Regretting buying the MVF [solved]

[Preacher]

I am starting to regret paying good money for this board, when I got it I automatically flashed to the 1604 BIOS, which as I now know has problems for the majority of users, myself included. I then went to the 1408 BIOS which was stable apart from booting into windows boot manager which gave me the option of which system to install, as I only have 1 HDD with windows 7 on it my choice is windows 7 or windows 7. Pressing OK started windows 7 but then I had to go through the whole process of restarting and hoping to get into the BIOS without windows boot manager starting again, if I press escape this saves me having to through the whole waiting for windows to load before I can restart to try and get into my BIOS, when I finally get into the BIOS it acts like the 1604 BIOS and resets my BIOS settings.

My gaming is still rubbish with judder on the games I play, BF3 being the worst, virtually unplayable. I have tried my old monitor, old graphics card, on board sound, creative card, different router, old mouse, so 3 things are left, the CPU, memory and Motherboard.

Today I flashed back to 701 BIOS to see if this fixed my gaming (it didn't), and again windows boot manager returned, if I leave my computer and it goes to sleep, when I wake it up I have no monitor so have to do a hard reset. I have the BIOS settings exactly the same as when I had the 1408 BIOS but now when I set my vcore at 1.18v, instead of showing a constant voltage in CPUz, it fluctuates between 1.12 and 1.29, which gives me temperatures of 68 c instead of 58 c while trying to play BF3.

So after less than 3 months of owning this board here's hoping the new BIOS fixes these problems, if not I can see this board going in the bin. The reason it will go in the bin is because if I return it as faulty I will probably get a refurbished board and after 4 faulty refurbished 560 ti cards from MSI I was without a computer for nearly 3 months and I am not going through that again.

[nikosa43]

OK Preacher, here is a small step by step guidline.

1. inspect your mainboard for Slow mode switch and set it to OFF. Also check LN_2 jumper (nearby 24 pin power connector )
and set to OFF.

2. Install your memory (if it's 2 dimms), in the slots A2 amd B2 positions far away from CPU.

3. Install your DVD and HD to Intel SATA III ports, not to the SATA 6 Gb ones. As we look from above the first ones.

4. Install your mouse and keyboard to USB 2.0 ports, not to USB 3.0 (blue ones).

5. Go here http://www.mediafire.com/?28rhmf7drn7zutk
and download the latest BIOS revision 1707. The zip file contains 3 files, oick the one for MAX V Formula. Unzip, put it
in FAT formatted stick and connect it to ROG connect white USB port.

6. Enter BIOS, load defaults, save and reset. Shut down completely. Turn OFF PSU switch and remove plug. Remove battery off the board. Press Clear CMOS button for a few seconds.

7. Put everything back, enter BIOS, load defaults and save. Reenter BIOS, go to EZflash and flash the new BIOS.

(____Important_______. After the successfull mesage that have to reboot press ok to reboot and leave it alone to proceed
for as many reboots are neccessary. Usually are 2. Do not be impatient and press DEL. When it stops alone and says press F1 or tries to boot windows is OK.

8. Enter BIOS load defaults and save. Do not OC anything.

9. Go to Boot TAB and use the following screens to set everything for a non GPT from a UEFI device installation. Because I have different HW the names are not the same for BOOT priorities but follow the rule: Disable anything you see there, mentioned as UEFI device and keep only your native DVD and native HD. Set all other settings as seen on screens, save and reboot.


10. Load your win OS DVD to tray, or to the stick and from Boot override menu click the appropriate device to instantly boot from there. (Again, if you have options like UEFIxxxDVD, do not use this to boot from).

11. You go to the first screens of Win installation. When it's time to pick HD, choose delete and partition anything you have on screen. When after this, you see 2 partitions created (one about 100MB and the other the rest of your drive) is ok. Go on with win installation. In case you have a message that OS cannot be installed, just press ignore and go on.

12. After installation, do not setup internet yet. Just get the ASUS DVD, first install Chipset and all USB drivers and then you decide from the download page which updated driver you want to install. Also do not install any ASUS SW at the moment.

With all the above done, you should have set a reference system and running.

I hope that, if I found time to write it, you should find time to do it. 🙂

[Preacher]

Sorry, double post.

[Preacher]

I would just like to add I have been using computers for 19 years and building them for 15 years and this is the first motherboard I have had that has given me problems.

[NemesisChild]

You are obviously an experienced builder with troubleshooting knowledge.
If you feel that you've exhausted all other options, I would suggest an RMA replacement.

[Chino]

Greetings, Preacher. I remember seeing a few threads from you on these forums. I'm sorry that you've been having so many issues with your MVF. It is a nice motherboard. Sometimes it is plagued with little problems and such. It's a shame that you're having such a bad experience with it. If you're willing to rebuild and test the whole system from scratch before RMAing, I do have a few suggestions.

1. Remove your CPU and inspect the CPU socket for any bent or missing pins.
2. Reflash the 1408 BIOS or try the new 1707 BIOS using the USB BIOS Flasback Method. Once the reflash is completed, do a clear CMOS by removing the battery for a few minutes.
3. Run Memtest86+ on each of your memory sticks just to discard the problem being faulty memory.
4. Do a clean reinstall of Windows 7. Disable Windows update. Install only the necessary drivers. The Chipset, GPU, LAN, Audio, Wifi/BT, USB 3.0 drivers should be all your need. Skip all the little utilities like Gamefirst, AI Suite, etc... from Asus.
5. Install your games and see if this changes anything.

[Preacher]

Thanks for all the advice, I have a few days off over Easter so I will strip my PC and rebuild and have a look at all your BIOS settings and run the tests, I have just seen the new BIOS is out on the ASUS website too. Thanks for all your time and effort with the BIOS shots nikosa43, you are a star mate.

The Rampage Formula was the best board I have had, I am hoping this board can follow in the same trend.

I will report back with my (hopefully) good news.

Thanks again.

[Preacher]

Ok a week in with the new 1707 BIOS and following Chino's and Nikosa43's advice and everything seems spot on, no more windows boot, and everything behaving as it should. (No bent pins Chino)

Games though, especially BF3 are still a bit juddery but I havent got a clue why, for example ARMA 2 OA, No 8 benchmark with my rampage formula, Q9450 and 560 ti @ 57 frames per second, with my MVF, 3770K and 660ti @ 111 frames per second. BF3 with my old setup, minmum 80 FPS on medium settings, BF3 with my new setup, minimum 110 FPS with high settings. Dirt 3 with similar specs as my new setup according to tech benchmarks, ultra quality, 4xAA @ 104 FPS, my setup ultra quality and 4xAA running @ 177 FPS.

So my games are running blisteringly fast but still judder ? Maybe my new setup is just too fast for the older games, lol.

The only thing I have seen with the new BIOS is that when I bring my computer out of sleep mode, the Q code stays on 30 instead of switching back to AO. My tower is under my desk so it could have done this with the other 3 BIOS I have tried but I haven't noticed.

Running @ 4.4 with 1.18 v, temps idle at 20, 19, 19, 26. and all four cores stay under 60 when playing BF3. So temps are fine and I get a great voltage for a 4.4 OC which I am happy with.

One question, I have a arctic freezer pro 7 rev 2 which would not fit if I had 4 sticks of RAM and only just fits with A2 and B2 occupied, is anybody running a Noctua HD14 with high profile memory (corsair vengeance with the high fins) and if so does it fit ?

[Chino]

You'll need to remove those cool looking heatsinks to make the Corsair Vengeance fit under the D14. Either that or invest in a closed loop liquid system. With one of those, you won't ever have to worry about RAM clearance.

Can you film a short video of the judderness for us LOL? I looked up judder and it means shaking rapidly. I can't imagine your games in a shaking motion unless you're getting hit by an earthquake while you're gaming. 😛

[kkn]

by juddering you mean, hangs when runing or lags?
are you hardwired to the modem or on wifi?
just be shure not to run beta drivers of the video drivers.

[Preacher]

Funny you should mention earthquake's Chino, if you have played Aftermath (add on for BF3) on one of the maps there are aftershocks. That is what the juddering is like. Say if I run close to a team mate the whole screen starts juddering up and down. If I run alongside a felled tree or a burnt out tank it is the same thing. If I stand still and pan around by moving my mouse, the whole scenery judders up and down. If you can imaging 2 magnets and trying to touch them together with both the same poles they repel each other, that is what it is like if I come into contact with any object in the game that can move, it is like it is repeling me. I sometimes get out of a vehicle and it throws me about 20 feet.

kkn, no mate my soldier runs smooth, the game runs smooth with no lagg, rubberbanding or hanging, it is just the whole picture judders, as Chino requested I will try and figure out how to take a video. I am hard wired to the router too mate, I have also tried Upnp off, a different router and ethernet cable. Maybe my Belkin router doesn't like Intel Lan and prefers the marvell like on my rampage Formula, I haven't got a clue