**Official** Asrock Z68 Extreme4 thread. Share your experiences, OCs & tech issues!

[hopester]

are use any program such as InstantBoot
try to remove it first

Still reboots with nothing connected except the processor and ram while its sitting on a box out of my tower. Tried a 3rd psu to keep Ket happy but still no change

Replacement board should be with me in a few days.

[piquadrat]

I have a big problem with my new Z68 Extreme4 board.
I cannot make Extreme4 to boot when my intel 320 SSD drive is connected to any of the motherboard sata ports except Marvel's ones.
The board locks itself with endless boots loop, each time it comes to B3 state, then reboots and so on.
When I disconnect intel ssd drive all goes to normal.
I've tried: updating bios to 1.4, changing controller mode (AHCI, IDE etc.) to no avail.
The crytical thing is that my ssd is hardware encrypted with ATA security password set.
When I stipped off the ATA password all is working OK, no boot loop. But disabling ATA password effectively switching off internal encryption so no more security.
I cannot afford that. It seems the board (intel ATA controller to be more precise) has problems with ATA secured hard drives
I'm scratching my head now. I can return the board and pick something else. But have no guarantee that the problem is not the chipset fault so buying Asus or something else will give me nothing.

[jpm]

benchmarks published today comparing the performance of some of the marvell, realtek, and intel controllers:

http://vr-zone.com/articles/z68-show...0/12235-7.html

summary: intel 82579V PHY uses less CPU than the realtek RTL8111E LAN chip; asmedia ASM1042 USB3 controller has better write throughput than the renesas PD720200A by about 15%; and intel's Z68 6Gbps SATA interface crushes the marvell 88SE9128.

[Ket]

I have a big problem with my new Z68 Extreme4 board.
I cannot make Extreme4 to boot when my intel 320 SSD drive is connected to any of the motherboard sata ports except Marvel's ones.
The board locks itself with endless boots loop, each time it comes to B3 state, then reboots and so on.
When I disconnect intel ssd drive all goes to normal.
I've tried: updating bios to 1.4, changing controller mode (AHCI, IDE etc.) to no avail.
The crytical thing is that my ssd is hardware encrypted with ATA security password set.
When I stipped off the ATA password all is working OK, no boot loop. But disabling ATA password effectively switching off internal encryption so no more security.
I cannot afford that. It seems the board (intel ATA controller to be more precise) has problems with ATA secured hard drives
I'm scratching my head now. I can return the board and pick something else. But have no guarantee that the problem is not the chipset fault so buying Asus or something else will give me nothing.

I have already discussed this with my contacts a while ago, anything that might take advantage of new features on SSDs will take time to implement though I cannot say one way or the other what Asrock will choose to do.

[jpm]

I believe its a problem with the Marvell controller and not the board itself as other users of other Asrock boards with the same controller have reported the problem. The problem is basically when you plug an eSATA device your computer will become very laggy, the mouse will almost freeze and the computer will become unusable until you turn the eSATA device off.

EzyRyder, do you by any chance use the "M2" SATA port on your board? M2 is shared with the rear-panel eSATA port. wouldn't surprise me if funny things happen when both are connected simultaneously.

[piquadrat]

I have already discussed this with my contacts a while ago, anything that might take advantage of new features on SSDs will take time to implement though I cannot say one way or the other what Asrock will choose to do.

My ssd drive works ok with Extreme4 integrated Marvell ATA controller, even when the drive is ATA locked.
My 4-years-old DFI has no problem with encrypted intel ssd also and booting without problem.
I think we can't call this "new features" in this perspective.
Anyway that's something you can add to your bug list. As opposite to "ATA security extension" which is an optional feature indeed this one is a bug. Mobo should not behave like this (endless reboot loop) even when it doesn't support ATA password (my old DFI doesn't either).

[EzyRyder]

EzyRyder, do you by any chance use the "M2" SATA port on your board? M2 is shared with the rear-panel eSATA port. wouldn't surprise me if funny things happen when both are connected simultaneously.

I know what you mean, but no I don't use that port.

[Ket]

My ssd drive works ok with Extreme4 integrated Marvell ATA controller, even when the drive is ATA locked.
My 4-years-old DFI has no problem with encrypted intel ssd also and booting without problem.
I think we can't call this "new features" in this perspective.
Anyway that's something you can add to your bug list. As opposite to "ATA security extension" which is an optional feature indeed this one is a bug. Mobo should not behave like this (endless reboot loop) even when it doesn't support ATA password (my old DFI doesn't either).

There are many, many, many different hardware configurations and although some people think manufacturers have all the hardware on earth to test with the simple reality is that we don't Theres plenty of SSDs that work perfectly fine on the P67/Z68 boards, you just happen to have a drive thats probably not very common (you haven't said what SSD drive you have, which is why I assumed you had a very recent SSD which adds new hardware features) and because its not very common, thats why you have a compatibility issue.

I'll bring your issue up when I next talk with my contacts, but I won't get to talk to them until Tues/Wed next week.

[piquadrat]

It is: intel 320 Series SSD 80GB (so called G3): SSDSA2CW080G3K5
Thanks for your assistance. Lets see what Asrock's support team has to say.

[Sined]

Just got this board, Just have the problems that everyone else seems to have had since x58, which is, the USB ports and Polling rates, or Hertz on mice, Before on my p965 system, my msi 3.0 ran 500hz flawlessly, now on the usb 2.0 ports, i cant get it to run anything, no matter what i change the port to, it just between 125hz and 22000, which sucks, also, it seems to be making my scroll wheel .. delayed
The usb3.0 port however, shows no such signs, mouse runs as it should, but its stuck on 125hz, which shows in fps games as very choppy gameplay
Ive got 10-120dpc, 400dpc when torrenting and everything, no audio stutters or anything, Also running XP SP3, I know, i know too used to XP =\, But a friend of mine who has the p67 pro3 has the exact same issue

Sorry for using this as a help thread, but was hoping someone else had this issue and resolved it

[Ket]

I would see if the manufacturer of your mouse has a updated firmware for it. Most good gaming mice are usually issued with firmware updates of some sort.

[Sined]

They havent, its a Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0, very old mouse, but yours works fine at 500hz?, also in the usb3.0 port?
If so, Thats all i need to know, ill just see if i can find a DA Black Edition (I hate glossy sides ) cheap somewhere

[Ket]

The mouse I use is a wireless logitech and for gaming a Sharkoon Fireglider (black one, looks way better than the crappy one with fire on ) without any issues. There used to be a polling rate override tool used for XP machines that had polling issues, you could try googling to find it and give that a go.

[Sined]

You mean "usbmrs11.exe" and "Usbrate.exe", right? yeah, i tried those, also the one for changing it on win7, no effect on the USB3.0 polling on either one (Its rock solid on 125hz, wont budge), And the USB2.0 ports are still all over the place, maybe the motherboard just dosent like xp?, can you try plugging your sharkoon into the usb3.0 port and see if it runs on 500hz? if it does, its prolly my xp

Also fire is never crap! , we all know it makes everything 10x cooler and faster!

[Ket]

lol fire print on any mouse/case looks tacky Have you tried enabling/disabling legacy USB3 support in the UEFI?

ED - You probably are, but if not make sure you are using SP3 and have the latest mobo chipset drivers Clicky

[Sined]

Aye, tried with USB3.0 Legacy enabled and disabled, same for USB2.0, Also running SP3 fully updated, was running INF version 9.2.0.1021, gonna try and see if the 1030 does a difference
Edit here; Nope, It didnt make a lick of difference >>, But yours runs 500hz in the usb3.0 port?

[Utnorris]

Hey,
Am I missing something? I do not see a download link for the drivers on the first page, just the UEFI. What am I missing?

[Ket]

Aye, tried with USB3.0 Legacy enabled and disabled, same for USB2.0, Also running SP3 fully updated, was running INF version 9.2.0.1021, gonna try and see if the 1030 does a difference
Edit here; Nope, It didnt make a lick of difference >>, But yours runs 500hz in the usb3.0 port?

I'll have to check when my new mouse arrives my old gaming mouse died earlier

Hey,
Am I missing something? I do not see a download link for the drivers on the first page, just the UEFI. What am I missing?

I'll get the link sorted, the upload failed for some reason.

[Utnorris]

I am having one of the most difficult times I have ever had with this board and it posting to Code 64. I feel like I am chasing a friggin ghost because it seems to be random. I am on BIOS 1.20 and I am getting ready to update to 1.4, hopefully that will fix it. If anyone has ran into this code before and knows anything please let me know.

Update: I updated the bios/UEFI to 1.4a. I am going to play with it for a bit before I say it resolved the issue.

[Utnorris]

Ok, so if I go and overclock my cpu to say 4.6Ghz and I disable Speedstep and all the CPU C1 states including thermal throttling, under a load such as Intel Burn Test it still throttles down. I also noted that on the MSI mATX Z68 board I was playing with I was getting around 117Gflops on the Intel Burn Test, but now I am getting around 56Gflops. What am I missing? Also, is there a guide that shows what each of the settings in the bios does? Like what is GT Frequency? Just something that shows what needs to be changed to overclock/ Also, I started getting major pausing when overclocking, as though something was running in the background, but nothing was.

[Ket]

1. You need to change Short and Long Power limits, start with 200. You also need to change Core Current Limit, start with setting that to 200 as well.
2. If you are running W7 SP1 you need to get the latest binaries from intel to enable AVX with IBT, that will sort out the GFlops.

[piquadrat]

I'm having very hard time trying to make my sas controller work on Extreme4.
It seems, that the second long pcie slot is intended only for graphic cards. If you put literally anything other in this slot it becomes undetectable. ROM is not executed, the card is non existent.
The third long pcie slot is supposed to work with 4x but I am not able to get 4x speed with my Highpoint 2640x4 controller. The device is fortunately visible but works only in 1x which gives me around 170MB/s sequential transfer rate, It is 30% of my array capabilities.
I ordered Asus P8Z68 Pro. Lets see what this boy can.

[Utnorris]

1. You need to change Short and Long Power limits, start with 200. You also need to change Core Current Limit, start with setting that to 200 as well.
2. If you are running W7 SP1 you need to get the latest binaries from intel to enable AVX with IBT, that will sort out the GFlops.

Can you be a little more specific? Do you mean I should change Short and Long to 200? And what binaries do you mean? A driver? Sorry for sounding stupid, software is not my thing.
Thanks

[Utnorris]

I'm having very hard time trying to make my sas controller work on Extreme4.
It seems, that the second long pcie slot is intended only for graphic cards. If you put literally anything other in this slot it becomes undetectable. ROM is not executed, the card is non existent.
The third long pcie slot is supposed to work with 4x but I am not able to get 4x speed with my Highpoint 2640x4 controller. The device is fortunately visible but works only in 1x which gives me around 170MB/s sequential transfer rate, It is 30% of my array capabilities.
I ordered Asus P8Z68 Pro. Lets see what this boy can.

I had a similar issue with my PERC card on the P67 Extreme6 and the Asus Deluxe. Try swapping the graphics to slot 2 and put the RAID card in the first slot.

[Ket]

Can you be a little more specific? Do you mean I should change Short and Long to 200? And what binaries do you mean? A driver? Sorry for sounding stupid, software is not my thing.
Thanks

1. See pic
2. Clicky For customised version of IBT that includes the new intel binaries for AVX.