Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK - Random Freezing/Crashing Issues

[acid7711]

Hello,

 

First off, thanks for any help/advice anyone can offer me.  I've recently run into some issues on my new build that I'm hoping to get a little help solving.  My old standing setup finally gave out on me after about 4 years of hard use, so it was time to upgrade.  I ended up using the following configuration of new and slightly older parts:

 

 

New components for build:

-----------------------------------

-Motherboard:    Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK

-Processor:        Intel Core i7 4790K Haswell

-Ram:                Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB - DDR3 1600

-PSU:                 EVGA SuperNova 1000 P2

-HD:                   Samsung 840 Pro-Series MZ-7PD256BW SATA III SSD

 

 

Reused components from previous build:

----------------------------------------------------

-Audio:               Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface

-Video:               Nvidia GTX 560ti

-CPU water cooling setup

 

Bios Settings:

-----------------

- xHCI Mode: Auto

- xHCI/EHCI hand offs: Both set to Auto

- VT-D: Disabled

- Onboard Audio: Disabled

- Onboard IntelHD Video: Disabled

 

 

Overall, the system has been just awesome.  Installing OSX was absolutely no problem using MyHack.  After that, I used ##### 6.3.1 with the included Chimera 3.0.1 to get a working system.  I selected the following options in ##### and upgraded to 10.9.4 with (I believe), full functionality including sleep:

 

-DSDT Free

- 3rd Party Sata

-FakeSMC

-FakeSMC - Plugins

-FakeSMC - HW App

-USB 3.0 Universal

-AppleRTC Patch

-Intel E1000e Ethernet

-MacPro 3,1 

 

Boot Options:

-GraphicsEnabler: Yes

-Hibernate Mode: Desktop

-IGPEnabler: No

-UseKernelCache: Yes

 

** I have found that for some reason, when I attempt to use GenerateCPUStates: Yes, I can not boot/system hangs trying to boot?**

 

 

However, something is still not right.  I've been chasing down random freezes/crashes for a couple days now, and I don't know where to go any further.  In an attempt to curb these errors, I've tried using some suggestions I found on the forums here and elsewhere.  These included using this Nvidia FreezeFix application, I then followed another guide about editing the AGPM kext, setting the system definition to MacPro 5,1 and removing the AppleTyMCEDriver.kext.   I also have tried removing AppleIntelHD*.kext, and AppleHDA.kext from S/L/E.   The system is still experiencing these issues for some reason and I'm not sure why.  Usually, it doesn't involve a full out freeze/crash (although, these do happen from time to time), in most cases what I see is Ableton iTunes, or Chrome (three most common apps I use I suppose) just kind of hang for anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, then the screen flashes, and then the dock comes back up from the bottom of the screen, almost as if the OS experienced a crash of some sort.  

 

 

If anyone has any advice or can offer any help, that'd be awesome!! Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post.  I figured too much information was better/helpful rather than too little.     Thanks!!!

[charliebounce]

Is your CPU FULLY supported by your motherboard? BIOS update? 

Also because your CPU is a new Haswell, please try using the -xcpm boot arguments to ensure you are using XNU CPU Power Management.

 

Change your BIOS to UEFI and use clover please.

[acid7711]

Thanks for the tip Charliebounce.  The bios is fully updated (to the latest available revision (F5).  As far as I know, yes the cpu is fully supported.  I will try passing that parameter over to it this evening when I get off work and let you know the results as well as try switching over to Clover (my other attempts at Clover have failed, I'll have to give this another go as I've never used that bootloader before yet).

 

Beyond that, I found reference to HW Plugins/App potentially causing problems/not supporting series 9 motherboards.  I'm kind of wondering if this could be related to my issue.  Sounds like I've at least got a few more steps to try tonight!  Thanks again!  

[acid7711]

Removed FakeSMC Plugins and FakeSMC App.  Problem still persists.  I ended up passing the xcpm boot parameter over (I'm unsure if it did anything though?).  In a last ditch effort, I've also attempted rolling back to the 10.8.1 AppleAPCIPlatform.kext.  We'll see if

 

 

 

I made further progress in Clover than I have in the past, but after attempting to boot with it, I almost instantly get a Kernel Panic:

 

"Unable to find driver for this platform. ACPI \n0 Sourcecache xnu .....  iokit/Kernel/IOPlatformExpert.cp"    I've been looking around, but have yet to find a solid solution to this issue.

[acid7711]

I believe I've solved the problem!!

 

After exhausting all other options I could think of, I decided to try the ram from my old system (Gskill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ).  I ended up placing in 4dimms of 2GB, and instantly I could tell a difference.  After several days of tweaking the OS, Kext's, etc, I restored from a clean backup/fresh install.  The issues seem to have completely vanished.  I don't know if this motherboard simply doesn't like the Crucial ram, if it's low voltage operation is causing issues, or maybe one/both of the new sticks is somehow bad.

 

I'm going to contact NewEgg Monday and see if they will let me exchange the new ram I got.  I'm going to definitely get Gskill again (I only ventured from it this time to get lower voltage/quicker ram and had nothing but problems) this time around, and one that is on the supported list for this motherboard.  Hopefully this is the end of the problems, and so far I've been hitting this system very hard with Ableton and audio processing and had zero issues over the last 2 hours which otherwise I would have seen 5-10 crashes in that time.

 

 

Thanks again for the help Chariebounce.  I still wish I could get Clover to work properly, and see if I do need CPU States, but I'd rather have a stable/useable system at this point.  I'll swap the ram out, try it for a few more days, then report back the results!  

[charliebounce]

You have high end components and i think you will benefit from making full use of the UEFI features of your motherboard et al. Clover is the way to go but time and patience will be needed

[acid7711]

In case anyone else runs into this issue, it was the ram!  I've since RMAed the 'Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB - DDR3 1600' in favor of G.Skill RipJaw X Series 16GB - DDR 1600.  All reported problems have yet to appear.  Still working on getting Clover to fully work.  I've gotten it installed and bootable, but it causes freezing/lockup issues that I do not experience with Chameleon.  Looks like I need to spend some more time trying to figure out the correct settings for Clover in order to get it to work just as nicely as Chameleon does.

 

Thanks again!!

[PhaseMelter]

In case anyone else runs into this issue, it was the ram!  I've since RMAed the 'Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB - DDR3 1600' in favor of G.Skill RipJaw X Series 16GB - DDR 1600.  All reported problems have yet to appear.  Still working on getting Clover to fully work.  I've gotten it installed and bootable, but it causes freezing/lockup issues that I do not experience with Chameleon.  Looks like I need to spend some more time trying to figure out the correct settings for Clover in order to get it to work just as nicely as Chameleon does.

 

Thanks again!!

 

Hi acid7711,

 

I have the same motherboard and I use two Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB modules without a problem. I am running Clover without any problems too, but like you, I have a new Haswell (4690K) CPU. The CPU is not yet supported and I don't know if we have to wait on Apple to support them, or if we can fix it ourselves. Do you have any luck reading voltages for example with HWMonitor?

[acid7711]

Hey ElStuiterbal,

 

Yeah, overall, I don't think it's 'bad ram', I just think I got one (or possibly both, I didn't care to check in great detail) stick(s) of bad ram.  I had HW Monitor running, however I have since disabled it and am no longer using it.  Usually, I'm gung-ho to start overclocking a system from day one, but I haven't even felt the need on this build.  It's a beast of a build as you know having a very similar setup.  Once or rather if I feel the need to start getting back into this, I will probably look into trying to get that working again, but for right now, I don't really feel the need.  The system is surprisingly cool (even with the fan on the radiator turned almost all the way down) and extremely stable.

 

To be honest, when I had HW Monitor installed, it appeared to be fully working/correct for me.  I, however, never directly compared the voltages, temps, etc to what my BIOS readings were as I was far more concerned with trying to solve the freezing/crashing issue I was experiencing.

 

 

Would you mind sharing your Clover configuration file with me by chance?  I haven't even really started messing around with it too much at this point, but I would be interested in trying to get it working if I could.  Thanks!

[telepati]

Its not about RAM. This is totaly graphic issue. Enabled onboard graphics from BIOS. Then Choose PCI Slot 1 first settings on the periphals I dont remember name right now. And dont use X.M.P Profile. Disable it. Add manually your RAM.

[acid7711]

Its not about RAM. This is totaly graphic issue. Enabled onboard graphics from BIOS. Then Choose PCI Slot 1 first settings on the periphals I dont remember name right now. And dont use X.M.P Profile. Disable it. Add manually your RAM.

 

This had nothing to do with anything related to graphics.  Clearly, it was related entirely to RAM as the system's been running flawlessly with no other changes other than discontinuing use of the originally purchased ram with almost three solid weeks of continuous hard hard use.  Simply put, there was an issue with one or both of those sticks of RAM I originally purchased.  Hard to believe, yes, but the results speak for themselves.

 

 

 

I still need to get Clover up and going one of these years though.

[JTG78]

A quick question to you.  I have the same motherboard in my installation and followed a similar installation path, but I have a few issues I haven't completely nailed down yet. I wonder if you have run into any of them and perhaps their solutions? If you are not having any of these problems I'd love to know what you have done differently.

 

1) ALC1150 sound.  No luck for me, although I was able to get the front ports on my case working using toleda's Mavericks: Audio Realtek ALC AppleHDA guide.

2) Sleep.  My system will not sleep.  To be specific when I select sleep, the monitors sleep, but the system fans keep running (and it keeps drawing ~90W).  Fortunately, it wakes okay.

3) USB 3.  The universal driver from Zenith432 seems to work most of the time.  However, when I start plugging in and/or removing USB devices ports eventually stop responding up to the point where I have to force a reset because my keyboard/mouse is no longer responding.  Admittedly, my system is only a few days old at this point (~5), so I haven't had much time to test/observe, however, I have yet to observe any problems when booted into Windows.  Granted my problem could also be related to the lack of proper Z97 support or a dsdt for my board.

[DangerMouse76]

I have the same motherboard and am having difficulty getting clover to work. ("Unable to find driver for this platform. ACPI \n0 Sourcecache xnu .....  iokit/Kernel/IOPlatformExpert.cp" ). Can anyone who got this working properly share their config? I'm also having random freezes, might have to try swapping the RAM too later...

[TIMMAYOSX]

I had a crashing issue as well, with my GA-Z87M-D3H which was random, and very annoying.  It liked to do it most about 3 minutes after booting, or after it wakes from sleep, but can be any time really.

 

I found that upgrading my BIOS from F9 to 11beta completely resolved my issues, and am now 100% crash free after a week.