Beyond Frustrated with the Asus Z97-A

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soulman901

Gawd
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
642
I've never encountered so many stupid problems with trying to build a new machine that runs correctly.
Long story short, I'm replacing a MSI Z87-G45 Board that continues to bluescreen on me for no apparent reason. I'll lose drives and other odd behavior with this motherboard. Thought it was Memory and RMA'd to get a matching set but that is working and tests just fine.

Just recently I purchased a Z97-A from Asus. I've used their stuff, good times.... or so I thought.
I get done installing this thing. My Specs are following
Intel i7-4771
Asus Z97-A
16GB G-Skill Memory 1600
GeForce 670GTX Gigabyte Video Card
840 Evo 250GB Samsung Drive
2 x Western Digital 1TB Blue Drives 64MB Cache
750Watt Power Supply XFX
Windows 7 Ultimate SP1

After installing the motherboard into my case and booting up, setting up the bios and installing Windows 7 I'm constantly running into Black screens at start up. My machine will start, you can hear the Windows Chime and then nothing on the ether screen. I've tried multiple re-installs of Windows. I cannot get anything to display to display at all.

I've cleared the CMOS, set everything back up. I've disabled everything on board except LAN.

The only thing I can think of at this time is that the Intel Chipset Driver is that cause of these problems. I noticed in my last install that after installing the Graphics Driver, the machine came up fine, it was when I install Intel's Chipset driver that my machine started to fail on displaying anything.

So at this point I am lost on what I should do about this. I thought about changing out the Powersupply as that could still be my problem from the Z87-G45 MSI but reading up on that board and I see people with similar problems.

If anyone has anything I may try, I would like to check it out
 
soulman901 said:
I noticed in my last install that after installing the Graphics Driver, the machine came up fine, it was when I install Intel's Chipset driver that my machine started to fail on displaying anything.
Click to expand...

Try confirming that?
 
I'd test output from just the mobo via hdmi/dvi as well, take the GPU out of the equation.

Considering the 670 doesn't support UEFI GOP without a special BIOS loaded to the video card, you might need to adjust your motherboard settings to take account for a "legacy" GPU.
 
This is going to sound stupid but Try disconnecting from Ethernet until you are ready to do updates. Do you happen to know what the very first thing you installed was once windows came up the first time? Sounds like you've done a few installs. If you haven't for sure already, try installing the graphics drivers before the chipset. First thing: graphics drivers. If this was a uefi problem you'd never make it to desktop. I'm pretty sure it's my second suggestion but at least in win 8 auto driver downloads can cause problems also so try disconnecting from the internet until you have all system drivers loaded. Pretty sure I can recreate your crash with an nvidia card after a fresh windows install.
 
yeah make sure you set updates to not install, until you have the Nvidia Driver loaded ASAP, then get drivers for your mobo.

I don't think this is a mobo issue yet...
 
0ptional said:
I'd test output from just the mobo via hdmi/dvi as well, take the GPU out of the equation.

Considering the 670 doesn't support UEFI GOP without a special BIOS loaded to the video card, you might need to adjust your motherboard settings to take account for a "legacy" GPU.
Click to expand...

This. And if that doesn't work maybe try another power supply.
 
There are a lot of reports about intels graphic driver acting up this way, you can check on the intel forums.
 
So, you installedl the board into the case before you tested the board?

I'd first take the board out of the case. Assemble the bare necessities. Install the video card or use the Intel graphic.

Then POST.

If that works, connect the hard drive, repost.
If that works, install windows offline, then drivers.....MB,chipset,video,sound.
reboot.

One step at a time until you find the culprit. I think it's a video issue.
 
Force in BIOS the PCI-E to run PCI-E 2.0, and you will fix it.. thats a pretty weird combination of drivers, card, UEFI and windows install.
 
Thanks for the replies. I will try a few out suggested here. Kinda strange I would have to force PCIe 2.0 but as long as it works.
 
Oh and just so you know my order is always Chipset Lan Audio and then Graphics. In the last install I did graphics and then Chipset. I also had Windows 7 set so that it wouldn't grab updates at all. That was set during OS install.
 
So here is what I have done.
Changed the Pcie slot to Gen 2. No go.
Changed the video card to the 2nd pcie slot. Set it to gen 2. No go.
Changed out the power supply to a tx750. No go.
Changed video card to 8800GT. This time it worked. Not sure it is the video
Card completely. I have an RMA request with Gigabyte.
Would a GTX 700 series work better with the board?
I've looked up on GTX 670 and it seems like the HD Audio driver and Realtek chip conflict. Although in my last build I didn't have the driver for HD Audio installed on ether. Maybe a conflict with earlier GTX 670 boards. My question would be who is running a Z97-a and what video card are you using.
 
I'm pretty sure it's the video card at this point, either failing or compatibility issues. The conflicting audio drivers wouldn't prevent you from viewing video at any point.
 
Hi,

I just installed the same MoBo with i5 4430 and Asus GTX750Ti. I was getting a bluescreen right after exiting Bios and it just flashed and restarted. Windows couldn't solve it.
I changed the PCH storage configuration in the advanced settings from ACHI(default?) to IDE and that solved my issue. I'm not sure Yours is the same issue but maybe worth a try

I'm now experiencing a startup freeze after 2 separate occasions of windows reboots after upadates. Other update was a graphics driver upaste and the other one a Win7 update. It resolves after a considerable wait with win7 install CD in the DVD drive and doesn' t occur but once...any suggestions on resolving this one?
 
I have a similar problem with my Z97-A. When using the 5 way optimizer in BIOS the computer boots into Windows 7 with a black screen. I can manually OC it to 4.6Ghz and it is stable. The BIOS is the latest version, 1204.The RAM I am using is listed as compatible. My video card is a Gigabyte GTX 780 SCX. I have not tested the onboard HDMI port.
 
Last edited:
Vaikunkaivaja said:
Hi,

I just installed the same MoBo with i5 4430 and Asus GTX750Ti. I was getting a bluescreen right after exiting Bios and it just flashed and restarted. Windows couldn't solve it.
I changed the PCH storage configuration in the advanced settings from ACHI(default?) to IDE and that solved my issue. I'm not sure Yours is the same issue but maybe worth a try

I'm now experiencing a startup freeze after 2 separate occasions of windows reboots after upadates. Other update was a graphics driver upaste and the other one a Win7 update. It resolves after a considerable wait with win7 install CD in the DVD drive and doesn' t occur but once...any suggestions on resolving this one?
Click to expand...

You were blue screening because you had no AHCI drivuers installed.

You must install them BEFORE you change the type.
 
The Mac said:
You were blue screening because you had no AHCI drivuers installed.

You must install them BEFORE you change the type.
Click to expand...

Actually, if you have the AHCI drivers on the motherboard support DVD (and you are installing from USB), you can start the install in AHCI mode right from the get-go - I discovered this trick back when dual optical drives were my thing (which predates my discovering USB installation) - I had the Windows disc in one drive, and the motherboard support disc in the other. When I change motherboards, I'll be going to one that supports AHCI (my current motherboard does not) - hence a reinstall being required.

Windows 8+ - like previous versions - specifically allows for such installs.
 
yes you can, however Vaikunkaivaja was running in IDE mode, so the drivers were never installed.
 
Blue screens with the old motherboard, now black screens with new? Sounds to me like it's not a motherboard issue at all. If you have some old memory, video card, or psu laying around, I'd suggest swapping them out.
 
The Mac said:
yes you can, however Vaikunkaivaja was running in IDE mode, so the drivers were never installed.
Click to expand...

Likely due to his wanting to keep his older install.

Tried THAT trick before as well (way back in my 2000/XP days) - found out that AHCI is way too useful to NOT install if your motherboard supports it, especially in XP and later. (It's also why I have resigned myself to a reinstall when moving from Q6600/G41->G3258/Z97.)

The question I have is should I also change the format of my USB stick for the OS? Said stick is currently MBR-formatted because my current motherboard uses a standard BIOS - however, my new motherboard supports UEFI. Should I reformat the stick in UEFI mode? (My stick formatter - Rufus - supports both modes; however, naturally, my current motherboard does not detect UEFI-formatted sticks.)
 
there is no "UEFI" mode format, i think you might be confusing it with "GPT"

There really iusnt any advantage to using GPT unless you are using more than 4 paritions per disk, or they over 2TB, or you are using dynamic disks.

UEFI works with MBR and GPT disks.
 
Last edited:
I signed up just to post here about this issue. There has been a lot of good info in this thread and a lot of knowledgeable people, so hopefully we'll be able to nail down a resolution.

As background, I've been an IT pro for 15 years this year and I have always built my own gaming rigs.

I have this same issue. I am using a GTX 770 and a Z97-A. My symptoms are intermittent, sometimes the PC starts up with no issues. More often then not, I get the black screen with a solid red VGA led on board. Multiple restarts always eventually leads to success. Sometimes 1 or 2. Sometimes 10+. I can find no rhyme or reason so far.

I have tried the card in multiple slots with no resolution. I've tried using both DisplayPort and HDMI with no resolution. I have tried different cables with no resolution. When I went on vacation for a week, I lent the card to a friend (heavy gamer) so he could test it on his EVGA board. He had no issues at all. When I brought it home, I immediately began having the same issue. This leads me to believe it is not the graphics card. I never really thought it was. My drivers, chipset and BIOS are all the most recent. I've tried older BIOS as well with no resolution. I've tried older nVidia drivers with no resolution.

Any ideas? I just opened a ticket with Asus support. If they have anything new to offer, I'll post back.

Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
soulman901 said:
After installing the motherboard into my case and booting up, setting up the bios and installing Windows 7 I'm constantly running into Black screens at start up. My machine will start, you can hear the Windows Chime and then nothing on the ether screen. I've tried multiple re-installs of Windows. I cannot get anything to display to display at all.

I've cleared the CMOS, set everything back up. I've disabled everything on board except LAN.

The only thing I can think of at this time is that the Intel Chipset Driver is that cause of these problems. I noticed in my last install that after installing the Graphics Driver, the machine came up fine, it was when I install Intel's Chipset driver that my machine started to fail on displaying anything.

So at this point I am lost on what I should do about this. I thought about changing out the Powersupply as that could still be my problem from the Z87-G45 MSI but reading up on that board and I see people with similar problems.

If anyone has anything I may try, I would like to check it out
Click to expand...

So you installed the graphics driver and then the chipset driver? While ordinarily works it doesn't make much sense to do things in that order. When you install chipset drivers you'll find everything usually ends up getting re-detected. Sometimes the order does matter. As for a PSU issue, possibly. The only way this is a motherboard issue is if that slot is bad.
 
The board can halt on the VGA LED if there is DRAM instability as well. Have seen that on occasion..
 
Raja@ASUS said:
The board can halt on the VGA LED if there is DRAM instability as well. Have seen that on occasion..
Click to expand...

In fairness DRAM instabilities are annoying because so many problems can occur as a result of them.
 
Subflow22 said:
I signed up just to post here about this issue. There has been a lot of good info in this thread and a lot of knowledgeable people, so hopefully we'll be able to nail down a resolution.

As background, I've been an IT pro for 15 years this year and I have always built my own gaming rigs.

I have this same issue. I am using a GTX 770 and a Z97-A. My symptoms are intermittent, sometimes the PC starts up with no issues. More often then not, I get the black screen with a solid red VGA led on board. Multiple restarts always eventually leads to success. Sometimes 1 or 2. Sometimes 10+. I can find no rhyme or reason so far.

I have tried the card in multiple slots with no resolution. I've tried using both DisplayPort and HDMI with no resolution. I have tried different cables with no resolution. When I went on vacation for a week, I lent the card to a friend (heavy gamer) so he could test it on his EVGA board. He had no issues at all. When I brought it home, I immediately began having the same issue. This leads me to believe it is not the board. I never really thought it was. My drivers, chipset and BIOS are all the most recent. I've tried older BIOS as well with no resolution. I've tried older nVidia drivers with no resolution.

Any ideas? I just opened a ticket with Asus support. If they have anything new to offer, I'll post back.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

If you are working with your old install on the new board with a legacy CPU with all your original drives in place that usually doesn't work out too well. In fact even a fresh install with your old drives in place can cause issues like you have.

First totally clear your CMOS (unplug, pull the battery etc.)
Boot into your BIOS to reset the time and date and hit F-5 to get default settings.
ACHI should be enabled by default.
If not enable ACHI in the bios
Unplug all your drives at the MOBO.
Next pick the drive you want to be your "C" drive and plug it into SATA-1.
If you are using an optical drive plug that in, if you are using USB don't plug the optical drive in.

Start your windows-7 install and when you get to he screen where you can load drivers DON'T, windows 7 has ACHI drivers built in.
BUT
While you are in that screen click advanced and delete all partitions (the hidden on and the main as well)
Now click on create partition and the install should create two partitions. As a rule it want's to create a 100 meg hidden partition and you can use the balance of the drive as your main "C".

No need to format at all, windows-7 takes care of that for you, honest.

When prompted about updates say no.
Allow the install to complete and assuming you did it right windows should boot right up.

Drivers...Link to the newest driversLan first. Log on to the Asus website and grab the newest LAN driver and Intel chipset driver and install both.

Next the driver everyone loves to hate: AMDA00_Win7-8-8-1_V1010 (without that you end up with a phantom missing device driver in device manager.)

Now add the USB3 drivers.
Last but not least the Audio drivers.

Notice I didn't mention the video drivers? You can do everything else and make those the last thing you update. Why? Nvidia drivers installed before your updates want to grab some "Net Frame work" drivers" and can confuse the updates when you do those. You can set the proper video resolution right after install, just right click on the screen and click on resolution and set it.

When you do your updates find the video drivers windows wants to install and right click and hide that driver (grab the new one when you are all done with updates) After everything is updated and running shut down and plug your "D" drive into SATA-2. Boot it up, windows will see it and install the drivers and probably require a reboot. If you have an optical drive shut down and plug that in last.

Now, install your video drivers.

I've done about 7 of these now with no issues on the Z97-A board and it seems to fix all the issues.

I know, sounds silly but you end up with a clean no buggy install.

Best part? It don't cost a thing except your time;)

Oh, while I'm thinking about it. Make sure your RAM came as a complete kit. If you bought those sticks separately they won't be "binned" to match and I've seen that be a problem more than a few times.
 
Last edited:
@BillR

Thanks for the lengthy response. I'm wondering if you may have confused me with a previous poster? All my equipment was brand new at the time of the install, including the drives. I installed a fresh copy of Windows 8. My processor isn't legacy, its i5-4690K. Also, I always install the graphics drivers last.

At this point though, it won't hurt anything to try again. I guess I could potentially have a PSU issue, so I'll check that. I can also try different RAM. Mine was a boxed set (Corsair), but I have a couple others I can try as well.

Really, I believe its the mobo/graphincs don't play that nice together. I've Googled far and wide (even in different languages and used translate) and there are quite a few people who have the same issue. They all have this board and a modern nVidia card. No clear resolutions so for that I've seen.
 
Subflow22 said:
@BillR

Thanks for the lengthy response. I'm wondering if you may have confused me with a previous poster? All my equipment was brand new at the time of the install, including the drives. I installed a fresh copy of Windows 8. My processor isn't legacy, its i5-4690K. Also, I always install the graphics drivers last.

At this point though, it won't hurt anything to try again. I guess I could potentially have a PSU issue, so I'll check that. I can also try different RAM. Mine was a boxed set (Corsair), but I have a couple others I can try as well.

Really, I believe its the mobo/graphincs don't play that nice together. I've Googled far and wide (even in different languages and used translate) and there are quite a few people who have the same issue. They all have this board and a modern nVidia card. No clear resolutions so for that I've seen.
Click to expand...

Yup, it's possible; probable even...It was late Lol.

However, What I said stands and seems to work in most instances. After the [H} recommendation of the Z97-A I snatched one and it worked fine. Then I pooched my own install and downloaded a "free" program, you know, the friendly malware version because some times I simply don't know enough to let well enough alone.

At that point I added a Samsung SSD (256gig EVO PRO because Samsung had it on sale cheaper than any of the stores) and did a "simple" reinstall and started finding some the problems I posted about in my above post.

Just for fun I pulled the SSD and was able to reproduce the issues with regular spinner drives.

Things I have found in addition to what I mentioned.

A bad RAM to FSB ratio will give you the black screen.
Mismatched RAM will/can give you the black screen.
Junk on already installed drives can/will give you the black screen (the reason I now install to only one drive with everything else disconnected. (Unless you are using RAID)
The UFIE BIOS seems to lose track of which drives are installed in what order when you have other drives installed during an install. (again, pull the battery and blow out all it's settings) before a fresh install.

You could have a bad PSU but I installed a 750 (borrowed) in my machine and I use a 6 year old Corsair 650, no problems.

As I said, I've now done 7 Z97-A board for friends following my *theory of install*;) and solved all the problem they were having with our friend "the black screen". Same goes with MSI, same procedure.

Overall I'm an ASUS fan, never had to RMA one and only had to call for HELP twice and was treated fine.

Oh, I don't use the software BIOS (ASUS AI Suite). I simply find it easier to make my adjustments right in the BIOS<shrug> call me an old guy:).

Oh, I do disable the serial port in BIOS, but I've never had an issue with the internal graphics, I've never installed the drivers, never saw any reason to.
 
Thanks for the follow-up. I've ordered parts for a new build entirely. I'm actually building my son a rig, so he's going to inherit most of my parts. I'll swap them all out one-by-one and follow your advice as well to see if I can nail down "exactly" what the issue is.

I'm a little doubtful that anything on the HD would cause this issue though. I could be entirely wrong, and you experience would suggest that I am, but generally I have video on POST. As I understand it, this is long before drivers of any sort are loaded, as this is occurs even before the OS loads. It's not like I see the POST screen and then the screen goes black. The screen is never anything but black. Issue at this point should almost always be hardware related, shouldn't they? I could be wrong about how this all works, please correct me if so.

Another thing to note, if I repeatedly power off and power on the PC until I get a successful display, it can take anywhere from 10-20 tries. If I power the monitor off, cycle the power and power on after I see my keyboard light up (POST) I can usually achieve display in 2 or 3 attempts. This may be entirely coincidence.
 
Similar problems (blank screen) with Z97-AR and Asus 750ti. Not only did I get a blank screen on POST but saving a profile would lock up the machine.

From my post @ https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthre...-freezing-up-during-Profile-lselection/page2:

Fixed my issue by selecting onboard graphics in Sytem Agent Configuration (vs Auto) rebooted, then reselecting Auto. All the while switching my display cables to view POSTs. In the end I was able to DISable CSM and post successfully. Profile lock ups have also gone away. Hope this helps someone.
 
Another vote for disabling CSM when using Windows 8. Had the same problem on DVI until I disabled CSM.
 
I was FINALLY able to resolve this issue by loading the latest BIOS and resetting it to defaults - essentially all OC settings to AUTO. I haven't failed a POST since, no more black screen.
 
soulman901 said:
I've never encountered so many stupid problems with trying to build a new machine that runs correctly.
Long story short, I'm replacing a MSI Z87-G45 Board that continues to bluescreen on me for no apparent reason. I'll lose drives and other odd behavior with this motherboard. Thought it was Memory and RMA'd to get a matching set but that is working and tests just fine.

Just recently I purchased a Z97-A from Asus. I've used their stuff, good times.... or so I thought.
I get done installing this thing. My Specs are following
Intel i7-4771
Asus Z97-A
16GB G-Skill Memory 1600
GeForce 670GTX Gigabyte Video Card
840 Evo 250GB Samsung Drive
2 x Western Digital 1TB Blue Drives 64MB Cache
750Watt Power Supply XFX
Windows 7 Ultimate SP1

After installing the motherboard into my case and booting up, setting up the bios and installing Windows 7 I'm constantly running into Black screens at start up. My machine will start, you can hear the Windows Chime and then nothing on the ether screen. I've tried multiple re-installs of Windows. I cannot get anything to display to display at all.

I've cleared the CMOS, set everything back up. I've disabled everything on board except LAN.

The only thing I can think of at this time is that the Intel Chipset Driver is that cause of these problems. I noticed in my last install that after installing the Graphics Driver, the machine came up fine, it was when I install Intel's Chipset driver that my machine started to fail on displaying anything.

So at this point I am lost on what I should do about this. I thought about changing out the Powersupply as that could still be my problem from the Z87-G45 MSI but reading up on that board and I see people with similar problems.

If anyone has anything I may try, I would like to check it out
Click to expand...

Well, if you did some research and read the manual that comes with your board.....it would have been easy to solve this. First of all....when you install your motherboard you should know that it comes with default settings. Default bios settings on Z97 series are prepared for UEFI. What does it mean? Settings are Secure boot ( enabled). Before you do anything you should disable secure boot and delete all the key. If you do that you can install Windows with legacy bios ( MBR) and not experience black screen. There is NOTHING wrong with the board. I have ASUS Z97 Pro and after changing these settings everything is just fine. I can see you have problems with different boards....so you should ask ....Are you the reason to the problems? And if you are using USB stick to install Windows be aware you can not install with UEFI enabled (GPT)....unless you use Rufus to make a Windows install with UEFI support. If you do, you must remember to enable secure boot in Bios after installing Windows...

To wrap it up.....Cihpset drivers have nothing to do with black screen. Black screen is hardware failure and/or wrong settings in BIOS.
 
Well, if you read his update at the bottom, he was able to get it working by updating the BIOS.
 
Asus z97-a with strix 970 here, having same issue. Sometimes it boots, other times it gets stuck and won't POST, staying with red led on.
Tried everything posted here. On other PCI slots it isn't even recognized by the mobo... Any news on this issue? Any help :(
 
Tangolino said:
Asus z97-a with strix 970 here, having same issue. Sometimes it boots, other times it gets stuck and won't POST, staying with red led on.
Tried everything posted here. On other PCI slots it isn't even recognized by the mobo... Any news on this issue? Any help :(
Click to expand...
did you ever get an answer to this? i have the same issue
 
Subflow22 said:
Thanks for the follow-up. I've ordered parts for a new build entirely. I'm actually building my son a rig, so he's going to inherit most of my parts. I'll swap them all out one-by-one and follow your advice as well to see if I can nail down "exactly" what the issue is.

I'm a little doubtful that anything on the HD would cause this issue though. I could be entirely wrong, and you experience would suggest that I am, but generally I have video on POST. As I understand it, this is long before drivers of any sort are loaded, as this is occurs even before the OS loads. It's not like I see the POST screen and then the screen goes black. The screen is never anything but black. Issue at this point should almost always be hardware related, shouldn't they? I could be wrong about how this all works, please correct me if so.

Another thing to note, if I repeatedly power off and power on the PC until I get a successful display, it can take anywhere from 10-20 tries. If I power the monitor off, cycle the power and power on after I see my keyboard light up (POST) I can usually achieve display in 2 or 3 attempts. This may be entirely coincidence.
Click to expand...
same issue! did you ever find a solution?
 
nice necro. scroll up a few post, bios update fixed it. now go read the forum rules...
 
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