bsod machine_check_exception with bios other than 0403

[MusicIsMyLife]

I got a weird issue with the RVE.

First of all this is the hardware currently used:

- RVE
- 4x 8 GB Crucial DDR4-2133 (CT8G4DFD8213)
- ASUS Radeon HD 7970 DirectCU II
- 5820K
- Enermax Revolution85+ 1050w
- Samsung 830 256 GB
- custom watercooling for cpu
- Windows 7 Ultimate x64 sp1 (no further updates)

This setup isn't final. It's just to learn the plattform and going cold later (with other vga, os and maybe memory)

I got the board from ASUS Germany. It had bios 0403 on both chips. I installed windows (at this time with dualchannel in a1/b1 becauce I only had two sticks on hand) and everything worked fine. Then I flashed one chip to bios 0005 and it still worked fine - until I started overclocking.

Nearly every changed setting results in a bsod 09c machine check exception when loading windows. It doesn't matter if I only change one setting, two or a whole bunch - nearly every setting other than stock results in this bsod. It could be the vcore, the cpu multi, the cache multi, bclk - every change can result in this bluescreen.

I tried cpu level up 4.2 g - and it worked suddenly. Next reboot I went into bios and only changed multiplier to 43 - bsod. I only changed mutliplier back to 42 and touched nothing else - bsod. In very rare situations changing lots of settings at once brings the system "back to life" and boots windows flawlessly - but on the next reboot there is a great chance that it results in 09c again. In all other cases a cmos clear is needed to go with stock settings at least. I tried bios 0005 and 0002 - both react the same.

First I thought it would be the dualchannel-setup. But during this week I got another two sticks, now quadchannel in a1/b1/c1/d1 and it's still the same. The funny thing is, that using the other bios chip with 0403 works without issues. Using this chip I am currently running 125x35 = 4,375 mhz (1.29v), 4,125 mhz cache (1.225v), ddr4-2666 with 13-13-13-40 1t (1.3v) stable for benchmarking. No issues booting into windows. Using the exact same settings with the other chip (currently 0002 is flashed) results - you may be right - in bsod 09c machine check exeption.

Up to now only bios 0403 works for me. Unfortunately this bios isn't listed anywhere and even my contact over at ASUS Germany couldn't provide me this version. I would like to flash it to the 2nd chip so that I have a backup if I brick the first one...

First of all: Does someone have an explanation for this weird acting?

Second: Can someone provide me bios 0403 so that I can flash it to the second chip? Or is there a way to flash from one chip to the other one?

Good ideas will be appreciated... 😉 Thanks in advance...

ps: Hopefully my english is good enough to explain everything as detailed as possible. 🙂

[Menthol]

You can flash from one to the other from inside the uefi bios

[Chino]

If your system is stable and problem free with a certain BIOS version, there's no need to update it. You should never update your BIOS just to have the latest and greatest.

Now with that said, 0002 and 0005 are Beta BIOSes. So yes, they will have some bugs here and there. My advice to you is to switch over to the second BIOS chip and use 0403 for now. In a few days, there will be a new BIOS available for the R5E. I'll let you know when that happens and then you can flash your first BIOS chip to that one.

[MusicIsMyLife]

Menthol wrote:
You can flash from one to the other from inside the uefi bios

Thanks, I didn't know that. Will check this evening...

Chino wrote:
If your system is stable and problem free with a certain BIOS version, there's no need to update it. You should never update your BIOS just to have the latest and greatest.

Now with that said, 0002 and 0005 are Beta BIOSes. So yes, they will have some bugs here and there. My advice to you is to switch over to the second BIOS chip and use 0403 for now. In a few days, there will be a new BIOS available for the R5E. I'll let you know when that happens and then you can flash your first BIOS chip to that one.

The flash was not just for having the latest and greatest bios.

Since this board is going to be used under extreme conditions (at least cascade) it is neccesary to "unlock" every piece of overclocking and/or performance potential. Bios 0002 was postet with "Fix 125 strap withh above 2400 memory ratio", 0005 was posted with "Fixes fast boot and enabled by default to reduces unnecessary retrains. " over at kingpincooling.com. For 0007 shamino said "Improve DRAM OC" and for 0008 "Fix VSA bug on 0007".

These are things that are relevant for this setup, therefore I wanted to flash these bios versions. After two of them failed I stopped trying.

But for now I will wait for the next official bios and then try again.

Thank you for your input.

[MusicIsMyLife]

It's been a few weeks since I posted my problem. I just want to post the solution of this.

I use a pre-configured version of Windows 7 Ultimate for years now - without any problems in the past. But with RVE this changed. I tried a fresh install of a standard-version without pre-configured settings and it works with other bios versions. Currently I'm running the latest official 0706 without issue.

Currently I have no idea what is causing the issue but at least I know how to solve it - from now on I have to configure everything by hand after the installation is complete.

[Chino]

MusicIsMyLife wrote:
It's been a few weeks since I posted my problem. I just want to post the solution of this.

I use a pre-configured version of Windows 7 Ultimate for years now - without any problems in the past. But with RVE this changed. I tried a fresh install of a standard-version without pre-configured settings and it works with other bios versions. Currently I'm running the latest official 0706 without issue.

Currently I have no idea what is causing the issue but at least I know how to solve it - from now on I have to configure everything by hand after the installation is complete.

When dealing with a new platform, it's always best to do a clean, untouched install.

[MusicIsMyLife]

LiveOrDie wrote:
machine_check_exception means your vcore is to low maybe your CPU just need a higher amount of voltage to be stable. You should never use a back up to install windows only if its from the current system.

I don't think it's a vcore-problem. With bios 0403 the exact same settings are stable in Prime95 27.9 x64. So it should boot windows without a problem with another bios (even if it would be unstable due to different AUTO-settings).

Chino wrote:
When dealing with a new platform, it's always best to do a clean, untouched install.

I did a fresh install. But I did it with a pre-configured version of windows that I'm using for ages now (started with socket 1366). It has sp1 integrated, a few features removed, has some services disabled and is un-attended. But it seems there is something that RVE with bios other than 0403 needs for overclocking...

Anyway - since I know the solution I will use a standard iso in the future...

[MeanMachine]

Hi MusicIsMyLife and Welcome to ROG.

There are many causes for a BSOD unfortunately and it could be and usually is driver related.
You need to have your Mini dump analyzed or you may be able to analyze it yourself.

Download BlueScreenView:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
unzip the downloaded file and double click on BlueScreenView.exe to run the program.
when scanning is done, go to EDIT - Select All
Go to FILE - SAVE Selected Items, and save the report as BSOD.txt
You can open BSOD.txt in Notepad, then post it and have it analyzed at W7 help forum.

Hope this helps and please report back.

[LiveOrDie]

machine_check_exception means your vcore is to low maybe your CPU just need a higher amount of voltage to be stable. You should never use a back up to install windows only if its from the current system.

[Raja]

I reckon its memory instability. Combining the kits isn't a good idea.

Probably need to tune timings and VCCSA etc.