Thanks guys, glad if it works for you. I have by the way had one double boot today for the first time in 2 and a half weeks. But I have C1E and EIST now Enabled, so perhaps it's because of that. And I don't mind about an occasional double boot, at least these settings will decrease the double boots quite massively.

I've not had any double boots so far but as I mentioned previously I can go a week or more without them anyway. I used to get a 124 blue screen randomly as well probably once a week. I'm not sure of the cause as I could be browsing the web e.g. not pushing the PC at all or playing FSX (pushing it) or some other game that's not pushing the it much and it would 124 for no apparent reason. It can pass memory tests and burn ins all day long but still randomly blue screen. I really hope that has gone as that bugged me a lot more than the double boot.

I've not had any double boots so far but as I mentioned previously I can go a week or more without them anyway. I used to get a 124 blue screen randomly as well probably once a week. I'm not sure of the cause as I could be browsing the web e.g. not pushing the PC at all or playing FSX (pushing it) or some other game that's not pushing the it much and it would 124 for no apparent reason. It can pass memory tests and burn ins all day long but still randomly blue screen. I really hope that has gone as that bugged me a lot more than the double boot.

If you get a 0x124 BSOD, means your overclock is unstable, and means that your CPU does not have enough voltage and shuts itself off. What processor are you running and how far did you overclock, and what's your VCore? Try increasing it by 0.01V

No help required Arjen, but thanks anyway, I know the basics an then some as regards to overclocking, I've been doing it since the days of the first Athlon when you could unlock the CPU with a pencil :Nerd:As I said it can pass memory tests and stress tests for 12 hours straight on multiple attempts over the last 18 months but still every now and again it would 124 just while sat at the desktop idle doing nothing at all. This Asus Maximus IV Extreme-z is the worst MB I have ever had for stability. The ASUS Rampage Formula I had previously with my i7 920 was the exact opposite and was bullet proof, I miss it lol..

If you get a 0x124 BSOD, means your overclock is unstable, and means that your CPU does not have enough voltage and shuts itself off. What processor are you running and how far did you overclock, and what's your VCore? Try increasing it by 0.01V

Unfortunately with the SB CPU a 124 is not just VCore anymore especially when it occurs at idle or randomly. Underload you have a good chance it is vcore but not at idle.If C States are set properly (C3 or C6 disabled using offset, auto/enabled with manual) then it is most likely PLL or VTT. A PLL that is too high or too low will idle 124 BSOD. @AndyDigital - Here is a guide that might help. It fixed my very rare BSOD at idle. http://www.overclock.net/t/1120291/solving-fixing-bsod-124-on-sandybridge-read-op-first

Thanks! I'll give it a read later and will probably act on it if I encounter another 124 in the future.

@AndyDigital -Here is a guide that might help. It fixed my very rare BSOD at idle.http://www.overclock...e-read-op-first

Some interesting stuff in there about C3 and C6 states in regards to Sandforce chipset SSD performance. I was convinced that the SSD's may have something to do with the 124's. I just knew Intel had not got to the route cause of the problems they had with these early Sandy Bridge chipsets, it seems I was right. Thanks again for the link to the thread it is very helpful.

The 68 chipset is known for double boots and boot loops when being oc.My Gigabyte mobo also has the bootloop issue.What helps me is switching on the power supply and leave the pc the pc with the leds on.After 10 minutes I can boot it normally.I have to add that also the room temperature has to do with it. If the room is cold the issue occurs, if the room has a normal temperature no issues.Finally I made a new Profile in the bios ( 3.8 Ghz ) where it always boots.If I want to fly I reboot and set my 4.8 Ghz Profile in the bios.

Well the solution in this thread isn't a solution as suspected by a few folk in this thread. This morning I have had my worst experience so far with booting problems and this awful P67/Z68 Intel chipset. The PC wouldn't boot at all for about 5 minutes and the motherboard decided that it wasn't going to find my wireless keyboard anymore either, this has been an issue ever since upgrading to this 32** series BIOS. Up until this version of BIOS my Logitech K800 has been fully working all the time during the boot cycle, now if I get a failure to load Windows the keyboard is no longer recognised at boot time, until you actually get into Windows, then it's fine again even at the next boot time.

 

I had to dig out an old wired backup keyboard to be able to finally select relevant options from the Windows startup failure menu's, if I left the menu to time out and load itself it went to the startup repair application (which I didn't want anyway), but that was pointless as my keyboard and mouse weren't working to select any of the options it gave me and there is no default option and timeout in that program. Sorry it is not good news from me.

 

One bit of good news though, no blue screens at all so far since last Wednesday when I went ahead and I turned off the C3 and C6 state reports as recommended in the OP, so that's one good thing out of this affair so far, touch wood

Well the solution in this thread isn't a solution as suspected by a few folk in this thread. This morning I have had my worst experience so far with booting problems and this awful P67/Z68 Intel chipset. The PC wouldn't boot at all for about 5 minutes and the motherboard decided that it wasn't going to find my wireless keyboard anymore either, this has been an issue ever since upgrading to this 32** series BIOS. Up until this version of BIOS my Logitech K800 has been fully working all the time during the boot cycle, now if I get a failure to load Windows the keyboard is no longer recognised at boot time, until you actually get into Windows, then it's fine again even at the next boot time.

 

I had to dig out an old wired backup keyboard to be able to finally select relevant options from the Windows startup failure menu's, if I left the menu to time out and load itself it went to the startup repair application (which I didn't want anyway), but that was pointless as my keyboard and mouse weren't working to select any of the options it gave me and there is no default option and timeout in that program. Sorry it is not good news from me.

 

One bit of good news though, no blue screens at all so far since last Wednesday when I went ahead and I turned off the C3 and C6 state reports as recommended in the OP, so that's one good thing out of this affair so far, touch wood

Hi Andy,

The problem with the BIOS is you cannot roll in back to the previous. The only option is to wait for an update to clear up the issues. Other ASUS boards I have owned had BIOS that could be rolled back if required, give it a try - if no good flash back to the previous. No worries, not 3202 it is absolute crap.

 

Not happy with ASUS at the moment.

I power down the PC power with an automatic timer, I've decided to remove that for now to see if that makes any difference to the booting issues. I have now just plugged my speaker system into the auto power timer as they were the only reason I was using the timer in the first place. I put a watt meter on my PC some time go and found out the crappy old Creative 5.1 surround speaker system I have had for the last 8 years drew 45 watts of power even with the bloody speakers turned off , with them unplugged I was getting let than a couple of watts usage with everything else in standby. I'll see if it makes any difference.

I RMA'd my board due to the BIOS stuff up and what do you know?...... The new board with the shipped BIOS, 0301 is working like a charm, no BSOD's and running stable! Wont be updating BIOS to 3202 and will not consider updating any BIOS until I check the ASUS Support website for any issues regarding new releases.

Once bitten twice shy.

My issue has been that my computer would not wake from sleep. After pressing the sleep button I would get a double boot action but would not continue to GUI. I would have to press reset button at least twice to get it to boot up. I would get the screen choice to 'repair the OS' or 'delete configuration and continue to OS'. I would choose the later and computer would boot to OS.

This morning I went into BIOS and reset all configurations to default and will see what this system does over the weekend.

BIOS version is the latest on this POS P8Z68-V Gen3. It is not overclocked at this point, either.

Andy,

 

Here's an excerpt from the Asus forums which may help you to return to the 1004 Bios:

 

This is what worked for me twice, as far as flashing back to 1004 from 3103, & then again back to 1004 from 3203 - ROG Connect "Simplified Update BIOS" ...
http://rog.asus.com/motherboard/extreme/maximus-iv-extreme-z/ --- click on the "Simplified Update BIOS" button on the top left of the screen, for some very basic info/steps ...
I took one of my USB flash drives (in this case the smaller the better) & deleted everything off of it ...
Then copied the Bios 1004 rom file to it, & renamed the file M4EZ.ROM - then properly eject the USB Flash drive ...
Power Off the machine ...
Then pick the BIOS Chip you want to flash to, #1 or #2 - using the Bios Switch Button - (#17 on the 2.2.1 Motherboard Layout in the manual) ...
... then plug the USB Flash drive; with the 1004 rom file; into the ROG Connect port on the rear panel - (#12 on the 2.3.10 Rear Panel Connection diagram in the manual) ...
Press the ROG Connect Switch (button) for about a count of 2, then release - (#11 on the 2.3.10 Rear Panel Connection diagram in the manual) - (not the RC Bluetooth Switch (button)) ...
At this time you should see the BIOS Chip LED start blinking ...
... this blinking will continue for 2.5 to 3 minutes, or so - don't do anything until the BIOS Chip LED stops blinking, & returns to a solid lit LED.
When that happens, you can remove the USB Flash drive from the ROG Connect port ...
... & Power On the machine ...
The boot-up sequence will take longer than normal, due the bios update you just flashed ...
... let it go through the whole procedure until you get to either the F1 prompt screen, or until it boots into Windows ...
Either way, (F1 or Restart from Windows) you  want to get into the Advanced Bios "Boot Menu" screen to reset your boot sequence; & any other non-default bios settings that you use.
... if you do not see your boot drive as one of the drives on Boot Option #1 - then  go into "Hard Drive BBS Priorities" & you should find it under the 1st boot option drop down ...
... select it, & go back to Boot Option #1 & it should be one of the drive choices.
On the Advanced Bios "Main Screen", you should see that you are back on Bios 1004 ...
This is what worked for me getting back to 1004 from both 3103 & 3203, sure hope it works for you ...
... credit to corotan for bringing up this method of "flashing back" your bios ...

When I got my Z68 mobo I had this issue and what solved it for me was getting rid of that ASUS turbo oc in windows junk, reseting CMOS and starting over with just the BIOS. I did also have to disable Marvel and Internal PLL to auto. Just the other day I decided to start pushing this processor again and I found when I got to 47 multi the OS would hang at the startup screen where the thingies come together in the windows logo. I had to re-enable Internal PLL overvoltage and I got it to boot at 47 multi. This morning on a cold boot I got a double post and a hang again at the startup screen. Second try I got right in. So I think this PLL overvoltage being enabled is not the cause of this but it can also be attributed to not enough voltage or Load Line Calibration not high enough, mine is now at extreeme so we will see how it goes.

 

My conclusion with this ASUS double boot issue is the marvel and their AI suite overclocking utility. As long as you do not use sleep I think you are fine with PLL being enabled.

 

Just my o2.