New motherboard/CPU locking up when running Maxxmemm Preview

[doveman]

I've just got round to putting my i5-4670k/Asus Z97-A together. I used the same components to build my Dad a system a couple of months ago, so I know this shouldn't be happening!

When I run Maxxmemm preview, the program just locks up, normally without showing any information about the RAM as it should. I'm not even talking about running the benchmark, I can't get that far. Once the app has been run, my cursor disappears, although I can still right-click on the desktop to bring up the menu or open the start menu and click on stuff, although a lot of the time nothing happens. Opening Task Manager, I can right-click and kill stuff but TM doesn't update. I only know that it's killed the program in question as trying to do it again throws up an error.

I'm using the same BIOS, 1205, as on my Dad's system. Different RAM but I've tried with it at 1333Mhz instead of it's rated 1600Mhz in case that is a problem when running 4 sticks (I think that's more an AMD issue though). I tried deleting the program and it's .cfg file and installing the .exe again from a fresh download (still the same version, v2.01, which is the latest) and then it did manage to show the RAM details but that might have been due to running at 1333Mhz instead of 1600Mhz as that was the first try after switching it down and it still resulted in the same problems anyway.

I came from an AMD motherboard/CPU but after installing the new board/CPU and booting into Win8.1, it showed the "Hi, setting up.." screen briefly and then everything seemed fine. I had to install some drivers (NIC, soundcard, integrated graphics, Intel chipset, Intel Management Engine Interface, Asus Thermal Probe) but apart from that everything seems normal, other than this issue with Maxxmemm Preview (although that probably means I'm going to run into more problems until I fix whatever's causing it). I initially started without my ATI 6950 GPU installed, just with the Intel onboard graphics and then put the card in and booted with that, which seems to be fine.

Maxxmemm Preview seems to have CPU-Z embedded into it to retrieve the RAM info, as I see that running in Task Manager when I go to kill it. I've tried running CPU-Z separately though (v1.70) and that works fine and shows the RAM details. I haven't tried to overclock at all yet, it's just at 3.8Ghz (I've got Windows in High Performance mode to avoid it changing clockspeed as I found that causes high latency problems which can affect audio/video playback). I OC'd my Dad's system to [email protected] without any problems though.

I'm running an eVGA SuperNova G2 750W PSU, so there's no concerns there.

 

[Bishoff]

So the system runs good except for this particular software?

 

[doveman]

So the system runs good except for this particular software?

Well so far but I've only just built it so I wouldn't be surprised to find whatever's causing this issue also affects other stuff. The fact that the whole system becomes unusable when running it and I have to hard reset, even after killing MaxxMemm Preview and the CPU-Z it launches hidden, rather points to a more serious problem than just a buggy piece of software.

As I say, this software works fine on the same board (and BIOS) and CPU I used for my Dad's build, the only significant differences being that he's only got 2*4GB and I've got 4*4GB and his is OC'd to 4.4Ghz and mines still at stock for now.

 

[Lvcoyote]

I'd run a test on the memory, try memtest 86 and see what comes up.

 

[doveman]

I'd run a test on the memory, try memtest 86 and see what comes up.

I did think that might throw something up but no, it completed 4 passes overnight without error.

 

[doveman]

I've just noticed that the NB/Cache/Uncore frequency has defaulted to 3800 Mhz. I seem to recall from doing my Dad's build that it should default to 3500 Mhz, is that right?

I'm not overclocking, just running in High Performance mode to stop the clockspeed changing and it's running all four cores at 3800Mhz, which is the Turbo frequency and as I understood it, it is only meant to use this for one core when the other three are idle. Is that wrong?

 

[Woomack]

Maxxmem is an old benchmark without any support for 2 years+. I would check it with AIDA64 or something else.
It may lock in Maxxmem at hardware recognizing stage when any other hardware monitoring software is running.

 

[doveman]

Maybe so but it worked fine on my Dad's build with the same Mobo/CPU.

I haven't got any other monitoring software running, although the Asus COM service was running but I've disabled that now. I've actually managed to get the Benchmark to run a couple of times but it takes far too long to finish the final 5% on the progress bar and after the results display, locks up the system when trying to save the screenshot (it would probably lock up whatever I tried to do though).

I'll try Aida64 anyway and see if that triggers any problems.

 

[doveman]

Aida64 memory bench worked fine:

It says here http://www.overclock.net/t/1411077/haswell-overclocking-guide-with-statistics (under Overclocking) that the default uncore for the 4670k is 3.4Ghz, whereas mine is defaulting to 3.8Ghz, so that might be what's causing the problems with Maxxmemm as I recall I had problems with it with my Dad's build when I OC'd the uncore. Don't remember it bringing the system down but it was a couple of months ago, so I don't recall that clearly.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

This sounds like a software compatibility issue to me.

Maybe Maxxmem isn't fully compatible with Win 8.1? I know it normally works fine with XP, Vista, and 7.

But with Win 8/8.1? No idea. I've never tried running it on either of those OS'es.

 

[doveman]

This sounds like a software compatibility issue to me.

Maybe Maxxmem isn't fully compatible with Win 8.1? I know it normally works fine with XP, Vista, and 7.

But with Win 8/8.1? No idea. I've never tried running it on either of those OS'es.

I don't think it's that, as my Dad's build is running Win 8.1 as well and it works fine on that. It might be some other software I've got installed that my Dad hasn't but I can't think of anything that might be responsible.