Overclock fails at boot randomly (Phenom II X4 970 BE)

[Black shark11]

Hey everyone,

Quick question. I have the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula Mobo along with an AMD Phenom II X4 970 BE which I OC'ed using the ASUS Mobo overclocking button on the mobo (yes, I know but I'm lazy). This boosted it from 3.51 to 3.79 and was fine for my needs at the time. Note that I never fully tested it using Prime95, etc however it ran stable the vast majority of the time (~7 months).

Anyways, my problem is that every once in a while (it's done it 3 times in 8 months and twice in the past month) when I start the computer (cold boot to the best of my knowledge), the fans will turn on and the loading light will stay at CPU. Nothing else, just whirring fans. Then, when I restart it and undo the OC, it will boot up and say "OCing failed, run setup or load defult values?". I usually run default and then shut down, re-apply OC, and all is well for x amount of time.

Since this is the third time, I finally got curious enough to wonder what is causing this. My guess would be an unstable OC because of I've heard nasty things concerning ASUS's ability to OC using their mobo/programs.

I heard mention of a known issue/bug with the Crosshair IV Formula mobo where they randomly fail to boot when overclocked. Can anyone confirm this?

Any ideas?

Edit: I'm now running it at the stock 3.51ghz because I do not particularly need the OC for the games I play and I'd rather not blow my CPU before I have the money to buy an i5-2500k + new mobo+ maybe new psu since mine is only 500w. Or I could buy the AMD FX with a new AM3+ mobo. Anyways, that's gonna take me about a month to save so until that time when I have the reserve funds, i will be running stock.

Build:
AMD Phenom II X4 970 BE (stock air cooled)
ASUS GTX 560
ModXstream Pro 500w
16gb Ripjaw RAM (4 sticks)
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
Coolermaster HAF 932

 

[RGone]

Since this is the third time, I finally got curious enough to wonder what is causing this. My guess would be an unstable OC because of I've heard nasty things concerning ASUS's ability to OC using their mobo/programs. = I personally don't trust any type overclocking 'genie' for my permanent overclocks. Just me maybe.

I heard mention of a known issue/bug with the Crosshair IV Formula mobo where they randomly fail to boot when overclocked. Can anyone confirm this? = Got any links to people stating this issue? I don't remember any posting such an issue in here in two years.

Or I could buy the AMD FX with a new AM3+ mobo. = There is a thread in this forum section of a user that bought the new Crosshair V and took his FX processor OUT of his CHlV and he found he had better results overclocking his FX on his CHlV than his newer CHV and returned the CHV.

If you don't even need an overclock to play your games, then right now you do not need a cpu other than the 970BE cpu. Buying anything else currently would seem a waste.

 

[Trance4c]

I personally don't trust any type overclocking 'genie' for my permanent overclocks. Just me maybe.

^ This.

If you want to overclock and it be stable, do it manually and test.

Otherwise, there are too many variables without detailed information to be able to assist or answer your question.

 

[Black shark11]

Since this is the third time, I finally got curious enough to wonder what is causing this. My guess would be an unstable OC because of I've heard nasty things concerning ASUS's ability to OC using their mobo/programs. = I personally don't trust any type overclocking 'genie' for my permanent overclocks. Just me maybe.

I heard mention of a known issue/bug with the Crosshair IV Formula mobo where they randomly fail to boot when overclocked. Can anyone confirm this? = Got any links to people stating this issue? I don't remember any posting such an issue in here in two years.

Or I could buy the AMD FX with a new AM3+ mobo. = There is a thread in this forum section of a user that bought the new Crosshair V and took his FX processor OUT of his CHlV and he found he had better results overclocking his FX on his CHlV than his newer CHV and returned the CHV. .

I posted the same question over at overclock.net and that is where I heard the rumor:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1299324/overclock-fails-at-boot-randomly-phenom-ii-x4-970-be

I am currently awaiting confirmation.

Also, this thread from ROG forums:

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...BE-and-Crosshair-IV-Formula)&country=&status=

seems to indicate that it is indeed a CH IV bug. However, the more knowledge and input the better.

I also agree with the "no overclocking utility" and will be overclocking using that method sometime this weekend. However, I am still curious as to why this happens because it does not seem limited to the mobo OC utility as indicated in the ROG forum post but rather all OC's.

Any ideas?

 

[RGone]

The problem seems more related to the CHV when g00gling for your sometimes OC'd cold boot issue. Certainly not a great number of real problems with fixes shown. Most said get the heck away from Overclocking 'genies'.

I saw one post out there that said to raise the CPU VDDA and that was a cure for one user.

 

[Black shark11]

The problem seems more related to the CHV when g00gling for your sometimes OC'd cold boot issue. Certainly not a great number of real problems with fixes shown. Most said get the heck away from Overclocking 'genies'.

I saw one post out there that said to raise the CPU VDDA and that was a cure for one user.

Hmm... I'd rather not touch the voltage until I get a better cooling unit for my CPU (the stock one pretty much stinks).

And you think that the issue is directly related to the "OC genie" button on the mobo? I tend to agree because all of these ASUS OC programs are pretty unreliable.

Seems like the best solution would be to leave it at stock clocks until I can get the time to properly OC and test.

 

[RGone]

Seems like the best solution would be to leave it at stock clocks until I can get the time to properly OC and test.

Well that really is not a bad idea when you take into account what was advised at the other locations you posted to about your problem.

 

[caddi daddi]

go with argone in post#2.
if the cpu at default settings suites your needs you have got it made.
if you what to overclock for the heck of it, jump right in and join the party....

 

[trents]

If your "genie" overclock was stable "the vast majority of the time" it wasn't really stable. Stable is stable. Overclock like a real geek man with the manual bios controls.