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Investigating possible firmware/AGESA bug on AM5, help wanted.

R-T-B

R-T-B

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Joined
Aug 20, 2007
Messages
22,262 (3.44/day)
Location
Olympia, WA
System Specs
System Name Pioneer
Processor Ryzen 9 9950X
Motherboard MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk Wifi
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 + A whole lotta Sunon, Phanteks and Corsair Maglev blower fans...
Memory 128GB (4x 32GB) G.Skill Flare X5 @ DDR5-4200(Running 1:1:1 w/FCLK)
Video Card(s) XFX RX 7900 XTX Speedster Merc 310
Storage Intel 5800X Optane 800GB boot, +2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs, 1x 2TB Seagate Exos 3.5"
Display(s) 55" LG 55" B9 OLED 4K Display
Case Thermaltake Core X31
Audio Device(s) TOSLINK->Schiit Modi MB->Asgard 2 DAC Amp->AKG Pro K712 Headphones or HDMI->B9 OLED
Power Supply FSP Hydro Ti Pro 850W
Mouse Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless
Keyboard WASD Code v3 with Cherry Green keyswitches + PBT DS keycaps
Software Gentoo Linux x64, other office machines run Windows 11 Enterprise
As described elsewhere, I've been trying to get my system in my specs to boot above ddr5-2000 (lol) with 4x32GB sticks DDR5. This seemed impossible to do despite all logic, until I noticed something.

GearDown mode.

Setting GearDown mode to Auto let me boot.

Investigating further, I discovered that if you set GearDown mode to disabled, the entire range of 2200MT/s through 4600MT/s no longer works.

Now my question is: is this an AGESA bug, a GIGABYTE bios bug, or maybe even both? I need to know who to write about this essentially.

How to test if you want to help me gather data:

1.) Enter UEFI.

2.) Set Geardown mode to "Disabled"

3.) Set memory speed to something in that above range, lets all just do DDR5-4000 for consistency.

4.) Profit? Or rather if you have the same bug, get ready to reset your CMOS, because in my case the rig enters an eternal bootloop until you do, never ever recovering. Yes even with one stick.

Thanks in advance for any help you fellow AM5 users can offer.
 
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Which Motherboard model and BIOS? I can't se the sign on mobile.
 
ir_cow said:
Which Motherboard model and BIOS? I can't se the sign on mobile.
Click to expand...
Gigabyte Aorus Elite AX rev1.0, like your last review. Tested on all beta bioses since the last stable, including the stable build (anything earlier does not support my 9950x). You can test from any board/cpu you like though, that helps rule out a global AGESA bug.

Fun hint: you can see my system specs on mobile, you just need to go to the users profile page.
 
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ir_cow said:
Ohh I still have it :). Can try this weekend and see what happens.
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I still couldn't get over ddr5-4000 but thats a heck of a lot better than 2000, at least. The weird thing is that I can replicate this odd bug with a single stick. May be granite ridge specific too, dunno.
 
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I'm not sure but thought I had read where gear down mode 2 works above certain speeds and 1 won't.
Disabling it might leave it set at default gear 1.
 
Caring1 said:
I'm not sure but thought I had read where gear down mode 2 works above certain speeds and 1 won't.
Disabling it might leave it set at default gear 1.
Click to expand...
It should be able to easily run GDM disabled at these speeds with a single stick, so its clearly a bug somewhere I think.
 
R-T-B said:
Fun hint: you can see my system specs on mobile, you just need to go to the users profile page.
Click to expand...
Even more fun hint: You can see the user system specs on mobile if you tilt the device in landscape mode without going to profile.
Same for signature.

IMG_8590.jpeg
 
Damn 14 bios, that's a lot in a short amount of time.
 
eidairaman1 said:
Damn 14 bios, that's a lot in a short amount of time.
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9xxx is only supported by like the last 5 but yeah it was fun testing them all, lol.
 
R-T-B said:
9xxx is only supported by like the last 5 but yeah it was fun testing them all, lol.
Click to expand...
You might go on their social media and call them out on it even
 
Look, guys, I appreciate the tips on seeing system specs on mobile but that should probably go in a separate thread. Just sayin'
 
Did some testing myself with another board I had kicking around, a MSI MAG x670e Tomahawk. Same issue. So either global AGESA bug or just an eccentricity of my ram kit. Unsure which.
 
R-T-B said:
Did some testing myself with another board I had kicking around, a MSI MAG x670e Tomahawk. Same issue. So either global AGESA bug or just an eccentricity of my ram kit. Unsure which.
Click to expand...
Maybe try a different set of ram
 
eidairaman1 said:
Maybe try a different set of ram
Click to expand...
I'm over budget for this lil project already but if anyone else wants to try they are more than welcome. My other machines are all DDR4 forbidding a simple ram swap.
 
Turns out the MSI board actually doesn't have that bug, it just has a 10 minute plus post courtesy my 9950xs wonderful IMC. Anyhow, I think I can conclude now this is a gigabyte bug. Running that board now at DDR5-4000 as we speak.

Believe it or not this is actually worth it for what I work on now. At least I can sync to the FCLK, lol.
 
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Further confirmation; no issues with GDM disabled on all 3 of my memory kits (corsair & g.skill) with my ASUS x870

Additional note: GDM off/disabled traditionally required more memory voltage at the same timings and frequency to be stable on x670/b650, unsure if this translates to newer boards (x800/b800) and or newer agesa. 4 dimms is also a complicating factor on your end > more stress on the imc.
 
rv8000 said:
Further confirmation; no issues with GDM disabled on all 3 of my memory kits (corsair & g.skill) with my ASUS x870

Additional note: GDM off/disabled traditionally required more memory voltage at the same timings and frequency to be stable on x670/b650, unsure if this translates to newer boards (x800/b800) and or newer agesa. 4 dimms is also a complicating factor on your end > more stress on the imc.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Think I'll write gigabyte then. Doubt they will care much, but who knows?
 
R-T-B said:
Thanks. Think I'll write gigabyte then. Doubt they will care much, but who knows?
Click to expand...

I haven’t had a Gigabyte board for awhile now (10+ years), but tech support was always more responsive than other brands I’ve dealt with.

They were very open and helpful when I did a mini bios review of different brands when I compared 970’s a few years back.
 
Yeah that was less a comment on gigabyte support and more a comment on how obscure this issue is, heh.
 
I have that $99 ASRock B650m hdv-m.2 and it doesn't even have the GDM option, that shit is just always on lol. One day I'll try some more BIOSes.
 
R-T-B said:
Thanks. Think I'll write gigabyte then. Doubt they will care much, but who knows?
Click to expand...
Blow their Aorus and Gigabyte Social Media pages up
 
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