Vollmond
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Hi guys... I have been having a real issue for about 2 months now with my EVGA Dark-based system. I'm just sick and tired of pursuing this as it flushed away countless hours of my life... I'll lay out the details below, maybe someone has an idea where to look for a culprit: Case 1 - Under OS [Windows 7 x64 UEFI]At random times, the system completely freezes, especially when idle. Symptoms are as follows:- Complete loss of power on USB ports (front and rear);
- HDD LED is completely dead, so no activity there;
- Video feed stays frozen on the screen from the moment it occurred (cursor disappears completely);
- LAN Link is on but no signs of activity;
- All Fans work normally and the CPU Temp display is fluctuating as normal;
- After about 10 minutes, the system shuts down forcibly and comes on after a few seconds.
Case 2 - Under BIOS The same type of behavior occurred only recently under BIOS setup screen, as I was preparing a PXE boot sequence for replacing Windows... Only then I decided to post this since it is clearly a hardware issue.Symptoms:- While in BIOS setup, the screen freezes just like in OS environment (interestingly, the cursor disappears here as well);
- The on-board display code turns from normal A6 to 0d and stays like that;
- USB ports retain power, but no control over mouse or keyboard;
- No shutdown/reboot by its own from that point.
*It is safe to say that I encountered this under every BIOS version from 2.09 onward, even tried the freshly released 2.12 and received a freeze after about 3 minutes while being in setup. Initially I thought the the OC had something to do with it, but even at stock settings I got the same stuff :( I have this system since December 2013, and l did not make any hardware changes on it at all. I cannot trigger the freeze because I don't know what triggers it, but I can inspect the system while in that state. Any ideas what to try, how else to approach it? I could really use some advice...
post edited by rjohnson11 - 2014/08/22 04:17:00
#EVGA X79 Dark > BIOS rev. 2.13#i7 4820K > [SAFE OC 4.5 Ghz / +35 Vcore Offset / K-Boost disabled / Vdroop]#G-Skill Ripjaws Z Series > CL 9.0 4x4 GB - [XMP - 1867Mhz]#Corsair H100i#Corsair HX750#Corsair Carbide Series Air 540#Intel SSD 530 Series > 120 Gb SATA 3 | Windows 10 Pro | Full UEFI#WD Black + Samsung > 2 x 1TB SATA 3 in RAID 1 Main Storage#nVidia ASUS Strix 980 TI OC> 6 GB PCI-E 3.0#Lamptron FC5 Fan Controller#Plextor PX-891SA 24x SATA
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Sajin
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/08/21 15:35:57
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I bet it's the motherboard.
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dustingg
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/08/21 15:42:53
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new2019
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/08/21 17:46:01
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do a test run without the hdds connected , sometimes the hdd can interrupt which happened to me earlier.
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_JoseR
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/08/22 03:52:57
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☼ Best Answerby Vollmond 2014/08/22 04:47:00
You may also want to test your memory modules and the memory slots one by one. I had similar issue with a 780i board that kept freezing in the OS and in BIOS so after hours of troubleshooting it turned out that two of the DIMM slots were having intermittent power issues and eventually both just died. As the previous post implied, test with a different PSU as well. As a last resort you should test the board barebones outside the case on a non-conductive surface with different components i.e. memory, PSU, video card and perhaps even a different processor. Feel free to contact us at support@evga.com should you determine that the motherboard is defective.
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Vollmond
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/08/22 04:54:56
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Thank you all for your thoughts!
I'll stay on it a few days and conduct all the tests I'm capable of. Although I do not have a spare 2011 socket CPU, I will try a different PSU. It bugs me the fact that not all tests might be conclusive since the issue occurs randomly (sometimes I have a day or two when it works fine), so I cannot reproduce the circumstances.
I'll keep you posted.
#EVGA X79 Dark > BIOS rev. 2.13#i7 4820K > [SAFE OC 4.5 Ghz / +35 Vcore Offset / K-Boost disabled / Vdroop]#G-Skill Ripjaws Z Series > CL 9.0 4x4 GB - [XMP - 1867Mhz]#Corsair H100i#Corsair HX750#Corsair Carbide Series Air 540#Intel SSD 530 Series > 120 Gb SATA 3 | Windows 10 Pro | Full UEFI#WD Black + Samsung > 2 x 1TB SATA 3 in RAID 1 Main Storage#nVidia ASUS Strix 980 TI OC> 6 GB PCI-E 3.0#Lamptron FC5 Fan Controller#Plextor PX-891SA 24x SATA
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Vollmond
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/08/27 04:59:28
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Finnaly back after long battles! Took the thing apart which was a pain and runned every test possible on it: - memtest v5 (under uefi) on all 4 sticks of ram -OK
- memtest on individual sticks of ram on all dimm slots -OK
- PSU test on all rails with tester -OK (unfortunatelly I don't have a second EPS 8-pin to populate the other CPU power slot - I hestated to use a PCI-E 8-pin rail for this purpose although under the rails it says "CPU 4+4 & PCI-E"---Any thoughts on that??)
- sequentially eliminated the drives to see system reaction -same freeze scenario
- sequentially eliminated USBs (including internal Corsair link) -no change
After doing all this and have the unit put back together, it got worse, as in verry erratic behaviour: - random BSODs that froze while collecting data for dump (so didn't even have the chance to analyze something)
- random loss of video link for a couple of seconds
- random restarts in the middle of 5-10 mins idle
Nothing seemed to be wrong so I began to take other elements into account: - popped out the cmos battery for 10 mins. There are 2 jumpers on the bottom... Does anyone know their purpose?
- attached the auxilliar PCIE power on the bottom side.
- shifted the GPU on 3rd x16 slot then back in original position.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After all this, things got better! For a couple of hours of BIOS tweaks/resets I did not encounter any more hangs, oddly the POST sequence was delayed by 10-15 seconds on a B4 message ("Memory training" - maybe had something to do with changing sticks around the slots (1,3,5,7 only / I did not touch the others) ??) In a moment of "spark", I disconnected all USBs, unplugged the power cord, then back in, and when I fired it up it was like it got "released" from something. It POSTed blitzkrieg, no B4s... I installed a fresh copy of 8.1 Pro in full UEFI mode, and acts flawlessly since then on bios 2.12. I even threw in a moderate 4.5Ghz /+35 offset OC... Looking back now, I still cannot fully grasp what happened... The only changes in the system: attached pci-e auxilliary & changed power rails for drives/PCI-E (in case some fluctuations were not picked up by my tester). If this setup fails again, I'm gonna surely fall into an unearthly depression and smash it! P.S Btw! There are still some anomalies in the BIOS that I observed while cycling between v.10/.11/.12: - in all versions PXE boot in UEFI mode is not fireing up at all - tried every possible combination in CSM settings
- in all versions the "Keep Current" option under the CSM16 tab triggers a 0d POST halt with a black bios screen (only a dash in the upper left corner of thee screen is visible)
- v2.11 - bluetooth and marvell raid controllers are missing from the device list
- v2.12 - only the marvell raid controller is missing (although Windows picks it up in Device Manager)
#EVGA X79 Dark > BIOS rev. 2.13#i7 4820K > [SAFE OC 4.5 Ghz / +35 Vcore Offset / K-Boost disabled / Vdroop]#G-Skill Ripjaws Z Series > CL 9.0 4x4 GB - [XMP - 1867Mhz]#Corsair H100i#Corsair HX750#Corsair Carbide Series Air 540#Intel SSD 530 Series > 120 Gb SATA 3 | Windows 10 Pro | Full UEFI#WD Black + Samsung > 2 x 1TB SATA 3 in RAID 1 Main Storage#nVidia ASUS Strix 980 TI OC> 6 GB PCI-E 3.0#Lamptron FC5 Fan Controller#Plextor PX-891SA 24x SATA
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Vollmond
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/09/12 10:59:38
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Back with what it seems the solution to all this hassle!
After a couple of days from last post, I got mixed BSODs under Win 8.1, referring to memory management & drivers. I started troubleshooting dumps without luck. Constantly reversing to a clean, driverless OS through backups, I noticed that the bsods were occurring regardless of drivers, so I spent a couple of days chasing false leads.
On a closer inspection on voltages under OS (using AIDA64/HWMonitor/E-LEET tool) I noticed something very suspicious on DIMM voltages... When under XMP profile at 1866Mhz, there's a constant voltage discrepancy between DIMM 1-4 & 5-8 of about 0.03-0.04V , with overall fluctuations as low as 1.458 V (a minimum recorded by CPUID HWMonitor). The strange part is the when I disable XMP in BIOS (1600 Mhz), the voltages are quite normal (around 1.55V on both channels). My G-Skill Ripjaws Z 4x4GB are designed to work with 1.5V, so I'm assuming that a 1.45 voltage would be more than insufficient especially under XMP!...
I immediately started upping the voltages in BIOS under XMP, while trying to push more on the 5-8 banks. The bsod problem greatly improved, so I knew I was on the right track. I finally stopped adding voltage reaching a stable 1,54 for about a week now (theoretically they could withstand 1.65V but I don't want that kind of unnecessary heat on them).
Now my question is: Who is to blame here? The memory kit or the MB? This happens under any BIOS version. Unfortunately, I don't have a reference snapshot of voltages from a few months ago, when everything was running fine, without altering dimm voltages from Auto.
#EVGA X79 Dark > BIOS rev. 2.13#i7 4820K > [SAFE OC 4.5 Ghz / +35 Vcore Offset / K-Boost disabled / Vdroop]#G-Skill Ripjaws Z Series > CL 9.0 4x4 GB - [XMP - 1867Mhz]#Corsair H100i#Corsair HX750#Corsair Carbide Series Air 540#Intel SSD 530 Series > 120 Gb SATA 3 | Windows 10 Pro | Full UEFI#WD Black + Samsung > 2 x 1TB SATA 3 in RAID 1 Main Storage#nVidia ASUS Strix 980 TI OC> 6 GB PCI-E 3.0#Lamptron FC5 Fan Controller#Plextor PX-891SA 24x SATA
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bdary
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/09/12 12:16:21
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Software voltage readings are typically not to accurate, but gives you a ballpark reading. That said, I find that what you set for Dimm voltage in the Dark's BIOS is less than what the actual voltage is.
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Vollmond
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/09/13 07:43:19
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So you're saying I should trust readings straight from BIOS? On some forums people say that only AIDA could read sensors closest to reality on the software side...
E-LEET reads same values from BIOS from what I can make of it, so I do have a comparison factor under OS. I tend not to trust BIOS readings since CPU temp shown on the onboard debug led is way different from in BIOS.
I have a very good multimeter at my disposal... Is it worth the trouble to take some manual readings? Is there any way to do that for dimms?
#EVGA X79 Dark > BIOS rev. 2.13#i7 4820K > [SAFE OC 4.5 Ghz / +35 Vcore Offset / K-Boost disabled / Vdroop]#G-Skill Ripjaws Z Series > CL 9.0 4x4 GB - [XMP - 1867Mhz]#Corsair H100i#Corsair HX750#Corsair Carbide Series Air 540#Intel SSD 530 Series > 120 Gb SATA 3 | Windows 10 Pro | Full UEFI#WD Black + Samsung > 2 x 1TB SATA 3 in RAID 1 Main Storage#nVidia ASUS Strix 980 TI OC> 6 GB PCI-E 3.0#Lamptron FC5 Fan Controller#Plextor PX-891SA 24x SATA
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bdary
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/09/13 09:56:55
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Vollmond
So you're saying I should trust readings straight from BIOS? On some forums people say that only AIDA could read sensors closest to reality on the software side...
E-LEET reads same values from BIOS from what I can make of it, so I do have a comparison factor under OS. I tend not to trust BIOS readings since CPU temp shown on the onboard debug led is way different from in BIOS.
I have a very good multimeter at my disposal... Is it worth the trouble to take some manual readings? Is there any way to do that for dimms?
If you really want to know the actual voltage, than a multimeter is the best way. With The Dark mobo, you should have received a "Voltage Dongle" (if that's the name of it) that connects to the EZ Voltage Read Point connector. It plugs in to that connector to make it easier to check voltages. It's located on the top right side of the board. As far as whether it's worth it or not to check with a multimeter, that's up to you. I have been using Aida Extreme for several years for most of my monitoring. I find it to be "accurate enough" for my needs. I might have a little different OC'ing strategy then some or most. Since I'm not trying to break any world records, I personally don't care what the voltages actually are. I use the least amount of voltage required to run a stable system at the clock frequencies I want. Then I use the temps (VRM, CPU Socket, Cores, etc.) to gauge whether or not I'm using to much voltage. If my temps are higher than I like, I lower my frequency so I don't need quite as much voltage. That way I know that if my temps are pretty reasonable, I'm not using an excessive amout of voltage.
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bdary
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/09/14 06:30:21
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Here's a diagram of which connectors are which if you're interested to check voltage with your multi. 
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Vollmond
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/09/14 06:57:14
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Thanks for your thoughts bdary. I'll definitely give it a try with the multi as I'm really curious about what did it take to bring that memory stable.
I see you run the same memory kit, if I'm not mistaken. Are those performances just a consequence of your bckl, or did you fine tuned them? And secondly, if you did fine tuned them, what was your starting point (XMP or you worked your way up copying XMP settings and altering them further eventually)?
And just for curiosity's sake, what average voltage reading does AIDA give you for DIMMs? Are those on "Auto" in BIOS? or did you have to set them on manual for OC reasons?
#EVGA X79 Dark > BIOS rev. 2.13#i7 4820K > [SAFE OC 4.5 Ghz / +35 Vcore Offset / K-Boost disabled / Vdroop]#G-Skill Ripjaws Z Series > CL 9.0 4x4 GB - [XMP - 1867Mhz]#Corsair H100i#Corsair HX750#Corsair Carbide Series Air 540#Intel SSD 530 Series > 120 Gb SATA 3 | Windows 10 Pro | Full UEFI#WD Black + Samsung > 2 x 1TB SATA 3 in RAID 1 Main Storage#nVidia ASUS Strix 980 TI OC> 6 GB PCI-E 3.0#Lamptron FC5 Fan Controller#Plextor PX-891SA 24x SATA
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bdary
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Re: System freeze under OS & BIOS
2014/09/14 07:24:58
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You're welcome.
I'm not using XMP profiles, but I did use them for a starting point so I could use most of the xmp settings but in manual mode. One thing I found out real quick was that for some reason using the xmp, it set the command rate to 2. I had a very hard time getting anything stable with that. I found that using CR 1 works better for any frequency I've tried. Which is a good thing.
As far as my timings in my sig, all I did was increase each of the main timings by one to be stable at 2000Mhz. I could use the 9,10,9,28 timings, but only up to 1920Mhz I think it was. After that I began having stability issue's.
The Dark board as far as Dimm voltages took some figuring out. If I used any mem freq under 1866/7, I could leave dimm voltage on auto which was shown in Aida at about 1.52v on bank1 and 1.54v on bank2 and I was stable. As soon as I'd use any freq from 1866 on up (including from blck OC'ing), bank1 would drop to under 1.5v (using auto) shown in Aida. For my 2000Mhz freq & timings in my sig, I set both dimm banks to 1.615v. In Aida, they're reported as 1.588v in bank1, and 1.600v in bank2.
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