Machine_Check_Exception with XMP & UFEI?

[RobHague]

I reinstalled Windows 8.1 and switched to UEFI. Install went fine, but on reboot I got stuck on the startup. It just froze then later gave me a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION. I couldn't get it to budge. Finally after much fiddling it seems it's caused by XMP but I had been using XMP perfectly fine since I built the system. Not sure why UEFI hates it.

Another odd issue is that sometimes my keyboard (Coolermadter Rapid-I) isn't detected. Boots up and I have to unplug and re-plug it to get it to light up. Sometimes it lights up on boot. Sometimes it lights up only in windows (which makes entering the bios impossible).

It's an MSI X99S Gaming 7. 5820K. G.Skill Ripjaws 4 16GB (4x4GB) 2666MHz. No overclock other than XMP.

 

[Shiari]

You should probably put MSI X99S Gaming 7 in the title.

Did you plug the keyboard and mouse in the top usb "gaming" ports, those next to the PS/2 connector? I had trouble with the keyboard and mouse in the UEFI until I did that.

Did you first install Windows in non-EUFI mode, then switch to UEFI? Or is that just me misunderstanding you ... (you need to pick UEFI mode on the boot selection menu for it to set up things correctly).

Rather than MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION I've seen a fair few of WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR messages (generally you'd get the latter, not the former, according to MSDN), but those were all about an unstable overclock on the CPU. Did you get an error code with these?

Also, what's your BIOS version? There have been some XMP related changes.

How do you manage to boot at all?

 

[RobHague]

Yeah the keyboard is in the ports next to the PS/2. The keyboard works most of the time, just now and again it seems to just decide "nope".

Yes I installed windows in UEFI, everything worked great till reboot. Then it locked up on the boot screen. Leave it long enough and it dies with MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION.

I managed to get into the BIOS by resetting it. I played with the settings and found that it stopped working as soon as I enabled XMP (which I had been using fine previous in legacy mode).

I am on the latest BIOS for my board btw. H70.

 

[Shiari]

That's me out of ideas then I'm guessing there's no debug led code to go with the MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION? And it does it with any XMP profile?

For the keyboard problem, you could try things like turning off or explicitly enabling legacy USB mode (not sure which you need). Those settings shouldn't do anything for Windows as they should apply to the UEFI USB support only.