Adventure: Running 8/9th gen Coffee Lake CPUs on Z170 motherboard (ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger)

[martiny]

Hi there. I am not exactly sure of the setup variable. Which motherboard are you using?

Asus maximus viii ranger.

 

[itsakjt]

Asus maximus viii ranger.

That's the same board I have. I will check the setup variables with UBU once I get some time and will let you know if I can find the one you are looking for.

 

[bcored]

How about Maximus impact viii soldering mod example

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Can anyone help me with my z170 mod? I have an Asus Sabertooth z170 Mark 1, paired with 8700k. I have already programmed the bios 3801 official with the coffee time mod and programmed with the ch341a programmer. System will post and go into bios, windows will load but taskbar is not available when moving the cursor to the bottom of the screen an hour glass displays and stays like that until the system hangs, cannot open anything windows related such as when pressing the windows key the screen will temporarily blank out stay black then come back to desktop. I did not mod the motherboard through the nuvoton rather through the cpu, isolating the appropriate pins with kapton tape and connecting the appropriate pins with graphite pencil....to say I'm frustrated and disappointed would be an understatement.

 

[itsakjt]

Can anyone help me with my z170 mod? I have an Asus Sabertooth z170 Mark 1, paired with 8700k. I have already programmed the bios 3801 official with the coffee time mod and programmed with the ch341a programmer. System will post and go into bios, windows will load but taskbar is not available when moving the cursor to the bottom of the screen an hour glass displays and stays like that until the system hangs, cannot open anything windows related such as when pressing the windows key the screen will temporarily blank out stay black then come back to desktop. I did not mod the motherboard through the nuvoton rather through the cpu, isolating the appropriate pins with kapton tape and connecting the appropriate pins with graphite pencil....to say I'm frustrated and disappointed would be an understatement.

This sounds like a software issue. Have you tried a clean installation?

How about Maximus impact viii soldering mod example

This should do the trick.

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

wow! did not expect a reply that fast...have not tried that yet because I was contemplating on how to save my files, with an inplace upgrade I would normally be able to save them but cannot access anything to do so, other then windows re. Well could clone the drive or the necessary stuff then reinstall, is this what you would recommend?

 

[itsakjt]

wow! did not expect a reply that fast...have not tried that yet because I was contemplating on how to save my files, with an inplace upgrade I would normally be able to save them but cannot access anything to do so, other then windows re. Well could clone the drive or the necessary stuff then reinstall, is this what you would recommend?

I would suggest a clean install since cloning will essentially be the same OS on a different drive.

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Finally got important files backed up and reinstalled windows, now the system just hangs can still get into bios though....any ideas?

 

[itsakjt]

Can you tell me the stock values it took for the Core voltage, VCCIO and System Agent Voltage?
Tell me the values that is shown beside them. It would be great if you can take a photo and share it to me. You can find all these settings under AI Tweaker.

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Here is the info you requested, should I also try reinstalling windows again? For some reason, when windows performed the necessary restart during installation, it hung-up on the pinwheel. I tried restarting it several more times, but the issue remains.

 

[itsakjt]

Here is the info you requested, should I also try reinstalling windows again? For some reason, when windows performed the necessary restart during installation, it hung-up on the pinwheel. I tried restarting it several more times, but the issue remains.

Try the following.
Set CPU voltage as offset mode and increase it by +0.100V
Set system agent at 1.10V
VCCIO at 1.15V.

Why this is required you may ask?
Because these motherboards officially do not "know" the CPUs and sometimes manual adjustments are needed for stability.
After this, try the Windows installation.
Also, a good practice would be to first take out the RAMs and clean the gold plated contacts and clearing the CMOS by removing the battery and waiting for 5 mins.
After this, try setting up the BIOS as above and set XMP as well if your RAMs support it.

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Tried all suggestions, it still locks up

 

[itsakjt]

Tried all suggestions, it still locks up

Are you using two RAM sticks and are they known to be perfectly okay?
Try with one RAM stick at a time and see if it gets better.
Also, did you isolate the pins as shown in the diagram for ASUS?

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Using two stick of corsair 8x2/16gb/3200mhz kit, and yes I isolated the same pins from the coffee time pinout mod pic. and connected the two required with graphite pencil. Everytime it will post to bios no problem but no windows....will try to reinstall windows again.

And the ram is brand new, well two weeks old had it in my system with the 7700k and it fine no issues. will try with 1 stick and see what happens

 

[itsakjt]

Using two stick of corsair 8x2/16gb/3200mhz kit, and yes I isolated the same pins from the coffee time pinout mod pic. and connected the two required with graphite pencil. Everytime it will post to bios no problem but no windows....will try to reinstall windows again.

And the ram is brand new, well two weeks old had it in my system with the 7700k and it fine no issues. will try with 1 stick and see what happens

I have heard issues like this can also happen due to the pencil mod. Try to do the same with a small copper tape and clean the CPU contact pads with some IPA as well.
Of course, the best way for the SKT_OCC mod would be to solder that wire on the motherboard but if you are not comfortable doing that, the copper tape is the way to go for.
Also, the ideal slots for installing the RAMs are slots A2 and B2 if you are using two RAMs so I hope you are following that.

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Yes, using slots A2/B2 per the manual, and originally was using copper tape on the cpu pads but decided to switch to the graphite...use to work with LGA771-775 mod...lol. Back to the copper tape it is, and ultimately if I have to, switching to the motherboard solder mod will be next. All I currently have to do this is a double eye loop, sorta thing with 10-25x magnification.

 

[itsakjt]

Yes, using slots A2/B2 per the manual, and originally was using copper tape on the cpu pads but decided to switch to the graphite...use to work with LGA771-775 mod...lol. Back to the copper tape it is, and ultimately if I have to, switching to the motherboard solder mod will be next. All I currently have to do this is a double eye loop, sorta thing with 10-25x magnification.

Awesome. Please let us know how it goes. This board should be able to run the 8700K without any issues.
Also, while at it, please try cleaning the CPU contact pads and if issues persist, try with one stick of RAM at a time.

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Will do, and BTW thank you for your help I truly appreciate it!

Just for curiosity I put in my old cpu, and it is doing the same exact thing...hang up same as the 8700k.

 

[itsakjt]

Will do, and BTW thank you for your help I truly appreciate it!

Just for curiosity I put in my old cpu, and it is doing the same exact thing...hang up same as the 8700k.

I think it is a RAM issue. Are you clearing the CMOS after swapping the processors?

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Yes, memory check on initial startup comes back as mem-ok although I know that really does not mean much of anything, but yeah cmos cleared and right now I'm reinstalling windows. The install is almost finished will update momentarily, still using only 1 stick but if it is simply a ram issue that would be amazing. brb!

O

Yes, memory check on initial startup comes back as mem-ok although I know that really does not mean much of anything, but yeah cmos cleared and right now I'm reinstalling windows. The install is almost finished will update momentarily, still using only 1 stick but if it is simply a ram issue that would be amazing. brb!

I think it is a RAM issue. Are you clearing the CMOS after swapping the processors?

Ok just reinstalled windows and it is hanging again after restart, past the bios screen into the ultimate force asus logo, pinwheel and freeze. I have some good spare memory laying around could try them for the heck of it?

 

[itsakjt]

Yes, memory check on initial startup comes back as mem-ok although I know that really does not mean much of anything, but yeah cmos cleared and right now I'm reinstalling windows. The install is almost finished will update momentarily, still using only 1 stick but if it is simply a ram issue that would be amazing. brb!

O


Ok just reinstalled windows and it is hanging again after restart, past the bios screen into the ultimate force asus logo, pinwheel and freeze. I have some good spare memory laying around could try them for the heck of it?

Absolutely. Do try them.
Also, does your board have BIOS flashback? And what did you use to flash the BIOS (hardware and software).

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Tried different ram that I know for sure is good corsair ballistix sport lt 8gb kit same issue persists. My board does have BIOS flashback and I used a (ch341a programmer using neoprogrammer).

 

[itsakjt]

Tried different ram that I know for sure is good corsair ballistix sport lt 8gb kit same issue persists. My board does have BIOS flashback and I used a (ch341a programmer using neoprogrammer).

Can you try once with ASProgrammer?

AsProgrammer_V2.1.0.13_XiTongZhiJia.zip

drive.google.com

Select Language and then under Hardware select CH341 and then select the BIOS chip model. Erase the chip and then load the modded file and click on program.

 

[Sabertoothz170m1]

Tried different ram that I know for sure is good corsair ballistix sport lt 8gb kit same issue persists. My board does have BIOS flashback and I used a (ch341a programmer using neoprogrammer).

Can you try once with ASProgrammer?

AsProgrammer_V2.1.0.13_XiTongZhiJia.zip

drive.google.com

I most certainly can and will although foolishly I reassembled my build back into my case but no big deal.

Can you try once with ASProgrammer?

AsProgrammer_V2.1.0.13_XiTongZhiJia.zip

drive.google.com

Select Language and then under Hardware select CH341 and then select the BIOS chip model. Erase the chip and then load the modded file and click on program.

Alright doing it now

Can you try once with ASProgrammer?

AsProgrammer_V2.1.0.13_XiTongZhiJia.zip

drive.google.com

Select Language and then under Hardware select CH341 and then select the BIOS chip model. Erase the chip and then load the modded file and click on program.

thanks for the dload, btw!

 

[itsakjt]

Sure. All the best. I really hope it works this time.