Z170 Extreme 7+ machine check exception

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When attempting to install Win10 from a fat32, GPT partion USB stick, spinning donut starts, stops after half a second, and one minute later I get a MACHINE_CHECK_EXPCEPTION

Installed currently:

(4) G.Skill F4-3200C16D-8GVK (not officially supported?  XMP profile loads fine)
(3) Samsung SM951 512Gb MZHPV512HDGL-00000 (not officially supported?  shows up in BIOS, can make a raid0 volume with Intel's RST.
Intel skylake 6700k
NVidia gtx780

Nothing else installed.  Tried with one, two, or all four dimms.  Tried with different pairs, and singly one by one.  Tried installing to a single SM951 in AHCI mode, as well as Raid0 volume with Intel RST controlling.

The result is the same each time, as described at the beginning.  Am I looking at a processor failure, ram failure, or motherboard failure?  Starting to feel like MB failure.

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thewanderer66 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 08 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote thewanderer66 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Z170 Extreme 7+ machine check exception Posted: 08 Oct 2015 at 7:25am
	When attempting to install Win10 from a fat32, GPT partion USB stick, spinning donut starts, stops after half a second, and one minute later I get a MACHINE_CHECK_EXPCEPTION Installed currently: (4) G.Skill F4-3200C16D-8GVK (not officially supported? XMP profile loads fine) (3) Samsung SM951 512Gb MZHPV512HDGL-00000 (not officially supported? shows up in BIOS, can make a raid0 volume with Intel's RST. Intel skylake 6700k NVidia gtx780 Nothing else installed. Tried with one, two, or all four dimms. Tried with different pairs, and singly one by one. Tried installing to a single SM951 in AHCI mode, as well as Raid0 volume with Intel RST controlling. The result is the same each time, as described at the beginning. Am I looking at a processor failure, ram failure, or motherboard failure? Starting to feel like MB failure.

parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 09 Oct 2015 at 1:30pm
	Your SM951 is supported by your board, I'm certain of that. When you say the USB flash drive is a "fat32, GPT partion USB stick", do you mean the flash drive has a GPT partitioning type? If so, that is not necessary for the Windows ISO installation from a USB flash drive, only the FAST32 file system. The GPT partitioning is likely causing your problem. Are you installing Win 10 with CSM Enabled or Disabled? If it is Enabled, do you have the Launch Storage Op ROM policy set to UEFI only? That is required when CSM is Enabled for a Windows installation on a SM951.


thewanderer66 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 08 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote thewanderer66 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 09 Oct 2015 at 11:24pm
	I've created the installation media on bootable usb using three different tools: Rufus2.2: Tried MBR for BIOS or UEFI-CSM (NTFS only from the ISO, cannot change to fat32 in this config) Tried GPT for UEFI, Fat32 Tried MBR for UEFI, Fat32 Win10 Download tool: no configuration options Win7 USB media creation tool: no configuration options UEFI-CSM support is enabled, all OPROM policies are set to UEFI Only I've also tried two different USB keys, both USB3 and known-good Every attempt ends with the same result: brief hang once the spinning donut starts, followed by a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION.

parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 2015 at 1:58am
	The bootable USB installation media can be done using Rufus or manually done, I have used both procedures. I have installed Win 10 multiple times from the following USB flash drive, a USB 3.0 drive. It looks like this in Disk Management: USB flash drive on the bottom, above that my SM951 RAID 0 array, partitioned by the Windows installation program. If the USB flash drive is larger than 32GB, it won't work as a Windows installation device. Your 3200 speed memory may be changing the BCLK to 125MHz, which is over clocking your CPU. If you enabled the XMP profile, that is quite likely. DDR4 memory at 3000 and above will set the BCLK to 125MHz, 3200 memory most likely does that. For a Windows installation, you need a stable system. Set your memory to 2133 with Auto timings, NO XMP profile. Or at least no higher than 2666 manually. If the BCLK is not at 100MHz, you'll be over clocking the CPU. Also, the SM951 does not like the BCLK set above 100MHz. Even a BCLK of ~103MHz will cause it to become unstable. Once Windows is installed, then you can try the XMP profile of your memory.


thewanderer66 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 08 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote thewanderer66 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Dec 2015 at 4:56am
	thanks for the tips, parsec. I have been away on business travel a lot in the last two months so only now getting back to this. I've explicitly set all four dram modules to 2133, but I get the same results every time. windows starts to boot setup, and halts. After about 10 seconds, I get the machine check exception error. I'm wondering if I need to RMA this board..