HELP? ASUS M5A78L-M LX with FX-6300 issue

[Wr3cklessAnt1cs]

Hello, I'm fairly new to building a gaming rig. I have built many basic builds before, so I'm familiar with building. Also new to this forum, so I hope I'm posting in the correct sub-forum. Anyways..

Obviously, right out of the box my motherboard wasn't going to run an AMD FX processor, so I used my old Phenom II x2 to update the BIOS, then installed the FX-6300. Everything worked great at first, Windows booted up fine. I logged into my Windows profile, and BAM. It freezes and gives me a BSOD. The error was something like "A clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor within the allocated time interval".

After doing a little Google searching, I found a few others having this issue with the FX-6300. I could not find a fix, other than disabling core 5 and 6 via BIOS.

So my question is, is there anything I can do to run all 6 cores without issue, or do I need to upgrade my motherboard??


Specs:
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L-M LX
Cooling: Stock, for now
RAM: 12 GB Corsair Vengeance
GPU: Sapphire Radeon R7 240 2GB
PSU: 430W 80 Bronze
Storage: 500GB Seagate 7200 RPM + 1TB Toshiba External

 

[RGone]

Welcome to OCF...

...

This link describes what might have to happen.

A clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor...

1. System not stable.

2. Software issue.

3. Weak motherboard.

4. Not enough power.

5. Might be cured by RE-installing windows with the FX 6 core processor installed.

It is not a one fix is the answer sadly. The problem can be one of more than one thing. And no if I planned to overclock that weak board you have would not be my choice for such endeavors.

RGone...

 

[Wr3cklessAnt1cs]

Thank you for the fast response. I had already re-installed Windows 7 Ultimate, and still received the issue. I'm not trying to overclock at all, not until I can upgrade my board. I've done the research, and found overclocking would be a horrible idea with my board. I currently have the latest BIOS installed, as well. The issue still persists.

One of the posts in the link describes raising PCH 1.1v and PCH 1.5v, what is that and how would I do this?

 

[RGone]

PCH 1.1v and PCH 1.5v to 1.1125v and 1.525v respectively.

General term PCH is Platform Controller Hub. Most often used with Intel bios terminology. When you are searching the internet you will often get cross-platform terminology. The particular link that was given and the post about the raising of PCH was about a Gigabyte board and not an Asus as your board is. Gigabyte and Asus certainly do not use the same terminology in their bioses. Not really at all. So you have to sort of know something about the each menu item as it "might" be named.

I would expect PCH 1.1 to be the IMC voltage. Or in your bios VDDNB Over Voltage and the default may vary depending on the cpu installed. In general we run VDDNB voltage at 1.25V so raising it might help since it is connected with the buss over which the ram talks to the cpu.

I would expect PCH 1.5 to be the Chipset Over Voltage shown in your bios. But since that board is using 'old' chipset for a later cpu there maybe a gap in my knowledge. I don't see your board having an exact cross reference to PCH 1.5 by voltage for sure. So am not sure what exactly it is. AND not seeing your actual bios or images of same with the specific cpu inserted in socket...well there are just gaps in what I can say from not looking at your monitor. My guess is PCH 1.5 is actually the Chipset Over Voltage and not sure at all what the cpu you have would be setting that voltage to with that older 7xx series chipset in use.

We have one guy ShrimpBrime that has used a similar board with some FX processors and he may come by and see this and have a better idea how the terms cross reference.

I am just not a real fan of the power hungry FX processors in 6 and 8 core versions on these older chipset boards with weak voltage circuits to the FX processors. These boards are just for the cheap purchasers and not really up to the task of supporting an overclock to speed the processor up and try and catch up to Intel cpus.

RGone...

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Your power supply is an issue. Its not big enough.

 

[Wr3cklessAnt1cs]

Well thank you very much for your fast responses! I will be ordering a new PSU on Tuesday, ShrimpBrime...what would you suggest for my setup?

RGone...what board would you suggest for AMD FX-6300?? I may plan to overclock in the future, keep that in mind while suggesting.

Thanks again.

 

[RGone]

RGone...what board would you suggest for AMD FX-6300?? I may plan to overclock in the future, keep that in mind while suggesting.

Thanks again.

Cooling: Stock, for now << that is not going to be enough to overclock at all or has not been enough for 95% of all users coming thru here. So you have that to deal with and power supply and a decent motherboard.

We "know" how this board will handle for you and what the bios has inside it. So no real sense to me to try and save a few dollars with other branded boards a few dollars cheaper that are not yet proven in more than one or two user systems. Good for 4.5GHz with a good air cooler if you have good airflow in and out of your case.
ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0

RGone...

 

[Wr3cklessAnt1cs]

Ah, yes. The cooling is actually going to be ordered with the motherboard, and PSU. I'm looking at the Corsair Hydro Series H60...unless you have a better performing liquid cooling in mind in the same price range? I was looking at 500W-600W Corsair PSU, would the 500W even be smart if I plan on overclocking?

That motherboard is right on the money for me. It has 2x PCIe 16x, I plan on dualing graphics cards in the future.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Don't waste your money on a H60. It's not enough cooler.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Agreed Scotty.

Liquid cooling with a good block and lots of radiator is the way to get high clocks. H100i or something bigger would be a good purchase.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and the board is ok. Not the most stout in the world. But upgrading for SERIOUS overclocking is a must. If your running a mild OC say only up to 4.4ghz with reasonable voltage and temps, the board may actually be ok.

I've run this same board with a good handful of cpus and serious overclocking. But in the end, it's only got limited USB ports, sata ports and PCI-E 16x only one slot. So adding in cards for crossfire or SLI just wont happen. A bigger board will carry more features and and room for expansion.

that is all.

 

[Wr3cklessAnt1cs]

Ah, so is there a better solution for liquid cooling in the same price range as the H60? I'll have to save up to get an H100i.

As for the ASUS M5A78L-M LX, I'm going to ditch it and possibly use it as a crappy personal Cloud Server with the old Phenon II x2 I have. RGone has suggest I go with this, so that's what I'll be picking up.

@ShrimpBrime, what wattage PSU would you suggest? I was going to upgrade to a 500W for now, and then maybe a 750W when I save up for the H100i water cooling.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

That board is the big brother to your current board. It'll serve your purposes nicely.

You could be ok with 500w, but you want to have a little head room and over kill. Looking at reasonably priced 650w would be just fine, give head room on the OC and perhaps adding another video card later.

Remember the number advertised is the MAX output at any given point in time. I run continous power Antec 850W and 1000w PSUs for that extra head room

This might help with price range and bang for bucks. 54.99 and is Gold plus certified. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...086&cm_re=COrsair_650w-_-17-139-086-_-Product

oh and buy the one year protection so you can RMA with newegg (if needed) it's only 7 more dollars being this model is a refirb.

 

[Wr3cklessAnt1cs]

Oh wow, that's definitely going into my Cart. Now that's what I call a deal! LOL On Amazon I'd be paying $100+ for that PSU!! Yes, the suggested board is exactly what I'm looking for and smack-dab in the middle of my price range with my current budget for a new board, so that's perfect.

On another note, RGone said you are familiar with my current board. Are you positive that the PSU is my problem in regards to having the 5th and 6th core on without getting a BSOD? I have an open Question on Microsoft right now to see if they can determine the issue via my memory dumps. I just don't understand, when I built the PC on PCPartPicker.com it said the 430W was going to be enough juice for it.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Everything worked great at first, Windows booted up fine. I logged into my Windows profile, and BAM. It freezes and gives me a BSOD. The error was something like "A clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor within the allocated time interval".

Yea that's pretty much a cpu error. Low volt undervolt hang blue screen. Cure usually is to up the Cpu voltage.

Specs:
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L-M LX
Cooling: Stock, for now
RAM: 12 GB Corsair Vengeance
GPU: Sapphire Radeon R7 240 2GB
PSU: 430W 80 Bronze
Storage: 500GB Seagate 7200 RPM + 1TB Toshiba External

The make and model of PSU is in question, but I'd be willing to bet it's of poor make and quality. It probably can't even produce 430w on a good day.....

 

[Wr3cklessAnt1cs]

How would I go about upping the CPU Voltage?

The 430W is an Antec. This one.

 

[RGone]

Your 430 watt Antec has this for +12V >> +12V1@17A, +12V2@16A << and that just seems close on being enough if pushing cpu speed any any. In addition now you want to run a pump for watercooling and at least 2 more fans on the radiator...well that is just cutting it too close based on experience.

Plus go back up and read what I wrote as possible causes. When I said power I was thinking power supply or not enough cpu voltage. Either or and possibly both if the power supply is borderline. And it is not AMD only but affects Intel also. Mostly on lesser spec'd systems it seems.

Now you could do this like 99% of the users coming and asking for help do it.

This is what we need to see for sure and a real good starting point.

Normally during setup and testing we disable C1/E, C6, Cool N Quiet, APM, TurboCore and in windows performance manager itself we set to "performance" mode. ALSO if you have HPC in bios you would ENABLE it. That way there are not "other" settings messing with the overclocking process. Some of those settings are not available on all models of cpu but where in evidence we disable for setup of overclock process.

CPU Tab in CPUz from CPUID com

Memory Tab in CPUz from CPUID com

SPD Tab in CPUz from CPUID com

And this is screen capture of HWMonitor (free version) from CPUID com
HWMonitor has been scrolled enough and large enough to show Min/Max of Voltages and includes the CPU CORE TEMPS / "package" temps fully visible. Latest versions of HWMonitor show the CPU Core Temp as " a Package Temp" and is only shown as a single temp since there were never multple, individual core temp sensors anyway.

This capture is made of HWMonitor after it has been open and running on the desktop logging Min/Max temps and voltages while Prime 95 was running Blend Mode test on all cores for at least 20 mins and then the capture of HWMonitor was made and it shows the Min/Max temps and voltages before P95 Blend was started and while running P95 Blend mode and gives much greater insight into how the system is performing without guessing.

In order to attach screenshots of INDIVIDUAL images as suggested, first crop and capture the images with Snipping Tool found in Windows Accessories or equivalent. Then click on Go Advanced, a button at the bottom of every new post window. Then click on the little paperclip tool at the top of the Advanced post window when it opens. Clicking on the paperclip tool brings up the file browser/upload tool and the rest is fairly obvious.

Step by Step HowTo Attach files to forum with pictures.
HowTo Attach Files to the forum.

That is written out pretty much step by step. If you have to turn off the 2 cores but follow the steps then.

RGone...

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Raising voltage will only strain that psu more creating issues.

Its only got 17 amps on the 12v 1 rail and 16 amps on 12v rail 2.

Is no good. Need the better psu straight away, then cooling, then raise clocks and voltage.

Oops looks like rgone got it before me. You can ignore this post if you wish.

 

[Wr3cklessAnt1cs]

Well, I got my 5th and 6th core to run without issue so far. I disabled the C6 State option in BIOS and disabled the Cool n Quiet option, as well. Now my Windows 7 loads up fine, no issues. That's quite weird.

I ran P95 for ~30 minutes, no errors.

Screenshots attached!

 

[ShrimpBrime]

You have some high temps fo sho! Cure this problem, and you can get some OC done.

Taking the green off enables cpu v-core to be at a constant. However, you should not experience problems while green (power savings) turned on.

The issue may be from fluctuating power draws while going from idle to load. It would still be a grand idea to replace the little PSU you have with something a little bigger so you don't have power issues. As stated the 4+1 VRM package isn't the greatest. Having 8 VRMs doesn't mean you get MORE power, it means you'll have stable power, and that is very well needed for running FX processors as you've demonstrated to us with your current rig.

For now you should try adding a fan to the VRM package area just to the left of the processor. Getting air flow in this area will cool the VRMs and even take down that higher Cpu temp you currently have. Hopefully you have a fan laying around that you can use, you may be in shock how much it helps!

Also you should try to go in bios and manually set your RAM to 800mhz at timings of 10-10-10-27-39 1.50v and take advantage of what your ram is capable of.

 

[Wr3cklessAnt1cs]

The issue may be from fluctuating power draws while going from idle to load. It would still be a grand idea to replace the little PSU you have with something a little bigger so you don't have power issues. As stated the 4+1 VRM package isn't the greatest. Having 8 VRMs doesn't mean you get MORE power, it means you'll have stable power, and that is very well needed for running FX processors as you've demonstrated to us with your current rig.

Yes, the PSU will get upgraded this Tuesday, that is a definite. The motherboard will be the next step, I'll probably get that upgraded in 2 weeks. Liquid Cooling...I'll probably have to upgrade that with a new case, as I'm looking at the H100i and that requires a 240mm fan port. So that might take a little longer.

For now you should try adding a fan to the VRM package area just to the left of the processor. Getting air flow in this area will cool the VRMs and even take down that higher Cpu temp you currently have. Hopefully you have a fan laying around that you can use, you may be in shock how much it helps!

I have an 80mm fan in the rear of the case, and a 120mm fan in the front, both sucking air INSIDE, and an 80mm Antec LED blowing air OUT on the windowed side. Should I change these up in some way? **NOTE: As you know, the ASUS M5A78L-M LX only has 1 3-pin for a fan, and 1 4-pin for the CPU fan. The others I have hooked up to Molex.

Also you should try to go in bios and manually set your RAM to 800mhz at timings of 10-10-10-27-39 1.50v and take advantage of what your ram is capable of.

How would I go about doing this? I'm not very familiar with navigating the BIOS menus. I know that my Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz have quite the potential, I'm just not sure how to unleash the beast lol