I will continue to run the system and see what happens.  

Frank

I think I might go with an ASUS motherboard (cheaper option), or try a new CPU (ouch).  I need to replace things - I am tired of testing.  It should not take 2 months to get a new system up and running, should it?

Frank

So I did not plug in that PCIE power plug yet - I did not want to change two things at once.

The results:  With just a single memory stick plugged in, I cannot get the BSOD to come back no matter what I do.  I tried each of the 4 sticks, one at a time, as recommended, with no other changes since I got 2 BSODs with all 4 in place.  (One before and one after removing and reinserting all the memory).

ASROCK support said that if I passed this test, I should send the motherboard back for replacement, and I think that makes sense.  

If you guys have any other thoughts, please share them soon, since I need to get the board back.

 I want to thank you all for your helpful comments, too!

Frank

I could plug in the PCIe power - I did not do that since I have only the one card and the manual describes using it for '3 or more graphic cards'.  What is your thinking on it? Lack of power causing some kind of instability resulting in the 'IRQ NOT LESS OR EQUAL' error?

 It is a bit of work, but I already have a couple of weeks of effort into this build already anyway.

Frank

Just finished full cycle of 4 passes in a little over 23 hours of continuous running.  

My BSODs usually show up within 4-5 hours of running, sometimes within a few minutes of startup.  So I thought 4 or 5 hours of continuous memory tests with no errors would clear the memory.

Unfortunately it doesn't quite work that way. If the error is intermittent, then it may in principle take anything between a few seconds to several days (maybe even longer) for it to occur, depending on the severity of the issue.

But it only takes time so I will let it run all the way next time.  I know I made it to the 4th pass but I don't think it completed all the way.

You can also run more than four passes if you want. The more passes you run, the larger the chance to encounter an intermittent error. The fact that you have already seen an error once should mean you had an issue with your memory and the persistence of the BSODs is in my opinion a sign that the issue hasn't really gone anywhere.

By the way, what was that single error you encountered the first time you ran MemTest86? I'm not sure if MemTest86 overwrites the logs it creates on the bootable USB, but if it doesn't, you should be able to find the logfiles on the USB stick and see what the error was.
]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2016 11:10:56 +0000 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1645&PID=7968&title=bsod-on-new-x99x-install#7968 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1645&PID=7967&title=bsod-on-new-x99x-install#7967 Author: Franko
Subject: 1645
Posted: 06 Jan 2016 at 10:42am

I think I will try a CPU-reseat.  The cooler is that Noctua D16 and is bigger and heaver than any I have ever used.  On the question of other errors - no - there has not been a single hiccup on video errors or anything else.  The installs have been clean and error-free, especially since I have done three separate clean Windows 10 pro installs on this system.  

Again, thanks for the excellent input

Frank

]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2016 10:42:55 +0000 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1645&PID=7967&title=bsod-on-new-x99x-install#7967