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Maximus IV Gene-Z random crashes while gaming

Retired
Not applicable
Hiya

I have a problem with my new Maximus IV Gene-Z based system. My specs are as follows:

i5 2500k
2x 4gb Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600mhz tested memory @ SPD 1333mhz
Asus GTX560 Ti CuII TOP factory OC @ 900mhz
650w Fractal Design Newton PSU

I don't overclock (yet), apart from the graphics card which comes overclocked from the factory.

The problem is that when I play games, the machine will eventually crash. I've had Win7 reporting that the game has stopped working (StarCraft 2 and Mafia II), and I've had a couple of BSOD's as well.

Temperature isn't the issue in my well ventilated case, with the CPU not exceeding temps of 60 degrees celcius and the GPU not exceeding 70.

I've tested the RAM in Memtest86 for 20 hours with no errors and the GPU looping the Unigine Heaven benchmark with maxed settings for 8 hours with no errors.

Drivers are up to date and the Win7 installation is as fresh as can be.

One thing I've noticed after trying out the ROG Connect feature is that the CPU voltage drops when the CPU is being utilized heavily, but then again, I have no idea if this is normal behavior. All other things I'm monitoring (VCCSA, IGPU, DRAM and CPU PLL) remain completely steady no matter what's going on.

Any sugggestions? This is the sort of obscure error that can really drive me nuts! At this point I'd pay good money for straight up standard graphics errors while gaming, indicating faulty video memory 😉

Any suggestions? I'm really at a loss here...

Thanks in advance!
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9 REPLIES 9

Fr0stX
Level 7
Are you using an SSD with Sandforce controller? Ex OCZ Vertex 3 or other.

Also, the voltage drop of the Vcore under load is a normal behavior if the load line calibration in the digivrm+ is at 0% or auto. It is the CPU vdroop.
I7-10700K @5.0Ghz
Asus Maximus Formula XII
32Gb Gskill Royal-Z @3600Mhz
Asus Strix RTX3090
Corsair HX850i

Retired
Not applicable
Thanks for your reply!

I have a regular harddrive in my machine, so no to the SSD question.

About the voltage thing, the CPU runs at 1,184v while idling in Windows, and drops as low as 1,138v when under stress. That seems like a lot to me, but does it sound to be in line with specifications to you?

xeromist
Moderator
First I would disable the reboot on BSOD so that you can actually read the message and see if it tells you anything useful.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/automatic-restart-windows-7.htm

Also I would look in the Windows event viewer to see if there are any corresponding events or errors which might afford some clue.
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

Retired
Not applicable
Ok, I've disabled the BSOD reboot so I can catch it next time. Good call 😉

About the event viewer, I have one DriverFrameworks-UserMode critical error and two Kernel-power critical errors in the last 7 days. It obviously hasn't counted more than a third of my crashes, but still...

xeromist
Moderator
Unfortunately those errors are not very specific. I think you should be able to get more info by double clicking on them? Anyway if it is referring to a driver framework issue that could be a sign that one of the drivers is crashing and restarting on you. If you've already got the latest drivers (as indicated above) you may want to check to see if there are more recent firmware updates for your board, GPU, or hard drives. You don't need to install them just yet if you do find something but it's good to check and see what the update is supposed to fix.
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

Retired
Not applicable
I do get more info by double clicking them, but it pretty much boils down to a whole lot of numbers and not much else.

The driver failure says that the user-mode driver has been terminated, and the kernel power informs me that the system has been rebooted without cleanly shutting down first.

I've already updated the BIOS, but I'll try checking for more recent firmwares for the HD and the graphics card tomorrow evening and post my findings.

Thanks a lot for your input so far 😃

silis
Level 7
You should look bug check code in event viewer, im guessing you have a bad or unstable ram. Even if you passed memtest, try with one stick each and run prime 95 blend gives you a error pretty fast if faulty.
Maximus IV Extreme-Z @ P67 Sabertooth (Great Mobo)
i7 2600k @ 4.5ghz @ i5 2500k stock
PNY GTX 680 @ MSI GTX 670 PE/OC 1215 Stock Boost
Corsair AX850 @ 850TX
Asus 'Sata' DVD-RW
Intel 330 120gb ssd @ Pny 120gb ssd @ Intel 330 60gb ssd
1x1TB Samsung SATA III 6GB/S @ 3x2TB Western Digital Green 6GB/s (SATA III)
Corsair Vengeance 8gb cl9 Low Profile Dimms
Dell U2412M 1920x1200 60hz @ Samsung 2233rz 1680x1050 120hz
Fractal Design Define XL @ Corsair Obisidian 550D

Retired
Not applicable
I've had to run the prime 95 blend test for 3,5 hours before the program finally crashed. This is how it usually plays out. Windows contains the application crash and terminates the program, while BSOD's are few and far between. The bug check code I got from the two BSOD's was 26, which I think has something to do with a paging error?

This was with both sticks of memory inserted, so I'm guessing the next step is running the same test on the sticks one at a time...

There weren't any new updates or firmwares available for any of the components by the way.

Retired
Not applicable
For an unstable system, this system is surprisingly stable. It is very reluctant to crash unless I'm doing something besides just prime-testing like heavy taskswitching or playing video. Still, one crash every two days is far too much to live with if you want to play multiplayer games!

One problem might be that this memory comes with a "tested at 1600mhz" sticker, while I'm only running it at the default 1333mhz, making the error show up very rarely. Not being very eager to overclock untill I know what I'm doing, I'm starting to think of just returning the set of sticks and getting new ones, even though I'm not really sure the RAM is the problem...

What do you think? Any other suggestions for me to try out before monday morning? 😉