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GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop

gkout

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GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« on: December 06, 2015, 02:42:30 pm »
Hi all,

This is my last resort since esupport.gigabyte.com is not working for any country.

The last days I am facing problems with the BIOS, which goes into an endless POST loop with the following codes:
8,19,15,C2,C3,C4,5d,36,32

BIOS version: F7

According to the manual 5d is an error code, but the description is "Reserved", I guess only Gigabyte knows what this is.

There is a rare chance that the system will boot, but that is less than 5% chance and after many restarts.
Once I managed to get the system up, I ran both memory diagnostics and cpu diagnostics. No issues there.

What I tried so far:

3. Switched to backup BIOS. Loaded the first time. After shutting down the PC and booting up the next day, it went into the POST. Switched back to Primary BIOS. Still the same behaviour.

1. Removing all DIMMs and keeping only one. The POST was successful. After that I populated the rest of the slots one by one (4x8GB). POST was completed successfully with 32GB of Ram, and system booted.

2. After booting I ran mem and cpu diagnostics. No problems there. The system was rebooted once for the mem diagnostics and POST were successful.

3. Powered off the system. My suspicion was that the problem occurs when performing a cold boot. POST failed as suspected.

After this point I gave up on troubleshooting and decided to contact support, so here I am.

If there is anyone from support that could help with this or provide me with an email to forward my request to, I would really  appreciate it.

BR,
George
« Last Edit: December 06, 2015, 02:44:02 pm by koutras_g@yahoo.com »
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gkout

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2015, 06:23:16 pm »
Update:

The problem seems to be related to the memory frequency. My memory DIMMs are 4x8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133Mhz. they are supposed to be in the compatibility list.

It occurred after updating to the latest BIOS F7. The maximum speed the Board can handle, according to the printed manual, is 1600MHz.

I tried fixing the frequency to 1300MHz (as 1600Mhz seemed to be unstable). This is work in progress and I am still testing.

I also need to check the Board battery. Maybe it is dead, and the changes are not kept.

Keep you posted....


Hmm...just checked online:

Support for DDR3 3300(O.C.) / 3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

Now I am really running out of ideas...
« Last Edit: December 07, 2015, 06:26:31 pm by gkout »
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dmdilks

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2015, 10:45:43 pm »
What CPU are you using. The memory controller is in the CPU. It is in what you are using. Most CPU's only support 1600. That is why the book or on line shows only 1333 & 1600 without the "OC".

Everything thing else has to be overclock that is why it says "OC". In Advanced Memory Settings Just try to set this one  Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.) leave everything else to the default settings.

If that still doesn't work then try setting this one System Memory Multiplier leave everything else to the default settings.
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gkout

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2015, 12:35:09 pm »
Thanks dmd.

My cpu is i7-4790.

I had already tried the XMP and the manual multiplier with F7 BIOs, but no good.

Actually with XMP the system would restart, while running the OS, and then pop-up the BIOS reconfiguration message.

Eventually I gave up on F7, and now I have degraded to F6.

I have enabled XMP and set the PCIe gen to "3" (read somewhere that "auto" could have an impact), after confirming my vga's pci generation with GPU-Z.

The system was running fine yesterday night, even after powering off and on again.

I have noticed that if I leave the PC off for many hours (go to work and power it on in the afternoon), it goes into the BIOS loop (with F7 BIOS).

I will see what happens today (with F6 BIOS) once I am back home.
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gkout

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2015, 12:55:40 pm »
After 11 hours of being powered off, it started normally... Still not convinced. It is being shutdown again and will power it on in 4 hours and see if it still works.
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dmdilks

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2015, 01:57:53 pm »
This is the spec for the CPU and yes it only supports 1333 & 1600 by default.

 http://ark.intel.com/products/80807/Intel-Core-i7-4790K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_40-GHz

When I build a computer I always check to see what the CPU will support. Plus 99% of time I use what it supports. I do have a Evga 2001v3 board that I just built. I'm running 2400 where the CPU supports 2133.

I love Gigabyte boards, but when it comes to setting memory they are crap. That is if you want to run faster memory. I was setting up a MSI board one day and didn't have any 1600 memory.

I only had 2133 and put it in to just get things going. The bios set the memory to 2133 without me doing any thing. Yes all board have their features that work great. When it comes to memory Gigabyte isn't one of them.
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gkout

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #6 on: December 08, 2015, 02:57:37 pm »
 :o :o :o

I have nothing....lol

Apart from saying, that I had also set the multiplier x13 (1333Mhz) and also x16 (1600) while on F7 BIOS, but did not seem to solve the issue.

Would you suggest to go back to 1600 or keep it at 2133 and see how it behaves?
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dmdilks

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2015, 03:20:53 pm »
If you can pickup some 1600 cheap I would. But till you can do that I would try the 2133. I would clear the cmos. Then go in and set the bios to default settings it should run at 1333 by default.

   
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gkout

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #8 on: December 08, 2015, 06:36:21 pm »
Well the xmp mode does not seem to be stable. the pc reset, while being almost idle.

I think I should have the cpu permanently overclocked for the additional voltage. Currently it is set to auto in BIOS.

Now I am back to auto memory settings.




It's a shame that I wasted all this money on the expensive corsair to have it working at 1333Mhz (665Mhz).
I am really puzzled with what is the culprit for xmp failing. The board or the cpu?

« Last Edit: December 08, 2015, 06:36:57 pm by gkout »
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dmdilks

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #9 on: December 08, 2015, 07:55:13 pm »
Here this might help. The guy says that on these boards that for some reason the v-core is running a little high. look at the last post

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/58967-gigabyte-z97x-soc-i7-4790k-3.html
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dmdilks

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #10 on: December 09, 2015, 01:44:33 pm »
After reading many threads on different forums there is a lot of people having problems just like you. I have read reviews on this board and every body that has written one. Has used basically 2400 memory with no problems.

The only other thing I can say is to check the CPU socket to see if you have any bent pins.
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gkout

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #11 on: December 10, 2015, 03:00:27 pm »
I suspect if the cpu had any bent pins it would behave strangely for a long time now, which is not the case. Actually, it has not been removed or touched in any way, to cause issues because of a bent pin.

I troubleshooted a bit further.

F7 BIOS version has issues with XMP profiles as it seems.
F6 seems more stable for my Haswell i7-4790 cpu.

Following further troubleshooting with F6 BIOS, it seems that once the memory is configured with the XMP profile (2133Mhz), the M/B by default will set the vCore voltage to 1,24volts, which is way too high for my cpu.

It also pushes the memory voltage above 1,5Volts, while the vendor specs are for 1,5Volts.

Thanks to Intel's XTU (downloaded from Gigabyte's website), I was able to extract some more information.

Once the vCore voltage is set to auto or normal, the M/B will introduce a vCore offset of roughly 0.05 Volts, pushing the vCore from approximately 1,177 to 1,24 volts.

What I did:

I set the BIOS to the below settings and for the past last day, the system seems stable.

Memory Voltage: 1,5 Volts
vCore offset: Using the XTU utility I set the vCore offset to 0 (zero), and now it is running at 1,67~1,77 Volts.

Ran benchmarks without any issues.
I need to monitor the system for a while and see how it behaves.
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dmdilks

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #12 on: December 10, 2015, 04:15:18 pm »
There is only a few of us that come here to help if we can. Plus we might not be right all the time but we try. Plus glad you got things going in the right directions. I know how it is when something doesn't work right.

I had a problem last night with windows 10. I had setup everything and was on the internet. Rebooted the computer and no internet connection. The winsock was screwed up. Had to do a reset on the winsock.
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gkout

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #13 on: December 10, 2015, 05:16:54 pm »
dmd if it wasn't for you that hinted me about gigabyte boards and over voltage, I might still be looking for an answer.

Your and everyone else's help is always most welcome and really appreciated in times when things go wrong.

I can only wish that people like you will still be hanging around these forums.

P.S1. I also had a problem with winsock in the past on windows 7, and had to do exactly what you did...windows suck...
P.S2. Just came back from work and powered up the PC... all good.. :)
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CyberWuff

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Re: GA-Z97X-SOC POST loop
« Reply #14 on: December 07, 2016, 08:57:14 am »
Just found this thread describing the same issue i have :)

I have the same POST loop with the same numbers looping on the Boards display.
Now i switched to the BackUp BIOS and my computer is working again. The Backup BIOS is version F5

But when i switch back to the Main BIOS, the loop is still there. I can't boot the computer on the main BIOS. I see nothing on my screens, and i can't go into the BIOS anymore.

So i hoped switching to the Backup BIOS will overwrite the main BIOS with the same version, but somehow it didn't.

The error occured from one day to another without changes. No updates where installed, no modifications were done,...nothing.

Is there anyone who can tell me how i can reset the main BIOS again so i can switch back and boot from the main BIOS again?

What i tried:

- unplug all cables
- tried to boot with every cable (mouse, usb, keyboard,...) after step by step
- took out the CMOS battery and waited some hours
- unpluged USB cables onboard, SATA cables onboard,...

I hope someone can give me some more ideas :)
Otherwise i will stick to the backup BIOS until i need a whole new Board :D

Thanks.
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