P55A-UD4 startup "BSD" ~ why?

[Searcher1]

Hi All

Please see the attached photograph of the screen, this first occured on the 11th Feb, cannot recall what the last bit of kit installed was but all had been working well and the BSD surprised me.  It has since happened a few times but with no obvious cause???

Description ~ normally this W7 64 bit box boots quite rapidly the POST beep comes within a few seconds and off we go but when this BSD happens the boot is slow and the POST beep can be say 10-15 seconds with the HDD light fully lit all this time (i.e. no flashing as in changing access the the drive(s)) the OS splach screen takes a while and then the BSD happens.  "Windows Startup Repair" finds nothing to repair or report!!!!

As I say this seems totally random in time and situation ~ as mentioned this has happened a few times and in most a simple reboot (either reset of forced powered down [4 secs on the power button to force shutdown] does the job but if as in this morning I got the BSD a second time I have found the onlyway to boot is to, after powering down as above, switch off the power supply switch wait a few seconds and press the "power" button to discharge any residual, switch the PSU back on boot up as usual and all is well

So any insights in respect of what the BSD is telling me and what could possibly be causing it???

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Searcher

First thing to do would be to clear your CMOS  and then load Optimised BIOS defaults. If you are not using the latest version try updating also. It might just be worth checking that your coolers etc are clean and nothing is overheating.

Remove the power cable from the mains supply and then press the power switch on the case for a few seconds just to drain any residual energy in the PSU capacitors.

Once done remove the motherboard battery for at least one hour before replacing it.
 
Next plug back into the mains supply and boot.
 
You will now need to enter the BIOS by pressing DEL and load Opimised BIOS Defaults.

Make any other changes to the BIOS settings to suit your self like disabling the floppy drive, disabling the full screen logo and making the HDD the primary boot device and then press F10 to save and exit.

[Lsdmeasap]

More Vcore needed 

BSOD Error codes and what they mean:
0X00000050 << Incorrect Memory Timing/Freq or Uncore Multi
0X00000124 << Incorrect QPI/Vtt Voltage (To Much/Not Enough)
0X00000101 << Not enough Vcore Voltage
0X00000109 << Not enough or too Much memory voltage

[Searcher1]

Many thanks both 

Firstly I did flash the most up to date BIOS a while back as per your Q  Flash Instructions DM 

I have not altered any control settings i.e. voltages etc they are all at the defaults

Please see the attached screen grabs of CPUID and HW Monitor which I hope will aid you in throwing any more light on the  matter before doing the more protracted steps suggested by you DM










Note the other fans are all "0" because they are being run directly off the PSU not the motherboard

[Dark Mantis]

As Lsdmeasap said your stop code of 101 means not enough vcore. So you need to increase that in the BIOS.

[Searcher1]

As Lsdmeasap said your stop code of 101 means not enough vcore. So you need to increase that in the BIOS.

Right need to go look at that soonly ~ but please guide me - it is reporting as vCore 0.83V with a max for the CPU of 0.90V so as I have yet to see how it increments just how close to 0.90V should I go???

[Dark Mantis]

You shouldn't need to make any massive change just try a little at a time as with any clocking. Just don't go above the stated maximum.

[Searcher1]

You shouldn't need to make any massive change just try a little at a time as with any clocking. Just don't go above the stated maximum.

DM, thanks for that I will try uplift to say 0.85V and just see if I get any more startup BSD's

[Dark Mantis]

As with anything like this it is trial and error. You have to bump it up a touch and then run it to see if it is cured, if not it is time to try another rise.

[Searcher1]

Hi DM

Right getting confused a tad now.  I went into the MIT page and chaged the voltage setting from "Auto" to 0.85V it booted fine but in the CPU-Z and HW Monitor programs the voltage was being reported as from 0.83 to over 1.2  very odd thinks I!

Went back into the BIOS to remind myself what was being said/reported (in blue and not adjustable) there:-

On the MIT page for CPU Vcore it has a column "Normal" and there is says 1.3000V, lower down it says 1.264V

On the PC Health Page it says 1.284V

Incidently setting to 0.85V I got a warning dialogue about failure to boot???

I have changed it back to Auto for now and the CPU-Z if I look very quickly starts at 1.264V drops briefly 0.88 then to 0.832 and settles there?  Now I have checked starting programs and when there is CPU load the voltage goes up to 1.264V i.e. it rises under load ~ normal???

So what do I do now , set it to "Normal" in MIT voltage settings or to say 1.284V to lock it to a set voltage???  If the vCore is low on Boot and hence the startup BSD I have seen I wouldm have thought the BIOS could be set to have a minimum of say 1.5V auto rising as needed toi the Max.

Extra pointers about the BIOS and voltage settings would be very welcome ~ thanks again in advance

[Lsdmeasap]

Max shown in the image above just means that's the max it has reached, not the max you can set.

Since you have Speedsteap (C1E + EIST) enabled voltage and CPU speed will vary when the system is idle and when it's under load..   Normal voltage sounds like it's 1.264-1.3 for your CPU, so you may want to set it a bit above that since you were having BSOD's at normal voltages.

Yes, 0.85 is too low, that's why it's crashes on you in auto, it's just not enough even at the slowed down idle speeds.

If you want the voltage, and CPU speeds to remain the same always you have to disable Speedstep (C1E and EIST), then you will need to use 1.25-1.3+ for the voltage

[Searcher1]

Max shown in the image above just means that's the max it has reached, not the max you can set.

Since you have Speedsteap (C1E + EIST) enabled voltage and CPU speed will vary when the system is idle and when it's under load..   Normal voltage sounds like it's 1.264-1.3 for your CPU, so you may want to set it a bit above that since you were having BSOD's at normal voltages.

Yes, 0.85 is too low, that's why it's crashes on you in auto, it's just not enough even at the slowed down idle speeds.

If you want the voltage, and CPU speeds to remain the same always you have to disable Speedstep (C1E and EIST), then you will need to use 1.25-1.3+ for the voltage

OK, if I take it off "Auto" and select say something more like 1.27 (if I recall it ranges from 0.5 to over 1.6V) from the list available but leave the Speedstep (C1E + EIST) [have yet to even look for or at those settings???] it work at a higher max and as such the lowest load level will be more like 0.84V  or have I completely lost the plot :lol:

[Lsdmeasap]

The higher you set the Vcore, the higher the low value will be at idle.   I do not use those settings, so I can't guess what amount that will be, you'll just have to try a few values until you find one that is stable for you.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes as I said it is a case of "suck it and see".  You will just have to experiment and slowly make alterations and check as you go.

[Searcher1]

Hi DM & Lsdmeasap

Yes, I went through a few test settings of the vCore and Lsdmeasap you are right by manuallly setting it makes that figure the "do not go lower point" so to speak.

As you can see above that under Auto setting the Core#0 temp is in the mid 30's  ~ I do not have my notes in front of me but with anything between 1.2 to 1.267 I was getting approx or >40 degrees and the Intel Speedstep was running and I saw > 3Ghz for the speed and the Wattage was spiking at over 110W.

I will be trying 1.1v later when I get home and hope that the temp at idle stays under 40 and really would like to avoid Wattage spikes that exceed the rated 95W of the chip   So maybe even to drop it to say 0.9

Once I have set the vCore with what I hope is being risk aware approach for the Temp and the Wattage spikes I will leave it be and see over the next few days/weeks get any more starup BSDs

Thank again for thre support and guidance