Odd issue with unlocking a B550

[Maethor]

Ok, I have been hitting my head at this for a while and can not figure the reason out.

I have a x2 B550 that I had unlocked to all 4 cores stable on windows 7 64 bit stable for around 2 years now with no issues so I know the cores work fine. I recently upgraded the computer on windows 8 and for some reason the install would fail or once you got into windows you would have odd stability issues such as zip files corrupting or random windows 8 components failing(in general anything that relies on a packaged file has issues) I even reinstalled 7 and yes the unlocked cores work fine perfectly stable, but not in windows 8.

I actually can not run CPU-z or speedfan with the cores unlocked as they will freeze when they try to detect settings. I can actually turn of ACC mode and the computer works perfectly in windows 8 with no issues, but enable ACC mode and windows 8 freaks out.

The system specs are a X2 B550 black edition CPU with MA770T-UD3P motherboard, 8gb of 1033 OCZ memory. The Bios is F5 was thinking about updating it next.

Well, if anyone has seen anything like this let me know, I really love the improved stability of windows 8, but the fact that I can not unlock the cores is driving me insane.


I was able to run EasyTune with the cores unlocked and I can put up some screenshots of it.

 

[trents]

It sounds like there may have been some degradation over time of the unlocked cores or the IMC (Integrated Memory Controller). The cores were likely marginal to begin with and that is why they were disabled from the factory.

Try increasing the CPU core voltage to 1.375 or thereabouts and also bump up the CPUNB voltage to 1.225 and the DRAM voltage to 1.55. Doesn't look like you have the CPU overclocked.

 

[RGone]

I agree with 'trents' about the possible Win 8 issues. I have seen one thread I was looking for where a user had an AMD system that hated Win 8 but I have searched and cannot find it. Crap.

I did find a couple of things that I had had wind of earlier, but they do not fit the exact symptoms or they might.

Microsoft: Don't overclock Windows 8 unless you like our new BSOD

Now for an older motherboard that is not fully modified for Win 8 use.
Here’s the lowdown from AMD on GPU Fast Boot support for Win 8

“Through AMD's extensive testing, a significant number of existing platforms experienced compatibility issues with the UEFI specifications that were implemented with the Hybrid VBIOS AMD developed. Users could experience boot failures on incompatible systems. To ensure compatibility, the standard VGA VBIOS continues to be used, and we cannot transition with the partner manufacturers yet. It is a System BIOS implementation issue that can be addressed with a System BIOS update.

This is not an issue on OE system builds (HP, DELL, etc..) or integrated graphics components (where VBIOS is implemented directly into SBIOS), because full UEFI compatibility is set from the ground-up”.

So one might do well to turn off Fast Boot in Win 8 with older motherboards not truly Win 8 supporting.
RGone...

 

[Johan45]

Yes even my board that is advertised as Win 8 compatable wouldn't boot with an older bios.

 

[Maethor]

It sounds like there may have been some degradation over time of the unlocked cores or the IMC (Integrated Memory Controller). The cores were likely marginal to begin with and that is why they were disabled from the factory.

Try increasing the CPU core voltage to 1.375 or thereabouts and also bump up the CPUNB voltage to 1.225 and the DRAM voltage to 1.55. Doesn't look like you have the CPU overclocked.

Its not degradation over time because it is stable in Windows 7 still, and just enabling the ACC mode but not unlocking causes issues. This is something specific to windows 8 and ACC it seems. I am going to try a bios update after work.

 

[RGone]

Products: GA-MA770T-UD3P (rev. 3.1) << That is the latest Revision of that motherboard and you may have even earlier one. Operating system support is shown at bottom of the page. Windows 8 is not shown as a supported O/S. So there may well be some issues.

FAQ What Operatiing System can my motherboard support?

 

[storm-chaser]

Windows 8 should be more than able to run on that hardware. Especially since you say it runs perfect with ACC disabled. Just because its not listed on the manufactures site doesn't mean it wont run.

Is it true your HT link is set to 3100Mhz? What is your NB speed set at? What are the pertinent voltages for your NB and CPUNB?

If your HT Link is that high, I would recommend dropping it down to as close to 2000 as possible. Can you post some pics of your BIOS config?

 

[Maethor]

No the HT link is not really 3100, that is something that easytune sees for some reason. If I just load up CPU-Z it shows the HTlink as being right. All the voltages are at normal, I never have needed to bump them up. I did try to bump them up and it did not fix the issue either.

Yeah, the issue is something very specific with ACC being enabled in the bios.

 

[Maethor]

I was able to get CPU-z to run while it is unlocked. I think I see what might be causing the issue but for the life of me I can not figure out why windows 8 thinks the max TDP is 158 Watts, it should be 125 for a quad core.

 

[Johan45]

Maybe try uninstalling the easy tune utility. That might be the issue with Win8 they tend to have problems anyway and that version may not be Win8 compatible.

 

[Maethor]

Maybe try uninstalling the easy tune utility. That might be the issue with Win8 they tend to have problems anyway and that version may not be Win8 compatible.

No its not easy tune, I installed that much later because the unlocked cores would cause CPU-Z to crash, the issue is there from a clean install of windows 8 even using different install sources or doing an upgrade from windows 7. I tried like 5 or 6 reinstalls first because I thought it might be a bad install of windows at first.

Updating the Bios also did not change anything.
I am just most likely going to do a standard overclock and leave the cores locked, It just is annoying to go from having 4 cores down to 2 cores just to install windows 8.

 

[storm-chaser]

Updating the Bios also did not change anything.
I am just most likely going to do a standard overclock and leave the cores locked, It just is annoying to go from having 4 cores down to 2 cores just to install windows 8.

ACC should be optional respective to core unlocking. I know with my Biostar boards I've been able to accomplish this. For example, a TA880GU3+ mainboard doesn't even support ACC but still allows me to continue with unlocking the other cores. Other boards I've disabled ACC all together and gone ahead just fine with core unlocking.

Check your bios config for ways to unlock without enabling ACC.

 

[trents]

I never heard before that there were other ways of unlocking cores besides ACC (or some equivalent setting).

 

[Maethor]

You have to use ACC to unlock, that is what actually enables the unlock, it is called other things and not always labeled as ACC but that is what it is. Some motherboards just call it unlocking or something else, but it is still ACC at work behind the scenes, And the TA880GU3 does support ACC, all Southbridges after the 750 support it.

 

[RGone]

He never found a reported answer either.

December 7, 2012 1:08:58 PM

i have windows 7 and proceesor athlon II x3 450 when unlock it work fine to phenom II x4
but when unlock it on win 8 it didnt work all time blue screen any1 know how resolve this problem ?

sr for bad english.

 

[storm-chaser]

You have to use ACC to unlock, that is what actually enables the unlock, it is called other things and not always labeled as ACC but that is what it is. Some motherboards just call it unlocking or something else, but it is still ACC at work behind the scenes, And the TA880GU3 does support ACC, all Southbridges after the 750 support it.

True, but with respect to some 800 series boards, AMD has disabled there "official" ACC feature so Biostar, Asus, Gigabyte, etc have developed their own unlocking systems. They are likely built on ACC, but I have options in the bios on my A880GU3 that allow me to "turn off" or leave disabled the ACC feature to tweak or calibrate the overclocked CPU, while at the same time just going ahead with core unlocking (named BIO-unlocking for biostar).

As for the TA880GU3+, I shouldn't say the ACC function is disabled, there are just no options short of core-unlocking in the bios. I.E. the bios is lacking this menu:

1.Auto or manual settings
2.Allow separate settings for each of the CPU cores
3.Allowed range: -12% to +12%
4.Possibility of unlocking AMD Phenom II X2/X3, AMD Athlon II X2/X3 and AMD Sempron locked cores / cache. (with BIOS support)

So if he has the possibility of turning off just a portion of ACC as listed above, perhaps it would help.

 

[trents]

As the old saying goes, "ACC by any other name is still ACC".

 

[storm-chaser]

As the old saying goes, "ACC by any other name is still ACC".

You must have missed my last post. I'm saying if a portion of the ACC can be turned off, like with the Biostar board, it might be worth a try. I just don't know what settings he has in the bios respective to ACC.

If all else fails, have you tried disabling the two cores, installing windows 8 and then re-enabling ACC?