- Jul 4, 2013
- 16
- 0
- 10,510
Hello everyone,
After some mild overclocking and a BIOS update, my PC passes both the POST and the BIOS but freezes on first Windows 8 splash screen: after 20 sec. there's a flash of BSOD ("Your computer ran into a problem, we will restart it for you"), and there it goes in a infinite loop of reboots. I already searched the forum for similar issues, and these are the specs of my custom-built pc, assembled in 2011.
- Asus P8Z68 Deluxe
- Intel i7 2600k @ 4,4 Ghz
- 16 Gb Corsair Dominator GT
- Zotac Nvidia GTX590
- 2 Corsair Force 3 SSD 240Gb
- 2 WD Caviar 2Tb (RAID 0)
- Enermax Revolution 85+ 1020W
- Corsair Hydro CPU Cooler
In order to troubleshoot the issue i made a backup and reformatted the SSD where Win 8 was installed, so that i could at least determine if it was a windows or a system issue. Indeed, the very same problem happened afterwards, while trying to reinstall Windows 8 either from DVD, from USB, or from the second SSD: freeze at splash, 30 sec. BSOD, self-reboot.
I tried to install other versions of windows from different supports, but nothing changes. The only suspect i had, was that during overclock sessions - which never went beyond 4,8Ghz - sometimes a WHEA occurred, but i just had to lower the overclock at the stable frequency of 4,4Ghz. The motherboard itself doesn't show any kind of problem: no red leds are lit near key-components, and q-codes are 'AE' if i try to boot normally, and 'FF' when i boot with Hiren's boot CD, which is right now the only way to access to the PC.
So far I ran Memtest for a whole night without errors, verified the functionality of all disks (2 SSD + 2 HD in RAID 0), tried to boot from USB HD, restore BIOS defaults and downgraded it to the previous version, set the SATA in all available states, checked cables etc.
Now, after more digging, maybe I found a clue: when the system worked, some BSOD gave the code '0000009c', and a few minutes ago I went into the BIOS and under the tab 'tools' I got details for all the four RAM banks, and the third bank shows a '0000009c' code. Too much of a coincidence? Curiously enough, from Hiren's boot CD I can only boot with the 'Mini XP' but not with 'Mini 7' OS: could it be because XP 32bit sees only the first bank of RAM?
I told you all this because I'm alone and can't move my left arm for a motorbike accident: and before moving a full tower and tinkering with the hardware, I wanted to be as sure as possible it was worth the effort of working on it by myself and in such conditions.
Thanks everybody for reading, and I hope someone can confirm my suspects over the RAM bank, or provide a different angle on the matter... ; )
After some mild overclocking and a BIOS update, my PC passes both the POST and the BIOS but freezes on first Windows 8 splash screen: after 20 sec. there's a flash of BSOD ("Your computer ran into a problem, we will restart it for you"), and there it goes in a infinite loop of reboots. I already searched the forum for similar issues, and these are the specs of my custom-built pc, assembled in 2011.
- Asus P8Z68 Deluxe
- Intel i7 2600k @ 4,4 Ghz
- 16 Gb Corsair Dominator GT
- Zotac Nvidia GTX590
- 2 Corsair Force 3 SSD 240Gb
- 2 WD Caviar 2Tb (RAID 0)
- Enermax Revolution 85+ 1020W
- Corsair Hydro CPU Cooler
In order to troubleshoot the issue i made a backup and reformatted the SSD where Win 8 was installed, so that i could at least determine if it was a windows or a system issue. Indeed, the very same problem happened afterwards, while trying to reinstall Windows 8 either from DVD, from USB, or from the second SSD: freeze at splash, 30 sec. BSOD, self-reboot.
I tried to install other versions of windows from different supports, but nothing changes. The only suspect i had, was that during overclock sessions - which never went beyond 4,8Ghz - sometimes a WHEA occurred, but i just had to lower the overclock at the stable frequency of 4,4Ghz. The motherboard itself doesn't show any kind of problem: no red leds are lit near key-components, and q-codes are 'AE' if i try to boot normally, and 'FF' when i boot with Hiren's boot CD, which is right now the only way to access to the PC.
So far I ran Memtest for a whole night without errors, verified the functionality of all disks (2 SSD + 2 HD in RAID 0), tried to boot from USB HD, restore BIOS defaults and downgraded it to the previous version, set the SATA in all available states, checked cables etc.
Now, after more digging, maybe I found a clue: when the system worked, some BSOD gave the code '0000009c', and a few minutes ago I went into the BIOS and under the tab 'tools' I got details for all the four RAM banks, and the third bank shows a '0000009c' code. Too much of a coincidence? Curiously enough, from Hiren's boot CD I can only boot with the 'Mini XP' but not with 'Mini 7' OS: could it be because XP 32bit sees only the first bank of RAM?
I told you all this because I'm alone and can't move my left arm for a motorbike accident: and before moving a full tower and tinkering with the hardware, I wanted to be as sure as possible it was worth the effort of working on it by myself and in such conditions.
Thanks everybody for reading, and I hope someone can confirm my suspects over the RAM bank, or provide a different angle on the matter... ; )
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