Z790-E system freeze with SN850X gen4/5

[Backslash]

I recently finished my build and installed my SN850X into M2_1 but a few minutes after boot, the left and right monitor go black and a few seconds later the main monitor freezes. There is no real bsod, restart or anything else, just a frozen system until I manually reboot. That seems to be fixed when I set M2_2 to gen3. Only gen4, gen5 and auto are crashing the system. BIOS is running on v0813. Is that a known problem and are there any fixes or workarounds? Is it a problem with the board, the drive, or bios/firmware?

[JohnAb]

Could you supply your full system spec and are all of your drivers up to date as well? Also, have you installed the latest ME firmware to go with your BIOS?

If that's all OK, have a look at some of the other threads here - there are various power saving settings that can help with similar such issues as well. Look for USB freezes and black screens for example. I've had black screens similar to your problems in the past and faulty USB cables and corrupted drives can also cause it. So there is almost certainly a fix, but one thing at a time...

Are you getting keyboard and mouse freezes as well before the screens go black?

[Backslash]

JohnAb wrote:
Could you supply your full system spec

CPU: I9-13900K
MB: Z790-E
RAM: 2x 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB (CMT32GX5M2X6200C36)
Drive: 2TB WD SN850X
GPU: EVGA 3090 FTW3
OS: Win11 22H2

JohnAb wrote:
and are all of your drivers up to date as well? Also, have you installed the latest ME firmware to go with your BIOS?

Yes, all driver are up-to-date based on the available driver on the support page for that MB from January 20th. ME firmware is on 16.1.25.2020 as recommended with the latest BIOS update.

JohnAb wrote:
If that's all OK, have a look at some of the other threads here - there are various power saving settings that can help with similar such issues as well. Look for USB freezes and black screens for example. I've had black screens similar to your problems in the past and faulty USB cables and corrupted drives can also cause it. So there is almost certainly a fix, but one thing at a time...

I looked around a little before I opened this thread and tried many different things but so far nothing helped. I will continue to try things that helped others with their problems that had similar symptoms

JohnAb wrote:
Are you getting keyboard and mouse freezes as well before the screens go black?

When it happens, the left and right monitor immediately go black, the middle monitor keeps its signal and the mouse starts to be really laggy until everything seems to freeze and neither mouse nor keyboard can do anything. The system still seems to be fully active thought because Spotify keeps playing songs in the background.

[JohnAb]

Ok,. let's try some easy stuff first:

1. Disable PCIe Native Power Mgt in BIOS (advanced tab, platform misc configuration)
2. Disable Active State Power Management (ASPM) in the BIOS
Apologies if 1 and 2 are the same. I can't check without going into the BIOS, but that's what my notes say
3. Don't enable Pcie link Power Management in Windows (edit advanced power plan) or only go for moderate power savings, not max
4. Don't set PCH voltages to minimum in Tweakers Paradise (you probably haven't done this anyway). Minimum values do work for some, not for me

5. Next install HWInfo and look for WHEA errors. Are there any?

[Backslash]

JohnAb wrote:

1. Disable PCIe Native Power Mgt in BIOS (advanced tab, platform misc configuration)
2. Disable Active State Power Management (ASPM) in the BIOS
Apologies if 1 and 2 are the same. I can't check without going into the BIOS, but that's what my notes say
3. Don't enable Pcie link Power Management in Windows (edit advanced power plan) or only go for moderate power savings, not max

I was unable to find the second one so I'm assuming they are indeed the same (unless its well hidden) but setting the first one to disabled did not solve the issue. The Windows setting is set to disabled by default for me on all profiles.

JohnAb wrote:

4. Don't set PCH voltages to minimum in Tweakers Paradise (you probably haven't done this anyway). Minimum values do work for some, not for me

I never changed that unless thats something that would be automatically changed with X.M.P I

JohnAb wrote:

5. Next install HWInfo and look for WHEA errors. Are there any?

No WHEA errors on either gen3 or gen4/5/auto.

I also tried to change the slot from M.2_1 to M.2_2 to see if that is changing anything but the problem is the same. Its working on gen3 but crashing on anything higher than that

[JohnAb]

OK, zero WHEA errors is good. Just double check the following ones again:

2. BIOS/Advanced/Platform Misc Configuration/ASPM = Disabled
3. In Windows 11, search for advanced power plan. Then 'change plan settings'/change advanced plan settings/PCI Express/Link State Power Management = Off
4. No not affected by XMP, just something you would need to change manually, so no need to change that. Default is Auto voltages.

Next, install Intel Driver and Support Assistant. Once installed, it runs in the Browser (make sure you have no browser 'blockers' running) to display results and will look for latest drivers and might identify an update. Handy to have this available anyway. I find it very good.

If none of that helps, then try disconnecting as many USB devices as you can and if stable, plug them back in one at a time and test. An unstable USB device can cause keyboard/mouse freezes and black screens. Fingers crossed for now...

[Backslash]

JohnAb wrote:

2. BIOS/Advanced/Platform Misc Configuration/ASPM = Disabled
3. In Windows 11, search for advanced power plan. Then 'change plan settings'/change advanced plan settings/PCI Express/Link State Power Management = Off

Everything related to ASPM is disabled

JohnAb wrote:

Next, install Intel Driver and Support Assistant. Once installed, it runs in the Browser (make sure you have no browser 'blockers' running) to display results and will look for latest drivers and might identify an update. Handy to have this available anyway. I find it very good.

Done and all drivers are up-to-date

JohnAb wrote:

If none of that helps, then try disconnecting as many USB devices as you can and if stable, plug them back in one at a time and test. An unstable USB device can cause keyboard/mouse freezes and black screens. Fingers crossed for now...

I removed all USB connections both internal and external, booted the system and it was still freezing

[Carlyle2020]

Everything dandy on the other side?

[Backslash]

Carlyle2020 wrote:
Everything dandy on the other side?

Yup, WD Dashboard shows everything being good and all tests through BIOS or WD Dashboard are passed