P8P67 Pro B3 - USB Issue

[wcladley]

I just wanted to chime in and say that I am having the exact same problem as StriperMike on the new B3 board (although I was having it on the B2 board as well):

Config is as follows:

Intel Core i7 2600K (stock clocks)
P8P67 Pro (BIOS 1502)
16GB of G.Skill Ripjaws (F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL,1333 MHz)
64GB Crucial SSD (boot drive)
640GB WD Black Caviar HDD
Corsair TX850w PSU
AMD Radeon 6850
Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit

I have not tried StriperMike's three suggestions above, but I would be interested to see if this has solved his or anyone else's problem long term. Someone on the ASUS boards recommended setting the SSD drive to hot-swappable. This gave me a week of error free performance, but then it froze up again tonight. I suppose this could indeed be a RAM issue, but I bought the aforementioned specifically because it was on the qualified vendor list.

Any further info or thoughts would be helpful.

 

[bankster55]

If StriperMike has manipulated his memory settings and the USB prob is gone for a few days, then its gone period.

The two words you always see on these type posts is "Ripjaws" and XMP
If you actually SET XMP, then you will GET XMP, and thats whats "best" to work on an XMP compliant mobo. If you DONT set XMP then you better be real good at setting memory parameters in the bios - ALL of them.
In your case you have 4 sticks of 4GB RAM - you WILL have to up the voltage some, maybe a tiny bit or maybe more - thats just the way it is. You could take out all but 1 stick and see if your probs go away.
Right?

When I first ordered my RAM there was a sale at ewiz on Supertalent 4GB single sticks. It was something like $26 ea shipped. So I bought 8 of them. It was their "value" ram, but actually came with micron chips.
I wanted to make sure that my new config would boot, and from past experience, I knew that the cheapest crap RAM with default voltage usually always works. Its the fancy stuff that gives problems. And sure enough, never had a bit of trouble with either 8 or 16GB loaded

Now when I offer suggestions on these type forums usually I give like 5 or 6 things to try. Most that come here want a single sentence answer to their prob, like "up the ram voltage .1V"
So two or three of my "things to try" are totally ignored, one or two are argued with as not relevent because the poster has a preconceived notion of whats wrong, and they might actually try one. Maybe.

I mentioned among others, to try the new memtest86+ vers 4.2 which has been OPTIMIZED FOR SANDY BRIDGE! While memtest is far from an absolute best test of memory, its a start. Dont you want to know if YOUR RAM passes this primitive utility say overnight? Doesnt it make sense?
Ignored
I also mentioned to try the TPU switch on the mobo. This is an artificial intelligence self testing auto configure overclock for your particular setup. It works amazingly well. It WILL find a working stable base line bios setup.
Ignored
I make thye simple suggestion of using only 1 stick to see what happens
Ignored

And finally, getting fancy super fast or low latency RAM is a waste of time on the P67 IMHO. These boards are such overclocking monsters, even if you get RAM that will get 25% higher mem benchmarks - who cares, you will never feel the difference.
Better to just put that money into your vidcard.

 

[wcladley]

Thanks bankster55. Excuse the ignorance of this follow up, but should I make StriperMike's adjustments and then turn the TPU switch on, or should I turn on TPU, have the board find a stable baseline, and then make these adjustments?

I am first time builder so I am at this point slowly learning the intricacies of what seems to be a fairly advanced board.

 

[bankster55]

Thanks bankster55. Excuse the ignorance of this follow up, but should I make StriperMike's adjustments and then turn the TPU switch on, or should I turn on TPU, have the board find a stable baseline, and then make these adjustments?

I am first time builder so I am at this point slowly learning the intricacies of what seems to be a fairly advanced board.

The TPU switch will make those adjustments for you.
It takes it completely out of your hands.
You will see on the EZ page no profile is selected - no normal or powersave or performance
If, for example you load up 1.65V 1600 DDR3 GSkill and somehow left the voltage at auto without the XMP option and therefore the bios sets it at 1.5V and 1333, and due to normal "undervoltage" the actual voltage is 1.49V and you are unstable even at this "lesser" ram speed, TPU will fix this

TPU will give you something between 4.2-4.4Ghz and your 1600 RAM will be at something like 1680, or your 1333 RAM will be something like 1367, and your 1.5V actual may show 1.51 not 1.49.

Three caveats:
Do not install AI Suite (It has "auto tune" lowest level is "fast")
Do not use bios earlier than 1305
Things on these P67 mobo need reboots to "stick" for some reason. Flip the switch up, boot into bios - it will take longer as it fiddles around. Save changes. Shut down completely, reboot to windows. Reboot to bios, see if you have achieved your "target" overclock, save changes. Boot to windows
Then download CPUID 1.57.1 and super pi and run a 1M bench with both open on desktop
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/366/Super_PI_Mod_v1.5.html
Guide
http://www.overclock.net/benchmarki...2170-superpi-benchmarking-tweaking-guide.html

Heres TPU - I did absolutely nothing

Heres a video that explains the AI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vBN-cBPs98&feature=related

 

[wcladley]

Thanks. I will try this shortly and let you know how it goes.

 

[zerogear]

Well, I finally picked up my replacement motherboard from Microcenter this past weekend and put everything back to working order. Windows booted, asked to reactivate and I was on my way except for one weird issue which has not gone away.

After about an hour or 2 it appears that the USB ports (2.0 and 3.0) just completely stop working.

My symptoms are either that:

1. The mouse no longer glows red and the keyboard has no lights. I unplug them and plug them back in and there is no change in behavior.
2. Or the mouse and keyboard are lit up but will not respond to anything. Almost as if they are both locked up. I click and move the mouse and get nothing. I hit the numlock or caps lock and nothing.

My only option is to cold boot the machine to get them working again.

I have tried disabling the USB power saving settings in Windows 7 but that did not help. Ive unplugged my USB printer and had only the mouse and keyboard connected. Ive tried different ports (USB 2 and 3). All my drivers are up to date. This was all working fine with the old P8P67 Pro motherboard. I have even tried reinstalling Windows 7 on a spare drive and the same symptoms occur.

This has become extremely frustrating. I'm thinking there is either a problem with the B3 and latest BIOS or I have a defective board that I need to return to Microcenter.

Has anyone experienced this issue? Any ideas of what could be causing this. Funny, I wasn't having any issues with the old board but the new one has been nothing but trouble.

Please help!

Thanks,
Mike

I had this same exact issue on an older Win7 Install. Once I loaded a new copy of Win7 it booted up fine with no USB issues. What I am assuming is that it loaded the wrong drivers for usb controller, where it got to the point I couldn't even use any usb input device at all.

There is also an issue with 'Internal PLL Overvolting' -- if this option is set as Auto or Enabled, it will cause S3 Sleep issues such as not detecting mouse/keyboard when waking up or nothing displayed on monitor. Assuming you don't overclock over 4.5 GHz, you should disable this. And it should fix the sleep issues.

 

[nOOky]

I started having issues with my replacement Asus board also. I simply revalidated the Windows install, I didn't reformat. In my case I'll plug my phone in to charge for example or trsansfer pictures and then maybe another usb device, and I get a bsod and a restart until I unplug a usb device.
I am away from my pc at the moment, but I'll try some things when I get home. Suffice to say that it's very irritating, I may send the board back and go with a different brand and then reformat if I continue to see Asus problems multiply across the interwebz.

 

[adamantinepiggy]

I'm still using an original SATA bug p8p67 board, but originally, had issues with the USB ports. I simply went into device manager, manually uninstalled all the USB devices (easier with a PS2 keyboard so it doesn't go dead and made windows then find all the devices and reinstall all the drivers again. Hasn't had a problem with the USB since.. Just an idea to try..

 

[zerogear]

I'm still using an original SATA bug p8p67 board, but originally, had issues with the USB ports. I simply went into device manager, manually uninstalled all the USB devices (easier with a PS2 keyboard so it doesn't go dead and made windows then find all the devices and reinstall all the drivers again. Hasn't had a problem with the USB since.. Just an idea to try..

Yeah, I was going to try that but I had no PS/2 keyboard

 

[wcladley]

Ok, bankster55, I tried the TPU switch and have achieved results similar to those you mention in your post above. I am noticing, however, that now system goes through a couple reboots every time I start it up. When it eventually does post, things seem to be stable and the USB problem has not yet returned (about 48 hours). Is this normal behavior as the mobo gets these changes to "stick"? Or is this just another cold boot issue?

 

[bankster55]

Yes, this is known as the "double boot issue". I have experienced it in the past going way back, as do many others, and there are lots of threads on other forums about this. Many "fixes" are offered that seem to stop it, like a dif bios - earlier or later, a dif power supply, the "hot swap" fix, manually entering ALL mem parameters, not using GSKill, the "APM" fix, the Iastor LPM fix, using only MS drivers, etc. endlessy. But I see it in another light. All the double boot fixes MAY work for peeps who do NOT use the mobo Artificial intelligence. They have done a manual O/C and one or two settings they made just dont cut it.

No problem double posting must not be confused with instablitity related reboots and BSOD and freezes.

The PREVIOUS solution to the double post is to set Spread Spectrum to enabled - not auto or disabled. If it makes the double boot go away, that means you are in an environment that is EMI heavy - like a 25" cellphone tower that is a block away. Or in an office with flourescent lights. If you are on a farm in Nebraska, prob not your answer. I distinctly remember my P965 Gigabyte would triple boot if I changed a bios setting, twice for spread spectrum off and another for the bios change.

There are three ways to auto overclock this mobo.
1.)The TPU switch (no changes allowed)
2.)The Turbo mode in EZ page
3.) Auto Tune in AI Suite (Windows - various levels)

When using any of these modes, you MAY get the Double boot, especially in Auto Tune higher levels.
The double post (cold boot, then warm boot) when MANUALLY overclocking means something is a bit too far out of a workable situation. This is what makes for instability - freezes and sporadic reboots and BSOD's. One of the most important is the CPU + overvoltage setting. I think also that ASUS worked very hard to have their boards get big overclocks, which is good for overclocking (and marketing), but many of the parameters are at the ragged edge, especially as you push things higher. You really have to know each and every bios setting and how it interacts with each other. I personally think there are TOO many bios settings.

HOWEVER> auto overclocking usually works stable 100%, but brings in the double post with no spread spectrum. For example, when I set the display color parameters on my ATI vidcard control center (brightness, gamma, contrast etc.) for my LCD, as I boot into Windows, the desktop appears, then the color mix changes to my settings - it doesnt happen instantly, it flickers to the custom setting at a certain point. This is how i see the double post. The bios booting normal, digesting the Artificial intelligence and booting into it - in AUTO O/C mode. I do not see it as an "issue". I interpet it as normal operation.that does no harm whatsoever. Doesnt bother me a bit. You can stop it in manual mode, but you better have weeks of research on the web, so you understand what works and what doesnt.

UPDATE:
Heres yet another "fix" posted

I have the double boot problem fixed. I updated to BIOS 1505 and pressed the CMOS reset button in the back of the motherboard for five seconds. I had to re-enter all my BIOS settings but the double boot is gone! I'ts so much nicer.

I have both the 1505 and 1506 transition bios, but am a bit nervous about installing them. would be great if it truly solved double post, however it does not seem the poster is using auto-overclocking
Question: Did 1505 bios make spread spectrum "auto" as enabled?

 

[luigionlsd]

Just wanted to post that I was having similar issues to the original post (though it's a P8P67 w/ 1401 BIOS, no modifiers). I'm using Corsair XMS3 (2x4gb, 1333) and I had to change the RAM timings from "Auto" to "DDR3-1333" to make it stable again. I also disabled the C3 and C6 reporting, but something tells me it was the RAM timings making it freeze.

Hope this helps!

 

[bankster55]

What I have found out after a lot of thread reading., is that "auto" will just not work with a lot of RAM, especially "Ripjaws", especially RAM higher than 1333 and higher than 1.5V.
The RAM may be on the qualified list, but many think it will just run at speed without any help on your part just because its listed. This is the major stability issue with the P67 ASUS overall. If your RAM is XMP, then you better SET it to the XMP profile. If its not XMP then you better fire up CPUID 1.57.2 and on the mem tab look at the various jedec profiles and set it to one of those parameters. This mobo just does not pick the best stable jedec profile programmed into the SPD (Serial prescence Detect) chip on the RAM PCB. If you use the mem O.K. button and then check with your current settings in CPUID mem tab, you will see what the mobo AI thinks is good for stability.

And once again, for most the double post issue has been figured out - you have to set spread spectrum to ENABLED, not auto or disabled.

Another thing is you MUST set all Intel ports to hotswap when on ACHI in bios. Intel P67 does not support remove safely and apparently ASUS has added it with bios code. If you DONT have remove safely, and stop doing something (some power saving feature - or hibernate/sleep) then anything being used on the Intel ports has no way to save the cached data, which freaks out Windows. AHCI IS hotswap, so the bios should say programmed cache dump , or safely remove.

There is a program called memset (Vers 4.01 now) that allows you to set dif ram parameters WHILE IN WINDOWS on the fly, and you can see immediately what each change does to the system.

Unfortunately no P67 support as of yet, but when it comes it will be a godsend to peeps with stability probs.

 

[Diogenes2]

For what it's worth, my spread spectrum is disabled, and I do not have the double post issue.

I also have my RAM on auto .. It is Mushkin 1333 1.5v..

 

[Thor86]

I've had the issues with random usb ports not working as well, and it seems to be mainly bios related if you have usb game controllers plugged-in. Bios after 1305 supposedly fixes this. Running 1503 now, and no issues.

However, still getting the random cold boot issues, but hopefully disabling Override PLL Voltages fixes this.

 

[Majic 7]

Don't know if this will help or not. On my B2 board I was having trouble resuming from sleep. I resume by keyboard, and it would wakeup but I had to hit a key again to get the monitor to wakeup. Had PLL Overvoltage disabled. I switched off EPU switch but it still did it. What fixed it for me was completely uninstalling AI Suite and then removing all leftovers manually. Something to try if you are having issues.
On my B3 board I had to reinstall OS because of a sleep issue. I did PlugnPray but it wouldn't stay asleep. On reinstalling I just installed the drivers I needed off the DVD, Intel and USB 3, no AI Suite, plus the MS updates and SP1. And Bios 1502. So far it has been incredibly stable, not a single issue.

 

[Kenmitch]

My board is 100% stable and currently running my 2500K @4.7ghz! Everything working including S3 sleep. I've had my chip up to 5ghz but figure the voltage vs performance isn't worth it. I also loose my S3 sleep but didn't bother trying to fix it. Running under water so temps are of no issue to me. I figure even running at 4.7ghz my temps are better than running with that little bitty stock cooler at stock speeds

Only thing I see is for some reason CPU-Z will not read my SPD not sure why and have tried a couple of versions of it. Maybe I missed some setting somewhere?

 

[Majic 7]

Kenmitch, version 1.57.1 works for me.

 

[bankster55]

Only thing I see is for some reason CPU-Z will not read my SPD not sure why and have tried a couple of versions of it. Maybe I missed some setting somewhere?

You have to select a RAM slot
It defaults to A1

Also, just switching over to B3 board from B2, with same HDD and install, is not good proceedure with this P67 chipset and bios. The bios vers. on the replacement mobo is prob different than the one you had. Also the mobo is the heaviest weighted item in the HW hash and in some cases may require a revalidation of Windows. Windows knows for sure you changed stuff, and is not happy about it. Drivers are associated with things with dif I.D.'s than previously. While it is a pain in the ass to completely reinstall Win 7 (and i didnt), at ANY hint of trouble I would do it as a basic first step. Fresh installs have fixed a lot of problems as reported on the various forums.

For those brave souls, there is a 1606 branching bios out there for deluxe pro evo
http://www.asustek.pl/Pawel%20S/P8P67-DELUXE-ASUS-1606.rar
A guy on ASUS VIP site says its the bios update needed for proper working Intel RST 10.5.0.1022

As always, change name of file to 8 letters - "ASUS1606", put on USB fat32 format stick naked - no folder, and allow boot to windows after flash.

 

[Kenmitch]

It was the defaulting to A1 and is readable once changed to the correct slots. I don't remember my P55 doing this.

I agree with the fresh install at first sign's of trouble when changing to the B3 for those early adopters....If not from the getgo!

You have to select a RAM slot
It defaults to A1

Also, just switching over to B3 board from B2, with same HDD and install, is not good proceedure with this P67 chipset and bios. The bios vers. on the replacement mobo is prob different than the one you had. Also the mobo is the heaviest weighted item in the HW hash and in some cases may require a revalidation of Windows. Windows knows for sure you changed stuff, and is not happy about it. Drivers are associated with things with dif I.D.'s than previously. While it is a pain in the ass to completely reinstall Win 7 (and i didnt), at ANY hint of trouble I would do it as a basic first step. Fresh installs have fixed a lot of problems as reported on the various forums.

For those brave souls, there is a 1606 bios out there for deluxe pro evo
http://www.asustek.pl/Pawel S/P8P67-DELUXE-ASUS-1606.rar
A guy on ASUS VIP site says its the bios update needed for
Intel RST 10.5.0.1022

As always, change name of file to 8 letters - "ASUS1606", put on USB fat32 format stick naked - no folder, and allow boot to windows after flash.

 

[Seero]

I have p8p67 deluxe. I had double post issue right after installation, but it seems to went away(using the latest bios). I have populated all sata ports and most of them are raid 0. The time it takes from boot to post was long, but it was due to those OPROM. I disabled them both after i have raids configured and it doesn't cause any problem but significantly decreased the time it takes from boot to POST.

I haven't setup the sleep, but it does appears to wake up automatically.

I have had issues with USB completely drops for no reason while I am in windows on another mobo, but the problem goes away after I replaced the mobo.

 

[bankster55]

I think ASUS tried way too hard to make their P67 the best overclockers of the brands. This led them to make certain defaults in the bios that have unintended comsequences. Upon discovering the bad side effects, subsequent bios versions were prob changed in what "auto" would do. Disabling spread spectrum will indeed give 20-50 more on an overclock, making you the king of the hill in a mobo review. However it may, depending on your location relative to EMI exposure, definitely give the double post when disabled under "auto" option, or done so manually. This has been true for me as far back as the P965. If double posting IS caused by SS off, and a new bios fixes it, then the auto setting must have been changed to enabled. I know for sure they did this with "auto" and C3 C6 states.

When I purchased my B2 Deluxe and it double posted right out of the box, I knew exactly what to do.

And according to this thread, hotswapping is destined to be set as enabled by default in the future.
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...P67-motherboard-SSD-and-hotswapping-questions

 

[Syzygies]

P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1)

REV 3.0 – NEC USB 3.0 controllers
REV 3.1 – ASMedia USB 3.0 controllers

I have a Rev 3.0 working fine with 16 GB Ripjaws. Awaiting Rev 3.1 to reach suppliers here, for a second build.

 

[IIIIIIII]

Well, the issue happened again and again I had to cold boot to get the ports back. As soon as Microcenter has more stock this board is going back for replacement! This is beyond frustrating. The USB ports just go dead. It hasn't happened while using the PC though. When the PC is sitting idle, normally overnight, it occurs. In this case it took all of approx 2hrs. All sleep is disabled on USB ports as well on the PC itself. It only goes to sleep if I put it into sleep mode. This case the machine is up and running. I ran out for a couple hours, came back and no mouse or keyboard lights. The only option is to cold boot the machine.

Hey Mike, I've had the same problem for 3 Asus boards (2 p8p67 pro b2 and b3 and 1 p8p67 deluxe b3 <--current one). It just happened to me 20 mins ago and I think I know whats wrong. When my mouse and kb froze up I thought the MB South Bridge might screwed (handles all peripherals to the back of MB) so i unplugged the mouse and kb and plugged it to the front USBs (North Bridge) and Windows started detecting my mouse and kb as new devices and installed new drivers and it worked!! Give it a try now or when it freezes again and see if new drivers are being installed by Windows