go nowhere.
 
We can't do that. You will have to contact whoever your local support department for New Zealand is.
 
Hello,

I've an ASUS Z87i motherboard that I've recently built with and installed Windows 8.1 Professional on it.
All seems to work fine except for two things I've noticed:

- Bluetooth doesn't seem to work? The bluetooth icon appears and all, drivers appear to be installed, but when I go to "Add Bluetooth Device", it opens up the Metro interface and gets stuck on "Your PC is searching for and can be discovered by Bluetooth devices" indefinitely.

- Turning on Fast Startup in Windows (Power Options -> System Settings) causes "Critical" errors when shutting down, resulting in the PC automatically resetting itself after every power off. I've disabled fast startup in the meantime and I can finally shutdown the PC, but I was wondering if there's a better fix for it?

I didn't install A.I. Suite; "away mode" keeps crashing on bootup and disabling it doesn't seem to help, so I removed it entirely and used the A.I. Suite cleaner - not that it helped with the Bluetooth issue though :(

Thank you!
 
1) Make sure you are running the latest drivers and UEFI version from the ASUS Support page.

2) Could be some kind of instability or a driver issue - you would need to debug what is causing it.

3) Which AI Suite version? Is the system "stable"? Which components are you using (list all components used please)? Is the system overclocked in any way?

-Raja
 
Last edited:
Hi Raja,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

1) I'm running the latest drivers and UEFI that I can download from ASUS's website. Even with the default windows drivers, I can't detect any bluetooth devices/find my PC at all.

BlueTooth Drivers: "BT_Win7-8-8-1_VER801305", which corresponds to driver version 8.0.1.305 for the Atheros AR9462.
UEFI (I presume this means BIOS version?): 0903

2) Any clue on where can I start? I've tried Googling around and nothing really helps, other than to disable fast startup :\

The only error I'm getting in the Event Logs are:

"The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

Code:
- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
  <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" /> 
  <EventID>41</EventID> 
  <Version>3</Version> 
  <Level>1</Level> 
  <Task>63</Task> 
  <Opcode>0</Opcode> 
  <Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords> 
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2014-03-14T15:54:52.221099000Z" /> 
  <EventRecordID>6800</EventRecordID> 
  <Correlation /> 
  <Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" /> 
  <Channel>System</Channel> 
  <Computer>Yun-PC</Computer> 
  <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" /> 
  </System>
- <EventData>
  <Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="SleepInProgress">6</Data> 
  <Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootAppStatus">0</Data> 
  </EventData>
  </Event>

3) This was the one I installed "AI_SuiteIII_Win7-8_8-1_Z87I-PRO_S_VER10056". The system is stable and not overclocked.

CPU: Intel i7-4770K
Motherboard: ASUS Z87i-Pro
Graphic Card: MSI 7950
RAM: 2 x 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1866mhz

1) Make sure you are running the latest drivers and UEFI version from the ASUS Support page.

2) Could be some kind of instability or a driver issue - you would need to debug what is causing it.

3) Which AI Suite version? Is the system "stable"? Which components are you using (list all components used please)? Is the system overclocked in any way?

-Raja
 
When I go to the ASUS website for the Maximus hero I see two lan options what is the difference between the two and which one do I want since one is 100mb larger?

Intel LAN Driver 72,28 MBytes
Intel(R) Gigabit Ethernet Driver 173,69 MBytes
 
New Hero BIOS is up. They recommend using the new updater tool.

When I go to the ASUS website for the Maximus hero I see two lan options what is the difference between the two and which one do I want since one is 100mb larger?

Intel LAN Driver 72,28 MBytes
Intel(R) Gigabit Ethernet Driver 173,69 MBytes

They should have dates and version numbers on them, use the newer one, should be the 72MB file, iirc.
 
Hello,:)

Asus Z87 deluxe, win 8.1 64bit

Should I install the ASM-SATA drivers to increase the transfer-rate of HDDs connected to the sata-ports of the Asmedia Controller over an e-Sata cable?

For the moment the ASM Controllers (106x) are listed as "Standard Sata AHCI Controllers" in the device manager.

capture_001.jpg


Will the Asmedia drivers enhance the tranfer rate?

KR
NB: My DVD_Rom is also connected to an ASM-SATA-Port

Carl
 
Last edited:
Edit: 1708 is equivalent and supports 4 th Gen CPUs - 18** is not needed for WS.
 
Last edited:
I have a Z87 Deluxe board with Windows 7.

The ASUS AMD00 ASPI driver doesn't load. Every time I try to install the driver it times out, and remains an "Unknown Device" in device manager.




I feel everything is working though. AI Suite III is loaded, and seems to be functioning properly.

Is this normal?
 
Last edited:
It happens with me too and many others I have seen posted on the web for quite some time. I wish Asus would fix this.
 
Back
Top