ROG CROSSHAIR VIII HERO(WI-FI) BIOS 2103 High Instability/Crashes/

[tommy7600]

Hi,
I have tried out 2103 last night (from 1302). I started noticing occasional reboot-crash. After ruling out every device and driver I found the bios update to be the culprit.

The system was so unstable it crashed even in bios with no peripherals plugged in. I have reverted BIOS to 1302 by flashback port/button (lifesaver) and the system is stable again with no issues.

No OC or modifications in bios besides these items:

-DOCP to default 3200 profile (4 x 16 GB Trident Z (NO RGB))
-CPU fan curve to silent and PWM
-Other fans only to PWM, standard

Specs:

Crosshair VIII Wifi
3900x
64gb TridentZ (4x16) - G.Skill Trident Z, DDR4, 32 GB,3200MHz, CL14 (F4-3200C14D-32GTZ)
Samsung SSD NMVE 512 GB 970 PRO M.2 (main)
Samsung SSD NMVE 1 TB 970 EVO M.2 (secondary)
MSI RTX 2080
be quiet! Dark Power Pro P11 1200W

UPDATE 1:

Workaround - set DRAM voltage manually to 1.36V that allows MB to keep stable 1.352V. Below 1.35V I have crashes and reboots. I also set DRAM current limit to 110%/120% instead of 100%.

Tested (standard settings, only DOCP enabled or not):

1. 64gb TridentZ (4x16) - G.Skill Trident Z, DDR4, 32 GB,3200MHz, CL14 (F4-3200C14D-32GTZ)

a) 1302 with DOCP - works
b) 1302 without DOCP - works
c) 2103/2204 with DOCP - doesn't work, random crash/reboot
d) 2103/2204 without DOCP - doesn't work, random crash/reboot
e) 2103/2204 with VDRAM set to 1.36V and current limit upped to 110% with DOCP - works

2. 32gb TridentZ (2x16) - G.Skill Trident Z, DDR4, 32 GB,3200MHz, CL14 (F4-3200C14D-32GTZ)

a) 1302 with DOCP - works
b) 1302 without DOCP - works
c) 2103/2204 with DOCP - doesn't work, random crash/reboot
d) 2103/2204 without DOCP - doesn't work, random crash/reboot
e) 2103/2204 with VDRAM set to 1.36V and current limit upped to 110% with DOCP - works

Also tested on mine friend's MSI MPG-X570-GAMING-PRO-CARBON-WIFI with 7B93v17 BIOS (AMD AGESA ComboAm4v2PI 1.0.0.2):
a) with DOCP - works (32 GB and 64 GB)
b) without DOCP - works (32 and 64 GB)

UPDATE 2:

The issue still exists on 2204.

[tommy7600]

Dicehunter wrote:
2103 is really still a beta bios, I noticed it won't actually keep the rams rated voltage of 1.35v when XMP is set or even when you set 1.35v manually, Even though my ram is on the verified memory list, But instead drops it down to 1.33-1.34 when on the desktop which could explain a lot of my instability, Random reboots etc... Even though it is set to 1.35 in the bios it won't hold that on the desktop, I have to set it to 1.355 and it then it reads as 1.352 on the desktop and seems to be stable but 1.35 is now not possible with this bios due to it dropping down to 1.33-1.34v.

Asus need to fix this.

I can confirm that. 2103 cannot keep solid 1.35.

I have decided to give the 2103 next change. Firstly I did clean flash with Flashback tool. Then I have applied DOCP profile. Next I increased the DDR voltage from 1.35 to 1.36 (now I have drops to 1.352). I have also increased the dram current limit from 100% to 110%. It seems to be working OK.

Still, if you don't need to have newest bios (any reason) - you should keep the 1302. It's rock solid.

[tommy7600]

criznittle wrote:
I had some event viewer errors relating to processor instability(not overclocked) after the 2103 BIOS update, i could no longer complete a Real Bench benchmark or stress test.
I tried a bunch of things, then decided to try bumping the voltage by the smallest increment, and suddenly everything was stable again. I'm not sure why this would be necessary after a BIOS update though.

Where exactly check those event viewer errors relating to processor instability?

[tommy7600]

Dicehunter wrote:
Done that, It doesn't flash back to 1302, It's like it's locked to 2103 and refuses to budge.

I have downgraded my MB from 2103 to 1302 many times 😄 The bast to that is to have USB flash on USB 2.0 up to 8GB.

[Dicehunter]

tommy7600 wrote:
I have downgraded my MB from 2103 to 1302 many times 😄 The bast to that is to have USB flash on USB 2.0 up to 8GB.

I have 2 x different USB 8GB drives, Both formatted to FAT32, The correct bios file from the Crosshair VIII Hero *non wifi* page downloaded, Unzipped and it still says "this is not a proper bios file" on both the drives.

On a side note, I managed to get a screenshot of the voltage drop, This time it didn't reboot my system but it did freeze up the game I was playing, I managed to Alt-Tab out and grab a screen shot of Hwinfo, As you can see it drops down below its rated voltage of 1.35 which either reboots the system or freezes whatever I'm doing, This did not happen with 1302.

[tommy7600]

Dicehunter wrote:
I have 2 x different USB 8GB drives, Both formatted to FAT32, The correct bios file from the Crosshair VIII Hero *non wifi* page downloaded, Unzipped and it still says "this is not a proper bios file" on both the drives.

On a side note, I managed to get a screenshot of the voltage drop, This time it didn't reboot my system but it did freeze up the game I was playing, I managed to Alt-Tab out and grab a screen shot of Hwinfo, As you can see it drops down below its rated voltage of 1.35 which either reboots the system or freezes whatever I'm doing, This did not happen with 1302.

Did you change the file name? And did you that by flashback tool on rear USB? You can downgrade only using flashback tool.

Regarding the DRAM voltage. That's way I have set 1.36. It's more stable than 1.355 and suggested by Ryzen DRAM calculator. Still ASUS should fixed it.

[DAOWAce]

I can't say I noticed any more problems after updating to 2103. Still can't run my old 2800MHz RAM at its rated timings (CL15), which I've reported to ASUS support in January, and kept complaining every BIOS version. They still tell me to send it in for RMA; utterly useless.

Still have crazy high idle voltage when PBO is enabled regardless of settings (1.4-5v). If PBO is disabled it sits under 0.9v, but won't budge from 3.5GHz. Or is it PB.. Two similar yet different things which are highly convoluted in AMD's BIOS.

Tried to get back into overclocking after updating and seeing it wipe my settings and require manual reconfiguring.. feels like my chip is degraded as when I configure PBO to get into the 4.6GHz range on CCD0/CCX0 (used to be able to do 4700 manual; but never ran it beyond testing as I didn't feel comfortable keeping a manual voltage.. $750 CPU and all) I suffer random program crashes and even BSOD's. No voltage touching besides increasing current capability to max. LLC didn't seem to make a difference, but I didn't test all the values.

Continuing to wish I never bothered upgrading and just waited for Intel's response to Zen 2...

[Dicehunter]

DAOWAce wrote:
I can't say I noticed any more problems after updating to 2103. Still can't run my old 2800MHz RAM at its rated timings (CL15), which I've reported to ASUS support in January, and kept complaining every BIOS version. They still tell me to send it in for RMA; utterly useless.

Still have crazy high idle voltage when PBO is enabled regardless of settings (1.4-5v). If PBO is disabled it sits under 0.9v, but won't budge from 3.5GHz. Or is it PB.. Two similar yet different things which are highly convoluted in AMD's BIOS.

Tried to get back into overclocking after updating and seeing it wipe my settings and require manual reconfiguring.. feels like my chip is degraded as when I configure PBO to get into the 4.6GHz range on CCD0/CCX0 (used to be able to do 4700 manual; but never ran it beyond testing as I didn't feel comfortable keeping a manual voltage.. $750 CPU and all) I suffer random program crashes and even BSOD's. No voltage touching besides increasing current capability to max. LLC didn't seem to make a difference, but I didn't test all the values.

Continuing to wish I never bothered upgrading and just waited for Intel's response to Zen 2...

You made a good decision getting Zen but it's not AMD, It's board partners, Asus mess around with so much from bios release to bios release, They seem to put a lot more effort into their Intel boards bioses.

Also I doubt your chip has degraded, It's the bios, Way too many voltage issues.

[tommy7600]

DRAM voltage set to 1.36 in BIOS. In most cases it keeps 1.352 on 2103 bu should 1.36V. If I set 1.35 as it should be, then I can get 1.34 and reboot.

[Dicehunter]

tommy7600 wrote:


DRAM voltage set to 1.36 in BIOS. In most cases it keeps 1.352 on 2103 bu should 1.36V. If I set 1.35 as it should be, then I can get 1.34 and reboot.

Exactly the same with 2103.

[tommy7600]

I think that such issues should be noticed by ASUS not by users. Next MB will be probably MSI or other company. ASUS is great when you use Intel CPU. Not so great with AMD 😞