Maximus VIII Ranger, a few problems

[AJ_Lee]

Hi all, recently purchased a 6700K, Maximus Ranger VIII and 16GB DDR4 3000. Mostly the performance of everything here is superb, I don't think there are any hardware technical faults with the components, but I still have a few niggly problems that are strange to me. I am not overly experienced with the technical side so bare with my novice terms.

Problem 1 - Problems restarting Windows 7
The PC shuts down fine and boots from cold fine, but occasionally when installing Windows Updates which asks me for a restart, the machine powers down normally, restarts, but fails with Q-Code 55 (No Memory?) I'm forced to shut down the system. When I restart, the ASUS screen says "Overclocking Failed! Enter Setup to continue" which I do. Nothing is overclocked, but my memory is running an XMP profile for 3000Mhz (which is what it was designed to run, I don't class this as overclocking?) System never crashes in games or in windows, just during restart.

Problem 2 - Weird USB connectivity issues

Transfer rates from external devices is really bad, sometimes when connecting memory stick or external drive, the device seems to lock up? Spinning circle, green bar loading forever when trying to access in My Computer. I'm thinking could this be related to XMP and overclocked memory or not? Seems a weird issue.

Problem 3- Slower boot time than my old 2600K with Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3.

This isn't really a big problem as such, more a query as to ways to improve boot time. The mobo seems to take a while to get into Windows. I'm not talking minutes, but quite a bit longer than my previous system that posted almost instantly. As far as I know, the fast boot options are turned on, and the OS is installed on a SSD in 6GB/s SATA port.

By the way, the mobo is running the BIOS 0508, I know there are more recent versions, but my Asus Suite is telling me not to update from this rev. Why? :confused:

Thanks all.

[Nate152]

Hello AJ Lee, welcome to the ROG forum.

Make sure your ssd is connected to a sata port and not a sata-e port. Check your manual if you're not sure which ones are which.

Overclocking failed when not overclocking has to do with your ram. 3000MHz is likely not plug and play and could require some tweaking of the cpu system agent voltage which I suspect is happening.

Try raising the cpu system agent voltage to 1.15v - 1.20v and up to 1.25v if needed, this helps stabilize high speed ram. you may need to raise the vccio voltage as well to 1.15v, Ram over 2133MHz is considered overclocked.

You can also try setting your ram manually.

If this doesn't help list your ram kit please.

[AJ_Lee]

Hi Nate152, thank you very much for the fast reply.

My current CPU System Agent Voltage is reported as 1.208V should this be fine or should I consider raising this slightly?

the RAM is http://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb-(2x8gb)-corsair-ddr4-dominator-platinum-pc4-24000-(3000)-non-ecc...
Corsair DDR4 Dominator Platinum, PC4-24000 (3000), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 15-17-17-35, XMP 2.0, 1.35V

I assume this would be fine as it is advertised for Skylake.

[Chino]

Problem 2. Do you have AI Suite 3 installed?

Problem 3. Did you install Windows in UEFI mode? Booting on this platform is a little slower than previous platforms. But a UEFI install helps accelerates the boot process. 🙂

[AJ_Lee]

Chino wrote:
Problem 2. Do you have AI Suite 3 installed?

Problem 3. Did you install Windows in UEFI mode? Booting on this platform is a little slower than previous platforms. But a UEFI install helps accelerates the boot process. 🙂

Yes AI Suite 3 is installed.

Yes Windows is in UEFI mode.

[NemesisChild]

Would suggest uninstalling Al Suite, too many issues with it on this platform.

[Nate152]

Thank you

Your ram kit is compatible with x99 and z170 so that looks good.

Yes try raising the cpu system agent voltage to 1.22v - 1.23v and see if that stops the overclocking failed message. If it's still giving you the overclock failed message try setting your ram manually.

Here's how to do it if you're not sure.

Set the AI Overclock tuner to manual, scroll down to Dram Frequency and select 3000MHz, scroll on down to Dram Voltage and enter in 1.35v.

Then go to Dram Timing Control, at the very top enter in your timings.

15
17
17
35
command rate 2

Let all other timings on auto, F10 and Enter to save and exit.

[AJ_Lee]

Thanks Nate, system seems more stable now after increasing the voltages.

A few separate questions if you have any ideas -

How do I stop the motherboard powering down my hard drives? It seems like it sends them all to sleep after a minute of no activity, can this be disabled?

I use HWiNFO to track temperatures and settings etc, when monitoring my CPU at idle, it constantly jumps from 800Mhz to 4200Mhz, I know this is normal for the CPU to operate low until in use, but the speed and voltage is constantly switching between the two every 4-5 seconds, is this normal? Or could HWiNFO be reading it wrong, because Asus AI Suite seems to think it's constantly on 800Mhz.

[Chino]

Look in the Power Plan that you are using. There is an option to turn off the hard disk. Configure it to Never.

Yes, it's normal depending on the load.

[AJ_Lee]

Chino wrote:
Look in the Power Plan that you are using. There is an option to turn off the hard disk. Configure it to Never.

Yes, it's normal depending on the load.

Thanks Chino, more problems solved.

One finally thing, my H60 water pump, is reporting it's RPM to be 4000-4200, this seems very high, is this normal operation do you think? The motherboard is controlling the fan speeds.

The pump is connected to W_PUMP and the CPU_FAN and CPU_OP1 are used for the radiator 120mms, this is perfectly correct as far as I am aware, temperatures are fine, but worried about overkill on the pump RPM.

http://i.imgur.com/icOiRtM.jpg
Photo inside the rig ^