Solved Random reboots, error reporting calls it BSOD, next gen hardware

[BotenRedWolf]

Ran for over 9 passes, about 24 hrs total. No errors. One thing I did notice though, is that if I tried to force it to use more than one core, it would hang at exactly the same spot about 20-something percent through.

 

[essenbe]

I had the same problem with V 5.01. It would run 1 pass and quit. That was why I said not to press any keys when it starts. If you don't press them it will run fine. I timed one test and it really wasn't significantly faster anyway. It will only use multiple cores on a couple of the tests. But, Do you have a spare hard drive or a hard drive you can transfer everything to somewhere else, at least temporarily? I would like to do a clean install. To see if there is something else causing these problems. As I said previously, we have tested every component on the board. About the only thing left is a bad board hardware wise. I do not believe you bought 2 bad cards in a row. While it is possible, it is not likely. You decide, the only options left, are just calling it a bad board, testing each of your cards one at a time in both slots and a clean install. Those are the only options I can see left. It may boil down to testing the cards one at a time and a clean install. Testing the cards may be a good idea. I do believe you have performance problems. When you ran Heaven, I believe you said you were getting around 50 frames per second. I believe your 2 760's should perform about the same as my 780 Classified. Heaven is a GPU bound test, meaning it only tests the GPU, CPU does not matter. At stock settings I will get 78-80 FPS. I would have expected you to get the same, which leads me to believe either a bad card or a malfunctioning PCIe slot. With the same problems with the 670, I lean more toward the board. But, convincing Asus that's the problem will take more than that. If it were me, and it's not, I would pull one card and test it with every GPU bound test in each slot. Then switch the cards. See if you get different performance with the slots and with the cards. Next, do a clean install and only do a minimal install, just windows updates, motherboard drivers and a few programs that will make it functional, then run the GPU tests and maybe a game or so. But, trust me, you are not going to convince anyone you have a board or card problem playing Watch Dogs. That game has caused almost everyone considerable problems. You decide which you want to do, and I will help you. But, again, with 2 different cards having issues, I believe there is something more in play here.

 

[BotenRedWolf]

Well, it does the hard crashes under considerable CPU load. Performance problems are probably software only. The question about under load is since we're thinking hardware, what about a funky chip? I bought the CPU locally, and I'm sure they'd be willing to exchange it if I can prove simply that the CPU is funky. Otherwise I'm not sure about testing the board. I doubt it's the GPU(s) since I had the same problems on my 670 (single) before I went with the dual 760s. The only common thing here is CPU and MB since we tested out the RAM. My first install also didn't have RAID, so I don't see it being a storage issue. It has done this from step one, so a clean install has been done a couple of times. I have some additional software that is a BITCH to have to keep messing with (network related), so I'd prefer not to have to keep doing clean installs.

 

[essenbe]

In my experience, the CPU is the last piece of hardware to suspect. But, you could try it, if you want. A bad CPU is very, very rare. Personally, I really suspect the board. But, if you want to try to replace the CPU, go for it. It certainly can't hurt, and may help if it comes down to having to replace the board.

Do you follow my logic in the above post, and do you disagree? The reason I suggested a clean install on another hard drive is it would take any possibility of a storage problem out of the equation, it wouldn't affect your current install, and it would allow you to see if it could possibly be a software program conflicting other programs.

 

[BotenRedWolf]

I don't disagree, but as I've had this problem over roughly 4 or 5 clean installs and 2 separate video card arrangements, I think installs are out of the question just on that. The last three installs were on the current video setup. I did the installs before configuring that network software, but still had problems under load, so I figured I'd just deal with it and figure it out as I went, attributing it to shitty drivers based on the age of the Z97 chipset. I'm going to try a few CPU stress/burn-in tests to see if that will show anything, but I guess that still wouldn't tell me whether it's board or chip. I can talk to the local store and see if I can exchange and try testing again, then at that point that would have it narrowed to board, correct (or not)?

 

[essenbe]

As I see it, you are correct. If you can, you may see if they will swap both CPU and Board. From experience, I can tell you it is much more likely the board than the CPU, just based on averages. Just take any board and any CPU and read user reviews and see which were sent back most because it didn't work, weeding out those who don't know how to configure them. I can't tell you how many people sent back boards that would 'only' run their 1600 MHz ram at 1333.

 

[BotenRedWolf]

Okay, the board was bought online, hence why I figured swapping chip would be easier. I can swap board first if it's considerably more likely though. I just figure I'd need some sort of proof though, eh?

 

[essenbe]

Well, yes and no. But to me, 2 hard drives, 2 cards, a PSU test, and ram tests, pretty much leaves everything else out. dealing with Asus is quite difficult, so if you can RMA it online, I would do it. Where did you buy it online, if I may ask?

 

[BotenRedWolf]

Bought the board through Amazon, actually from them as well, not a partner or other Amazon seller.

 

[essenbe]

Within the first 30 days, RMA no questions asked, just state defective on their form from your account. Where I buy just about all my stuff. They will give you a prepaid label to return the old board and with mine anyway, the replacement will be shipped the same day. You will have 30 days to return the old one. It doesn't get any better than that.

Just a word of advice. If you buy anything from them that costs substantial money, make sure it says sold by and shipped from Amazon. Some of their vendors are a crap shoot, some are pretty good though. and the sold by... but shipped from Amazon does not mean much.

 

[BotenRedWolf]

Yeah, I have PRIME and really only buy stuff from them if prime eligible, which makes for only Amazon and higher rated sellers (typically). I'll always go for Amazon itself if I can, otherwise I'll usually hit something else like Newegg. I submitted an RMA on the board and they're shipping out a replacement and giving me labels and such to send mine back. I was two days (I guess, since local time now makes it the 14th) short of my return/exchange window, and therefore I must thank you for giving me the idea before I ran out of time. We'll see how things work once the new one gets here.

 

[essenbe]

That's great, and just in time too. When you get the new board, get a bright light and magnifying glass and open the CPU slot. CLOSELY examine the pins inside the slot. Make sure there are no bent pins. If there are, RMA it straight back, it will never run right and depending on which pin, may never run at all. Every new board I get, that's the first thing I do. If there is a bent pin, don't waste your time putting it together.

 

[BotenRedWolf]

Hey, turns out what you warned about with the new board is exactly what was up with the old board. A couple of pins way on the inside of the socket were bent, I'd say about 3 or 4. I'll take a picture of it later if you're curious or just want to see it, but I think that may have been the culprit and I didn't see it when I assembled it, because frankly, this is my first build that wasn't a PGA, so bent pins were obvious looking back then.

 

[essenbe]

Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it, but I see it as good news. Exactly would we have ever figured that one out? But, you're right. Bent pins, depending on which ones, can even keep you from ever booting it. So, it's great you found that and a good lesson for everyone to do with new boards. Don't be concerned though, I learned the hard way too. That's why it's the first thing I do when I get a new board. Also, placing the CPU in the socket is about the most critical part of the build. If you bend one of the pins, you're done and they are so small, it's easy to do. That's why they are called 'Zero Force Insertion", meaning you use absolutely no force in inserting them, just line up the slots you see on the edges and drop it in. Very well done. Great job. If you need any other help, just let us know. There are a lot of builders here who love nothing more than to help build one, including me.

EDIT: If you can get a good picture attach it. One of the purposes of these threads is not only to help you solve your problem, but to help others with the same problems who may find this thread later on. I think a good picture that will show the bent pins would be good, and may make you responsible for keeping someone from going through all the trials that you went through. But again, great job. Also, when you feel the problem is solved, please mark this thread solved.

 

[BotenRedWolf]

Yeah, I'll get some pictures when I get home. Thanks again for all the help and the crap I put you through. I'll no doubt be back when something else goes wrong (or if for some crazy reason we still haven't narrowed it down, but I'll mark it solved now).

 

[essenbe]

Not a problem. That's what we're here for.

 

[BotenRedWolf]

Oh hell. It came back, this time angry.

I started using power settings to cut back on my electric bill, which is angry since it's so damned hot out there. Well, it seems that it's kind of pointless now, because if I bring it back off of standby, it will, almost guaranteed, give me the same error/crash or just hang completely with any displays using the nVidia adapter blacked out. It also still seems random. Sometimes I'll be able to use it quite a bit, sometimes it won't finish boot. Is memory sometimes able to be bad, but pass 10 passes of memtest86+?

 

[essenbe]

Yes, Memtest is the best test we have, but can make mistakes. You say the Nvidia Adapter. Did you install the Nvidia Graphics driver? There should be no Nvidia adapter, it should list your card in device manager under display adapters. If it says standard VGA display adapter, you have no graphics adapter installed.

What did you do with the power settings? Try using balanced. Sleep settings are usually a function of the BIOS, and affected very little by the OS. Your C states in BIOS regulate lower power settings and reports to the OS.

The other option is that there was an issue with some PSU's regarding Haswell. Haswell uses such low power settings that some PSU's could not cope with it. Most of Corsair PSU's were certified Haswell compliant. That is easily checked on Corsair's web site. If you bought an older model of the Power supply, that could be the issue. Haswell uses such low power settings, some PSU's could not cope. You do not need to bother with power settings, simply because of that. With such low power requirements, lowering them can have an adverse effect. I have seen some Haswell machines idle at 0.44W, which is almost nothing. Even a light bulb uses more than that. I'm really not sure the machine could run on less than that.

 

[BotenRedWolf]

Okay. I wasn't sure of the power requirements on the chips nowadays. Like I said its been a while since I made a build. Also, I used "adapter" as a generic wording for a video card, again going back a bit. I just didn't know if going into standby made anything else stick out as an idea.

 

[essenbe]

If you set your power plan to balanced and the bios to default settings, does that make you able to go into stand by or sleep, which is basically the same thing I thing. I don't use sleep or stand by. My SSD is set to never sleep, so I don't have a lot of experience with it. To me, sleep is not necessary with an SSD. That's why you have an SSD. I just shut mine down if not in use. Startup is pretty quick