Z690-A PRIME DDR5 - USB stops working, PC freezes

[DragDay7]

Hello,
Week ago I upgraded motherboard, cpu and ram. Current specs are:

ASUS Z690-A PRIME
Intel i7-12700KF
Corsair DDR5 2x16GB 5600MHz CL36
MSI 2080 Trio X
Corsair RM 750W
Windows 11

Once or twice a day I get three issues:

1. Keyboard stops working, its backlight starts to blink like it keeps getting disconnected. Plugging it to same socket fixes it for couple of seconds. Using Gen2 usb fixes it for good, but that's not an option. I tried to measure usb voltage, but once I plug usb voltage meter it works again. This wasn't a thing with old setup so keyboard is fine.

2. Whole PC freezes and stays on like that - tried to wait couple of minutes but nothing happened. I can only shut it down or use reset button. This worries me the most.

3. PCIE drive (Plextor M9PeY) stops booting. I have to change PCIE Gen in bios or storage type then it works for like a day.

Both (1,2) things happens only when I do some light stuff like typing, browsing stuff, it never did when I played a game or watched a movie. Perhaps it's related to efficient cores? Voltages are within their range, temperatures are great, nothing weird. I tried run several diagnostic tools (including memtest), stress test all parts, tweak bios settings that might be related to stability (XMP, power saving, PCIE gen, fixed dram frequency and so on), unplug whatever I could, removed all Asus software. Benchmarks are great. I updated usb firmware, bios to version 1304 (now it's 1403), used all up to date drivers. Nothing helped. There's no bsod, nothing in event logs.

Does anybody here got same issue? Is there a way to track down what's the cause? Perhaps I missed something. Google shows that few people are struggling with similar issues but they end up return their hardware and it didn't always helped - I tried to follow their solutions without luck.

Thanks a lot for reading, take care. o/

// I've edited this post to summarize what's going on with my motherboard and removed unrelated info.

- It turns out my stability issue comes from PCIE Native Power Management - disabling it fixes freezing and keyboard issue. I didn't had WHEA 17 error like others. NVMe drive boots every time if I lower gpu PCIE gen to 4th (at least for about 3 days I didn't had any problem with it).

- After trying for a month to fix it with Starrain's help I finally requested RMA. Hopefully Asus service will sort it out.

- Motherboard came back, service found no issue and blames other components xD Finally I've replaced everything - OS still freezes.

That's what you get people when you buy ASUS.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi DragDay7,
Do you get the three issues on bios 1304 with bios all default settings?
For PCIE drive (Plextor M9PeY) stops booting issue, do you mean cannot boot into windows but can enter bios?
Which slot do you install PCIE drive (Plextor M9PeY) in?
If you tried another slot and another PCIE drive for installing OS, do you also have stops booting issue?
Do you install chipset drivers from our support site or from Intel website?
Thank you.

[DragDay7]

Hello fellow STARRAIN,

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Do you get the three issues on bios 1304 with bios all default settings?

Yes

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
For PCIE drive (Plextor M9PeY) stops booting issue, do you mean cannot boot into windows but can enter bios?

The drive was seen in bios but not its boot method - it happened like 3-4 days after it worked fine. To make it work again I had to switch its socket Auto<->Gen3 and it worked for a day. The third time it happened I switched M2 storage mode from Auto to PCIE and it worked again. Then I disassembled it and I mounted it directly to M.2_1 socket. So far it works.

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Which slot do you install PCIE drive (Plextor M9PeY) in?

When it wasn't booting - PCIEX16(G3) to have some space below graphic card.

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
If you tried another slot and another PCIE drive for installing OS, do you also have stops booting issue?

Oh that's what I just explained above - moved it to M2 and it's good now I think.

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Do you install chipset drivers from our support site or from Intel website?

I used Armoury Crate for the first time to install drivers and I guess that was a mistake.

Then I've used drivers from your website and I haven't got any freezing since then (today's the second day). I also think I fixed keyboard issue by reinstalling nvidia drivers.

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Thank you.

Thank you.

Reassuming:
- boot issue fixed by disassembling pcie drive and mounted it to M.2_1 slot (but I believe switching M2 mode from AUTO to PCIE worked too).
- freezing fixed by manually installing chipset drivers from your website
- keyboard issue fixed by using DDU and installing drivers from nvidia website (cause it happened after installing chipset drivers too)
That is no longer valid.

The odd thing is that every issue happened only once a day - every morning. I turn on and off my PC frequently, lets say 5 times a day and everything was fine unless I turned it on another day.

But lets not celebrate too early. I still have 2 days to return it so if something happens again I'll let you know.

PS. I also tried to contact support to solve my issues, let them work it out, run some diagnostics remotely. Perhaps it would help others. I got refused. This was the most disappointing - there are others struggling with same stuff and they're replacing their hardware to make it work while it should be fixed.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi DragDay7,
Thank you for your reply.
Hope everything is fine with you.

[DragDay7]

Hey STARRAIN,

I just happen to have freeze again, for few days it was 100% stable. I can't have replacement anymore, only warranty service now - I'm doomed. Don't get me wrong - I had to use your service previously and I fought 3 months to get my old board fixed. I'm terrified if I have to get through this again.

The only suspicious logs before freeze are Kernel-Processor-Power ID 37 and it looks kind of odd:
The speed of processor 16 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 164086 seconds since the last report.
The speed of processor 17 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 164086 seconds since the last report.
The speed of processor 18 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 164086 seconds since the last report.
The speed of processor 19 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 164086 seconds since the last report.

PC was on for like 25 minutes but it says performance was reduced for ~114 days.

Guess I'll try to turn off Intel SpeedStep for a couple of days.

// edit: Just a thought... My cpu-z benchmark is above average - single: 803, multi (16T): 8208. Average reports - single: 787, multi: 7822. Perhaps this is the cause? I'll switch off C-states, ASUS multicore enhancement and turn 2nd XMP profile. In case it gets stable the issue will be narrowed to those settings.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi DragDay7,
Since the boot issue and keyboard issue have been fixed by mounted pcie drive to M.2_1 slot and reinstall drivers, could you please also help to try with bios all default settings this time to see if freezing issue occurs again?
If freezing issue still occurs, does it freeze when running the specific apps? How often does it freeze?
Thank you.

[DragDay7]

Hello,

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Since the boot issue and keyboard issue have been fixed by mounted pcie drive to M.2_1 slot and reinstall drivers, could you please also help to try with bios all default settings this time to see if freezing issue occurs again?

Sure I can, but I've been there already. I did so the very first moment my pc froze. It did even without XMP being set. Furthermore I did fresh Windows 11 installation, disabled drivers from updating automatically by OS and installed all required drivers from Asus website to make sure Windows doesn't mess it up. It's been like 4-5 days without freeze until today.

I will change it again to default if you insist, but like I said - I've done it before.

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
If freezing issue still occurs, does it freeze when running the specific apps? How often does it freeze?

Once a day the most. It never froze twice the same day. It never did when I played games, only when I was typing something. I can run stress test for hours and nothing. Since it froze today already I can guarantee you there won't be any freezing at least until tomorrow no matter what I'll do.

// edit 03-19-2022: Keyboard stopped working few minutes ago. No event logs. I'm going full default bios settings, just adjusted fan speeds.

// edit 03-21-2022: NVMe drive didn't booted - it was detected but no boot option. After shutdown it booted fine.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi DragDay7,
Thank you for your reply.
Do you mean the NVMe drive in M.2_1 slot is detected in bios, but is not in the boot menu?
Did it freeze while you were typing something on chrome when you boot into windows within 5 minutes every morning?
Is there any settings, apps, drivers or components changed before the freezing, keyboard and no boot issues occur again?
Have you tried another NVMe drive?
Thank you.

[DragDay7]

Hi,

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Do you mean the NVMe drive in M.2_1 slot is detected in bios, but is not in the boot menu?

Yea, it just happened again, see: https://imgur.com/a/iJgDDMv It's there, but nothing in boot priority. I reset pc, it's back and it boots fine.

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Did it freeze while you were typing something on chrome when you boot into windows within 5 minutes every morning?

Yea, you could say so, how do you know? I mean last time it did I was using vscode, but it's Chromium based - pretty much the same thing. My browser - Opera is also based on Chromium. Maybe not always freezing within 5 minutes, but lets say an hour the most.

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Is there any settings, apps, drivers or components changed before the freezing, keyboard and no boot issues occur again?

Nope, but freezing haven't occured yet since my last report - 2022-03-18. Last keyboard issue - 2022-03-19. Last NVMe drive issue - today.

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Have you tried another NVMe drive?

I don't have any, but I've been using it before upgrading cpu+ram+mobo and it was 100% stable. I might buy new one soon.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi DragDay7,
The freezing scenario I mentioned is my guess. Just wandering what you have done and how long did you take before freezing.
If the issues still occur on bios 1304 with bios all default settings, please try other M.2 NVMe SSD for OS drive.
Thank you.