Maximus VI Extreme Operational Issues

[NDarkstar]

I'm at a bit of a loss here, so I'm hoping someone might have some suggestions for a Windows 8.1 freezing issue that's come up recently.

The problem tends to occur any time a driver update / install is attempted. The system will literally stop responding. The HDD access light will light and remain solid. If the reset button is immediately pressed, the machine will reset normally. If I wait to reset, tapping the button has no immediate effect, then after around 10 seconds, the machine will power hard power off but will usually restart within a second or two. Sometimes after these delayed resets, the computer will pause after POSTing with a 'CPU overtemp' message prompting me to check the BIOS. When checking the information in the system monitors, the temperature appears to be within expected operational temperatures.

The initial freeze that caused me to begin testing was a bluescreen that was identified as having been caused by the Intel Ethernet driver. Downloading and attempting an install of the new driver caused the freezing to reveal itself.

After attempting to get the driver installed, thinking it was the root cause, I gave up on the Windows 8.1 install as having been corrupted and wiped it clean and began a fresh install. The first time through the fresh install, drivers would install correctly, including the 'faulty' Intel Ethernet driver, however after an hour or two into reinstalling software, the issue resurfaced.

Thinking to attempt to recreate the issue, I wiped and installed again, this time starting with a known good driver, and the machine immediately froze. This was literally the very first driver install I attempted on a completely stock W8.1.

At this point, I'm beginning to suspect it's either a hardware issue, or some sort of tweak I need to perform in the BIOS that I'm entirely unfamiliar with.

The issue has not occurred when installing 'normal' software - games, browsers, and the like. It only appears to happen when installing a driver. It doesn't appear to matter who the driver is from as the problem has come up with ASUS, Intel, and nVidia drivers.

First, the hardware:

Maximus VI Extreme BIOS version 1002
Intel i7-4770 (Not 4770K)
32GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600
nVidia GTX 560 Ti (Primary Monitor)
nVidia GTX 465 (Secondary and Tertiary Monitors)
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB Primary drive
Seagate 3TB Secondary
Seagate 2TB Tertiary
Windows 8.1 Pro

The settings are simple, no overclocking whatsoever. After the issue started occurring, I reset the settings to the default suggested settings in the bios in an attempt to resolve the issue. This had no apparent effect as the issue still occurs.

Any thoughts or suggestions? There was another thread with a similar issue under W8.1 but the person posting the problem seems to have stopped responding, so if nothing else, it doesn't appear to just be me.


Brad

[NDarkstar]

Just following up with some more info.

The diagnostic display on the motherboard doesn't change from 80 (08?) when this freeze occurs. The freeze will often happen before the actual driver installation begins. It usually happens during the 'preparing' phase before you 'next' through the steps to start the install. Presumably this is the point where the installer is checking the hardware to see if the driver package is compatible.

[HiVizMan]

Hello

You have AIsuite installed. Please use the tool in my sig and completely remove the AIsuite software. Once that is done download the appropriate drivers directly from the motherboard support page and install.

Now with that board and Win8.1 you do not need any drivers, the OS does it all. You may at your discretion use other drivers but the OS does a good job.

[NDarkstar]

Similarly, running the USB firmware updater (ASMedia_U3_FW_update) from ASUS on a clean install will also result in a freeze.

[NDarkstar]

Does Windows 8.1 install AIsuite automatically?

I can reproduce the freezing issue from a clean OS install, specifically by downloading and attempting to install the Intel I217 network driver package from ASUS or from Intel directly.

I was attempting to upgrade this driver specifically because there was a blue screen that whocrashed identified as having been caused by the default Intel network driver.

[HiVizMan]

AIsuite does not get installed automatically thankfully with a clean OS install.

Like I said I have never once had to install the drivers you mentioned from the ASUS site when doing a Win8.1 install, not once. You say you get a blue screen regardless.

Could you tell me if your system is in anyway OC'd at all and that includes what frequency your memory is running at.

[NDarkstar]

As I stated in my opening message, the setup has no overclocking and specifically has a i7-4770 and not an i7-4770K which makes it incompatible for most forms of overclocking.

Memory is running at default 1333MHz with the default 9,9,9,24.

Literally no overclocking at all, nor has it ever been overclocked.

I'd initially set some preferences in the BIOS to disable the ROG logo, enable VM features, and set some SATA ports to hot-swap, but after the issues began, I reset everything to the default recommended settings.

[HiVizMan]

Thank you, I had to ask because many folks think that if they set the memory to the stated frequency it is not OCing.

Assuming you have the PSU 12 EPS connectors (8 pin and 4 pin) fitted correctly please send both your board and the CPU in for testing. The behaviour you are having is not consistent with a working hardware set. Your retailer should be able to do this testing for you, the defective part will then need to be RMA by that retailer.

[NDarkstar]

What seems strange to me is that I'm not the only person with this particular issue. This person reported the exact same issue as me using a similar memory configuration.

Not to mention that attempting to send the motherboard and CPU to Amazon for testing seems a little unlikely to work out.

[HiVizMan]

That is true about Amazon the good thing is they will swap it out pretty pain free for you.

Memory is key of course, it might be worth your while to enable XMP profile as your mode of OC and that way your memory does run as it was designed to. This might remove the instability. And what do you have to loose right now.