Asus P8Z68-V Pro Gen 3 Owners - Did you install the new BIOS?

[Snapshot1]

Thanks for taking the time to post about the serial number.

I just got one of these boards, no need or plans to return it but good to know where to look.

It is easy to see after somebody tells you to look on the side of the PCI connector, perhaps not so easy otherwise.

On mine there is another sticker on top of the SATA ports, black on yellow with a long string of hex digits and a bar code – this would have been my guess if asked for a serial number but it is totally different from the black on white bar code + various digits on the PCI connector.

Snapshot1

 

[Skypix7]

Hi Snapshot1, you bet. I figured out I coiuldn't be the only bat-blind geek freak out there who couldn't find a sticker in those mini canyons of tech boulevards, streets and alleyways.

The techs at Asus aren't much help, maybve they don't know or more likely don't care, but I wrote one back and told him, for future RMA callers, where the sticker is.

Meanwhile, I bought a Deluxe/Gen3, supposed to be a good, solid board so we'll see...just got it today and setting up tomorrow for first breadboard beep.

 

[Simz]

Hey Sky,

From reading everything in all your posts it sure seemed like you had a faulty or dying mobo with all these weirds crashes at random.. I was wondering when you'd send that board for RMA..I think in the future if anything's acting that funny you should just try and RMA because it sure looks like something is faulty from all these crashes. Anyways sucks you had so many problems with this board.. I was looking into purchasing one, now im not too sure.

 

[gizbug]

wonder when the P8Z68-V/Gen3 will see a new bios..........

 

[Kinesis]

Any what will it fix?

 

[machasm]

Just thought I would post in here about my findings with this board.
Only had it a couple of days now but it has been going very well.
I have modded the 0402 Bios to have the latest Intel OROM 11.0.0.1339 and loaded the WHQL approved 11.0.0.1032 SRT.
All going well with an OC at 4.5Ghz on air.
Rig specs
P8-Z68-V Pro/Gen 3
2 X 4Gb Kingston 1600 XMP modules (1.65V)
Core i5-2500K
1 Vertex 3 120Gb SSD
2 X Hitachi 320Gb drives in RAID 0
1 X Samsung 1Tb drive
Cooler Zalman CNPS10X QUIET

No problems at all and getting tidy benchmark scores on the SSD.
I have also managed to enable SRT on the boot drive (with a bit of phaffing around) and accelerated the RAID volumes.
Mac.

 

[machasm]

Any what will it fix?

Hopefully when Intel finally release TRIM function on RAID member drives then the new OROM (11.5) will need updating.

 

[Skypix7]

Thought I'd check in to let you all know that I rebuilt the system with a different motherboard, the Asus P8z68 Deluxe/Gen 3 and it's working like a champ. I haven't had a single crash in two weeks (I was gone for 2 weeks on business, I'd just gotten the system up and running a couple nights before I left).

Nothing's changed from the previous rig except I reinstalled my OS on a new SSD, the Samsung 830 Series MZ-7PC256D/AM 256GB SATA III. It's nearly as fast as my Corsair Force GT 240GB SSDs and is rock solid. I relegated the Corsair's to data duty, I do a lot of imaging in Photoshop and Lightroom and the speed having an all-SSD system is impressive.

The Samsung drive is amazing, has good numbers (549K/512K write/read on ATTO) and comes with a really super software called Magician that configures and optimizes Win 7 for you (superfetch and stuff that I didn't want to take the time to get educated about). Love it, one click and I've been good to go ever since.

I have had one crash, when I was trying to hotswap external esata HDD dock and it took down the SSD with it. Revised by plugging in before boot and no problems since.

The only quirk I'm seeing is my Corsair data drive blips out now and then. I'll be working in something, this time it was Lightroom, and suddenly the Corsair is just gone. I have to reboot to restore it.

Sometimes it will disappear on its own, others it stays up all day, I mean like 8-10 hours, and everything's just fine. There's no data loss or anything like that, the drive just drops out. A couple of times the other Corsair 240 also disappears.

The first Corsair is on the Intel 6GB SATA mobo port, #2 (the Samsung SSD with OS is on #1. The other Corsair is on the 3GB mobo Intel port. I've got the Marvell ports disabled.

I have all power settings set to Never. The system never sleeps so I don't think that's it, but maybe there's a bios setting I've got wrong. Or maybe the drive is funky and that's what caused problems with the earlier pro/gen3 system. Crystal Disk says it's sound but I haven't done any kind of thorough desk test (other than ATTO, which gives numbers consistent with the published specs).

Hope someone else has a solution, it's more nuisance than anything else but maybe means a more serious problem down the road. AFter my six weeks in Purgatory with that other board (which was repaired and returned to me so I'll be selling it) I'm a little gunshy about anything that pops up.

Oh: OS is Win 7 Pro 64 with SP1, fully updated.

thanks for any thoughts/suggestions.

 

[machasm]

Perhaps that 2nd Corsair drive might be a little flaky?
Maybe thats why you were having all that bother with the other MOBO if it was set as your OS drive?
Is there a firmware update for it or any tech support issues that you know of?
Mac.

 

[Skypix7]

Perhaps that 2nd Corsair drive might be a little flaky?
Maybe thats why you were having all that bother with the other MOBO if it was set as your OS drive?
Is there a firmware update for it or any tech support issues that you know of?
Mac.

That's sure a possibility, it was the drive I had the OS on. ASUS returned the same mobo, all they said is it was repaired...but it seemed like my OS crashes were related to the SSD, at least until the mobo gave up the ghost.
Maybe I'll RMA the Corsair, first I'm going to call them and see what they say. They've been completely nonresponsive on the Corsair forum pages.

thanks for the thought here and my thread, macasm

 

[imaheadcase]

Thought I would update this thread. The new bios released this month..i think 2/24 fixed lots of problems with my Nvidia graphics cards on this motherboard. I used to get tons of graphic problems but this resolved it with latest drivers. yippee.

 

[bankster55]

yep
there are now the 3xxx series bios avail for VPRO G3, V G3, non G3 V PRO and Deluxe
These will allow you to run new CPU's
3101 3202 Pro G3
3101 3201 non Pro G3
3203 PRO non GEN 3
3202 Del G3

Fwiw the flash isnt over when you think it is
It has 3 steps. Do not touch anything until you see press F1 to enter setup
If you go from XX01 to XX02 it will go mush faster and you will be going to Win 7 welcome screen since 01 did all the firmware updates already
Once you flash you cant go back to older bios versions

 

[machasm]

Beside the Note with the BIOS any idea what other changes have been made?
Does it update any of the OROM modules?

 

[bankster55]

The RST oprom is the same 10.6.0.1019
MEI is updated to 8.0.2.1410
2 additional, havent looked yet
looks like the P67 are now getting them too
Deluxe and sabertooth 2302

Edit:
They musta done something with the bluetooth, if you go to station-drivers and get the very latest and fresh install Win 7, internet disconnected and install drivers as first thing, it actually works now.
Several peeps report Nvidia card probs seemed to be fixed (PCIe 2.0 3.0?)

 

[machasm]

Thanks Bankster

 

[gizbug]

Quick question on Voltage.
To run my i7 at 4.3, should I use [AUTO] setting for voltage in the bios for everything except my ram? Also, what should the CPU Offset voltage be? Auto?

 

[bankster55]

4.3 is a very low overclock
I wouldnt use a voltage override until 4.8
The TPU switch on the mobo is for people that dont want to spend weeks researching all the ins and outs of overclocking. Its a preprogrammed overclocking test routine to see what works best for your particular mobo and CPU and RAM.

In about 99% of the cases you will wind up with a 4426 overclock ("target speed" in AI Tweak). The oddball number is because it will set BLCK at 100.3 or 103.00 - 43 multi X 103. Then depending on your bios and mobo model you will have to turn off CPU spread spectrum and set BCLK to 100.0, multi at 44, disable PLL Overclock and disable ANY port controller not in use to prevent double booting - which is simply a reset. It finds no bluetooth or whatever, reboots again without it.

You can then easily raise multiplier to 45 or 46 or even 48 and just are limited by how high the CPU voltage goes that you are comfortable with.

So you shut down PC, flip up the TPU switch, LED shows, boot to windows several times beacuse nothing sticks the first time with SB, then go back into bios and tweak. Its best not to set XMP profile for your RAM (if it has it) untill you have run the PC for a few days. So you will prob be at 1333 until then.

Then you have to determine if you want 24/7 overclock or only under load, which is O/S adjustable in the Win 7 Power (processor) options, also codepending on EIST CIE C State choices in bios.

 

[LSteve]

Hi gang.....I'm hoping someone can give me a little help with a build I'm doing tomorrow.
My question is raid setup.....how should I go about this? Should I use the Marvell SATA 6 connectors, or the Intel....and should I raid 0 or 1 or 5 .....your input is greatly appriciated. Hardware listed below.

P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
i7 2600k
Corsair Vengeance Blu 8 GB
CM V8 cooler

2-Crucial 64 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT064M4SSD2

1-Seagate Momentus XT 750 GB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 32 MB Cache 2.5 Inch Solid State Hybrid Drive ST750LX003

Corsair Builder Series CX600 600 watt 80 Plus Certified Power Supply

Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower ATX Case (RC-912-KKN1)

Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit (Full) System Builder DVD 1 Pack

 

[diamond247]

After updating to the new bios 3202, my system now fails to power off unless i hold down the power button. When shutting down from windows, windows completes the shutdown process, but the cpu and case fans continue to spin until i hold down the power button.

Any ideas?

Also, on a separate issue, my2600K is running very hot on this mobo (not related to the bios, was running hot under the previous bios). It is idling at 43C. I have reseated the heat sink several times, but still get the high temps. I am using the stock intel cooler.

Any help on either issue is appreciated.

thanks

 

[bankster55]

yep, there are 3 guys on the ASUS forum with the no shutoff issue after flash.

10 questions............
>Used mobo EZ Flash 2.0?
>AI Suite installed?
>What AV being used?
>Did you use case front USB or backplate I/O USB?
>USB 2.0 or 3.0 stick?
>Known USB Intel 2.0 port?
>Were you running a RAID array at the time?
>Got the InVirtu iGPU disabled in bios?
>(Intel) Turbo mode disabled enabled or greyed out in CPU Cfg
>Internal PLL Overvoltage in AI Tweak - setting?

If you really want an anwer to this, and I myself would like to know also, you could make screenshots all bios pages MAIN to boot, top center bottom if necessary, using F12 and USB FAT32 stick inserted.

You can then go to imgur.com and drag and drop ea to imgur homepage, then upload ea. This is a PITA I know, which is why the other 3 guys didnt do it - lol

Post direct links only, dont waste AT bandwidth with all those .bmp's..
Dont as in do - not

Use RealTemp for real temps.

 

[diamond247]

yep, there are 3 guys on the ASUS forum with the no shutoff issue after flash.

10 questions............
>Used mobo EZ Flash 2.0? I used the AI suite bios updater
>AI Suite installed? it was, i tried uninstalling it but i still had the problem
>What AV being used? norton
>Did you use case front USB or backplate I/O USB? did not use for bios update
>USB 2.0 or 3.0 stick?
>Known USB Intel 2.0 port?
>Were you running a RAID array at the time? no
>Got the InVirtu iGPU disabled in bios? yes
>(Intel) Turbo mode disabled enabled or greyed out in CPU Cfg enabled
>Internal PLL Overvoltage in AI Tweak - setting? auto

If you really want an anwer to this, and I myself would like to know also, you could make screenshots all bios pages MAIN to boot, top center bottom if necessary, using F12 and USB FAT32 stick inserted.

You can then go to imgur.com and drag and drop ea to imgur homepage, then upload ea. This is a PITA I know, which is why the other 3 guys didnt do it - lol

Post direct links only, dont waste AT bandwidth with all those .bmp's..
Dont as in do - not

Use RealTemp for real temps.

Thanks for the help. Answers in red. I also checked out the Asus forum on this issue and followed all the advice. Still no luck. I tried reflashing using ez flash 2.0 and still have the problem.

 

[bankster55]

Well, thats good to know.
My guess is the AI Suite for your particular issue
I would assume since this is not just a bug fix update, but a whole new set of oproms, that involves multiple flash reboots after the "successful" message that last for an additional 2 minutes. You are basically rewriting the whole bios. I'm thinking AI Suite isnt expecting additional 55 second and 45 second flashing ops. This also seems to be a prob with Windows update.

Another issue appears to be having an O/S RAID array on the Intel ports, since the flash causes a cmos reset with RAID having to recover in a new bios environment.

My current advice:
Use FAT32 USB 2.0 stick 8GB max with EZ flash 2 in bios, plugged into Intel (only) USB 2.0 port in I/O plate, legacy USB set enabled in bios. Unplug any booting RAID and use recover if necessary after flash.
Under no condition use a USB 3.0 port - even with a USB 2.0 stick

Things I would try:
Rerun the Intel chipset driver vers 9.3.xxxx vers/reboot
Remove the Intel MEI device in dev man/system
Reboot and install the 8021814 drivers, reboot. Should show as 8021252 in dev man
Set Internal PLL OV as disabled

There is also the post about how to get your old bios back.
A bit involved but seems to work.
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20120313205103997&board_id=1&model=P8Z68-V+PRO%2fGEN3&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

Personally I would just send ASUS $15 for a new chip and tell them what bios you want (or blank). What is your time worth?

 

[diamond247]

Still no luck. i have had about enough. I might take your advice and just pay for a new bios chip.

 

[The.Grobber]

Still no luck. i have had about enough. I might take your advice and just pay for a new bios chip.

I had the same "mobo can't shut down" issue with the new 3202 bios. After a few try, I've solved this crap.
Everything You need is just to install the new Intel Rapid Storage Driver (10.8.0.1003)! Give it a try before You order a new bios IC

Greetings:
Grobber

 

[diamond247]

Everything You need is just to install the new Intel Rapid Storage Driver (10.8.0.1003)!

THANK YOU. Hours trying every suggested fix and that was all it took.