Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

[epsilon777]

I recently bought (aprox 30 days ago) a Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3, and for approximately 2 weeks everything was great.

After about two weeks I began to encounter a Machine Check Error BSOD with the error code x009c. This BSOD/error only occurs ONLY on a cold boot. If the machine is running for a while and then I shut it down or restart it, the error does not occur.

Some pertinent information:
Approximate ambient room temp: 20C
Approximate cpu idle temp: 30-34 C

Hardware Specs:
CPU: core i5 2500k
Motherboard: Z68 Pro Gen 3
Graphics: ATI 6950 HD
Ram: G Skill RipJawsX F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL
HD1: Crucial M4 64GB (OS Drive)
HD2: Crucial M4 128GB
HD3&4: WD Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM
Cooling: Noctua NH-D14
Power: Corsair HX750W

Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

[epsilon777]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

I just recalled another odd thing that has occurred infrequently. Occasionally I will freeze on the Bios splash screen.

[Suupa]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

Does Dr.Debug on the physical motherboard tell you a error code?

[epsilon777]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

When the BSOD occurs DR Debug doesnt say anything.

[wazza300]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

what dram and vtt are you using? flashed to latest mb bios?

[epsilon777]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

So, interesting development here... I restarted the computer to take some screen shots of my bios. I changed the bios visual profile from the original fatal1ty picture background to the the black fatal1ty background. Saved and quit out of the bios. The computer proceeded to reboot, then the bios splash screen freezes, and I get dr debug code of "0d" Which I believe is Cpu initialization failure, that is if "0d" = "0D" which I'm not certain it does.. I proceeded to try to clear CMOS from the button on the back of the motherboard. Same error upon next boot.

Not sure what I should do for this error code, any guidance is appreciated.

My bios version is P1.3
Vtt was 1.09
dram 1.5

[wazza300]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

cant think what it could be,what speed is your ram running at? vtt seems abit high if its at stock clocks,normally its 1.05v,it will freeze blue screen if its too much same as if its not enough voltage,dram voltage is fine

[epsilon777]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

the xmp profile is for 1866. cant get in to bios now though. cant even boot. debug is "0d" which I dont see listed in the manual.

[wazza300]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

ahhh thats about right for that speed,remove mb battery for 10mins and unplug pc from wall hold in front power switch to fully discharge mb of power then put in battery and try booting up

[epsilon777]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

unfortunately that didnt work, i still get the "0d" dr debug error code

[epsilon777]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

o.O unplugging the usb flash drive that i used to take the screenshots made the 0d error code go away, and I am able to post again. although, not certain about my other cold boot issue.

[wazza300]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

are you plugging it into usb3 or usb2 ports? if usb3 it might cause issues on certain usb components,as for freezing you can still go upto 1.2v max for vtt,i would ty 1.10v and see if things improve,

[epsilon777]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

I may have been placing it in a 3.0 slot. Tomorrow on its next cold boot I will see what happens. On the cold boot after the battery being out I did not receive my 09c bsod / machine check error. Maybe the bios was just being buggy? *fingers crossed* If not I will up the VTT further.

[epsilon777]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

I may have been placing it in a 3.0 slot. Tomorrow on its next cold boot I will see what happens. On the cold boot after the battery being out I did not receive my 09c bsod / machine check error. Maybe the bios was just being buggy? *fingers crossed* If not I will up the VTT further.

Well, I was good for a few cold boots (2). I decided today that I was going to reinstall windows so, I dropped in the disk and began to boot from CD. While the CD was loading windows I received my 09c bsod / machine check error . I suppose at this point I will up my VTT, although I am not convinced that that is the problem. Any thoughts / recommendation would be much appreciated. I'm at somewhat of a loss.

[epsilon777]

Re: Z68 Professional Gen3 Machine Check Error

After upping the VTT to 1.10 I tried rebooting and booting windows from the cd again. Once again after the files finished unpacking and windows began to load I received the 09c machine check error.