Asus Sabertooth x58 CPU Voltage Error/Overclocking failed

[sohawar]

[SOLVED] Asus Sabertooth x58 CPU Voltage Error/Overclocking failed

Hi,

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My System:
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1)ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
2)Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950
3)CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 (9 9 9 24, 1.5v)
4)CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS
5)Cooler Master V8 (CPU COOLER)
6)HIS ATI HD 7850 2048MB - 256BIT - GDDR 5


-------------
Problem:
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My Computer restarts randomly sometimes after 1 hour and sometimes 3. After random shutdown, I get an error "CPU voltage error" and Mostly "Overclocking failed".

My system BIOS settings are default. I don't know much about settings(like voltages) as I'm new to this. PLEASE HELP me out on finding the stable settings for my system ! THANKS!!

These are the images of BIOS:

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/7421/20130123170947.jpg

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7224/20130123170959.jpg

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/6925/20130123171007.jpg

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3657/20130123171031.jpg

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/7628/20130123171127.jpg

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/3743/20130123171134.jpg


"Temperature and Voltages"

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/6844/20130123171216.jpg

 

[redduc900]

It's hard to offer advice for voltage settings when we don't know what the current voltages are, besides what the Hardware Monitor screen in the BIOS shows as 1.25V. Install the latest version of PC Probe II, and post all the current voltages. In the meantime change the Vcore (Core Voltage) from Auto to 1.15V, and the DRAM Bus Voltage to 1.5V. Also post a pic. w/ either Core Temp or Real Temp open while running Prime, and also a pic. of CPU-Z open to the CPU tab showing the Vcore while under 100% load.

 

[sohawar]

Thanks for the help!

You mean QIP/DRAM Core Voltage to 1.15v ? If so, then the least value I can set is 1.2 to 1.9(max) whereas if you are talking about CPU Voltage then it can’t go lower than 1.25v and if I try to it automatically sets it to AUTO(Even by typing 1.15 it sets to AUTO). Right Now CPU Voltage is set to 1.26250v and QPI/DRAM to 1.4v and DRAM Bus Voltage to 1.5v and DRAM timings set to 7 7 7 16 and frequency at 1066 MHZ.

I was playing starcraft 2 yesterday and suddenly the system froze. Keyboard and mouse stopped working(I'm unable to use crtl+alt+del plus the cursor was frozen) and I had to do a hard reset.

2 weeks before my system was restarting in Bios as well as on the overclocking failed error screen and sometimes without displays anything on screen (After 5 seconds). Then I took the whole system to ASUS Service Center and next day they said everything is working fine. I was shocked then I checked myself their and it was really working in their lab.

After bringing it back to home, it got restart after 3 or 4 hours and then it worked for 3 to 4 days without any issues(Except it freezes in starcraft 2, other games working fine. So it may be a driver issue). After using it for 4 days, random restart problem came back same as described in previous paragraph (Restarting in the bios without BSOD and with the same error “Overclocking failed”). I was not even able to go into Bios and even by unplugging the card and the harddisks and taking out all the rams, it was restarting.

Finally what I did was I moved the jumper of OV CPU from pin 2 and 3 to pin 1 and 2 and at least for now I can use it for sometime (Although the system again restarted after 1 hour yesterday then I changed the CPU Voltage to 1.26250v, QPI/DRAM to 1.4v and DRAM Bus Voltage to 1.5v). After that only StarCraft 2 seems to lock up, looks like restart issue is fixed again but I’m sure this problem will come back anytime just like before.

I tried 8800GTS on Sabertooth x58 but the problem wasn’t fixed. I tested the card (ATI 7850) and rams on the intel motherboard and they were working perfectly.

My previous GTX 570 was burned so I replaced it with ATI 7850. After that I’m facing these issues. I’m not sure if the burning of the card has to do something with the voltages. I’m just trying to give detail information as much as I can.

So no random restarts at night (Similar situation as it may work again for more than 3 days just like before) and while using prime today. Using blend with Round off checking is checked. Prime Still running, I’ll post more images if you like.


Without Prime

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9868/withoutusingprime.jpg


With Prime, After 5 minutes

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/320/wprimeafter5min.png


With Prime, After 22 minutes

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8558/wprimeafter22min.png


With Prime, After 30 minutes

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/6208/wprimeafter30min.png


*edit* Finally one restart while running Prime for 1 hour. After restart i got the following error:
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/8923/problemeventnamebluescr.jpg

Although I didn't saw the BSOD.

 

[redduc900]

Make sure both Ai Overclock Tuner and CPU Voltage Control are set to Manual, then adjust the Vcore to 1.15V. Highlight each option, then use the +/- keys on the KeyPad to adjust their values. And at the default 133 BCLK change the DRAM frequency to DDR3-1600, along w/ the timings to 9-9-9-24 at 1.50V. Also disable Turbo and HT for the time being, at least until you can pinpoint the issue. And make sure to check your RAM w/ Memtest86+ installed to a thumb drive.

 

[sohawar]

Memtest86+ displays no error and Turbo, HT, SpeedStep and Virtualization Tech are already disabled.

Ai Overclock Tuner and CPU Voltage Control are already set to Manual but still its not letting me set the values under 1.2v(QPI core voltage) may be because I changed the jumper.

Right Now I'm changing the QPI(vCore) to 1.2v (the least I can set) and CPU Voltage to 1.25v(minimum) as well as the DRAM timings. Now again I will run Prime95 and let you know.

Thanks!

*UPDATE* If I'm not wrong "QPI/DRAM Core Voltage" and "vCore" both are same ?

I applied all the settings as you said in the previous post and so far no crash, prime still running for 2 hours but I noticed that the CPU minimum temperature jumped up to 52C and the maximum is around 60 (jumped down from 80).

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/8987/2hoursofusingprime.jpg

 

[redduc900]

QPI/DRAM Core voltage (VTT) and Vcore are not the same. And if Vcore (CPU Voltage) can't be set any lower than 1.25V, then there's something set incorrectly or the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility / TurboV EVO is overriding the setting. See if you can take BIOS pic's of all the overclocking-related BIOS screens, and post them in this thread.

 

[madhatter256]

Are you really overclocking? An i7-950 is clocked at 3.06ghz.

You don't have to adjust the voltages at all.

Looking at your set-up, you may have RAM that isn't playing nice with the motherboard.

That corsair RAM is meant for dual-channel intel/AMD boards.

Tri-Channel is finicky with such RAM. Try running with three stick of RAM and stock BIOS settings.

I also just read your thread on tomshardware.com

Let us know if updating the BIOS alone will fix the issue - if not, then just try three sticks of ram and factory default settings in BIOS.

 

[sohawar]

Thanks guys!

Yesterday while prime was running I noticed something strange. Vcore dropped to 0 from 1.27 for a second and then jumped back to 1.27. Is this what causing issues ? Although no crash at that time.

redduc

I'm not using Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and TurboV EVO.

*UPDATE*

Images of BIOS:

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4170/2013012515220701.jpg

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/6135/2013012515232702.jpg

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5484/2013012515230603.jpg

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/2793/2013012515223904.jpg

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/9718/2013012515224605.jpg


madhatter

I was using the same RAMS for 1 year with the same motherboard and never faced any issues. I also tried one stick at a time and it doesn't worked.

*UPDATE*The BIOS has been updated! PC was working fine today before updating the BIOS(used it for almost 3 hours with no crash) and still it's working without any crashes after updating the BIOS. Running Prime again and BIOS settings are same.

*edit* What is Tri-channel by the way? All four RAMs are same. I'm using A1, B1, C1, and A2 slots as described in the manual. Three stick of RAMs in which slot A1, B1, C1?

To make things clear, look at the image below:

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/5956/sabertoothx58explanatio.jpg

 

[madhatter256]

Triple-channel memory is a feature of 1366 CPUs.

Some people reported issues when buying dual-channel memory kits and installing them LGA 1366 motherboards. However, the memory that is out there now should work in either dual- or triple-channel.

If you were to install that RAM the way I suggested earlier, I would have tried only three sticks of RAM in A1, B1, and C1 slots. But seeing as how the BIOS update fixed your problem, then you don't have to worry about using only three of the four sticks of RAM .

 

[sohawar]

I found the solution!!! I moved the OV_CPU jumper back to pin 2-3 and guess what crashes (random restart) came back. So Updating the BIOS doesn’t fix anything.

Now computer is running smoothly without crashes.

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SOLUTIONS
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*If you get an error "CPU Overvoltage Error/Overclocking failed" and you are 100% sure that everything is fit together perfectly, just change the OV_CPU jumper to pin 1-2.

*If your system crashes in the OS then check your RAMS they might not be properly fit in the slot, give them some force on each side to get them in!

*The error below mostly hardware related. So check your RAMS specially and also clean the CPU heatsink .
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/8923/problemeventnamebluescr.jpg

*If OS still crashes then goto device manager and check your sound devices. If you have more than one driver installed then disable one that you are not using. Also update your sound driver and BIOS!

Hope this helps!

Finally special thanks to redduc900 and madhatter256 for their support!!!