F4 nightmare

[Malloy71]

Hey guys! I built my skylake computer here in Dec 2015 with zero problems. I used chino's tutorial to get to 4.8 with zero issues. Yesterday 7 months after building it I saw windows 10 bsod for the first time. ok , re-boot and now I get f4 q-code error before it even posts.... and just sits there running with no monitor. if I re-start it, it takes 3-4 tries before I can get it to post. Also I have made no changes at all recently. When it does post it appears to work properly. I have cleared the cmos, taken out the battery to no avail. I'm running bios version 1202 at the default values now but I'm scared to update bios because once it shuts down it goes back into the f4 and if I update the bios wouldn't that cause it to fail possibly? Any help would be appreciated! thx

[Nate152]

Hi Malloy71

Try your system at default settings, hit F5 while in the bios or power down your pc and clear the cmos with the button on the I/O panel.

Something easy to try would be a system restore.

If system restore doesn't help you can try a bios update, format a usb flashdrive to FAT32 and rename the bios file to M8H.CAP

This is for the bios flashback method.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?1142-How-to-use-ASUS-ROG-USB-BIOS-Flashback

[Malloy71]

Thx Nate! Much appreciated! I'll go for the update on the bios and report back! I've checked these forums everyday since skylake dropped just to read what is happening with people and I've read many times if bios is stable to leave it. I might think twice about that mantra! 😉

[Nate152]

Try your system at default settings first and see if that gets rid of code F4.

[Malloy71]

Hey Nate! I updated the bios from 1202 to 1701 and false q-code F4 bs and errors are gone..thanks. I do have a question in regards to the v-core. My cpu core voltage override is set at 1.31 volts running @ 4.8 gigs in manual mode. Temps on the cores don't go over 70 degrees with 65 being more average and no issues at all with realbench but I do see the output v-core reading up to 1.42 v during realbench tests on my rog cpuid. Now I've read that you shouldn't go over 1.45 but are they saying don't go over 1.45 in the bios where you input the data or the readings of the cpuid or hwmonitor during testing. 😉

[Nate152]

All right !

Good to see you got rid of the errors.

1.42v for 4.8GHz sounds more like it and that's still very good, mine needs 1.52v for 4.8GHz.

Anything up to 1.52v is fine as long as you can keep temps under control which intel says 64c is the max safe temp, you can take stress testing temps to 90c but for everyday use and gaming no more than 64c.

You want to go by what cpu-z or HWmonitor is reading for actual voltage.

It might be better to lower LLC to 1 or 2 and set the cpu core voltage to around 1.38v and then see what it draws.