Asus P9 PE-D8 WS - Bios changes CPU speed - Watch video !

[marchitect]

Please help. I've tried everything I can think of. This is a new board from the ASUS factory with the latest bios - WITH A TEST SHEET!
The best thing is to watch my video and see if you can help in any way. I'm at a complete loss as to what is going on.
In short - My CPU are Xexon 2687W and should run at 3.1GHz, but the BIOS keeps slowing them down to 1.2 GHz. No matter what I try.
ASUS has no solution except to RMA the board again.

Here's my video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlm-09mLiyY

HUGE THANKS FOR ANY HELP !!!

[- wardog -]

By chance do you have the s-Spec's of your processors?

I don't know if it could be BIOS related in some way or not but I'm reading "VT-d virtualization and Trusted Execution Technology are not supported on processors with C0 and C1 core steppings" HERE

With ASUS claiming tested the Z9PE-D8 WS with C2 stepping E5-2687W processors HERE


NM the below, I forgot while replying it appears this board came to you from ASUS as a RMA return already. Hopefully that means they themselves aren't creating mischief when possibly flashing the BIOS before RMA'ing back to you.
<span style="text-decoration: line-through;">And I gotta ask. "3302 from factory" , meaning from factory and not from some other place or from some other possible previous user? I see some serious cautions while updating the BIOS relating to revision 3109 and above. ASUS IIRC used to print the MB's BIOS revision on the box's sticker/desc. If it's printed there, does it confirm 3302</span>

Thanks TT for now disabling the strike through. Coming from a loyal user, It's appreciated. NOT.

[marchitect]

The S-spec as printed on the Intel box is SROKG for both processors.
I'm not sure if the o is an OH or a Zero.
You are obviously more tech savy than I am as I don't know what to do with your answer.
The board was delivered to me with BIOS 3302 installed by ASUS.
I tried switching out the bios chip in my old board which I still have which also has 3302 on it and got the same results.
Can I re-flash the bios to an older version?

I really appreciate your help as I'm at a loss about what to do.

[marchitect]

So, according the the link you provided (thank you) and with my S-spec of SROKG it appears that the core stepping is C2 which should be good. That should mean that VT-d virtualization and Trusted Execution Technology are supported.
I don't know what those things are, but at least they are supported.
I'm going to see what happens when I reflash to bios 3206.

One thing I find very interesting:
The "Customer specification and test sheet" that came with my new RMA'd motherboard shows that it has BIOS 3206 - but when I went into BIOS for the first time it says 3306!
So, I'm thinking there was some last minute bios changing before it went out to me.

[marchitect]

I was hoping hoping hoping that the bios reflash would work.
I reflashed the bios to version 3206 which is as far bask as I can go (i think) because the file name extensions change from .ROM to .CAP.

Anyway, I tried it and still have the same problem.

Talk about frustrating.

[- wardog -]

Try this.

BIOS > Advanced > CPU Power Management Configuration > Power Technology - to "Custom"
BIOS > Advanced > CPU Power Management Configuration > Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology - to "Disabled"
BIOS > Ai Tweaker > CPU Ratio - to the correct Multiplier for your processors

The above is extrapolated from THIS post. There's a wealth of info on your MB/proc's in that thread, from start to finish. The User there FutureX has the same HW and is/was seeing the same 1.2Ghz as you are currently experiencing, see THIS post. If I read that thread and understand what they're mentioning I believe the above steps should rectify your issue.

You might also consider joining there to ask about what I mention trying above to be confident.

[- wardog -]

Yes. Your C2 stepping is good as that's the stepping ASUS indicates they have tested the MB/CPU/BIOS with/against.

And don't give me too much credit here. I feel like I have one foot over the fence, and in the mud, here discussing this with you. I damn near passed your thread over after reading as being above my pay grade.

[marchitect]

Try this.

BIOS > Advanced > CPU Power Management Configuration > Power Technology - to "Custom"
BIOS > Advanced > CPU Power Management Configuration > Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology - to "Disabled"
BIOS > Ai Tweaker > CPU Ratio - to the correct Multiplier for your processors

The above is extrapolated from THIS post. There's a wealth of info on your MB/proc's in that thread, from start to finish. The User there FutureX has the same HW and is/was seeing the same 1.2Ghz as you are currently experiencing, see THIS post. If I read that thread and understand what they're mentioning I believe the above steps should rectify your issue.

You might also consider joining there to ask about what I mention trying above to be confident.

Again, thank you.
I would like to try your suggestion but I can not find the 'correct multiplier for my processors' A google search didn't come up with anything I could use.
If you happen to know I would love any support or ideas.

[marchitect]

I don't know your name but I just want to tell you that you have made my day!!
I tried your suggestion.
I took a shot at CPU ratio of 38 as that was the only thing I could find with the word ratio in it.
Anyway. When I rebooted back into BIOS it KEPT the CPU speed !!
You have no idea how much better I feel now. I've been on this for 50 hours with no sleep trying various things !!

I'm optimistic that I can move on and at least try to load windows and and finish this beast.

Thank you again.
If by chance you live in So. CA I'd be honored to buy you a drink !!

[- wardog -]

You're welcome. Glad to have helped and thanks for the offer of a drink. But from Michigan that would be a long haul to clink glasses. Nevertheless, thanks. I appreciate the offer.

You don't want 38 there. 38 would represent your Max Turbo speed. 31 would be what you want entered per HERE, Intels spec page for your E5-3687W.

Upon sleeping on this, you might try only disabling the "Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology"(EIST) while leaving/changing back the "CPU Ratio" to I believe what you were looking at as "Auto". As after sleeping on it I'm left wondering if with EIST enabled, with all other power settings in the BIOS defaulted/enabled, the correct idle speed for this proc isn't actually supposed to be 1.2Ghz. EIST was/is used in laptops to more deeply conserve power. So it might not be out of the question to expect to see 1.2Ghz while in the BIOS with the proc's idling in an EIST low power state. Again, BIOS programing is above my pay grade so not too sure. But worth a shot as you now know how to correct for in the BIOS should it not prove beneficial here.

If the above paragraphs info proves itself out, or does not, either way, would you be so kind as to post back here of your findings.

And if you have a contact at ASUS you should probably email/call this info in to them to keep their RMA's down. Assuming whomever you speak to forwards said info up to their Tech Support call center and sees that it actually gets entered into their ever dry cut-n-paste database of silly questions to inquire of when tasked for support. I'm left quizzical and dazed that they themselves aren't already aware of this and instead had you and most likely many others jump through the RMA hoop only after exhausting your patience via phone/email. Been there done that, and it is aggravating. To say the least.

And BTW, nice computer.