Asus Rog Crosshair viii Dark Hero Motherboard issues.

[ady@amf1]

Hi everyone.
I have just started to get back in to pc building after a Few years break, so much has changed!
I am starting to have issues with screen flickering on wake up and also the displays turning off with the PC on and the Q Code reading 00 ............. I am using Bios 4201 which I am starting to see was a mistake..... I am running windows 11 - AMD 5950x, 64gb Ballistix Max 4400mhz , Asus Tuf 3090ti oc, all water cooled. DOCP is enabled.
I have also had the system freeze on start up reading 02 as the q code.

I have reset cmos and have run Restoro.

Any pointers anyone, help greatl appreciated.

Cheers

Ady

[Megascrypt]

You right, Bios 4201 is the issue in combination with Dark Hero VIII. I had similar setup and 3 different Dark Hero VIII boards I end up returning to Amazon and changing to MSi and problem is gone. I contacted Asus # of times and as always generic responses, but months ago I have been told to stick with 4006 Bios and they will work on new bios.....don't trust them.

There is something with Bios 4201 that causes irreversible issue with board so even after Flashing back to prior Bios, freezes, idle reboots, BSOD's continue. This time around Asus Crosshiar VIII hero Dark is the worse board made and this is coming from long time Asus fanboy.

My advise, if you can sell or return the board, even if you RMA, high possibility you end up with the same issue.

[Murph_9000]

You might want to try reducing your memory clock a little, as there are no supported 4x16GB DDR4-4400 configurations on the memory QVL (the 4 stick configurations have a 4 in the "socket support" column). Getting 4 sticks of overclocked RAM to work can sometimes be much harder than 2 sticks.

I would start by running with DOCP off for a while (running at default JEDEC SPD speed, probably somewhere in the 2133-2666 range), to see if that is stable. If that works, try DOCP but with the rate reduced to 3600, and see if that's stable. Your memory is probably similar to mine (4x16 Ballistix DDR4-3600), but from a higher bin; 3600 is the fastest QVL speed for a 4-stick Crucial/Micron configuration. I'm having good results with the Ballistix DDR4-3600 on the Crosshair VIII Extreme (also a X570S board, the bigger sibling to the Dark Hero). If 3600 works well, you can try to push it faster. You might also try slackening the timings a little (e.g. going to a higher CL number, etc).

You could also try running with just 2 sticks for a while (and swapping between the pairs), to see if the RAM is stable like that and probably just needs manual tuning to get it working as 4 stick. The problems might not be RAM related, but trying to run 4 sticks super-fast (beyond 3600 on AM4) is an obvious source of potential instability.

[Gentleman]

Hi everyone.
I have just started to get back in to pc building after a Few years break, so much has changed!
I am starting to have issues with screen flickering on wake up and also the displays turning off with the PC on and the Q Code reading 00 ............. I am using Bios 4201 which I am starting to see was a mistake..... I am running windows 11 - AMD 5950x, 64gb Ballistix Max 4400mhz , Asus Tuf 3090ti oc, all water cooled. DOCP is enabled.
I have also had the system freeze on start up reading 02 as the q code.

I have reset cmos and have run Restoro.

Any pointers anyone, help greatl appreciated.

Cheers

Ady

hi mate,

As the last speaker said. 4000mhz+ on memory will be problematic on a lot of motherboards paired with an AMD AM4 CPU. I've dealt with a few of these builds in my experience. Optionally, after what a colleague has already suggested, try to set the memory manually to 3600 and make sure that the cpu fsb / memory ratio is 1:1. Everything should be fine, and then you can experiment with more aggressive taimings. If you do not feel like an advanced user, then the best purchase will be memory with a predefined 3800mhz, and e.g. delays of 16-16-16-38.

[ady@amf1]

Hi Murph and Mag

Thank you both for your input. I have given Asus 1 more chance to help clarify the situation. On the specs of this MB it states that it will accept 4 sticks of ram up to 128gb and 4400mhz (OC) . If they cannot clarify then i will be changing my MB. The only downside is I have a full block on the MB for watercooling, which may not fit other MBs. What MB would you guys suggest as a replacement for this one which would be better able to handle the memory and indeed overclocking. This is the first Asus MB I have had problems overclocking !!!! So much for technical advancement.

Ady

[Gentleman]

Hi Murph and Mag

Thank you both for your input. I have given Asus 1 more chance to help clarify the situation. On the specs of this MB it states that it will accept 4 sticks of ram up to 128gb and 4400mhz (OC) . If they cannot clarify then i will be changing my MB. The only downside is I have a full block on the MB for watercooling, which may not fit other MBs. What MB would you guys suggest as a replacement for this one which would be better able to handle the memory and indeed overclocking. This is the first Asus MB I have had problems overclocking !!!! So much for technical advancement.

Ady

xD

bro, u have completly no benefits from 4x stick @ 4400mhz, its above ratio 1:1 so its summary a downgrade of available performance... moreover - it can bring a lot of instability issues

Ryzen 5000 processor cannot operate with a higher than 2,000 MHz FCLK, not every piece can work with ex 2000Mhz...

sweet spot is 3800 and as lowest latency as u can get

dont change mobo, just change memory, and u save ur wc build

ps: another thing is u need understand "up to 4 stick" "up to 4400mhz" in some cases isnot recomnded and not guaranted till ur memory are not familiar with qvl

ps2: read some prof ie
https://www.tomshardware.com/feature...5000-ram-guide

[Murph_9000]

Thank you both for your input. I have given Asus 1 more chance to help clarify the situation. On the specs of this MB it states that it will accept 4 sticks of ram up to 128gb and 4400mhz (OC) . If they cannot clarify then i will be changing my MB. The only downside is I have a full block on the MB for watercooling, which may not fit other MBs. What MB would you guys suggest as a replacement for this one which would be better able to handle the memory and indeed overclocking. This is the first Asus MB I have had problems overclocking !!!! So much for technical advancement.

The spec sheet refers you to the memory QVL, and your configuration is not on the QVL.

You are unlikely to find any motherboard which is happy with that RAM configuration. 4 sticks of super-fast is problematic on all X570 boards. 4 sticks and overclocking are a problem in general, for all dual channel boards and all vendors. The electrical signals suffer when there's more than 1 DIMM per channel, on all motherboards, which reduces the maximum achievable performance.

[J Bish]

Q Code 00 (cpu is not initializing) code 02 is also cpu related (AP initialization before microcode loading), back off the overclocking and set everything back to stock/default config no docp and see what it does

Hi everyone.
I have just started to get back in to pc building after a Few years break, so much has changed!
I am starting to have issues with screen flickering on wake up and also the displays turning off with the PC on and the Q Code reading 00 ............. I am using Bios 4201 which I am starting to see was a mistake..... I am running windows 11 - AMD 5950x, 64gb Ballistix Max 4400mhz , Asus Tuf 3090ti oc, all water cooled. DOCP is enabled.
I have also had the system freeze on start up reading 02 as the q code.

I have reset cmos and have run Restoro.

Any pointers anyone, help greatl appreciated.

Cheers

Ady

[delslow]

You right, Bios 4201 is the issue in combination with Dark Hero VIII. I had similar setup and 3 different Dark Hero VIII boards I end up returning to Amazon and changing to MSi and problem is gone. I contacted Asus # of times and as always generic responses, but months ago I have been told to stick with 4006 Bios and they will work on new bios.....don't trust them.

There is something with Bios 4201 that causes irreversible issue with board so even after Flashing back to prior Bios, freezes, idle reboots, BSOD's continue. This time around Asus Crosshiar VIII hero Dark is the worse board made and this is coming from long time Asus fanboy.

My advise, if you can sell or return the board, even if you RMA, high possibility you end up with the same issue.

I have had a ton of issues on 4201. How was I supposed to know to NOT upgrade to their latest firmware!?! Why is it still on their page if it's known to be bad!? =( I've been using ASUS for a long time now, but this has really got me upset. Has there been any word on when/if they will put out an updated and fixed bios? Does it matter if I try to roll back to a previous Bios?

Thanks

[Megascrypt]

I have had a ton of issues on 4201. How was I supposed to know to NOT upgrade to their latest firmware!?! Why is it still on their page if it's known to be bad!? =( I've been using ASUS for a long time now, but this has really got me upset. Has there been any word on when/if they will put out an updated and fixed bios? Does it matter if I try to roll back to a previous Bios?

Thanks

You wouldn't know and so are many other users who didn't know as well, they upgraded and no go after. When I received email from Asus support, they told me not to upgrade and stay with 4006 and I can tell you this, they said that not because they care, but to keep you quiet and hopeful, they told me 4-5 months ago they working on Bios to fix some of the issues, but to date nothing and you know why? because there is physical issue with ton of those Hero VIII Dark boards.

I was also long time Asus user, that all ended after this run around and getting nowhere.