Fresh GA-Z87MX-D3H, 4770K & 10.9 hangs (no KP)

[chiechi]

I just wanted to add my experiences to the list...

The build:

• GA-Z87MX-D3H
• i7-4770K
• 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M1A1600C9 (Slots 1 and 3)
• 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9 (Slots 2 and 4)
• Corsair CX500M PSU

I followed this guide.

The PSU is listed as "probably" Haswell compatible and the memory timings are identical; one came as 2 8 GB sticks and the other as a 3x4 GB set. I was pretty confident that the RAM was OK because I harvested it from a previous that had been working fine for years from Snow Leopard through Mavericks.

I migrated a working Mavericks install (with DSDT) to this build (without DSDT) and it booted up fine. After about 10 minutes, it froze (no KP), so I reinstalled Mavericks using Unibeast. The installation worked, but then it started freeze randomly, sometimes after a few seconds, sometimes a few hours. At one point it ran fine over night and then froze as soon as I clicked on something.

I tried every combination of lowering the memory clock to 1333 MHz, disabling C1E, C3, and C6-7, and disabling WOL. (And just running the optimized defaults)

I then flashed the BIOS to F6 and re-tried all of the above. No luck.

I then flashed a patched F5 BIOS that someone else had had luck with

GA-Z87-D3HP BIOS F5 mod
Modified with :
Intel Legacy RAID SATA 12.6.0.1867 to 12.7.0.1936
Intel EFI SataDriver 12.6.0.1867 to 12.7.0.1936
Intel Boot Agent GE 1.5.04 to 1.5.40
Intel PCI Accelerated SVGA BIOS 2.1.71 to 2.1.77
Intel GOPdriver 5.0.1032 to 5.0.1034
Intel Haswell Microcode (06C3) 09 to 16
Modified splash logo

And re-tried the above... no luck.

Finally I removed the RAM sticks from slots 2 and 4, loaded the Optimized Defaults, disabled C6-7, disabled WOL, and loaded performance profile 1 (1600 MHz memory clock). And so far, no freezes after a full day of use plus a night, plus the time it took to write this post.

7:10  up 19:09, 7 users, load averages: 1.40 1.39 1.42

The upshot is that I now seem to have a fast, stable system with 16 GB of RAM running at 1600 MHz. The downside is that I apparently can only populate two DIMM slots so I'm stuck with 16 GB of RAM.

 

[worldcitizen]

I just wanted to add my experiences to the list...
The upshot is that I now seem to have a fast, stable system with 16 GB of RAM running at 1600 MHz. The downside is that I apparently can only populate two DIMM slots so I'm stuck with 16 GB of RAM.

This build seems to be finicky about its RAM. It could be you could use all four slots, if you use identical RAM-modules - not only the same brand and timing - but in all respects, including size. So if you need more than 16GB of RAM, perhaps you could make it 32GB, using four identical 8GB-modules?

 

[chiechi]

This build seems to be finicky about its RAM. It could be you could use all four slots, if you use identical RAM-modules - not only the same brand and timing - but in all respects, including size. So if you need more than 16GB of RAM, perhaps you could make it 32GB, using four identical 8GB-modules?

Yup, but then I have to buy another 16 GB of RAM that is potentially useless... that will have to wait

 

[tabarus]

The freezing has to do with your psu not being compatible with the Haswell Processor (As you said)
Hope this helps!

I have a Haswell Ready PSU and still experienced Freezes

 

[fxbeta]

I finally got around to installing Mavericks on a GA-Z87MX-D3H system (i7 4771, GTX 780ti, and 4x identical G Skill 4GB memory sticks). I've been using the system for many months under Windows and Linux, so I knew the hardware was solid. However after getting Mavericks running, the system would completely freeze (hard lockup, had to reset the hardware to reboot) after a few minutes whenever I downloaded anything from the Internet. Downloading any amounts of data from my local network worked fine.

I searched and read through many threads here for clues. After trying a long list of suggestions to no avail, the one thing that has made this problem go away was disabling the XMP profile in the bios, as suggested here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...7mx-d3h-i7-4770k-hd-4600-a-37.html#post737217

Sharing in case it helps others.

Cheers.

 

[loadedaxe]

Wow, after reading the majority of the post you all have made I have to say you have the patience of a priest.

I looked for a post of this through this thread but didn't see anything you posted about your bios.

Have you all flashed to the latest bios, I cant find it anywhere now, but at one time there was a stability issue on that boards bios.

 

[tabarus]

After trying a long list of suggestions to no avail, the one thing that has made this problem go away was disabling the XMP profile in the bios, as suggested here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...7mx-d3h-i7-4770k-hd-4600-a-37.html#post737217

...

I tried the same some time ago (even with different RAM, and mainboard, and yes all certified), but after a certain time it frooze again, the only solution which works 100% for me was using Clover instead of Chameleon. With Clover I can use my Memory even with XMP enabled at full speed. Just in case someone like to know.

 

[gnommak]

I tried the same some time ago (even with different RAM, and mainboard, and yes all certified), but after a certain time it frooze again, the only solution which works 100% for me was using Clover instead of Chameleon. With Clover I can use my Memory even with XMP enabled at full speed. Just in case someone like to know.

I also use Clover now. Everything works perfectly without hangs.
I'm using all 32GB of RAM (4 slots x 8GB)
BIOS F7c

 

[tabarus]

Yeah !

 

[Mikael Bjork]

@angy82 (who sent me a PM which I can't reply to due to low post count )

I ended up using only Bank 0 and 2 for memory. Leaving 1 and 3 empty. That did it for me.

Cheers,
Mikael