A fix for Valve CEG games causing BSOD on Bulldozer -issue

[The Stilt]

I recently found a solution for the issue causing BSOD on systems using AMD Bulldozer CPU.
While I will not go into the specifics but the issue was not hardware related.
The official explanation might or might not emerge at some point.

Games affected (atleast): Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Total War: Shogun 2.

The issue occurs on all motherboards from all vendors, so it is not a Asus related issue either.

Please note that this solution is not official and it has not passed any kind of official qualification.
Therefore neither I, Asus or AMD can be held responsible for any kind of damage, malfunction or performance issues that might occur.
Absolutely no warranty or support provided by me, Asus or AMD.

The official solution will be available after the qualification has been completed.

Youtube - AMD FX running Deus Ex - Human Revolution

Get the modified, unofficial bioses:

Asus Crosshair V 9913M-TSSW
Base: 99-13 (10/18/2011)
Modified: M-TSSW (11/09/2011)

Asus Sabertooth 990FX 0810M-TSSW
Base: 08-10 (09/28/2011)
Modified: M-TSSW (11/09/2011)

Use the supplier AMI Afuwin (32 or 64-bit) program to update the bios.
Tick "Program All Blocks" (from Setup tab, block options) option before launching the update process.
Once the update has been completed, shut down the computer and clear cmos.

UPDATE 11/30/2011: Check the most recent updates from posts: #56, #57 and #59

Updated links for Orochi-CEG (1/26/2012):

Hotfile
Oron
Mediafire
Depositfiles
Fileserve

[EniGmA1987]

Thanks. So you modified something in the bios to fix the issue then? What did you do?

[lizardmech]

Any idea how long it will be until there is an official fix?

[The Stilt]

Thanks. So you modified something in the bios to fix the issue then? What did you do?

A small section of the code had to be replaced, but like I said I will not get into the specifics.

Any idea how long it will be until there is an official fix?

It is really up to the motherboard vendors.
The official bios releases usually need to pass the qualification which takes some time.

[wez]

Surprise surprise, DRM causing issues

Thanks for the update Stilt

[lizardmech]

Any idea if it's feasible for valve to fix it on their end? If they don't fix it on the steam side it will just make a mess as more people inevitably buy motherboards with the current bios version. Even if it's technically an AMD issue Valve should take some responsibility to fix it.

DRM issues are very tiresome as they only punish legitimate customers.

[P.A.D>]

The funny thing about this issue is I've seen this happen with more than just games.

I've seen it happen while running Aida,3D mark 11 and while using J River's Media Center, doesn't mean they are connected but it's always the same error.

So we might have to go a little deeper down the rabbit hole? It's good to know this is not hardware related.

I'm curious, have you heard anything from AMD on this issue Stilt? I'm curious to hear what AMD has to say about this, and why none of the big tech sites are delving into this issue. I'm sure the big tech sites think this would hurt AMD as I'm sure it would, but keeping silent isn't the best option as this issue is getting picked up more and more around the net.

[The Stilt]

The funny thing about this issue is I've seen this happen with more than just games.

I've seen it happen while running Aida,3D mark 11 and while using J River's Media Center, doesn't mean they are connected but it's always the same error.

So we might have to go a little deeper down the rabbit hole? It's good to know this is not hardware related.

I'm curious, have you heard anything from AMD on this issue Stilt? I'm curious to hear what AMD has to say about this, and why none of the big tech sites are delving into this issue. I'm sure the big tech sites think this would hurt AMD as I'm sure it would, but keeping silent isn't the best option as this issue is getting picked up more and more around the net.

We have not come across or heard about of any other BD specific issues than the ones with Valve / CEG protected games.
I´ve done tons of AIDA64 and some 3DMark11 on BD and have not noticed any issues. Can you please elaborate a bit?

[P.A.D>]

We have not come across or heard about of any other BD specific issues than the ones with Valve / CEG protected games.
I´ve done tons of AIDA64 and some 3DMark11 on BD and have not noticed any issues. Can you please elaborate a bit?

I wasn't even looking for issues they just came about through stability testing with the programs I mentioned.

To be fair the CPU was pushed quite high in frequency and somewhat in voltage, but I can't say I've seen the same error almost every time the system BS'd? If you in any way are involved with AMD and you guys choose to burry your heads in the sand and burn the last set of people that have supported you; so be it.

I've seen this a few times in the past with some old P4's but not to the extent it has come up with this chip, and if this is strictly a BIOS issue why doesn't this happen with the Thubans on the AM3+ boards?

Always the same error: A clock interrupt was not received by a ...yada,yada. I've pushed my 1090T pretty hard and have never seen this issue, only with the BD.

Now as far as specific's Aida's CPU Queen test crashed 2/3 times with the same error, but like I said to be fair mostly at higher frequency. I also use other benches to test for whole system stability not just CPU and this is where I throw in 3D mark as I've seen plenty of CPU's that will pass every Prime,ITB or what have you and fail in 1-2 minutes under 3D mark. Not that the CPU is to blame for every crash but yet again, and just with BD I get the "Clock Interrupt Error", sometimes 30's into and sometimes a minute into.

The same issue cropped up with JRiver and while just surfing the net, again both at higher clocks but what is the point of an enthusiast class CPU you can't OC to the limit? Yah no, not temp's, 50 is the max I'll let it go with all cores stressed and middle 40's for a regular 24/7 oc at 100% all cores/threads and I also walk the voltage down as far as I can go when I find a stable 24/7 OC.

So far 24/7 for me is 4.6@1.36 with all cores with memory at a mild OC of 100 or a little over. Changed voltage to 1.33.

Like I said don't know what's related and what's not, but I haven't seen this error in a long time.

[G.Foyle]

Seriously dude, your overclocked machine BSODs and you blame ASUS just because it's kind of BSOD you've never seen before? Just back down 50 MHz and enjoy your overclock.

FYI, stable is not 24 hrs of Prime95, 1000 loops of Vantage or LinX. Stable is "I do whatever I please and have 30 days uptime" (adjust uptime for different levels of stability). If you can pass prime, linx, vantage or whatever, but crash at games - does not mean the motherboard is to blame.

[P.A.D>]

Seriously dude, your overclocked machine BSODs and you blame ASUS just because it's kind of BSOD you've never seen before? Just back down 50 MHz and enjoy your overclock.

FYI, stable is not 24 hrs of Prime95, 1000 loops of Vantage or LinX. Stable is "I do whatever I please and have 30 days uptime" (adjust uptime for different levels of stability). If you can pass prime, linx, vantage or whatever, but crash at games - does not mean the motherboard is to blame.

Ok I'll be nice, Learn to read! Thanks for the typical "dude" post though.

What you just spouted out your anus is in no way shape or form what I said.

[charged3800z24]

Ok I'll be nice, Learn to read! Thanks for the typical "dude" post though.

What you just spouted out your anus is in no way shape or form what I said.

Strange, cause I have never seen any of the issues mentioned in your previous post. Specifically at AMD's STOCK FREQUENCIES!!!! Anything above stock is never garanteed, and at stock clocks, if you have these issues, something else is wrong. We have several peeps on here running 8120's and 8150's using various boards incuding 990fx and 890fx. I have heard any of them mention your issues.

[P.A.D>]

Strange, cause I have never seen any of the issues mentioned in your previous post. Specifically at AMD's STOCK FREQUENCIES!!!! Anything above stock is never garanteed, and at stock clocks, if you have these issues, something else is wrong. We have several peeps on here running 8120's and 8150's using various boards incuding 990fx and 890fx. I have heard any of them mention your issues.

I didn't make this up, what would I have to gain from it?

http://scalibq.wordpress.com/2011/10...et-even-worse/
and I'm sure you can google allot more of the same, and yes this does happen at stock speeds.

So you know like .0099% of all people that own BD's and you surmised that because they don't have issues that nobody does?

I think you guys need to learn what the real issue is, I don't know what you are trying to read into?

Scali says:
November 10, 2011 at 3:41 pm

Since he refuses to say what was fixed (in fact, at this point, nobody even confirmed that it actually fixed anything), there is nothing to comment on at this point.
In fact, from the video you can’t even tell whether it’s the Steam version of the game or not. Standalone versions of games didn’t suffer from the issues.

Just so you know Stilt, some people that tried this say it does not fix anything? I say this as a friend, not in a bad way.

[The Stilt]

Scali says:
November 10, 2011 at 3:41 pm

Since he refuses to say what was fixed (in fact, at this point, nobody even confirmed that it actually fixed anything), there is nothing to comment on at this point.
In fact, from the video you can’t even tell whether it’s the Steam version of the game or not. Standalone versions of games didn’t suffer from the issues.

Just so you know Stilt, some people that tried this say it does not fix anything? I say this as a friend, not in a bad way.

Yeah, I have already read that before and I don´t even bother commenting his post since he has obviously not tried it by himself.

I must admit that he got atleast something right: Indeed some of the cracked versions of these games work on Bulldozer even without the fix. This is because the Valve CEG protection has been completely disabled. However there is atleast one cracked version available (from "18 and Life..") which still has the Valve CEG protection active. It is just being emulated in order to get the game running. This version will cause BSOD on Bulldozer unless the fix is used, just like the original one from Steam (yeah, I have tried them both).

[Evantaur]

"I do whatever I please and have 30 days uptime"

you can't pass 7 days uptime with windows 7 with it's need to update/reboot itself

[charged3800z24]

you can't pass 7 days uptime with windows 7 with it's need to update/reboot itself

That can be turned off you know.

[EniGmA1987]

you can't pass 7 days uptime with windows 7 with it's need to update/reboot itself

lol? I frequently go for a month or more without a restart.

[charged3800z24]

Well, maybe us here on XS have never had this issue because we don't run any power save features like CE1, etc. I don't think any of those mentioned review site turned these settings off. Maybe it is related to this? All, I know is my setup has been rock soild on on server 2008 R2, Windows 8 Preview and Windows 7. I paly different games and run WCG when ever I'm not using the system. I didn't notice one thing, except that the sub timings on auto for 1333 or 1600 do not work on my 2 kits of Ripjaws, OCZ blackEditions and a Set of Kingston Hyper-X all 4GB kits Don't work. Had to set them manually or the system would Blue screen or lock up after boot. I'll go through those reviews from the mentioned sites and see what they had for setups. I still would leen on the way Windows schedules threads and it not being designed or FX ready. It could also be the APM feature. I have never had this on with my FX setup at any point with ANY BIOS.

Edit: Typo's

[P.A.D>]

Count yourself lucky as this is really annoying. Like Scali says I don't think anyone outside of AMD knows what is going on here? I just hope AMD fixes this quick!

I contacted AMD myself and they still have not got back to me, if they do I'll let everyone know what they think.

[STEvil]

Hey Pad, careful about coming across as a jerk, ok? The way you worded the post that G.Foyle responded to seems to me like you're spouting off without making sure you have properly bug/stability checked the system too.

There's an alternate clock control timer in the bios that sometimes is more accurate if I can recall the name of it. It may also be worth a try..

EDIT

Enable HPET timer in the bios, might be worth a try..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Precision_Event_Timer

[P.A.D>]

Hey Pad, careful about coming across as a jerk, ok? The way you worded the post that G.Foyle responded to seems to me like you're spouting off without making sure you have properly bug/stability checked the system too.

There's an alternate clock control timer in the bios that sometimes is more accurate if I can recall the name of it. It may also be worth a try..

EDIT

Enable HPET timer in the bios, might be worth a try..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Precision_Event_Timer

You've got to be F'ng kidding me! I make a post responding to Stilt and all I get is attacked by people that don't even know what the issue is and I'm the Jerk! All I've heard is !!!!!! with smart aleck comments and I'm the jerk. This place has gone to the Dumps, gonna get Fugger to delete my account. This used to be such an awesome place.

[BeepBeep2]

You've got to be F'ng kidding me! I make a post responding to Stilt and all I get is attacked by people that don't even know what the issue is and I'm the Jerk! All I've heard is !!!!!! with smart aleck comments and I'm the jerk. This place has gone to the Dumps, gonna get Fugger to delete my account. This used to be such an awesome place.

The example link you listed said its problem was stemming only from Steam-based games.

You are having the problem all over the place, either because your CPU is defective or unstable. 4600 @ 1.36v might be a little over the edge.

[P.A.D>]

The example link you listed said its problem was stemming only from Steam-based games.

You are having the problem all over the place, either because your CPU is defective or unstable. 4600 @ 1.36v might be a little over the edge.

This is the way you reply to someone, thanks Beep!

Like I said you don't get the same error every time with a bad OC.

[BeepBeep2]

This is the way you reply to someone, thanks Beep!

Like I said you don't get the same error every time with a bad OC.

Actually on AMD platforms you do seem to get the same error every time with a bad OC.
Infamous 0x00000124 with Deneb, 0x0000008E with Thuban.

I don't even know why you are posting in this thread, about an issue you aren't having because your issue is unrelated to Valve CEG games. I'm not sure if you noticed, but the rest of the world is only having the issue with Valve CEG games and you are reporting it for other programs.

The PM you sent me was quite rude, more rude than my previous post towards you and quite insulting to one's intelligence. I'll read it over again before I decide to report it.

[STEvil]

just cant help some people I guess :/

If you want the thread cleaned just ask Stilt.