Zoom7000 Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 I just received my replacement Asus P8P67 Deluxe B3 boards and having major problems getting things going. I purchased 2 identical builds and 1 set up worked completely fine. The second however, is giving me no end of issues. Booted it up and the machine just kept on BSOD-ing with the current Windows 7 build, so I then tried taking 1 of the RAM sticks out (GeIL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel) and trying it with 4Gb. Same issue, tried the other stick, same issue. Put both sticks back in and it just wouldn't POST at all. Took the RAM out of the identical working machine and the machine boot up but again BSOD on Windows boot. Put the both the other RAM sticks in and annoyingly, it booted up! (Again BSOD on Windows 7 boot though). So, downloaded Memtest and ran with no errors found. Reinstalled Windows booted up fine. Then when it came to reinstalling the drivers it BSOD on the install of the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver Software with error iaStor.sys. After reboot, it didn't boot into Windows at all complaining that iaStor.sys was missing or corrupt. I tried another format and install and installed all the drivers again except for the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Driver Software, this worked fine and then I ran Windows Updates. The only driver it installed was the Marvell Storage driver with no issues. However, when I reboot the PC, it went in to an Infinite Reboot Loop of going in to the Startup Repair console, reporting it can't fix the issues and then shutting down. I had a search round Google and went in to the advanced options. I noticed by running BootSect.exe that there was no install of Windows on the C: drive, yet there was an install on the D: drive. However, no D: drive exists on the PC. There is only one drive with no additional partitions. So, I tried fixing the MBR, but still had no luck. Any ideas what could be the problem here? Faulty Hard Drive? Or faulty motherboard? Also, why would the motherboard not POST with the 2 RAM sticks, yet when I tried the sticks out of the working PC and then put the other 2 back, it worked? Baffling!
SYNACK Posted August 15, 2011 Posted August 15, 2011 Did you upgrade the BIOS to the latest revision as that can sometimes solve strange issues with memory. 1
Arthur Posted August 15, 2011 Posted August 15, 2011 Have you overclocked your i7-2600K? If so, have you tried it at stock speeds and voltages? Faulty hard drive? Not sure, but there is a firmware update for your Samsung F3 HDD which fixes a compatibility issue with P67 and H67 motherboards. I noticed by running BootSect.exe that there was no install of Windows on the C: drive, yet there was an install on the D: drive. However, no D: drive exists on the PC. Are you booting from the Windows 7 DVD in UEFI mode? 1
Zoom7000 Posted August 15, 2011 Author Posted August 15, 2011 Have you overclocked your i7-2600K? If so, have you tried it at stock speeds and voltages? Everything is running at stock at the moment. Not sure, but there is a firmware update for your Samsung F3 HDD which fixes a compatibility issue with P67 and H67 motherboards. lol! Well remembered and thanks for the tip! Are you booting from the Windows 7 DVD in UEFI mode? No, not booting from the DVD. It's going in to the Startup Recovery mode on it's own. Did you upgrade the BIOS to the latest revision as that can sometimes solve strange issues with memory. Will try this too if all else fails - Always been a bit edgy upgrading BIOS firmware!
nicklec Posted August 15, 2011 Posted August 15, 2011 That RAM needs 1.6v to run at 1600/C9, which is not usually default on motherboards and valueram sometimes doesn't contain this info in SPD (or you need to enable 'XMP' or something in bios).
Zoom7000 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Posted August 16, 2011 I think you're wrong there mate. The RAM is fully compatible with SandyBridge CPUs and they require the RAM voltage to be set at 1.5V. I read on OcUK forums that setting the voltage to 1.6 has been killing SandyBridge CPUs.
nicklec Posted August 16, 2011 Posted August 16, 2011 PC3-12800 1600MHz C8 & C9 VALUE PLUS DUAL CHANNEL - Products - GeIL Memory RAM voltage shouldn't effect CPU, 1.6v vcore would definitely melt a modern cpu
Arthur Posted August 16, 2011 Posted August 16, 2011 (edited) The official DDR3 voltage spec is 1.5v, but 1.65v is the absolute max you do not want to go over for Intel's latest processors. http://i.imgur.com/PlAh7.jpg If 1.6v/1.65v RAM wasn't compatible with Sandybridge CPUs; Corsair, Kingston, GeIL and others wouldn't sell it. Edited August 16, 2011 by Arthur
Zoom7000 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Posted August 16, 2011 Right, just installed Windows 7 on a new (borrowed hard drive) and when installing the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Driver Software, it came up with the same BSOD. So, not the HD at fault. Faulty motherboard? Or faulty CPU?
Arthur Posted August 17, 2011 Posted August 17, 2011 Have you tried it without the RST drivers? I don't bother with them myself as the standard 'msahci' driver included with Windows 7 is perfectly fine (even with SSDs). Did you end up updating your BIOS?
Zoom7000 Posted August 17, 2011 Author Posted August 17, 2011 Yeah, the last time I did the install, I installed all the drivers barring the IRST drivers and when I did the full Windows Update (checked that it didn't install any drivers during the update) it went in to recovery reboot loop and wouldn't go in to Windows at all. BIOS update is the next step! Will try that this evening.
ben604 Posted August 17, 2011 Posted August 17, 2011 Have you checked the SATA mode in the BIOS? We've been getting BSODs after installing XP on to 7 machines as the SATA mode needed to be "Compatibility", maybe it's the other way around for yourself? 1
Zoom7000 Posted August 17, 2011 Author Posted August 17, 2011 The SATA mode has been set to AHCI. I think that was the default and seeing as my own identical machine is working fine, I presume this isn't the problem, however, I will double check! Thanks for the tip.
ChrisMiles Posted August 17, 2011 Posted August 17, 2011 If your other identical setup is fine then this is almost certainly a faulty motherboard. Get the company who sold it to you to replace it (dont let them make you rma it, its their responsibility not yours -- see regulations on statutory rights). This happened to me recently, bought 3 new gigabyte x58a-ud-3r boards, 1st one out the box was blue screening like crazy, spent hours trying to fix it before i tried the other 2 boards which worked fine, got a replacement and no issues at all.
SYNACK Posted August 17, 2011 Posted August 17, 2011 You'll want to try the BIOS update first before trying to send them back as they will likely ask that first and this is exactly the kind of nonsence that BIOS updates usually fix. Upgrading BIOSs is much nicer now and mos can be done from in Windows or in your case off a USB key from inside the BIOS. I am pretty sure I have worked on those boards, well the Pro version rather than the delux and I think they may have EFI which makes it even easier and more robust. I have used the B3 version fine with both the integrated and the intel drivers under Windows 7x64 without issue. Have you made sure the BIOS is set to BIOS mode rather than EFI (I think there is a setting like that floating around in there somewhere)
Arthur Posted August 17, 2011 Posted August 17, 2011 Get the company who sold it to you to replace it (don't let them make you rma it, its their responsibility not yours -- see regulations on statutory rights). It will be interesting to see what OcUK do if updating the BIOS doesn't fix Zoom7000's issue. Knowing what OcUK are like, I really doubt they will do a straight swap.
Zoom7000 Posted August 17, 2011 Author Posted August 17, 2011 Well, the trouble is, both systems were working fine. I then had to dismantle both systems to get the motherboards swapped out by Asus due to the SandyBridge flaw. So, both boards are now the B3 revision boards which weren't supplied by OcUK. The warranty is unaffected, but I'd rather sort out the issue if it can be sorted with something like a BIOS update rather than having to RMA or otherwise. The trouble is, I can't yet pinpoint exactly what's causing the issue. I'd like to get a confirmed diagnosis as to which part is actually fault (If faulty!) before returning the board, only to find a new board causes the same issue because something else is faulty!
ChrisMiles Posted August 17, 2011 Posted August 17, 2011 Have you tried it with 1 stick of memory in only, that fixed the stability problems on the dodgy motherboard i had.
Zoom7000 Posted August 21, 2011 Author Posted August 21, 2011 Right, I think I've finally managed to solve this! The Intel® Rapid Storage Technology was the driver causing all the issues. Annoyingly, the driver on Asus' own website is the problematic driver. The version on Asus' site is 10.5.0.1026. This driver kept giving BSOD and screwing up my entire Windows installation to the point where it wouldn't boot in to Windows any more. I decided to check the Intel website and found a version 10.6.0.1022. This driver installed fine and so did all the other drivers and the system has been running well for the last few days. So, all the problems I had were basically because Asus have got crappy drivers on their own website! I updated the BIOS anyway and thanks to everyone else for their help here!
SYNACK Posted August 21, 2011 Posted August 21, 2011 Right, I think I've finally managed to solve this! The Intel® Rapid Storage Technology was the driver causing all the issues. Annoyingly, the driver on Asus' own website is the problematic driver. The version on Asus' site is 10.5.0.1026. This driver kept giving BSOD and screwing up my entire Windows installation to the point where it wouldn't boot in to Windows any more. I decided to check the Intel website and found a version 10.6.0.1022. This driver installed fine and so did all the other drivers and the system has been running well for the last few days. So, all the problems I had were basically because Asus have got crappy drivers on their own website! I updated the BIOS anyway and thanks to everyone else for their help here! Good to hear that you got it going and worrying to hear that Intel's shocking driver devs have been let loose outside their networking department.
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