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

[Ket]

CPU PLL is subjective, some people need it @ 4.4GHz, but not 4.6GHz, others don't need it until 4.8-5GHz. Its a bit of a enigma setting.

[EzyRyder]

New BETA BIOS:

L1.60G 8/16/2011 Instant Flash 3.20MB Improve system stability.
http://europe.asrock.com/downloadsit...e4(L1.60G).zip

Ket, what kind of stability issues?

Also new USB driver

Etron USB 3.0 driver ver:0.104_WHQL
http://europe.asrock.com/downloadsit....104_WHQL).zip

New ASRock XFast USB Utility ver:3.02.19
http://europe.asrock.com/downloadsit...B(3.02.19).zip

[orb]

might be just me and totally my fault for ignoring if it aint broke don't fix it, but i tried the beta bios and have lost the ability to overclock atm, nothing apart from stock will boot, even reverting back to the old bios and loading my settings results in constant failed overclock

i did notice though they changed the bios default to fixed voltage at 1.19v

[Collins00]

Hey I got a problem with this board and cannot get it sorted. Every time I try to shutdown, it turns off then powers back on by itself a few seconds later so I have to turn it off at the PSU switch

Is this a common problem with these boards and does anyone know what might be causing it? Any help would be great Im about to go nuts trying to solve it.

All settings are at stock, ram settings are configured manually. These are the things I have already tried:

1] Changed the ram for a different set
2] Took board out and tried running on a box to eliminate shorts.
3] Tried a different old CoolIT 480watt PSU I have, same problem.
4] Removing all devices except the ps2 keyboard and dvi cable.
5] Tried with onboard graphics and 6950 same problem with both, no difference.
6] Took off my A70 and install stock heatsink.
7] Reset cmos/ changed cmos battery.
8] Tried running with one stick in several slots.
9] Unticked every device in device manager that could wake the computer.
10] Changed every power saving, boot from keyboard, all features I could think off in Bios.
11] Changed the power cord.
12] Changed hard drive.
13] Changed the bios.

Im baffled. Would like to get this sorted as I do love the board. Anyone any ideas or experienced anything similar?

[Anusha]

do u have instant boot running? it caused the same thing until i remoed it. maybe ket can give a good answer.

[Collins00]

I have tested under a fresh install of windows with no drivers installed and it still does it. Also booted up from live linux cd and tried shutting it down but get the same problem

[Ket]

Ket, what kind of stability issues?

might be just me and totally my fault for ignoring if it aint broke don't fix it, but i tried the beta bios and have lost the ability to overclock atm, nothing apart from stock will boot, even reverting back to the old bios and loading my settings results in constant failed overclock

i did notice though they changed the bios default to fixed voltage at 1.19v

Power Down
Remove CMOS battery
Set CMOS jumper to "clear"
Remove PSU cord
Press power button 2-3 times
Leave for 1-5 mins
DO NOT LOAD ANY SAVED PROFILES (overwrite them)

Hey I got a problem with this board and cannot get it sorted. Every time I try to shutdown, it turns off then powers back on by itself a few seconds later so I have to turn it off at the PSU switch

Is this a common problem with these boards and does anyone know what might be causing it? Any help would be great Im about to go nuts trying to solve it.

All settings are at stock, ram settings are configured manually. These are the things I have already tried:

1] Changed the ram for a different set
2] Took board out and tried running on a box to eliminate shorts.
3] Tried a different old CoolIT 480watt PSU I have, same problem.
4] Removing all devices except the ps2 keyboard and dvi cable.
5] Tried with onboard graphics and 6950 same problem with both, no difference.
6] Took off my A70 and install stock heatsink.
7] Reset cmos/ changed cmos battery.
8] Tried running with one stick in several slots.
9] Unticked every device in device manager that could wake the computer.
10] Changed every power saving, boot from keyboard, all features I could think off in Bios.
11] Changed the power cord.
12] Changed hard drive.
13] Changed the bios.

Im baffled. Would like to get this sorted as I do love the board. Anyone any ideas or experienced anything similar?

What you describe is usually linked with a dodgy PSU, as you already tried a different PSU try reseating the CPU. If that doesn't work, best idea would be to return the board for replacement.

[Anusha]

i don't know if this is related to the board or a driver or something else,
but ever since i bought the board, people say they cannot hear my voice properly through skype calls. i'm using the microsoft's lifecam cinema's mic for talking. it used to be soooo loud, that i could talk from the kitcken and the other end could hear everything clearly. now they cannot hear even when i am right in front of the PC. there is no problem with the webcam as when i plug it to my laptop, it works perfectly.

tried USB2 ports as well as USB3 ports. i cannot really tell there difference from the skype test call. but they say they cannot here. >_<

could be an issue with Windows though...

[Ket]

Checked the mic volume? Really... my 5yr old nephew knows to do that before asking a question like that......

[Anusha]

Checked the mic volume? Really... my 5yr old nephew knows to do that before asking a question like that......

volume is at full. guess your nephew won't know what to do in this case. maybe you do. that's why i'm asking.

and the other party is not one person. i call two parties, and both of them cannot hear what i am saying *properly*. issue is, i don't know if it is low volume or distorted volume or high noise. they are not tech savvy at all. it's not a problem with their end though, because as soon as i switched to laptop (they say even the built in mic in the laptop sounds better) they said it was back to the way it was. all this time i was blaming them for their poor connection. it happens to be me all along. it could be related to something other than the mobo, but it all started after the upgrade. never had the problem with the old PC (same webcam).

[Ket]

If you did a dirty install (by which I mean just removed all the system drivers and let Windows redo everything with the new board) that could be a likely cause. I would also check any independent software you have that can control mic volume. Eitherway, its a very simple problem which a bit of nosing around in various volume settings will fix.

[Anusha]

If you did a dirty install (by which I mean just removed all the system drivers and let Windows redo everything with the new board) that could be a likely cause. I would also check any independent software you have that can control mic volume. Eitherway, its a very simple problem which a bit of nosing around in various volume settings will fix.

it's a clean install. ok i'll try to figure it out somehow.

[Ket]

If you use Skype, MSN, or anything like that they have options for mic volume so it'll be worth checking to make sure its not set low there. Apart from any CP you may have for your audio device, it will also be worth looking at the Windows sound CP as well. To get at it, Right-click on the normal Windows sound icon in the bottom right corner, select "Recording devices", click your microphone then click "Properties". Click the "Level" tab, and there you go. Windows mic volume along with a mic boost option. Set mic boost to something like +20dB and you should be good.

[radier]

UEFI 1.70

Support XMP ver. 1.3.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.as...xtreme4&o=BIOS

[Anusha]

If you use Skype, MSN, or anything like that they have options for mic volume so it'll be worth checking to make sure its not set low there. Apart from any CP you may have for your audio device, it will also be worth looking at the Windows sound CP as well. To get at it, Right-click on the normal Windows sound icon in the bottom right corner, select "Recording devices", click your microphone then click "Properties". Click the "Level" tab, and there you go. Windows mic volume along with a mic boost option. Set mic boost to something like +20dB and you should be good.

all of them checked. it has no mic boost option. i don't recall ever having it there anyways. >_>

[flurex]

all of them checked. it has no mic boost option. i don't recall ever having it there anyways. >_>

In your Realtek HD Audio Manager within the Microphone tab there is a button under the heading "Recording Volume" that is for "Microphone Boost". From there it will bring up a window where you can use the slider to select what kind of gain you want.

[Anusha]

for one, this is a USB mic so realtek sound options don't matter. for two, i am not using onboard audio.
i formatted the PC. made a brief call but couldn't ask if it is better now. will let you know if formatting fixed the prob. it might be some driver thingy. or something going wrong somewhere, because i am using the same set of software as before.

[LoneWolf]

for one, this is a USB mic so realtek sound options don't matter. for two, i am not using onboard audio.
i formatted the PC. made a brief call but couldn't ask if it is better now. will let you know if formatting fixed the prob. it might be some driver thingy. or something going wrong somewhere, because i am using the same set of software as before.

That sounds like a possible issue with your mic and Windows, rather than the board.

Just for grins, do you have an analog mic you can try with either your onboard audio or (if you're using one instead) a discrete sound card?

[Anusha]

yes, but i cannot guarantee that it will be conclusive, because i never used the mic of my headset. there was no reason to use the mic of the headset. if something was good about the MS lifecam cinema, it would be the mic, not the video quality. (autofocus was crap).

after formatting windows, things seemed to be better on the first day, but it has gone back to bad shape again. could have been a coincidence. i still cannot pin point to a cause. first i thought it was USB ports/drivers, but i guess not. i will try calling someone closeby (i.e. in Japan) to rule out an issue with the connectivity. (issue is, i can clearly hear from the other side- that is Sri Lanka (i know, internet sucks and that is an understatement) - and using the same webcam on the laptop connected via wifi to the same LAN, brings things back to normal.) possibly a software - which fiddles with the audio - or a driver (usb, sound card possibly? webcam? - but it is the same drie) is causing this.

ah there is one more thing i can try. i cannot believe i didn't think of this before. i was using video calls, but to rule out the problems with the internet, i can try an audio call. (but again, laptop works fine on the same network.) i do not see a problem with the network either. i mean, i can download at 4-5MBps if servers can provide at that rate. (for example, downloading iTunes setup from Apple server saturates my connection ~6MBps/50Mbps) but skype shows bad network all the time. it was like that before. same on the laptop as well.

this is driving me insane!!! why is it that whenever you try to fix one thing, you break something else? >_<

[Ket]

The only mic I have to hand is one built into a Quickcam Pro 4000 (USB), so its safe to assume the mic isn't going to be anything special but it still supports a mic boost option as can been seen in the below screenshot. You sure there is no mic boost option?

[Anusha]

yes i am sure

[Ket]

Thats strange. You could have a system specific problem. Such issues usually can't be resolved without replacing the hardware having a problem, in you case that would mean a different mic. Its very unusual a mic does not support mic boost though I'll give you that . When you have connected the mic to your laptop, have you looked to see if the mic boost option is available on your laptop? If it is, its safe to say your issue is system specific and a new mic would be the only way around the problem.

[Ket]

FYI folks, I'm updating the driver packages now for both P67 and Z68 boards. The packages include the installer version of all the drivers to make things easy for n00bies. On the downside, the package sizes are bigger. The most interesting thing to note is the driver I found for the intel HD graphics - 8.15.10.2476. This driver you can't even download from the intel download center for some bizzarre reason. I aquired it through a intel mirror.

[jpm]

FYI folks, I'm updating the driver packages now for both P67 and Z68 boards. The packages include the installer version of all the drivers to make things easy for n00bies. On the downside, the package sizes are bigger. The most interesting thing to note is the driver I found for the intel HD graphics - 8.15.10.2476. This driver you can't even download from the intel download center for some bizzarre reason. I aquired it through a intel mirror.

intel does put the latest hd graphics drivers up on their site, they are just a bit difficult to find:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...adType=Drivers

you won't find them when you browse through their categories under Graphics > Desktop graphics controllers > HD Graphiccs because intel has not rated a version of their drivers for general use across z68 boards since build 2361. the reason is that the on-board graphics have been causing some fairly prominent issues across non-intel motherboards that intel has been trying and failing to fix for at least 5 months. check out this gripe thread for a taste:

http://communities.intel.com/thread/20439?tstart=60

the thread got so angry and popular that intel had to close it down and bury it in the forum.

intel knows there are some serious driver bugs with their HD graphics on non-intel motherboards, particularly related to HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, and they haven't been able to isolate and fix them yet. as a result, the numerous recent driver releases since build 2361 have only been published officially for intel-brand motherboards. but you can still find them either by navigating to one of intel's z68 motherboards or by searching on the string "HD graphics".

[Ket]

While that HDMI issue is a bad one to have, intel should make the latest HD driver more readily available still as it fixes a lot of bugs 2361 has. I've said it for a long time and I'll say it again, intel are terrible at writing graphics drivers its about time they saw the reality of their awful graphics driver writing. If anyone hasn't seen it already, theres a modded INF I put up on the first page, it'll improve things and should fix one or two bugs.