ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

[Spockton]

Hello Again Everyone
Just built another computer! !

Specs:
Logisys ATX Mid-tower USB 3.0 Gaming Case CS369BK (Black)
NEW Asrock 970 Extreme4 Motherboard (((BIOS VERSION 2.60)))
AM3 Phenom II X6 HDT45TWFK6DGR 95W Thuban
Corsair H100i Liquid Cpu Cooler
Ram: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL 4gigx4gigx4gigx4gig
Ram Cooler G.SKILL FTB-3500C5-D Turbulence II
Hitachi 2TB 64MB Cache 7200RPM 3.5" SATA3 Hard Drive with Hard Drive Fan
GeForce GTX650 GK106 2GB 384Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x 16 Graphics
700W Gaming 120MM Blue LED Fan Guard Grill Silent ATX Power Supply PSU
3 120 fans

1st) I originally tried after booting up the computer installing windows7 64 with absolutely no luck at all leaving everything factory except boot order changing the cd rom to 1st in the bios. Then took the windows7 64 cd put into cd rom and rebooted computer. The initial part of the loading process would show for maybe 1/2 a min then computer would reboot and get so far and reboot again etc. This was a no winner.
2nd) Grabbed manual and read about installing windows and that the default was SATA IDE
3rd) Grabbed the Asrock Utilities cd and plugged in a thumb drive and transferred data to it for RAID mode
4th) Raid mode option gave option to delete hard drive and write a bunch of 0's - 9's on it so I had it do this to ensure the hard drive wasn't DOA. Found out the hard drive was A-ok successful
5th) Rebooted and tried the install again and windows install would come up for a bit then system would reboot and do this repeatedly.
6th) Fcked around more and finally got windows to install with a tons of frustration and a major migraine at this point.
7th) After windows finally got installed with a lot of prayers took the asrock utilities cd and installed everything from it to the system.
8th) The system is blue screening and I am enclosing 4 pictures as I couldn't get all of the data info into 1 and am at a loss.





I dunno if I am missing something or what. I have never in my life ever had such a hard time with a motherboard. I sure hope that we can figure this out. Thanks everyone

Found a post on tomshardware and on a few other forms that match this:

What shall I do? At this point I want a entirely different board. I'm just sick over all this. :(

[bahram_alinezhad]

Re: ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

Either my or your English is bad! I can't understand some parts of your writing. e.g:

with absolutely no luck at all
This was a no winner
write a bunch of 0's - 9's
hard drive wasn't DOA
hard drive was A-ok successful
Fcked around more

[parsec]

Re: ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

A BSOD code of 124 is usually a hardware error of some kind, including your memory and CPU, so not isolated to the board.

Have you checked the CPU temperature to verify the correct installation of your CPU cooler?

Your RAM may also be defective, try just two DIMMs in slots A2 and B2, or do a memtest run on your memory. Also check the RAM is properly seated.

Any OC of CPU or memory? I see you have a memory cooler, normally only needed for extreme over clocking of memory.

Have you checked the CPU and memory voltages in the BIOS and in Windows?

You either have not provided much information, or have not really checked into your problem very deeply, sorry to say.

Your apparently no-name power supply is a red flag IMO. Please tell me that is not the PSU that came with your Logisys case...

[Spockton]

Re: ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

A BSOD code of 124 is usually a hardware error of some kind, including your memory and CPU, so not isolated to the board.

Have you checked the CPU temperature to verify the correct installation of your CPU cooler?

Your RAM may also be defective, try just two DIMMs in slots A2 and B2, or do a memtest run on your memory. Also check the RAM is properly seated.

Any OC of CPU or memory? I see you have a memory cooler, normally only needed for extreme over clocking of memory.

Have you checked the CPU and memory voltages in the BIOS and in Windows?

You either have not provided much information, or have not really checked into your problem very deeply, sorry to say.

Your apparently no-name power supply is a red flag IMO. Please tell me that is not the PSU that came with your Logisys case...

1. I AM NOT OVER CLOCKING THE SYSTEM
2. I AM NOT USING SPEED BOOST
3. Going back over this, the aux is running way too warm. I wasn't able to install the corsair drivers to find temps out. After taking the back cover off the case and putting a fan on the back of the case was able to install corsair drivers. I found that all the temps were fine except the AUX which was 154F. I also put my hand by the regulators towards the back of the board w/ all the plugins and they were HOT.
4. CPU TEMP: 78F - 81F
5. Ram works just like peaches & cream no issues. The memory cooler is just that for the memory. Cooler memory stays the better the performance. I will be doing a lot of gaming and hence I got the memory cooler.
6.PSU isn't the P.O.S. that came w/ the Logisys case. The PSU is a aftermarket 750 watt: Amazon.com: KENTEK 750 Watt 750W 120mm Fan ATX Power Supply 12V 2.3 EPS12V 2.92 PCI-Express SATA 20/24 PIN Intel AMD by KENTEK: Computers & Accessories
7. I am waiting for 2 140mm fans. 2 will be in the front of the case and 1 fan on the back of the case blowing towards the mobo where the regulators are on the mobo with a screen. I have also added 2 more 120 fans in the side case blowing in w/ screens. I have gotten 2 more corsair 120mm fans for the push/pull effect with the radiator.

***Am sitting back wondering if this mobo was meant for just fan cooling***

[parsec]

Re: ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

You're using the Corsair Link software to monitor temperatures? If so, it is known to not be reliable. Or at least verify what Corsair Link is saying with something else like:

HWiNFO, HWiNFO32/64 - Download

It is common for mother boards to not use all the temperature sensors that the monitoring chip provides, so it is quite possible that the AUX reading is just a bad, non-reading.

OTOH, if that reading is the voltage regulators (doubtful for a board at this price), they are way to hot! Great to see you are getting more cooling for them. Cooling the voltage regulators is far more important than cooling memory. Never used memory cooling, never will, never had memory issues.

AMD boards in general are plagued with under-powered, over heating voltage regulators. Your board is a 4 + 1 phase design, and at least has a heat sink on them. So over clocking is out of the question on this board.

[Spockton]

Re: ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

Thank you very much parsec for the heads up and the HWiNfo download. Just installed on this older computer very interesting results. Once I get the fans installed will reboot the asrock 970 extreme4 and will post results. Interesting news on the amd boards will def keep that in mind on the next build.

[parsec]

Re: ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

Ok good, I'm glad another "opinion" on the CPU and other temperatures helped you.

I've read too many less than good things about the Link software to allow anyone to not double check it. Also, although I use several Corsair H Series coolers, on some boards they can be tricky to install.

Most of the boards I use are too thin to use with the washers/spacers on the backplate of the Corsair CPU block/pump. When the standoffs for the CPU block are screwed into the backplate, the backplate is not tight against the back of the board. That "play" in the mounting might not allow the correct amount of pressure between the the CPU block's copper heat plate and the top of the CPU. The result is less than optimal cooling and CPU temperatures. This is a common issue with the Corsair H coolers.

Just remembered this is an AMD board, so the CPU block mounting may be (is) different than for Intel boards. Also, the mounting of the CPU block on an H100i may be different than the H coolers I use, so those two things might make my comments above not applicable to you.

Anyway, while I'm not sure, if your CPU temperature was higher than it should be, check the mounting of the CPU block. I know the following is a PITA, but you can check that by removing the CPU block and looking at the TIM/thermal grease imprint on the CPU. If the imprint is poor, the CPU block mounting needs some work/adjustment.

The problem with some AMD boards is, while they are good deals and worked well with AMD's earlier processors, their newer and higher end CPUs use more power than their TDP rating suggests. This is where AMD's great compatibility with multiple CPUs fools owners into thinking they can use any physically compatible AMD CPU in their boards. Actually, it was not until the new AMD processors were being used for a while that it was noticed many of them can be quite power hungry. That is when owners start to have problems caused by the CPU voltage regulators not being strong enough. That is also when board manufactures began removing high end AMD processors from some of their board's CPU compatibility lists. Voltage regulator issues are usually seen when over clocking and having inadequate cooling. You have great cooling and are not OCing.

I'm curious about your "interesting results", please do post them.

[bahram_alinezhad]

Re: ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

What do you expect! Your from IRAN! Grrr

Exactly for this reason, you should write more clear when you are in an international environment. Most people here have working language skills not native. Avoiding colloquial/shortened words, and making use of punctuations, are important.

[Spockton]

Re: ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

Interesting info you posted parsec about the corsair. I will surely keep in mind. Well I completed the build but sadly after the results am having no choice but to return the motherboard to newegg and get a totally different type of mobo. Honestly this motherboard should have never been produced with out more thought on temps. The temp of my apartment is 70F.
1 140mm fan on the back of the case blowing in on the back of the motherboard, and 2 140mm fans blowing in from the (front) of the case, and 4 120mm fans blowing in from the (front side) of the case, and 120mm fan blowing out the back and 4 120mm fans blowing out w/ the push/pull system of the corsair h100I with these results:



I took another 140mm fan and stuck it right on the regulators results:


If images aren't showing please refer in order:
Look at latest pics: http://tinypic.com/4dulmkye
apparently tinypic is having issues.

http://i58.tinypic.com/16hlzwl.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/24xf0np.jpg

http://i57.tinypic.com/2jfj97p.jpg

http://i62.tinypic.com/4hehvo.jpg

[parsec]

Re: ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 windows blue screen

Nice post, as you can see HWiNFO can show you more about your CPU and mother board than any other monitoring program, at least that I am aware of.

But, it is important to keep in mind that every reading it shows may not be a valid sensor reading. I see a couple that aren't valid, but not many. The invalid ones are caused by the mobo manufacture not using every last sensor input on the monitoring chip used on the board. The unused inputs still have an output which can be read by HWiNFO, but the HWiNFO programmer rarely has all the information about what inputs are used or not. The mobo manufactures don't provide that info, just the way it is. Also, there are differences between AMD and Intel systems, so a reading like "CPU (PECI)" is only valid for Intel systems, AFAIK.

Given that, identifying what every output belongs to is difficult to impossible. That's why we see a readings named "Auxiliary", or "VIN4", etc. Some of those we can figure out pretty well, others are much harder, if they are even valid readings.

Moving on, my comments:

CPU/core temperatures: They look good and are valid, given what we know about the CPU temp sensors on AMD processors. You don't have CPU cooling problems according to those readings.

Mother board: Mobo temp is perfect, but normally that sensor is located far from the CPU and voltage regulator (VRM) area. The main question is what the Auxiliary temperature reading is.

It is much more common for the Auxiliary temperature to be that of the board's chipset. On your board that would be the "Northbridge" AMD 970 chip. IMO those high Auxiliary temperatures are of the 970 chipset, not the VRM temperature.

Of the four ASRock boards I have, only one will supply the temperature of the VRMs, the Intel based Z87 OC Formula.

AMD chipsets are infamous for running hot, partially due to having an undersized heat sink. Until recently, most Northbridge type chipsets operate at surprisingly high temperatures, whether AMD or Intel. I happen to be more familiar with Intel platforms, and the max temperature for some of their older chipsets is over 100C. I had to put a small fan on the heat sink of an Intel X58 chipset, to keep it at ~65C/150F. Other users reported temps of 80C or more for the X58.

IMO, another clue that the Auxiliary temperature is that of the 970 chip, is your test with a fan blowing right on the VRM heatsink. Notice that the Auxiliary temperature did not improve at all, and may have gotten worse. If this temperature was that of the VRMs, it would have changed some with the fan blowing on it.

One thing I want to show you is from a list of specs for your CPU, here: AMD Phenom II X6 1045T - HDT45TWFK6DGR / HDT45TWFGRBOX

If you scroll down on that page, you'll find this line: V NorthBridge 1.05V - 1.175V. That's the voltage for the 970 chip, do you have a BIOS option for that voltage? If so, see what it currently is set to, and if on Auto, set it manually somewhere in the range specified.

Regardless, given what you want from a board, getting a different one is the best choice. If you stick with ASRock, I would suggest a board like this:

ASRock > 990FX Extreme6

Another possibility, and if nothing else an interesting read (IMO required for AMD users) is the overview of this board:

ASRock > 990FX Extreme9

That is, just to get a true idea of what is required for the high end AMD processors. You'll notice the build of these boards is much more substantial than most AMD boards. This is how they should (must) be IMO.

Just because an AMD processor will physically fit in a board's socket, and is "compatible" with the BIOS and board (meaning it will operate and boot an OS), does not mean that the rest of the board is capable of supporting the needs (power) of all of those processors. This seems to be a reality that is unknown to some AMD users.

Your current board is actually above average in quality compared to some of the boards we've seen people try to use FX 8150s or FX 8350s in. Your processor is not as demanding as those are, but still will benefit from a better board.

Your build demonstrates a downside of the CLC liquid coolers like your H100i. No offense, I use these coolers too, but here's what happens.

Normally a typical "air cooled" CPU cooler has a fan mounted on the CPU heat sink. That fan is moving air in the general area of the CPU and VRM heatsink. At the very least the CPU cooler fan is moving air around in the area around the CPU. With a CLC liquid cooler, we don't get any of that air circulation that is otherwise common in PC builds.

You may be able to improve the VRM and chipset temperatures just by changing the 120mm fan at the top-rear from exhaust to intake. Your push-pull H100i setup may be stealing most of the cool air coming into the case. Your graphics card, while not a monster, is adding heat to the inside of the PC case right in the area below the 970 chip and VRM heat sink.

The two 120mm fans on the side of the case should be making up for most of the things I mentioned above, but don't seem to be. Some fans don't work well when they try to intake air through the usual metal grills like your case has. If you can take the side of the PC case off (carefully!!) while the PC is running and feel what the airflow from those side fans are with your hand, you may be surprised how bad it is.