Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 Owners Thread

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pauldun170

pauldun170

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2011
9,531
5,758
136
Interesting.
No issues with a Toshiba eSata 1tb external drive and a couple of generic usb 3.0 sticks plugged in.

Haven't played with any settings other than basic OC and the fan controls.
 
blastingcap

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
6,654
5
76
Patozan said:
Thanks for the reply. As mentioned previously, I have nothing on SATA3_A0 and A1 ports. All I have is my Traxdata eSATA/USB 32GB drive plugged in the red eSATA port. As suggested by David before, I enabled the external SATA option in the BIOS, which oddly enough is available for the Intel ports (SATA3_0/1 and SATA2_2/5) and not for the ASMedia ports.

I also tried changing the mode for the ASMedia controller (IDE/ACHI) and selecting "force Gen 2" as eSATA mode in the BIOS, but the Traxdata drive remains undetected, although the BIOS seems to notice that something is plugged in the eSATA port (it correctly disables SATA3_A1 port).

My general impression with this board (mATX version) is that it is not fully developed. There are issues too with an USB 3.0 stick that I keep plugged in at all times. The BIOS stalls during post unless I disable USB legacy support, or at least select "UEFI setup only".
Click to expand...

It does that if I leave my phone plugged in. Basically I think the BIOS tries to see if it can boot off my phone and stalls out.
 
Deaks2

Deaks2

Member
Oct 6, 2006
93
0
66
Just built a machine with this mobo this past weekend. I like this board a lot, and it was dirt cheap at Micro Center. My upgrade for 2012 was as follows:

i5-3570k - $185 USD
Z77 Extreme4 - $85 USD ($50 off when you buy with a CPU)
Corsair 300R - $70 USD

Combined with my 6950 (unlocked to 6970) from my previous X4 965 BE machine, this was a very cheap upgrade!

The BIOS is a pleasure to work with. The ability to flash a new BIOS version directly from the Internet is very nice. I just did a quick OC using the Easy OC menu. I am currently at 4.4 Ghz with 1.3 vCore cooling with a Zalman CNPS10X.
 
WiseUp216

WiseUp216

Platinum Member
Mar 12, 2012
2,251
51
101
www.heatware.com
Haven't seen this posted, yet. BIOS 2.30 was released on 10/4.

Specifically related to "Modify CPU load line calibration behavior". I saw some chatter over at OCN about some users getting more stable OCs out of their board.

I'll be installing it this weekend. Anyone download it, yet?
 
Despoiler

Despoiler

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2007
1,968
773
136
WiseUp216 said:
Haven't seen this posted, yet. BIOS 2.30 was released on 10/4.

Specifically related to "Modify CPU load line calibration behavior". I saw some chatter over at OCN about some users getting more stable OCs out of their board.

I'll be installing it this weekend. Anyone download it, yet?
Click to expand...

I got my board last week and flashed 2.30 immediately. Runs flawlessly and I have LLC 3 running atm for my overclock.
 
blastingcap

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
6,654
5
76
I'm on 2.30 and have no problems to report, though I've only been on 2.30 for like a day so take that for what it's worth. :D
 
C

cripp7

Junior Member
Oct 21, 2012
5
0
0
I just received my

ASRock Extreme4-m
Intel 3750k
OCZ Agility 3 120g ssd
Corsair XMS 16g DDR3
HiS IceQ 7850

and I'm setting it up and have run into a couple of problems.

1: Can't update the BIOS via internet, it's currently a v1.0. It finds a connection, asks to update to 1.30 and I click "Yes" and I get connection error. I downloaded the latest 2.30 Instant Flash, but it hangs when trying to read it. Going to try 1.30 first, which on Asrock's website the "latest" listed is 1.30 but I can't find the 2.30 page again!

2: When trying to install Windows 7 Ultimate, I followed the seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds and after setting all the bios, running windows installer I get to the part of where it normally pops up the EULA, I get a prompt for "Can't find drivers". I put the driver disk in and after about 10 attempts of shutdown/restarts, it only listed the 2 drivers (in the i386 folder on disk) once but neither would work.

Would updating the Bios correct the ssd problems? I'm upgrading my 4yr old Dual Core Duo E8500 system and I'm ready to start flying!
 
Last edited:
davidthemaster3

davidthemaster3

Senior member
Mar 11, 2011
200
3
81
cripp7 said:
I just received my

ASRock Extreme4-m
Intel 3750k
OCZ Agility 3 120g ssd
Corsair XMS 16g DDR3
HiS IceQ 7850

and I'm setting it up and have run into a couple of problems.

1: Can't update the BIOS via internet, it's currently a v1.0. It finds a connection, asks to update to 1.30 and I click "Yes" and I get connection error. I downloaded the latest 2.30 Instant Flash, but it hangs when trying to read it. Going to try 1.30 first, which on Asrock's website the "latest" listed is 1.30 but I can't find the 2.30 page again!

2: When trying to install Windows 7 Ultimate, I followed the seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds and after setting all the bios, running windows installer I get to the part of where it normally pops up the EULA, I get a prompt for "Can't find drivers". I put the driver disk in and after about 10 attempts of shutdown/restarts, it only listed the 2 drivers (in the i386 folder on disk) once but neither would work.

Would updating the Bios correct the ssd problems? I'm upgrading my 4yr old Dual Core Duo E8500 system and I'm ready to start flying!
Click to expand...

The most recent BIOS for the extreme4-m is 1.30 link
The 2.30 BIOS is for the extreme4 (non "-m") link (this one won't work with your board cause it's not the same :D)
 
birthdaymonkey

birthdaymonkey

Golden Member
Oct 4, 2010
1,176
3
81
cripp7 said:
2: When trying to install Windows 7 Ultimate, I followed the seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds and after setting all the bios, running windows installer I get to the part of where it normally pops up the EULA, I get a prompt for "Can't find drivers". I put the driver disk in and after about 10 attempts of shutdown/restarts, it only listed the 2 drivers (in the i386 folder on disk) once but neither would work.

Would updating the Bios correct the ssd problems? I'm upgrading my 4yr old Dual Core Duo E8500 system and I'm ready to start flying!
Click to expand...

I doubt the BIOS has anything to do with your Windows 7 intsall. My guess would be that you've selected RAID for your SATA controller in the BIOS. Switch it back to AHCI (or even IDE... you can always change it later) and you shouldn't have any problems.
 
H

HexiumVII

Senior member
Dec 11, 2005
661
7
81
pauldun170 said:
Well that was nice of them. How did they know I just picked up a 2700K and Extreme 4?
Guess I should send a holiday card to them this year.
Click to expand...

Yeah i just put together a 3rd system to use at my GFs with a 2700k. BIOS 2.00 fixed almost all RAM compatibilty issues. Its really a great board. I've built 14 systems with this board already. Only thing missing would be Thunderbolt and Display port(for 2560 support), but you'd need a $250+ board for those!


My general impression with this board (mATX version) is that it is not fully developed. There are issues too with an USB 3.0 stick that I keep plugged in at all times. The BIOS stalls during post unless I disable USB legacy support, or at least select "UEFI setup only".
Click to expand...

Maybe try the native USB3.0 ports? the M version is really a totally different board that only shares the front part of the names.
 
Deaks2

Deaks2

Member
Oct 6, 2006
93
0
66
Stable at 4.4 Ghz with 1.28 vCore. 4.5 Ghz is possible but I am lazy.

load.png


complete.png
 
C

cripp7

Junior Member
Oct 21, 2012
5
0
0
birthdaymonkey said:
I doubt the BIOS has anything to do with your Windows 7 intsall. My guess would be that you've selected RAID for your SATA controller in the BIOS. Switch it back to AHCI (or even IDE... you can always change it later) and you shouldn't have any problems.
Click to expand...

No, I have the SATA mode as AHCI, disabled RAID. Tried in IDE mode also but it still asks for a driver. Also disabled the ASMedia SATA3 Mode, I'm out of ideas.

Anyone?
 
A

Arkanius

Member
Mar 14, 2012
56
0
66
Guys I have a small question:

Are your GPU's working correctly? Are your GPU fan speeds dynamically kicking in when the temperature goes up?
My GPU gets over to 80 degrees celsius and the fan speed keeps on 40%, as if nothing was happening. This didn't happen before on my last mobo.
 
P

pombiki

Junior Member
Feb 5, 2008
5
0
66
cripp7 said:
No, I have the SATA mode as AHCI, disabled RAID. Tried in IDE mode also but it still asks for a driver. Also disabled the ASMedia SATA3 Mode, I'm out of ideas.

Anyone?
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem with my motherboard (ATX one, though) when I tried to install via a USB drive in a USB 3.0 port. Make sure there are no storage devices connected to any USB 3.0 ports. Windows 7 doesn't have any USB 3.0 drivers built in, so I believe that the drivers it's looking for.
 
C

cripp7

Junior Member
Oct 21, 2012
5
0
0
pombiki said:
I had a similar problem with my motherboard (ATX one, though) when I tried to install via a USB drive in a USB 3.0 port. Make sure there are no storage devices connected to any USB 3.0 ports. Windows 7 doesn't have any USB 3.0 drivers built in, so I believe that the drivers it's looking for.
Click to expand...

I was just plugging it into just a USB 2.0, but taking your advice. I thought I would disable the USB 3 in the bios, and it worked great! Once I got everything installed, I went back and re-enabled the USB 3.

THANKS!
 
D

davidwiz

Member
Dec 5, 2000
116
0
76
T

Trajan45

Junior Member
Oct 15, 2012
11
0
0
Looking at this board and I'm hearing it has a bit more flex to it than most boards. I was thinking about the Noctua nh-d14 cooler, will it's weight be a problem? Or should I go with the CM Hyper 212 Evo which is around a 1/3rd of the weight?
 
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