ASUS M4A78T-E Freezes with 9.04

[HighlyDubious]

Just a fast note.

After reading the above, I started doing some more research, and started to see more info about the potential speed problem. So I went into my BIOS with the intention to reset my speed back to 1333Mhz.

That's when I noticed that I've been lying. I *THOUGHT* I'd upgraded the BIOS when I built the system, but apparently I didn't. There it was, plain as day, telling me that I was using v2001 of the BIOS, when all along I thought I was using v2105.

So, I went ahead and upgraded from v2001 to v2105, and after doing so, I made sure the memory speed was set to 1333Mhz.

At which point, I booted into XP and Win7 just to double check they were still working (they were), and then tried again to install Ubuntu 9.04 (x64)

This time it went PERFECTLY!

Not one single glitch or weirdness. I've been running 9.04 for a few mins, and done a full update of all packages. So far, it feels rock solid. Not even the smallest hint of instability. In addition, I've just now added Xunbuntu-Desktop with Synaptic, and still no hint of weirdness.

So, I'm sorry to admit that I've been lying all along. I *THOUGHT* I'd upgraded to the latest BIOS, but I had not.

At this moment I don't know if the solution was upgrading the BIOS, or dropping back to 1333Mhz. But one way or the other, my system appears to be 100% stable and working great with Ubuntu 9.04 (x64)

Thanks for all the help and comments posted by everyone. And I truly hope this thread will be useful to the next person with the same problems on an ASUS M4A78T-E mobo.

[vtk]

Am running x64 for Ubuntu and Debian.
I have 4GB in 2X2 orientation
I've been trying a bunch of stuff (tenacious is my middle name), and have ruled out a few things..
Partitions can be on any disk, still locks.
It does not lock every time, just 9 out of 10 (I got past the partitioning once and had screwed up the Grub install so had to start over.. freeze city again *sigh*)
For me, it locks on creating the partition for / , no matter if it is on a SATA disk or on an IDE disk.
I've tried both ext4 and ext3, same result
Speed is full on 1600, will try and cut back as soon as I finish this... actually, I'll do it while I'm in here..
Well, I was a bad sysadmin, and changed two things at once.. I re-arranged the drives so the IDE would boot first AND shifted the RAM speed to 1066.
And it worked. I cannot say for sure that it was one of these changes that worked, mainly because I'm not going to run the risk of continuing the amazing levels of frustration I'm experiencing with the first new (personally owned) system I've built in 5 years. Once I complete the install I'll crank it back up and see if I get more sketchy behavior.
Peace,
V

[cjlindem]

I am posting because this is one of the threads I found on my path to fixing the freezing problem on my M4A78T-E last night. Maybe my story can save someone else a lot of time.

I upgrade my system to an ASUS M4A78T-E, 3.2GHz quad core, 2x2GB DDR3 1600 ram about 3 weeks ago. The upgrade went smooth but maybe once a day on average my system would completely freeze. No error message, just solid lock. It seemed more common while was using Virtualbox VM, but happened even just browsing the web or watching movies. Happened in windows XP also (I dual boot).

Early on I had read that the board has trouble with ddr3 1600, and that I might need to find out the exact memory settings (latency, voltage, etc.) from the manufacturer and enter it into the BIOS. I mostly ignored this, I've never had to do anything like that with ASUS boards before. Never had to even obey their certified memory lists. I'd just plug the ram in and things were fine and stable. Not this time. I found that the bios had assumed my memory was 1333. I upped it to 1600, but lockups continued. I upgraded to latest BIOS version, no difference. I found WINE runs the popular burn-in software prime95, and tested it out. With 4 threads running, one errored out with a division error in the first couple minutes. Then another, then another. Reading up on this said that it indicates a definite problem with either the processor or ram, and should never fail on a stable system. I lowered ram's frequency back to 1333 in BIOS, and moved both chips into sockets next to eachother (into a dual channel config I think). No good p95 still fails. I was lucky to find my ram manufacturer's site (Mushkin) has a very helpful technical forum. I found recommended manual settings to run the ram at 1600 and also settings for 1333. The lead guy there said that AM3 is finicky about ddr3 1600, and that running at 1333 with lower cas latency will generally be almost as fast and cause much less trouble with the chipset. I tried the settings for 1666 7-7-6-18. Voltages between 1.85-1.9. Still failed p95. Finally gave up and changed it to the 1333 recommended settings. 6-6-6-18-1T @ 1.85V. Prime95 ran for 12 hours without a single thread failing. I have not gotten a lockup since.

In summary, if you have an ASUS M4A78T-E, your system instability may be caused by the BIOS's inability to correctly detect and configure the correct settings for your memory on auto. Or the manual settings you've already entered for your ram aren't working. I know this board is made for overclockers, but having to tinker with the memory settings so much just to get the system to run normally was really surprising to me, and disappointing.

[HighlyDubious]

I am posting because this is one of the threads I found on my path to fixing the freezing problem on my M4A78T-E last night. Maybe my story can save someone else a lot of time.

.... Finally gave up and changed it to the 1333 recommended settings. 6-6-6-18-1T @ 1.85V. Prime95 ran for 12 hours without a single thread failing. I have not gotten a lockup since.

... I know this board is made for overclockers, but having to tinker with the memory settings so much just to get the system to run normally was really surprising to me, and disappointing.

Yes, I have to agree 100%. I am also disappointed. I thought I was buying a stable product from a company with a (generally) good reputation. But what I found was tons of frustration when trying to install Ubuntu 9.04 (x64) when my memory was set to 1600.

Very disappointing. Granted, there is not a humongous performance difference between 1333 and 1600. But for me it's the whole principal of the thing. If a board maker advertises 1600, then I expect to be able to get 1600 and be stable across all platforms.

For now though, I'm running at 1333, and it appears to be stable. I'm disappointed and my experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth towards ASUS. Next time I am building a new system, I'll probably avoid ASUS and try another mobo maker. With so many other mfgs out there, there's no reason to remain loyal to a company that can't deliver on what they advertise. If I'm going to spend my hard earned money, I'll do it with a company that delivers what they promise.

For now though, bottom line is, yes, if you're using a M4A78T-E, then don't even bother buying 1600 memory. Just save yourself some money and get the 1333. Trust us, it will save you many headaches in the long run.

[HighlyDubious]

Am running x64 for Ubuntu and Debian.
I have 4GB in 2X2 orientation

Thanks for filling us in on your configuration. It tells me that the problem doesn't just occur when all 4 slots are full.

Well, I was a bad sysadmin, and changed two things at once.. I re-arranged the drives so the IDE would boot first AND shifted the RAM speed to 1066.
And it worked. I cannot say for sure that it was one of these changes that worked

Once I complete the install I'll crank it back up and see if I get more sketchy behavior.
Peace,
V

Yes, I did pretty much the same thing, but in reverse. After getting Ubuntu up, running, and stable at 1333Mhz, I rebooted and changed a few different things in the BIOS. At the same time I also bumped my speed back up to 1600Mhz. Next time I rebooted, Ubuntu froze on me within 5 mins. At which point I mentally kicked myself for changing several things at once.

On the other hand, I then went back to BIOS, and this time changed only *one* thing. I reduced the speed back to 1333Mhz, and next time I started Ubuntu it worked perfectly for several hours. So, I'm pretty sure that the whole problem all along has been trying to use the 1600Mhz that we were (mis)lead to believe our mobo could handle.

[HighlyDubious]

I'm marking this thread as "Solved" because it seems that updating the BIOS (current latest version is v2105), and reducing the memory speed from 1600Mhz down to 1333Mhz has fixed things.

It's not a solution I'm happy with, but it is a functional solution, so for now that will have to be "good enough".

If anyone else has more to contribute on this topic, I welcome any other comments. Who knows, maybe somewhere out in the big wide world, there's a mad hacker with the perfect working solution to allow us to use our 1600Mhz memory at it's rated speed!

[cascade9]

Yes, I have to agree 100%. I am also disappointed. I thought I was buying a stable product from a company with a (generally) good reputation. But what I found was tons of frustration when trying to install Ubuntu 9.04 (x64) when my memory was set to 1600.

Very disappointing. Granted, there is not a humongous performance difference between 1333 and 1600. But for me it's the whole principal of the thing. If a board maker advertises 1600, then I expect to be able to get 1600 and be stable across all platforms.

For now though, I'm running at 1333, and it appears to be stable. I'm disappointed and my experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth towards ASUS. Next time I am building a new system, I'll probably avoid ASUS and try another mobo maker. With so many other mfgs out there, there's no reason to remain loyal to a company that can't deliver on what they advertise. If I'm going to spend my hard earned money, I'll do it with a company that delivers what they promise.

For now though, bottom line is, yes, if you're using a M4A78T-E, then don't even bother buying 1600 memory. Just save yourself some money and get the 1333. Trust us, it will save you many headaches in the long run.

I wouldnt be at all suprised if there was improvements from getting the newer BIOS. Even if you still dont get stable performance at 1600 Mhz, its possible that things still would have been unstable at 1333 Mhz with the old BIOS. Bit hard to tell though (and I would never even think about going back to the old version, just to test LOL)

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Asus these days. But in the defence of them, here what the specification page for the M4A78T-E says-
Asus-

4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 ECC,Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory

They dont exactly make is clear that 1600 is overclock only. But the other guys do the same-
DFI (BI 785G-M35)-

Supports DDR3 1600(O.C.)/1333/1066/800 MHz

MSI (790GX-G65)-

DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600(OC)

Gigabyte is even nastier. Mind you, I didnt check the RSS feed for specifications, it might make it slightly more clear there. Or it might not. (GA-MA790GPT-UD3H)-

Dual Channel DDR3 1666+ for remarkable system performance

At least foxconn doesnt say '1600 OC', but they dont even support 1600 Mhz- Foxconn A7DA-S 3.0-

Dual channel DDR3 1333/1066/800 x 4 DIMMs, Max. 8GB

Its just a pity that they dont make things clearer in the pages, but its probably a bit of the old 'keeping up with the Joanses' problem. Once someone has started saying '1600' everyone else wants to follow.

I know this board is made for overclockers, but having to tinker with the memory settings so much just to get the system to run normally was really surprising to me, and disappointing.

Well...no offence, but I wouldnt call any 790GX chipset for overclockers. It able to overclock, yes, but if you want to overclcock, get a 790FX if you have the money, or a 770 otherwise. Chipsets with intergrated video are always more of a pain than those without.

I wonder if the actual memory modules are part of the problem? I do know that some chipsets are picky about the memory used. Asus doesn't appear to have a memory support list for that baord, the gigabyte one lists corsair modules, but HighlyDubious is running CMX4-XXXX and the page says CMX3-XXXX. It would be interesting to see if one of the rated modules will actually run stable at 1600.

[Language]

I had a similar problem. Using the M4A78T-E, with bios v2105, 1TB hdd, 4GB DDR3 1333mhz, I experienced the following behavior:

9.10 installer hanging (using ext4) at "5%" and a null pointer kernel exception followed by a lockup. Tried multiple times, always failed at same spot.

9.04 installer worked after running gparted seperately(ext4), upgraded to 9.10, had to manually run FSCK after reboot. Ran all updates, had to fsck again after that.

Tried reinstalling 9.04 with ext3 after reading about ext4 issues, install crashed at around 80%. Reinstalled again, install succeeded, but could not boot after reboot.

Finally looked for an up to date bios after reading this thread. Installed latest bios (v2503). Did a fresh install of 9.10 (still using ext3) and everything worked perfectly. No hangs, no errors, no running fsck after reboot.

Success!


Are any of you running ext4? I'm a little gun shy about it on this setup after reading horror stories and having my own bad experiences, but I'm wondering if it was ext4's fault or the bios.

[kubu88]

Hi!Do you think it happen only with DDR3? I'm experiencing the same kind of freeze with M3N78-vm. 2gb ram kingston 800mhz on board

[HighlyDubious]

I had a similar problem. Using the M4A78T-E, with bios v2105, 1TB hdd, 4GB DDR3 1333mhz...

Finally looked for an up to date bios after reading this thread. Installed latest bios (v2503). Did a fresh install of 9.10 (still using ext3) and everything worked perfectly. No hangs, no errors, no running fsck after reboot.

Success!

Are any of you running ext4? I'm a little gun shy about it on this setup after reading horror stories and having my own bad experiences, but I'm wondering if it was ext4's fault or the bios.

I'm afraid I can't contribute a whole lot more at this point. My M4A78T-E system has been "on loan" to someone for about 3 months now. In fact, I only had it up and working for about 2 weeks before loaning it out. At this point the "loan" is starting to look more like a semi-permanent situation, and so it could be several months before I get it back.

As far as ext4, at the time I was trying to get that mobo working, 9.10 was still in beta, and 9.04 did not natively support ext4 from the Live-CD. I think I tried 9.10 beta (with ext4) back then, but I'm sure that I if I tried that, it would have been under the v2001 bios, and 1600Mhz. Which means it would not have worked due to the above listed problems.

Since it could still be several more months before I get my M4A78T-E machine back, I'm asking this more out of pure curiosity than an actual need to know. You mention that you upgraded to the v2503 bios and the system became stable, so I'm just curious, are you still using 1333Mhz, or did you crank it up to 1600Mhz?

Either way, it is nice to see that ASUS seems to be making a sincere effort to improve the stability of this mobo. A quick check of Asus website shows that in the past 5 months they've brought out 5 bios updates. Some could argue that shows the mobo has numerous problems if it needs so many updates. On the other hand, it also suggests that Asus is making a sincere effort to address these problems. This seems to be especially the case with the v2503 release, which they describe as "Improve system stability". So, perhaps when/if I get my M4A78T-E back, I might be happy to discover it finally works at 1600Mhz, as advertised.

Either way, thanks for posting to this thread. I'm sure your info will help someone else out there who's having problems with this pesky board.