Intel Motherboards - Z170A-X1/3.1 Bios update causing kernel panic

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Z170A-X1/3.1 Bios update causing kernel panic

Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: Intel Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock Intel Motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3352
Printed Date: 21 Jul 2025 at 7:25pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Z170A-X1/3.1 Bios update causing kernel panic

Posted By: Karai17
Subject: Z170A-X1/3.1 Bios update causing kernel panic
Date Posted: 01 Sep 2016 at 1:47pm

Hello, I've been having issues with my LAN since I got this motherboard. I tried running a bios update to the latest firmware (2.20) and since then I've been getting a kernel panic during OS handoff on both Windows and Linux. I tried returning to the original firmware (1.50) and that did not fix the panics.

After some tinkering, it seems like I can only run my CPU at 1 core with or without hyperthreading enabled. Any ideas on why this may be happening? Before I upgraded (and reverted) my firmware, I was running at full 4 cores + hyperthreading.

CPU: Intel Core i7 6700K

Ram: 2x 8GB DDR 4 2133

Mobo: ASRock Z170A-X1/3.1

Firmware: 1.50, 2.20

Replies:

Posted By: Karai17
Date Posted: 01 Sep 2016 at 4:47pm

Here is a my Linux boot log, there is clearly something bad going on here...

https://gist.github.com/karai17/26cec2f59342e340d39320070a9f58ef" rel="nofollow - https://gist.github.com/karai17/26cec2f59342e340d39320070a9f58ef

Posted By: wardog
Date Posted: 02 Sep 2016 at 7:46pm

Clear, not simply Reset, the BIOS and post back the results please.

Posted By: Karai17
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2016 at 4:46am

I removed the CMOS battery and disconnected power from the wall. Everything is still bad.

The gist link I posted is apparently a known bug in many ASRock motherboards and I "fixed" that by telling the kernel to ignore the issue instead of logging it (which was eating up several GB/hr of space). My kernel panics persist.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=223180" rel="nofollow - https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=223180

Posted By: wardog
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2016 at 6:16am

Please refrain from accosting my help here as I know absolutely squat in regards to linux. PIDs I do recognize.

Your gist log states a PID of 18186

?? Post 4 of Petr's
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1351368" rel="nofollow - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1351368

Also, what OS and what kernel are you using?

Try something for me please. Disable HPET in the BIOS, then run a Live CD with a new(er?) kernel.

I'll pass this up to the BIOS gods at ASRock after you posting the results on running a Live CD.

Posted By: Karai17
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2016 at 7:47am

I am running Fedora 24, kernel 4.6.7. I tried the experimental 4.7.2 kernel with HPET disabled and I get my lovely kernel panics. I also tried using the Fedora 24 liveusb to no avail.

Posted By: wardog
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2016 at 1:57pm

wardog wrote:

I'll pass this up to the BIOS gods at ASRock after you posting the results on running a Live CD.

Gotcha. Let's see what the BIOS Gods can produce in the way of a new BIOS.

And for sh*ts n grins, do you have a CD/DVD/BD attached to one of the 6 native SATA ports?

Complete and ignorant noob that I am to BIOS programming, bored today I did some reading into it this and am left with this relating to SATA RTD3 states. ie: CD drives that don't issue/follow properly. I dunno. Just conjecture on my part.

The not serialized errors in your log took me down this rabbit hole I went today. I didn't find references to RTD3 concerning COM or LPT ports. Those three cover any serialized or not serialized on this board that I'm aware. It doesn't have a third party SATA controller so that rules that out too.

Posted By: wardog
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2016 at 3:08pm

Still have my head in this for the meantime. Unfortunately, my head may be in my bung hole concerning this too Embarrassed

https://software.intel.com/sites/default/files/article/402347/linux-power-efficiency-analysis-methods-2.pdf" rel="nofollow - https://software.intel.com/sites/default/files/article/402347/linux-power-efficiency-analysis-methods-2.pdf

See pg.29 Section 5.1.3

5.1.3 SATA Devices

The SATA specification describes a power management feature for SATA devices, referred to as ALPM (Advanced Link Power Management). This feature allows the attached disk to switch between five distinct power phases:

??Active: Device is active and consuming the nominal amount of power.
??Partial: Device is in partial sleep. Wakeup latency is low (<10 µs). Marginal amount of power saving.
??Slumber: Device is sleeping, but power is maintained. Higher wakeup latency (<10ms). More power saving.
??DevSleep: Device is completely turned off, but power is maintained. Marginally higher wakeup latency (<20ms). Considerably higher power savings.
??RTD3: Device is completely turned off. Very high wakeup latency, with zero power consumption.

BIOS > Advanced > Storage Management : SATA Aggressive Link Power Management - Toggle this Enabled and Disabled and check panic state in both

Posted By: wardog
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2016 at 3:10pm

Dang, oops.

Also, see the hdparm tips on the bottom of pg.29

Maybe?

Posted By: Karai17
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2016 at 5:53pm

I don't have any optical drives. I have two SSDs and one HDD plugged into SATA_1, SATA_2, and SATA_3.

I'll check out those options tomorrow once I get some rest. :)

Posted By: wardog
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2016 at 5:56pm

REST? What's that? Tongue

Posted By: Karai17
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2016 at 5:56pm

On a side note, here are some screenshots of the kernel panic(s) I am getting. Maybe your BIOS overlords can find something useful in here. ;)

http://imgur.com/a/1kG5c" rel="nofollow - http://imgur.com/a/1kG5c

Posted By: Karai17
Date Posted: 05 Sep 2016 at 4:37am

So I tried toggling that SATA option and nothing changed, still kernel panicking. On a side note, here is the output from dmesg of a successful boot with only one CPU core enabled, I don't really know how to get the logs of the crashing boots.

http://hastebin.com/ewivebilos.vhdl" rel="nofollow - http://hastebin.com/ewivebilos.vhdl

You will note on line 852, it took a fairly long time for the ethernet to turn on and it is only running in 10 Mbps Full Duplex instead of 1 Gbps Full Duplex, which was the original issue that lead me to try this disastrous BIOS update. It only runs at 10 Mbps on both Windows and Linux, so I don't think it is a driver issue per se.

Posted By: ASRock_TSD
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2016 at 12:27pm

Dear customer,

This is ASRock Technical Support Department.

Thank you for the query.

Regarding your case, the [\_GPE._L6F] error has been confirmed by lots of users that solved by latest BIOS.

Did you meet any problem during flashing the BIOS?

We recommend you to use BIOS P2.20 to test again, thank you!

Thank you for your patience.

If any, please feel free to contact us!

Kindest Regards,

ASRock TSD

Posted By: Karai17
Date Posted: 08 Sep 2016 at 7:36am

As I stated in my email, upgrading my firmware is what caused these errors in the first place!