Z77 OC Formula and Windows 8.1 Update 1 has problems?

[Ken429]

I have Windows 8.1 Update 1 running on two systems with a Gigabyte MB's and drivers - no issues. I have a system with an ASRock Z77 OC Formula MB with all the latest W8.1 drivers and as soon as I let Windows Update do the Update 1 routine the system starts having problems with "Re-Painting" the Desktop Icons. The first try (W8 to W8.1 via Microsoft Store and then Update 1 via Windows Update) would boot up and then after ~6 seconds clear all the desktop Icons except the ones selected in "Desktop Icons Settings" and then re-paint the all the desktop icons after ~16 seconds.

Since I could not find anybody that knew what was causing this problem I gave up and reinstalled Windows using a downloaded W8.1 ISO file and then let Windows Update install Update 1. Now, I have to wait ~10 seconds on a cold boot to see all the desktop icons AND I get a BONUS with the infamous Event ID 4 warnings and the Event 3 Errors for "ReadBoot" and the "Circular Kernel Context Logger". Again, nobody that I can find via Google seems to have a solution let alone what the heck is the root cause to any of these problems. Like I said above, I don't have any of these issues on the Gigabyte systems or when the ASRock Z77 OC Formula is running W8.1. The problems start as soon as Update 1 enters the system. The system runs OK once it is booted up.

It's almost like one of the drivers for the ASRock MB is having issues with W8.1 Update 1! If anybody else with this MB or a similar one with all the latest drivers installed is having any of these problems or got any ideas what I should be looking for to resolve would be appreciated. I would stick with W8.1 but MSFT seems to want to force people to install Update 1.

One difference between the systems with the Gigabyte MB's and the ASRock MB is the format of the SSD's. The Gigabyte systems ended up on MBR formatted SSD's while the ASRock is on a GPT formatted SSD. Other than that all three systems are running pretty much the same software except the drivers. Again, no issues until Update 1 enters the ASRock system.

I've got screen dumps of the other Event ID 3 Error and Event ID 4 Warnings - just don't know how to attach more than one at a time!

[Ken429]

Re: Z77 OC Formula and Windows 8.1 Update 1 has problems?

I've got three SSD's, one with a fresh install of W8.1, one with a fresh install of W8.1 Update 1 and one that has W8.1 Update 1 with all my stuff installed. The SSD with the fresh install of W8.1 appears to have no problems - the Event Log is empty and the desktop icons pop up immediately on a cold boot. The SSD with W8.1 Update 1 has Event 3 and 4 showing for "ReadyBoot" and "Circular Kernel Context Logger" AND problems with the desktop icons showing as blank icons for ~10-15 seconds on a cold boot. The third SSD with all my stuff installed just gets worse as far as the desktop icon problem is concerned.
It would appear that there is a serious issue with Update 1 and the ASRock Z77 OC Formula MB and Drivers?. What do I have to do to get someone's attention that might have a clue on what is going on?

[parsec]

Re: Z77 OC Formula and Windows 8.1 Update 1 has problems?

You might need to wait until Windows 8.1 Update 1 is more commonly in use.

I have two Win 8.1 installations, and I'm waiting for this update to have a few weeks of actual use in the "wild" before I am willing to apply it to my PCs. That is due to the initial issues MS had simply distributing it to their enterprise customers, and that Update 1 was actually not available to me when I considered installing it, since MS removed it for a while.

Frankly, all of your PC's information is missing one obvious thing, the video source. Are you using onboard video on your Z77 and Z68 PCs, or what?

The symptoms you described sound like a video driver problem. Your term "latest drivers" is not clear, what is the source of the latest drivers?

ASRock and all other mother board manufactures do not create their own drivers, that are all sourced from the manufacture of the specific hardware. Onboard video drivers would be from Intel. Whether or not ASRock and Gigabyte are providing the same video drivers should be obvious to you, and a quick check of their websites shows that they don't. The Gigabyte listed driver is newer than the one provided by ASRock for your boards. Neither of those drivers is the latest one provided by Intel.

[Ken429]

Re: Z77 OC Formula and Windows 8.1 Update 1 has problems?

parsec,
Thanks for the response, I had the feeling I'd been declared off limits with "my" problem on the various sites that I had posted the Update 1 issues with the ASRock MB.

The "latest" drivers I'm using are from the ASRock site.
The video driver I'm using on the Gigabyte/3570K is the Intel 4000 v10.18.10.3412 and that system runs OK with W8.1 Update 1.
The video driver I'm using on the ASRock/3770K is the Intel 4000 v10.18.10.3412 and it works OK for W8.1 but the system don't hunt when Update 1 is applied!
The video driver I'm using on my trusted Gigabyte/Q9550 system is the Nvidia driver v9.18.13.3165 for the GTX 560 TI and that system runs OK with W8.1 Update 1.

I see the latest Intel 4000 driver is v15.33.18.64. I am surprised since Windows Update "used" to offer to update the Intel driver? I also had hoped that ASRock did a better job of updating their site with the latest drivers but...the old driver works on the Gigabyte/3570K system.

So it looks like I have to go on the hunt for all the latest driver from the various vendors that have chips on the ASRock Z77 OC Formula MB?! There is something on the ASRock MB that is causing Update 1 to go nuts.

[Ken429]

Re: Z77 OC Formula and Windows 8.1 Update 1 has problems?

Somebody is messing with my sanity! After screwing around with Update 1 for over a week on the ASRock system and dealing with the Event Log 3's and 4's and the desktop icon ~16 second repaint issue I plugged in the SSD yesterday with a clean copy of W8.1 Update 1 and by some magic the Event Logs changed and the icon repaint problem disappeared. I now have 4 Event Log entry Warnings in the 200's?!! I still have the Event Log 3's and 4's and icon problem on the SSD with all my Stuff installed. So one might think that one of the applications is causing the problem on that version of the system. I'm installing my applications on the "working" system and backing up often with the stand alone USB Boot version of Acronis TI.

[parsec]

Re: Z77 OC Formula and Windows 8.1 Update 1 has problems?

Ah, Windows Event Log. If I was worried about most of the nonsense I've seen in it, when I even bother to look, I would have lost my mind. Meanwhile, the PC works fine. I can't imagine what MS would do if everyone questioned every Event Log warning, they would be buried in questions.

FYI, I tried to apply Update 1 last night. Downloaded fine and began the installation, needed to restart so I did. Watched it update for a while, rebooted, and updated some more. When finished, it then announced that the update failed and had to rollback Update 1. Sat through that and the PC survived the experience.

I had applied the required updates needed for Update 1, although I don't apply all the Windows updates available, such as the IE updates, since I don't use IE. I wonder if I've broken the "law" by doing that. Given the contempt for Win 8, which I don't have, the hole in MS's foot caused by Win 8 is getting bigger all the time. It will likely make the contempt for Vista a distant memory, since Win 8 is aggravating me for reasons unrelated to the usual things.

[parsec]

Re: Z77 OC Formula and Windows 8.1 Update 1 has problems?

Tried Update 1 again, on a different 8.1 installation, and it worked fine. I use a GTX 760 graphics card in that PC, and haven't seen any video glitches whatsoever, or any problems at all. I have seen the symptoms you described in the past, but not associated with Update 1, which did not exist at that time. I thought it was just driver problems, or the use of Ultra Fast boot.

[Ken429]

Re: Z77 OC Formula and Windows 8.1 Update 1 has problems?

I have now installed all the applications on the latest version of Windows 8.1 Update 1 running on the ASRock MB and all is well. So, I have the original version of W8.1.1 on an SSD that has all the problems I described above and a "fresh" version on a second SSD that, at least as far as I can tell, has no issues (the Event Log 200's went away!). Since the original version on the ASRock MB was an upgrade from W8 that I installed and used since W8 was first released I got to assume I had some sort of corruption that W8.1.1 could not handle. I don't have a clue on why the Event Log 3's and 4's and then the 200's just went away on the "fresh" version unless MSFT made some changes to their Log In server that fixed that issue. Also, I gave in on the ASRock MB System and let Windows use all default settings so all the folders and files it uses are on the SSD in the boot partition (C:) as opposed to trying to save SSD wear and tear by putting heavy write stuff on a Raptor.

In the meantime W8.1.1 is running with no issues on the two Gigabyte MB's. Both of these systems were relatively new installs of W8 before upgrading to W8.1.1.