X670E HERO: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE BSOD sometimes after booting

[ScaryBandana]

Hi,
I have a problem with my X670E HERO system. Sometimes after booting (regardless of whether it is a restart or a cold start) the system crashes. The interesting thing is that the system does not simply crash with a BSOD, but is "dead" first. The system is not frozen but no longer accepts commands (Explorer cannot be started, Task Manager can be started but the interface does not load completely), the start menu does not work and Steam throws an error message that Steamwebhelper could not be started. After 1-2 minutes the system constantly resets itself. A minidump was then stored in the C:\Windows\Minidump folder, which when read with WinDbg says that the system crashed due to DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (9f) (FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x9F_3_amdi2c_DEV_AMDI0010_IMAGE_ACPI.sys). The problem does not occur every time you boot, but rather randomly, sometimes just once, sometimes several times in a row, so that you need several attempts before you get to a stable Windows. According to a report from the AMD forum, the problem is caused by Armoury Crate and the problem did not occur again for me after uninstalling it (but it is also possible that it just happened not to occur again during the test period). Since I have a custom water loop, I rely on Armoury Crate for fan control and cannot run my system for long without Armoury Crate. The problem has been occurring for over a year and even after several Windows reinstallations.

Hardware:
X670E HERO (BIOS 2604)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB 64GB DDR5-6000 CL30 (F5-6000J3040G32GX2-TZ5NR)
SAMSUNG 980 PRO (2TB), WD_BLACK SN850 (500GB) (WDS500G1X0E-00AFY0)

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello @ScaryBandana 

Thank you for your prompt update. I have compiled the information you provided and submitted it for investigation.
Apologies for my previous inquiry being incomplete. To clarify, if you perform a clean system installation and manually install drivers from the official website without installing Armoury Crate or any other software/applications, does the issue no longer occur? Or do you notice a decrease in frequency or different error messages?
Based on your observations, could it be that system crashes only occur when specific software is installed along with Armoury Crate or when certain system settings are configured in combination with Armoury Crate?
Regarding your latest update, where you tested a newly installed system drive (TS256GMTE110S) with an automatic reboot set every 10 minutes, could you record an Armoury Crate log during this process? We recommend following these steps:
1. Perform a cold boot on a system where only official drivers and Armoury Crate are installed (without any other software or applications).
2. Ensure all components in Armoury Crate’s Update Center are properly updated, then start recording the log.
3. Begin the automatic reboot every 10 minutes and continue until the issue occurs.
4. Once the issue occurs, check the Windows Event Viewer, Reliability Monitor, and Minidump logs for any relevant findings.
5. Continue the reboot process or steps to determine when or under what conditions the issue is resolved.
6. Stop the log recording and generate the Armoury Crate log file.
If possible, we also recommend recording a video of the process. The log and video will be analyzed by different teams, so having additional information may be helpful.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

[ScaryBandana]

If Armoury Crate is not installed, the issue does not occur. Neither on a fresh system where Armoury Crate was previously not installed nor on an existing system where Armoury Crate was removed using the uninstall tool.

On the fresh test installation, the issue occurred just as randomly as on my normal system.

Sometimes the issue does not occur on several reboots and sometimes it occurs on several reboots in a row.

My current test installation was a fresh Windows 11 Pro 24H2 installation that was updated both via Windows Update and the Microsoft Store (since some Windows components are updated via the Microsoft Store). Armoury Crate was also fully updated. I installed all drivers from the X670E HERO support site (except AI Suite, RAID driver and UCM driver as these are missing from the support site as mentioned above). Like last time, I automated the testing process using a batch file in the autostart. The problem occurred again after several restarts, this time I generated an Armoury Crate log and saved the information from the Reliability Monitor and the minidump. In the Reliability Monitor, several Armoury Crate services (Armoury Crate Service, TODO: <File description> and Background Task Host) crashed at the same time as the blue screen (according to the path, the last two processes belong to Armoury Crate). Unfortunately, the Reliability Monitor did not let me save any entries other than the blue screen entry. I could not find any entry in the Windows Event Viewer that could be related to the problem.

The batch file (which is attached together with the Armoury Crate log and the minidump) must be placed in the startup (Windows key + R -> shell:startup). The batch file checks when booting whether the folder C:\Windows\Minidump is present (this folder does not exist in a fresh Windows installation and is only created when a blue screen occurs). If the test system has experienced a blue screen in the past, the C:\Windows\Minidump folder must be deleted for the batch file to work correctly (the folder will be recreated the next time a blue screen occurs). If the folder exists, the batch file stops, displays the timestamp of when the batch file stopped (to make it easier to find the time of the problem in the Windows Event Viewer), and prompts to generate an Armoury Crate log. If the minidump folder does not exist, the system reboots after two minutes and the test begins again.

Files: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_T0nVn_Cl-r30HRgibgpeHZj5YndyrF6/view?usp=sharing

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello all,

We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the delayed response.
After reviewing the provided logs, our relevant teams have confirmed that no abnormalities could be identified. Since both of your described issues occur sporadically—without a clear pattern related to specific actions, operations, or software conflicts, and happening entirely at random—we kindly suggest waiting for future Armoury Crate updates to check if there are any improvements.
Alternatively, you may consider installing a new SSD and performing a clean installation of the OS. Without installing any additional lighting control software, please install only Armoury Crate and test whether the issue persists. This can help isolate potential software-related conflicts or installation anomalies.
If the issue continues to affect usability, we recommend evaluating whether a motherboard RMA service is necessary for further inspection.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

[ScaryBandana]

Hi,
Thank you for looking at the problem. I now suspect that my mainboard is defective, as I seem to be the only one with this problem with this specific mainboard. I will send the board to RMA as soon as it is no longer used in my main system. I am eagerly awaiting the announcement of the X870E Extreme.

I have another big problem with the motherboard, in the Thunderbolt area. I had already created a thread about this, but it was automatically closed due to inactivity. Would it be possible for you to take another look at it?
https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/x670e-hero-usb-hiccups-caused-by-thunderbolt-contr...

I also have a thread about the PG32UCDM with a problem that several other users also have. Unfortunately, we have not received an answer from ASUS since December despite several replies and pings. I don't want to spam the thread with unnecessary bumps. How should I proceed?
https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-monitors/pg32ucdm-video-signal-issues-white-image-flicker-amp-b...

[michaelfwoern]

Hi everybody,

I have the very same problem as ScaryBandana for month now. My system is running with a ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-E GAMING WIFI, an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and 64 GB Corsair Dominator 6000 MHz RAM. Besides of Armoury Crate i use the Corsair iCUE5 software with the ASUS plugin and Logitech G HUB for lighting effects.

The symptoms are exactly the same as described and filmed by ScaryBandana. The system is stuck after a short time and the Task Manager looks exactly like in ScaryBandana's youtube clip. If you wait for another three minutes, there is a BSOD with the code 9F (DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE), but the system is so stuck, that it is not even able to show the blue screen and to reboot. I have to power off the system and to start it again, hoping that the second time it does start successfully (in most cases it does, sometimes i have to start three or rarely even four times). In the event log I see the BugCheck message and I get a kernel minidump.

I have recorded an Armory Crate log file and zipped it together with the minidump, the dumpstack.log and the event log entry. You can download it here for analysis:

ASUS.zip

Please analyze this and provide a solution soon, because the problem is very annoying.

By the way, I think one other thing is important: I have a second PC with an ASUS ROG X570-F mainboard, which  (regarding software) has nothing in common with my "main" PC mentioned above, except Armory Crate. Also on this PC the very same problem occurs from time to time.

Thank you very much in advance for analyzing (and hopefully solving) the problem.

Michael