TSC Unstable - Asus Strix ROG STRIX X299-E GAMING

[Ganesh_S]

Dear Community,

Hardware Details

Intel Core i9 - 7900x
Asus ROG STRIX X299-E GAMING
Corsair - CMU16GX4M2C3000C15

Mother Board BIOS Version: 0702

Software Details

Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.9 (Santiago)
Linux Kernel Version: 2.6.32-696.el6.x86_64

I am in need of assistance to resolve my following problem with my new hardware

Problem

TSC: Unable to calibrate against PIT
TSC: using PMTIMER reference calibration
TSC synchronization [CPU#0 -> CPU#1]:
Measured 227738976020810 cycles TSC warp between CPUs, turning off TSC clock.
Marking TSC unstable due to check_tsc_sync_source failed
Override clocksource tsc is unstable and not HRT compatible - cannot switch while in HRT/NOHZ mode

With the mainline Kernel Version: 4.12.9-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64

The error changes to

tsc: Detected 3300.000 MHz processor
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST: CPU0: -2835629506026 force to 0
TSC deadline timer enabled
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU1: 0
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU2: 0
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU3: 0
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU4: 0
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU5: 0
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU6: 0
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU7: 0
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU8: 0
[Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU9: 0
clocksource: tsc: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0x31bad01a63d, max_idle_ns: 440795332416 ns
clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc

This TSC unstable error is common and reproducible with listed below Linux Flavours and versions

1.) RHEL 6.9
2.) RHEL 7.4
3.) Ubuntu LTS - 16.04
4.) Ubuntu 17.04
5.) Fedora 26 - Desktop / Workstation / Server editions

Earlier with the ASUS Mother Board Model: Rampage IV Extreme, i had faced the similar problem with the lower version of BIOS. But after upgrading to higher BIOS versions, this TSC unstable problem is resolved. I could not recollect the exact version of BIOS with problem and without problem

[dispat0r]

The 4.12 kernel is autocorrecting the problem.
The BIOS fix is only needed for older kernels.

[Ganesh_S]

dispat0r wrote:
The 4.12 kernel is autocorrecting the problem.
The BIOS fix is only needed for older kernels.

Thanks for the reply

Kindly note that, Linux Kernel version 4.12 does not resolve the issue. It still shows "Firmware Bug]: TSC ADJUST differs: Reference CPU0: -2835629506026 CPU1: 0"

Due to this, system clock is drifting without any control.

[Chino]

Have you enabled the Processor microcode firmware for Intel CPUs option in the Driver Manager?

[Ganesh_S]

Chino wrote:
Have you enabled the Processor microcode firmware for Intel CPUs option in the Driver Manager?

Thanks for your suggestion

Already tried the latest microcode Version: 20170707, But still the TSC is unstable

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26925/Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-File?product=123613

[Ganesh_S]

Dear Community

Does anybody had successfully running any Linux Distro with this Motherboard

If so, please share the details of that Linux Distro and dmesg output of that running system

[Chino]

I'm running Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya. I haven't experienced any stability problems at all. Haven't fooled with dmesg yet though.

[Ganesh_S]

Chino wrote:
I'm running Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya. I haven't experienced any stability problems at all. Haven't fooled with dmesg yet though.

Good to hear that, you have a running Linux system "Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya". Hope your CPU and Motherboard is Core-i9 7900x and Asus Strix X99-E Gaming.

Would like to have the output of this linux command "dmesg | grep -i tsc"

[vmfun]

I am having the exact same problem. I have 7900x and x299 TUF Mark 1.

On 4.12, I got the same dmesg output as the OP. The system mostly works fine, but has some subtle clock sync issues. The host clock runs slower than hwclock. And as I am running VMs, I observed in VM guests some videos play slower than the audio so video streams go out of sync after a while.

However, this seems to work fine with Windows as host OS. I haven't been using Windows host for any extended period of time so I might be missing some other subtle issues.

Any insights on what is the cause of this problem? Any short term fix? Bios update?

[Ganesh_S]

HI All

ASUS had released a BIOS update version: 0802

Will give a try this night and will update the results.