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Retired · ‎08-29-2011

System specs are in my sig.

I recently put this rig together just last week out of brand new components. It was fine for the first week however I'm starting to get BSODs/STOP errors. But that's not all. When I restart the rig the system doesn't recognize the SSD until I enter the BIOS, reset everything to defaults, save and exit, reenter BIOS, enable the SSD in the Hard Drive section and then change the boot priority. And for the record, in case you're wondering, the boot priority section doesn't list the SSD until after I change the HDD to the SSD in the Hard Drive section. Until I go through this process not even the Marvell SATA III post screen recognizes the SSD. It just sits there for a while than tries to boot from the HDD.

The last time it happened I was watching an episode of Futurama online. About halfway through the episode I lost sound. I paused and tried to exit full screen mode but it was at that point that I got the STOP Error.

The time before that I had to run Windows Repair from the install disk since even after going through that BIOS process it still returned a BOOTMGR is missing error.

Everytime I load the BIOS default I lose my OC but thankfully that isn't too much of a problem since I saved it to an OC Profile.

I'm at a loss as to why this is happening. Why on earth would my BIOS just randomly stop recognizing my SSD until I load defaults?

EDIT: Just a bit more information. I was using the leaked 0501 BIOS. I just flashed the 0404 BIOS and will see how that works out.

Noein · ‎08-29-2011

- what kind of stop error u got ?
- if u got freezes try update firmware of your ssd ( http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=517845#post517845 )
- check if changing bios help

Retired · ‎08-29-2011

You come to my aide again. Yeah since I reinstalled the 0404 bios things seem alot more stable. Even the SSD seems to be running about 20MB/s faster on the read and write according to HD Tune. But it may be a few days before I actually know for sure if it helped. I'll check into the firmware update for my SSD. Thanks for the post.

Retired · ‎08-30-2011

Alright so a couple days later and it appears to be as stable as a rig can get at this OC. I'm not sure if it was the BIOS downgrade or the fact that I scaled the DRAMM frequency back a bit. It was at 1614MHz, but I scaled it back to the next lowest setting which I think is 1293MHz based on the current BSCLK of 158. Whichever it was my rig now seems extremely stable at this OC. I've read other reports of stability issues with ram running higher than 1600MHz so aparently this board doesn't like ram running any higher than 1600MHz flat, especially since my ram isn't on the QVL.

Noein · ‎08-31-2011

actually you can check it :] set it 1614 and run mem test , remember to test only 1 ram

Retired · ‎08-31-2011

I spoke too soon. I left it running last night and when I woke up it had restarted itself with the boot priority all messed up and the rig trying to boot from the ODD. Checked the BIOS and my SSD was nowhere to be found and I had to once again load setup defaults to get the SSD to show up under the Hard Drive and Boot Priority menus.

Ferosin · ‎08-31-2011

It really sounds like you have an unstable overclock the bios is resetting because its unable to boot back up with the previous settings,
I would start by bumping up your vcore 1.21 @ 4ghz is really low usually its set to 1.3 or higher have you stress tested your system at all?
Are you able to see what the bsod error is?
Is your system only crashing at night? if so does your cat have a habit of sleeping on top of your computer case?

Retired · ‎08-31-2011

Thanks for posting Ferosin.

Yes I have... I ran IntelBurnTest on max several times over varying passes, 10, 15 and 20 and all passed without issues. You may still be right though. The OC may be stable long enough for ITB to pass but not for the system to stay on for extended periods. I just figured that with ITB passing on Max for 15+ passes at 1.21 vCore I had a really good chip for overclocking. I'll bump the vCore up a few notches. My only concern was burning it out with too high a vCore. I want the OC but I also want a long chip life for this CPU. It isn't very often I get the funds to build myself a rig like this so the longer this chip lasts me the better.

EDIT: Nah, lol... the cat either sleeps in bed with us or on the couch in the living room.

Retired · ‎08-31-2011

Update: vCore is now set at 1.25, ITB passed 20 passes on Max, will leave the system on overnight again and check in the morning.

Ferosin · ‎08-31-2011

Forgot you may also need to up your uncore qpi/dram voltage along with the vcore
I understand how hesitant you may be, I have 2 920s and 1 930 that all run from 1.33-1.35v and have been for about 2 years or so, the chip should still last you plenty of years as long as your not putting excessive amounts of voltage 1.5+ and running temps of 80c+.
You may see degradation of the chip and be unable to hold that 4ghz oc without increasing the voltage but that will be later and varies from chip to chip. I have not come across any studies on the avg lifespan of a processor being overclocked and only have my experiences to base it off of.

BIOS requires defaults after running overnight