Driver issues after upgrading to Z690-E motherboard

[eanewton]

I'm having issues after upgrading my motherboard to a ROG Strix Z690-E. After installing the motherboard, I attempted to manually install the necessary drivers from the motherboard's driver & tools page. Admittedly, I don't know everything I need to download from that page. I downloaded what I believed were the required drivers and started using the computer.

After some time, I occasionally started seeing different types of issues:

• BSODs (at one point was stuck in a loop with DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION blue screens)
• applications crashing without providing any errors or warnings
• chrome tabs crashing with the "Aw, snap!" error (with a number of different error codes)

and I'm still running into the second and third issues regularly. Previously, I was seeing a number of devices with warnings in the "Other Devices" section of Device Manager - it seems like after installing the correct chipset driver (I think when I first setup, I installed "Intel DTT 9.0.11405.42569 (Ipf driver V1.0.11405.42038)", because it was at the top of the list, but this time I installed "Intel Chipset driver V10.1.19600.8418"), those device warnings went away. There don't appear to be any issues in Device Manager anymore.

I've been attempting to repair things myself, I noticed the BIOS was outdated, so I've installed the most recent BIOS version, 3802. I installed Armoury Crate, and it looks like I have up to date versions of each of the drivers listed (though somehow a few had drivers that were more recent than what Armoury Crate listed in the "Latest Version" column?). But I'm still feeling like I messed up the driver/firmware installation portion of this, as I'm still having frequent issues.

Is there a list of required drivers and their versions that can be referenced somewhere? My issues feel driver related, though I did also upgrade my processor and my memory at the same time. I've attempted a number of troubleshooting steps, but haven't had any luck running smoothly yet. The driver download page is a little confusing to navigate - would greatly appreciate some guidance in making sure I've got the drivers I need + they're at their correct versions.

[FixItWorse]

Ok, so this is going to be a big one to unpack.

I'm assuming you started this process by brining over a form of storage that had Windows installed on it already and likely for your previous machine. Correct?

[FixItWorse]

But fear not, I have the same board and can help you out completely.

First we need your entire system specs, Windows version, specs of the only machine, if you carried over any other parts.. More info the better.

[eanewton]

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@FixItWorse wrote:

First we need your entire system specs, Windows version, specs of the only machine, if you carried over any other parts.. More info the better.

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Sure thing. Let me know if I leave anything out:

• Processor: Intel Core i9-13900K (newly installed)
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix Z690-E (newly installed)
• Memory: 64GB DDR5 (Corsair Vengeance RGB) (newly installed)
• Storage:
  • Samsung 4TB SSD, internal, what Windows (and all applications) runs on
  • Western Digital 1TB HDD, internal, secondary storage for program files, steam games
  • Samsung 2TB SSD, external, additional storage
  • Western Digital 4TB HDD, external, additional storage
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
• OS: Windows 10 Home
• Power Supply: EVGA Supernova 1000 G5
• BIOS Version: 3802
• Armoury Crate Drivers:
  • Intel Chipset Driver
    • Current Version: 10.1.19199.8340
    • Latest Version: 10.1.19199.8340
  • Intel LAN Driver
    • Current Version: 1.1.4.38
    • Latest Version: 1.1.4.38
  • Intel Serial IO Software
    • Current Version: 30.100.2237.26
    • Latest Version: 30.100.2221.20 (how do I have something more recent installed?)
  • Intel Wi-Fi Driver
    • Current Version: 23.70.2.3
    • Latest Version: 22.80.1.1 (how do I have something more recent installed?)
  • Management Engine Interface
    • Current Version: 2336.5.2.0
    • Latest Version: 2336.5.2.0
  • Realtek Audio Driver
    • Current Version: 6.3.9600.2342
    • Latest Version: 6.3.9600.2342

To answer your initial question - yeah. I only replaced the processor, motherboard, and memory - the rest of the components were already in the machine. Today, there have been significantly more full system crashes, and Event Viewer has been crashing occasionally as well. Once I finally got in, in the system tab, I'm seeing a number of errors coming from Service Control Manager, stating the Microsoft Defender Antivirus Service was terminated. Those are relatively new as well, I've been monitoring the Event Viewer when possible and wasn't seeing that error before today. I also see the "Intel(R) SUR QC Software Asset Manager service terminated unexpectedly" a few times, and then also "the previous system shutdown at {{ time }} on {{ date }} was unexpected." There's a number of different errors in there, happy to provide additional details if needed.

I'm not totally sure how to identify which drivers I have installed outside of what's being displayed in Armoury Crate, but it seems like I'm still missing some necessary drivers, or potentially have installed incorrect drivers somewhere.

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[achugh]

Hi @eanewton Please see https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... post of mine where I have recorded every single step on how to perform a clean Windows installation. I did it to show ASUS Care team my problems with a fresh Windows install.

While it is not exactly the same board as yours or same devices as yours, the concept is same.

As you will see and hear, I did this installation without connecting to Internet or Armory Crate so I have full control over what is being installed.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

[eanewton]

Hmm ok so your recommendation is to attempt a clean Windows install?

[achugh]

Yes, that is what I think you can try next i.e. a fresh clean Windows installation.

[eanewton]

Ok, great. I will attempt that next then. After I've reinstalled Windows, will I need to reinstall drivers as well? I want to make sure I avoid making the same mistakes this time around

[achugh]

Yes, you will need to install all required drivers properly.

Since I am working here with ASUS Support team for my issue, I ended up creating a recording of full Windows 11 installation. This is done with no internet connectivity so I control what I am installing. You can see this full installation video in my post https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo...

You can of course take a shortcut approach and install Armoury Crate and let it install all required drivers. I have not taken this approach due to its issues with my build. Plus I like to control what I am installing. I was not having good success with Armoury Crate. This does not mean you will face issues as well. It is totally dependent on your skill and comfort level for you to decide which path you would like to take here.

[eanewton]

Ok, well, here's an update for any future people:

I did not end up going the clean Windows install route. I think I had a combination of issues, and my system seems pretty stable at this point after I've made the following changes:

- Moved my graphics card from slot labelled "PCIEX16(G3)" to "PCIEX16(G5)". G5 is the top-most slot when the motherboard is standing up, G3 was in the middle. I assumed you'd put your graphics card in the first numerical PCI slot, seems like that was wrong though.

- Enabled XMP - saw a video on Youtube that said this was necessary, though I see Reddit threads saying this setting causes people problems. Seems to work for me

- Reapplied thermal paste between processor and cooler, though it wasn't necessarily hot, couldn't hurt

After those steps, I started seeing more system stability. I was still having issues with Chrome tabs crashing with the "Aw, snap!" error and codes like `STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION`. After some googling, it appears these issues may have been related to my processor instead of my motherboard. So I went into BIOS and enabled core management, and manually disabled core 4 (all based on a reddit comment somewhere). Ever since then, I haven't seen that error, and my system seems just about perfect. Only remaining issue I'm trying to track down is occasional audio crackling from web playback - though that could be related to my audio sample rate settings, moving that around does seem to help sometimes.