C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

[arcjn97]

This is basically something that I took some risk on. I typically do not shop online. I live in Sydney Australia and would like to have some assistance on the RMA process for this board.

Thank you in advance.

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

My findings after reading from other threads that are closed and all ended up on lockups. Mind you I managed to install Ubuntu and Win 7 on separate SSDs without any crashed/lock ups.
-Tried disabling C-states
-Tried the above with everything in the CPU section disabled
-I am using the onboard video. Also tried an external GPU.
-Tried disabling everything including the Marvell SATA, Serial Port stuff, and only having 1 mem stick, and 1 SSD on the mobo
All the above locked up straight after loading the desktop in Windows. I get Kernel panics on Ubuntu 15.10.

BIOS logs does not say anything about the lock ups despite having the logging enabled. When it crashes, it basically have the screen frozen with any IO from keyboard or mouse having no effect. It wont even power off (4 sec or not) or reset via the respective buttons connected to the front panel header on the motherboard.

So I've re-enabled everything and managed to boot Windows to Safe mode with networking. Everything that I want from this board works all of a sudden. This is when I got rid of the video driver. I then followed this with a normal boot and managed to test the LAN transfer speed. It can transfer 3GB of data in about 25 seconds! (without teaming - just using one). Then again, it eventually froze.

I really want to get to the bottom of this. The behavior feels like as if something is overheating. I have applied thermal paste under the heatsink for the CPU. That's always have been on a healthy 40-45 degrees though.

If this is the onboard GPU I have a spare PCI-E GPU that is fully functional that can cater to this.

Because of the development on today's testing, I am inclined against the RMA for now. It's going to take too much time. I just want to get some use for what I paid for. This costed me about $AUD650. I want this to simply host a share of 2 folders - 1 for writing new files, and 1 read-only for the sorted files. I will also require to RDP in to it from time to time. Nothing more. So it could be head-less for all I care.

I am open for any suggestions from any AsRock Rep at this stage to get it working.

I have the latest BMC/BIOS from the AsRock website. I am yet to flash that marvell stuff as I don't think that this one of the cause of my lock ups - they can't cause any issue if I have them disabled in the BIOS and have no HDD plugged in on those ports, can they?

Thanks in advance.

[profJim]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

Welcome to the forum.

Send a private message to ASRockRack TSD - Bill asking for help and include a link to this thread.

Submit a tech support request form at ASRock Rack >

It might help if you post your information in the other ASRock Forum at: ASRock Forums

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

Welcome to the forum...

When bad things happen due to people misbehaving, I tend to lose faith in humanity. On the flip side, you're one of those people that restores that faith. Thank you.
I will put a support ticket in time. Looks like I am warming up to the root cause of the lock ups - it might be the Aspeed video and Marvell disk controller chip heating up... I've sort of isolated the video card by removing the windows driver and operate using the generic driver. It seems to be a bit more stable. I am running a stress test at the moment (the prime95 link on your signature gave me the idea). This is to stress test the CPU and isolate it from being part of the crashes. So far so good. Running at 100% utilization for an hour now with no problems.

EDIT: It crashed just after I posted this. :(

It seems that when it start to crash, the next subsequent reboots will crash too - almost immediately after a boot. This is also evident in the BIOS screen, i.e., not going though the OS boot and just going through things in the BIOS screens. It just freezes with keyboard, power, and reset buttons no longer working. At that point, I have to power it down by the power plug. I then wait for a few hours and I will be able to run again without the immediate crashes.

I see no indications on the BIOS logs nor in Windows Event Viewer that would pertain to the crashes. The crashes can vary between locking up the keyboard, mouse, power and reset buttons OR completely powering off for not reason. This gives me an impression that there are several root causes here.

Will keep this thread updated.

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

I got the 1055 firmware for the Marvell 9230 sata chipset from:
Marvell MV-92xx SATA 6G Controller Firmware Version 2.3.1055
HSS Champion from:
Marvell 9230 Firmware Updates and such - MS Gen 8 - HomeServerShow Forums
... says that he's got no issue with it.

The one from the AsRock website is version 1063. My board came with this already.

I've flashed it then. I'll post any incidents here if there's any. Stress testing + doing some network transfers using the SATA controllers in a OS level raid (spanned disks) as the destination.

BTW, for anyone that is reading this.... I am logging it all here in hope that any success I get here will benefit anyone else that purchase this board in the future.

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

I've:
-disabled all the Marvell Controllers in the BIOS
-still running on the standard windows vga driver (ASPEED one uninstalled)
-I also uninstalled all the Marvell drivers and only using the Intel SATA port for the SSD system drive.

Max uptime I can get with this box is about an hour. It just either powers down (cuts the power off) or just hangs/locks up.

Time to lodge a support ticket.

[profJim]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

What is the brand and model number of your power supply?
Can you borrow a different power supply to see if this helps?

HWinfo is an excellent free tool for monitoring and logging sensor information.

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I'm glad that I was able to help restore your faith in humanity.

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

What is the brand and model number of your power supply?
Can you borrow a different power supply to see if this helps?

I actually set this up originally on an Aerocool VX400-V3X Black. I spray painted (first project) that box and gave it to my little brother. We do casual Dota 2 gaming:
One of the graphic at the front of the box:

http://s18.postimg.org/xpgidc6ex/DSC_3760.jpg

The fan grill graphic:

http://s30.postimg.org/upzyfl6j5/DSC_3761.jpg

Topside with the secret mason/illuminati and steam logo (just for sh!ts and giggles):

http://s28.postimg.org/gc79zui99/DSC_3764.jpg

The Radiant side panel:

http://s28.postimg.org/a55jaji7h/DSC_3766.jpg

notice i fuct up on the lower left
The dire side panel where I fuct up jug's head:

http://s22.postimg.org/jx3xnaylt/DSC_3763.jpg

Back to the PSU... I now have it setup in a Thermaltake Armor+ with a Corsair HX1000w modular PSU. Have had the same symptoms all this time regardless.

So I'm afraid that the PSU may not be the issue here.

HWinfo is an excellent free tool for monitoring and logging sensor information...

I've been using this along with Prime95. The behaviour is very much the same as those tests for the Skylake bug.

I am certain that I cannot squeeze more than an hour uptime on this board using Windows. I have sent Bill (the AsRock rep a PM as per your message earlier - thanks again). I am now doing further tests under Ubuntu 15.10. If I can get a guaranteed 12+ hours up time, I can set this up on a 12hr timer, cutting the power and restoring it and have the BIOS to power it up on power restore. This way I get something like a 99% uptime under Linux. I mean, the BIOS/BMC are already upgraded to the latest. So as the Marvell chip (I actually had to try down grade this but the issues still persists). I doubt any further flash will make any difference. The only other avenues to explore really to try further testing under Linux and go the RMA route.

Thank you for your help.

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

Another thing to add:

What I notice is that I can still navigate through the BMC even though the PC itself is hung. I guess that runs independently of anything else on this board since one can still logged in on it even if the PC is powered off (plugged in but not switched on).

I also came across: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php...-alarms.28592/
The battery has been checked and it's got 3.1 volts. Replaced it with a brand new one (just in case). I still get the lock ups. Max up time I get is about 50-60 mins with an average of 15 mins.

I have sent a correspondence to AsRock and waiting for them to come back to me with a response.

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

I just want to note that the up time seems to depend on the activity.

With the build stripped to bare minimum (ie. 1 ssd + 1 memstick) i get about:
30 mins before system locks up when transferring files over a network + Prime 95 putting 100% CPU utilization
1-2 hours before system locks up when just transferring files from the network without any further CPU load
and exactly 2 hours and 45 mins (over 3 consecutive tests) on idle.

Been in contact with William (the very responsive AsRockstar rep) and he's suggested the RMA route.

Will update this thread on any further developments.

[Retteren]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

Another thing to add:

What I notice is that I can still navigate through the BMC even though the PC itself is hung. I guess that runs independently of anything else on this board since one can still logged in on it even if the PC is powered off (plugged in but not switched on).

Correct, that's (part of) the purpose of the BMC/IPMI :)

I have a NAS server using this board that been running 24x7 since November 2014, so your troubles are a surprise to me. But it's good to hear that William is able to help you out. When I had problems with the Marvell SATA controller, William was very helpfull to me in getting the problems sorted out (seems like the SE9230 is sensitive to cable quality).

I didn't see you mentioning the specific type of memory stick you're using. Are they on AsRockRack's Memory QVL list?

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

Correct, that's (part of) the purpose of the BMC/IPMI :)

Sorry... I am new to BMC/IPMI. Thanks for confirming that this is normal behaviour.

seems like the SE9230 is sensitive to cable quality

Yes. I also saw this thread and gave me the idea of having shielded cabling. I tried a shielded cable with only the 1 boot ssd connected and sadly, this only managed to stay up for an hour at the very most. It then hangs up.

I didn't see you mentioning the specific type of memory stick you're using. Are they on AsRockRack's Memory QVL list?

I have a 4gb (KVR16N11H/4) and an 8gb Kingston HyperX fury. For each test that I have done, I have repeated them having only 1 of them on. It only stays 15 to 30 mins on the 4gb (less if there's load). It can go from 1 hour to 3 hours on the 8gb. I eventually gave up testing with any other storage connected on it as I want to narrow down the culprit (for my own reference). If this was a memory issue - from experience, it won't even go past the POST and boot. The memory modules have no issues on them as I have checked them extensively before I purchased this board (now again after sending the board back). So I know they are okay. Both PSU that I have tested this board on are also okay. TheVX400-V3X PSU is now running a different build altogether. That build use to run on the Corsair HX1000W that I have done most of the testing on.

BTW, I can see that the board arrived in Taiwan yesterday (for RMA as per the instructions on the correspondences from AsRock - THANKS GUYS!).

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

Just want to add...

Realistically speaking, the board should work with all 12 SATA ports populated with storage devices (SSD/HDD). I don't even care it it works with 4GB (the one in the Memory QVL) but it turns out that the 8GB on runs longer. I will only use this board as a file server - nothing more. So I am fine with 4GB. When it works, the transfer speed on the gbit interfaces work wonderfully.

[Retteren]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

Yes. I also saw this thread and gave me the idea of having shielded cabling. I tried a shielded cable with only the 1 boot ssd connected and sadly, this only managed to stay up for an hour at the very most. It then hangs up.

I'm not sure if shielded cables are necessary - my impression is that the problem more about internal cable issues (near/far crosstalk, signal damping and jitter) than external influences (noise).
Frankly, I wouldn't be looking at your SATA cables and drives just yet. Your problems seem much more like motherboard or RAM issues than SATA/drive issues.

I have a 4gb (KVR16N11H/4) and an 8gb Kingston HyperX fury. For each test that I have done, I have repeated them having only 1 of them on. It only stays 15 to 30 mins on the 4gb (less if there's load). It can go from 1 hour to 3 hours on the 8gb. I eventually gave up testing with any other storage connected on it as I want to narrow down the culprit (for my own reference). If this was a memory issue - from experience, it won't even go past the POST and boot.

Good, the KVR16N11H/4 is on AsRockRack's QVL list. My experience is the same as yours (wrong memory = board won't boot/POST), but I just wanted to be sure that you weren't seeing memory related issues.
FWIW, I use ECC RAM which isn't on the list (KVR16LE11/8), but William confirmed to me by email that they are OK. With 4 x 8GB installed, I see about one Correctable ECC error every two months (again, it's running 24x7).

[arcjn97]

Re: C2750D4I - Purchased from NewEgg purchase a few months ago and unboxed recently and keeps locking up/crashing

I'm not sure if shielded cables are necessary...

Thought about the same. Jitter and crosstalk introduced by the connections on the circuit board should be checked and mitigated by the controller chip though (pretty much the same on what happens within the CPU die regardless what datapath is being used to execute instructions... etc.

it's running 24x7.

See... terms like this just give me hope on mine. Thank you. :)
I'll even settle for something over than 1 week up time. I can do a task scheduler or a cron job to reboot it weekly.

I got about 20+ PC builds with the same brand mobo so far (I know I know... fam/friend tech support sux... doing it for them keeps me entertained at the same time). Probably 2x as much previous builds before AsRock came along. Been really lucky as this is my first RMA.