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Help Diagnosing New Build Problem

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  • Systems
  • Motherboards
  • New Build
Last response: in Systems
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September 29, 2013 2:50:58 PM

I just built a new system:

Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
CPU: AMD FX-8350 Vishera
Memory: G.SKILL Trident X Series 2x8GB DDR3 2400
PSU: Ultra LSP750 (750W)
Case: Thermaltake Urban S71
Graphics Cards: MSI GeForce 460 GTX, Gigabyte GeForce 760 GTX

I'm running into constant problems. Most notably, Windows 7 freezes or crashes (blue screen of death) frequently. Also, the whole system fails to POST about fifty percent of the time, requiring a reset.

First, I tried switching graphics cards. I've tried it with each card individually and both cards installed. Same problems.

I tried running Memtest86. No problems found.

I ran Hot CPU Tester (the free version) and it came up with no problems.

Next time I experienced a blue screen, I found that there was no memory dump. So I thought it was perhaps a hard drive issue. I ran Hot CPU Tester again, this time testing the hard drive (used a 32MB test size instead of the default 8MB). I got a blue screen, and it couldn't dump the memory. I tried using WhoCrashed to do a manual crash, and it did dump the memory. This led me to think it was a hard drive issue.

So I swapped out hard drives. I was initially using a 256GB SSD, now I'm trying a 1TB 7200RPM drive (plugged into a different SATA port on the motherboard). I used Clonezilla to duplicate the disk. I again ran Hot CPU Tester on the hard drive, this time with no issues. I thought: great! problem solved.

However, the system still fails to post about half the time. I'm not sure what tests to run from here. I contacted ASUS support, thinking it was a faulty motherboard. They were not helpful (for example, they told me to test with the onboard graphics, and this board lacks that).

I think it may be a motherboard problem, but before ripping it out and going through an RMA process, I'd like to see if anybody has other suggestions for how I can test it.

More about : diagnosing build problem

September 29, 2013 2:51:25 PM

Note also that I removed the motherboard battery for about and hour and cleared the CMOS with the jumper.
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a c 76 V Motherboard
September 29, 2013 2:53:53 PM

software update for SSD?

proper boot sequence in BIOS?

what speed is the ram running at? try 1333 until things get sorted out................ or you may want to try 1866 if that's what the processor supports and the BIOS will save it.
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Related resources
a b V Motherboard
September 29, 2013 3:10:20 PM

Is the ram in the 2 brown slots? not next to each other?

SSD needs to be run in AHCI configuration mode.
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a c 490 V Motherboard
September 29, 2013 4:16:12 PM

if it not a ram/mb bios issue try another test power supply to see if it weak or dirty power.
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September 29, 2013 4:29:53 PM

swifty_morgan: As I said, I'm using a different hard drive now. Still having trouble POSTing about half the time. Currently, that hard drive is the only SATA device, so there can be no issues with boot device order.

ur6beersaway: RAM is in the correct slots. I have been running my drives in AHCI mode.

Really, there are two separate issues here. One is that the SSD crashes frequently. The other is the POST issue. There could be a problem with the SSD, or maybe just with the SATA port it was plugged into.

smorizio, that's a good idea on testing another power supply. I may try that.
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a c 76 V Motherboard
September 29, 2013 4:47:01 PM

boot order does matter........ especially if you forgot to disable the floppy drive or 3rd boot device-in your case third would have been the HD-------- ( ssd/dvd/HD.......... 4th disabled).......... with only the HD and dvd......... it would be HD first/dvd second/disable 3rd and the 4th would be to allow.

also, AHCI for SSD/not HD............

pull your physx card. ( 460 )

Ultra power supplies are less than reliable.

what sata ports do you have... 3 and 6?............

and what type of controller are they on. some boards have 2 different controllers and Intel controllers do cause trouble sometimes.
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September 29, 2013 4:48:47 PM


Thanks for the checklist. I've gone over it, and everything seems to check out.

I've tried to see what conditions actually cause the system not to POST. Out of four or five tries, it seems to POST when it's powered up from a fully shut-down state, but not when doing an OS restart or hard restart when it's already booted into Windows 7. Any thoughts as to why that might be?
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September 29, 2013 6:41:36 PM

Ok, I do believe this is a problem with the SSD. Like I said before, Hot CPU Tester finds no problems when I'm running windows on my HDD. From my SSD, I get a blue screen and it cannot even create a memory dump when I run Hot CPU Tester's hard drive diagnostics.

I have tried multiple different SATA cables, different SATA ports, different power lines out of the PSU (all tested working fine with the HDD).

@ur6beersaway, I have applied the BIOS update.

@swifty_morgan, the SSD is now the only SATA device in the computer. It is running in AHCI mode. It is the only boot device in the UEFI BIOS list.

I have run chkdsk, came up with no errors. But given the crash when running Hot CPU Tester, I am fairly certain this is a drive issue. Is there anything else I can do to be sure before RMA'ing the drive?
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a b V Motherboard
September 29, 2013 6:49:26 PM

What brand SSD? there are utilities & firmware upgrades available for many.
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September 29, 2013 6:58:45 PM

It's a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB SATA III.
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September 29, 2013 7:12:01 PM

I just tried using SanDisk's firmware updater to create a bootable updater on a flash drive. However, when booting to the flash drive, its Syslinux kernel keeps panicking.
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a c 76 V Motherboard
September 29, 2013 7:13:43 PM

wow, my favorite......... sandisc.............. NOT. I'd dump that drive. I don't even buy SSD's with sandisc controllers in them.
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a b V Motherboard
September 29, 2013 7:24:12 PM

That moment when you say! A ha, methinks I found the problem!
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September 29, 2013 7:31:31 PM

Haha well now I'm not going to be so hasty. I tried on a different thumb drive. At least this time the firmware updater is booting. I'm going to see how this goes. If it's no luck, I will send the drive back to Amazon and get a different model.

This is my first time using an SSD as a boot disk in my own system. Do you all have brand recommendations?
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a b V Motherboard
September 29, 2013 7:51:07 PM

Samsung. Hope it works. .SSD rule, please don't get discouraged.
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September 29, 2013 8:41:24 PM

The firmware update seems to have worked! I ran Hot CPU Tester, no BSOD this time. I also installed some Windows updates that caused a crash last time. So I'm feeling more optimistic. If it causes problems for me in the next week though, I'll return the drive and buy a Samsung instead.

This still leaves me with the POST issues. The motherboard doesn't seem to want to POST properly from a Windows restart. It loads the initial UEFI BIOS screen then stays there or goes to a black screen. I have to shut it off for a few seconds then try again for it to POST properly. Any ideas what could be causing that? (By the way, that's been happening when I run Windows off my HDD as well.)
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October 1, 2013 8:21:08 PM

Ok, here's what I discovered:

Updating the Sandisk SSD firmware seemed to solve the hard drive crash problems.

I also reformatted my SSD to a GPT scheme rather than MBR.

The only problem now is with the problems restarting. The computer does not POST from a restart (but it does from a cold shutdown state). This only happens when my USB wireless adapter (TP-Link WN-722N) is plugged into a USB 3 port. It restarts fine when the adapter is in a USB 2 port. It also restarts fine when other peripherals are in the USB 3 ports (I have tried an external hard drive, flash drive, and bluetooth dongle for my wireless mouse). Any ideas why this would be?
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Best solution

a b V Motherboard
October 1, 2013 9:06:57 PM

Yes it is a 3.0 bug. Some power saving crap, will not re-enable 3.0 from sleep. I do not know if there is a patch or workaround. Leave it in 2.0 .BIOS #1903 is latest if you are win-7/64. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_990FX_R20/#...
I don't know if a BOIS update will get rid of that.
It was 1st generation 3.0 & haswell (certain chipsets) "not your case" but similar.
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October 1, 2013 9:17:20 PM

ur6beersaway said:
Yes it is a 3.0 bug. Some power saving crap, will not re-enable 3.0 from sleep. I do not know if there is a patch or workaround. Leave it in 2.0 .BIOS #1903 is latest if you are win-7/64. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_990FX_R20/#...
I don't know if a BOIS update will get rid of that.
It was 1st generation 3.0 & haswell (certain chipsets) "not your case" but similar.

Thanks. I did install the latest BIOS version while messing with all this. I will see if I can fool with some of the power settings and get it right. How likely do you think it is that it's a PSU issue? I don't think it would be since my external hard drive (fully USB powered 7200 RPM 2.5" drive) doesn't cause these problems.
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a c 76 V Motherboard
October 1, 2013 9:27:58 PM

if you would have done that first ( firmware update ) the thread would have been shorter.
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!