Skylake hard locks seeminly when IDLE / CStates ON

[GGlyn]

Myself and others have been struggling with a different hard lock problem with Skylake and we have ran out of options but to assume it is a CPU fault/issue. Does anyone have any comments or feedback?

The long thread is over here, but I will summarise. http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2830772/skylake-build-randomly-freezing-crashing/page-7.html New Skylake Build Randomly Freezing/Crashing - Page 7 - windows 10 - Windows 10

Our systems hard lock randomly but appears on the most part to be when IDLE or next to IDLE. The hardlock can come when playing video, browsing (reading) or mostly when not interacting at all. Some (like myself) noted that they seem to occur more often if you are doing a large amount of disk IO (partition move for example or copying 40+ GB of data disk to disk).

Hard locks happen in either Windows (7,8,10) or Linux.

With CStates on, the crashes are often and usually within 10 minutes of IDLE. With CStates disabled completely most find that the system remains "mainly" stable for days. Generally, no one has reported locks when gaming or under high CPU load (so I do not think this is the Prime95 example but then, since compilers / drivers use the latest instructions (according to CPUID) I cant be sure).

The symptoms happen on many different manufacturers motherboards, RAM types and setups. We have successfully removed or replaced all components and the only change that seems to make a difference is CPU for a few. CStates off in the BIOS is absolutely a guarenteed way to stabilize significantly but not fix.

I changed CPU (after trying everything else) and find it now mostly stable with CStates ON. I must be clear that my system is 100% identical, CPU # 1 crashes all the time and must have CStates off, CPU # 2 does not crash so often even with CStates ON. One may argue this is a problem with my PC, a fault, but with so many people having the exact same issues I cant believe it is a defect. And with Cstates/SpeedStep so specifically (a known new part of Skylakes architecture), I remain convinced that this is something real.

Others were not so lucky, a replacement CPU did not make the situation better. Batches from different factories as well etc etc

My new CPU has hard locked but not when IDLE like the last one (not yet anyway). Mine can lock when under full load, video transcoding, but not more than 1 in 10 sessions. Cstates ON seems equally stable on this CPU as OFF.

Thanks for any suggestions you can give.

[CCris2]

Reset Bios.

Set Memory to XMP .

Set VCCSA 1.25V and VCCIO 1.15 and Vcore on adaptive mode.

And your system should work with no problem.

[CCris2]

And uninstall all asus software, because it will reload the settings you made when you load windows, also reset Intel Extreme Tunning also if you still have it.

[LMonk]

I think vccio was red... i check out this.

[CCris2]

Well this is strange. On my mainboard they are white

[LMonk]

If this will work, i think i will go crazy... but i expect just another hard lock at the middle of my work...

[CCris2]

It will be ok

[CCris2]

If it's stable decrease Offset voltage, and Turbo Mode offset voltage

[ssote]

Ronin wrote:

SS with voltage on 800Mhz :

SS with voltage on 4200 Mhz :

Your core voltage is a little high for 4.2GHz. How did it go when you reset Bios did your CPU core speed run past 4.0GHz on 4 cores.

[ssote]

Ronin wrote:

VCCIO and VCCSA you can see in windows in HWiNFO. XMP changes VCCIO and VCCSA only when you activate it in bios.

If you don't set XMP, VCCIO and VCCSA will be set on auto for standard memory on 2133, that is about 0.950V and 1.050V.

XMP was not windows stable. I'm running 3200Mhz memory and I have Vccio original was 0.960v changed to 1.050v Vccsa (System Agent) original was 1.060v changed to 1.150v. I'm testing now, is that enough voltage for 3200MHz?

HWiNFO. XMP is it free, do they have adware.

[CCris2]

For 3200 memory you need VCCIO 1.168 and VCCSA 1.275 in HWiNFO. That if your memory has timings 16-18-18-36-2 .

[CCris2]

What you see in HWiNFO is with bios on auto, and just enabled XMP .

I thik PCH +1.0V has modified voltage from 1.0 V to 1.2V

[ssote]

Ronin wrote:

For 3200 memory you need VCCIO 1.168 and VCCSA 1.275 in HWiNFO. That if your memory has timings 16-18-18-36-2 .

In HWiNFO on my motherboard the Vccio is missing in the voltage output table. What should I set my Vccio and Vccsa to for 3200MHz at 14-14-14-34-t2

This is my stock Vccsa XMP for my G.SKILL F4-3200C14D-16GVK 3200MHz

[CCris2]

You can't see VCCIO, even if you look upper or down in HWiNFO ? I think it is named something else please post all the HWiNFO voltages

[ssote]

Ronin wrote:

You can't see VCCIO, even if you look upper or down in HWiNFO ? I think it is named something else please post all the HWiNFO voltages

No I can't I see the Vccio if look up or down with HWiNFO. I changed the the Vccio to 1.165 and the Vccsa to 1.275.

[CCris2]

You will have to do it blindly. If the voltages you set make system stable then you can decrease voltage slowly till you find the minimum stable voltages

[idata]

Does this problem also happen on a Intel® Atom™ x5-Z8300 Processor processor?

[ssote]

Ronin wrote:

You will have to do it blindly. If the voltages you set make system stable then you can decrease voltage slowly till you find the minimum stable voltages

It turns out the Stock XMP voltages were fine it was my browsers that are unstable.

[CCris2]

wingman99

What windows version you use ?

[ssote]

Ronin wrote:

wingman99

What windows version you use ?

Windows 10. I think all my web browsers are unstable.

[CCris2]

I guess you don't have the latest insider version.

What do you mean unstable ?

[ssote]

Ronin wrote:

I guess you don't have the latest insider version.

What do you mean unstable ?

What is the latest insider version? With heavy use of my we browsers opining a lot of tabs the web pages crash.