AHCI boot problems - constand reboot-repair - W8.1

schmidtrg

New Member
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13
Hi all,

Here's my situation. I have seen many thread about people having problems with win 8/8.1 and AHCI, and haven't seen an actual working fix for them. In my situation, I have a system that I originally installed for someone, as a fresh, complete W8.1 OEM, 32 bit, clean install - originally set up using BiOS set to AHCI. Working fine for a few months. User had the bios battery go bad (date, time, etc), so they went into cmos and set date and time - left everything else as default - whereby the bios defaulted to Native IDE for the HD. System booted and they worked on it that day - and brought the system to me. I replaced the cmos battery and reconfigured the system HD to AHCI.

That's when it all went to the South pole. The infamous 'There was a problem starting' error, the attempted diagnosis and startup repair by windows, and eventually completely stuck in that loop. I have seen way too many "change the storahci to 0" responses, and did attempt that - no joy. I have a problem with that anyhow - simply because I have seen MANY working systems where all of those settings were the same - some number other than 0 - and they boot just fine. Seems to me that there is something else that gets changed or reset, thus this thread.


I also attempted the "bcedit /set ... recoveryenabled No" suggestion - and no joy there either.


I'd like to see if someone can get to the bottom of what actually gets changed or reset when these things go bad - so an actual fix can be documented. I have twice had this loop happen when accepting an AMD sata driver update from windows update (dated early part of 2013) with similar resulting no boot results.


Anyone finding or have the inside on this? Sure would be nice to have something solid to work with, as I am not a rookie tech, and work on a lot of systems, and this is becoming a real issue.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
I might add, when a system like this gets changed from AHCI back to native IDE, if you look at system restore - it will show the original boot C drive (as well as any other partition of that drive) as missing, and the currently booted (same drive, just running IDE mode) marked drive C as unable to be monitored. Thus of course, there is no visible restore points to be pulled even though they are out there - and of course continuing to run in IDE mode and in that condition is not an option.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
32bit oem

didn't think you could get a 32bit oem, that might be your prob its most likely 64bit, retail yes.

Roy
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    x55a asus
    Antivirus
    bitdefender
    Other Info
    this laptop was/is still posted on asus website as W7
didn't think you could get a 32bit oem, that might be your prob its most likely 64bit, retail yes.

Roy

Not True - being a vendor myself, I can assure you.

And this problem isn't relegated to just 32 bit systems anyhow - I have run into this on 64 bit/OEM/PRO, etc etch.

Let's not cloud the issue with something that isn't the problem please, the version isn't part of it.

The fix may eventually be - but I'm betting it will be the same regardless 32 or 64 bit.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
Apologies for those that had to see that last strung out post. Was attempting to attach what I thought was a small pic of Win8.1-32Oem Sleeve.

Will try that later - but it's a real animal
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
w8.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
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    Defender, Malwarebytes
Well, maybe a couple of things. Most modern Motherboards will not "default" to IDE. I have almost no experience with AMD motherboards, but how old is the board? If it does actually have IDE as the Bios defaults, it if is changing, there may still be a problem with the Onboard battery or connections which might be causing the bios to change to its defaults.

If for some reason the SATA controller is changing to IDE, there may be a problem with the motherboard. Since you are a Vendor, it should be easy for you to replace. If it isn't the motherboard, maybe some device connected to the controller is causing the problem. If you were to have a bad hard drive, or a DVD drive on the wrong controller, possibly it could be involved.

If it would help you any, the way to change a SATA controller in Windows 8 is to use msconfig.exe to set the system to boot into Safe Mode. Then reboot and change the controller in the bios, then let it continue to boot into Safe Mode.

Let it sit for a few seconds so it can setup the new controller, and you may even want to check the Device Manger to see if it has changed the controller. Use msconfig.exe again to set the system back to a normal boot and then reboot.

And lastly, is the system x64 capable and do you have the motherboard model information, beyond just Biostar?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Well, maybe a couple of things. Most modern Motherboards will not "default" to IDE. I have almost no experience with AMD motherboards, but how old is the board? If it does actually have IDE as the Bios defaults, it if is changing, there may still be a problem with the Onboard battery or connections which might be causing the bios to change to its defaults.

If for some reason the SATA controller is changing to IDE, there may be a problem with the motherboard. Since you are a Vendor, it should be easy for you to replace. If it isn't the motherboard, maybe some device connected to the controller is causing the problem. If you were to have a bad hard drive, or a DVD drive on the wrong controller, possibly it could be involved.

If it would help you any, the way to change a SATA controller in Windows 8 is to use msconfig.exe to set the system to boot into Safe Mode. Then reboot and change the controller in the bios, then let it continue to boot into Safe Mode.

Let it sit for a few seconds so it can setup the new controller, and you may even want to check the Device Manger to see if it has changed the controller. Use msconfig.exe again to set the system back to a normal boot and then reboot.

And lastly, is the system x64 capable and do you have the motherboard model information, beyond just Biostar?

Nothing wrong with the motherboard - it was just a low cmos battery. Most AMD motherboards, until really just recently, default to IDE as the setting, with AHCI actually having to be selected if you wanted it that way. The controller isn't 'changing' per say - this only happened because of the low cmos battery, which was replaced but
too late.

I did the safe mode route - and changed the controller. Initially, before doing that - at least I could boot the system
with the bios being in IDE mode, but of course that then screws up any ability to use going forward restore mode, and the system is incapable of finding a valid past restore point because it shows the C: drive as missing, and the current ACTIVE booted C: drive as unable to have system restore working at all.

The board isn't that old, and it works fine as I have tested it - and have put another test drive in and did a fresh install with no problems coming up in AHCI mode. This is a MSI board - the Biostars mentioned are other examples
of what happened with simply accepting an optional windows update driver for AMD sata controller listed - but is
not part of this particular issue. I merely mentioned it because the registry changes/safe mode changes/bcdedit
solutions here often don't fix the problem - so there must be something missing in all of this in why a system - originally installed clean as AHCI, with a simple cmos reset that allowed that system to boot into IDE mode can
lead to not being able to go back into AHCI mode without all of this - and why or what that boot managed to change
in the registry that caused it.

As I said, I have looked at AMD machines that ARE functional, and booting in AHCI mode, where these registry settings that are being recommended to change for resolutions are exactly the same - non zero settings - don't seem to be the solution.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
Hi

There is a new Registry setting in "Windows 8" to disable not required drivers at boot called "Startoverride". My guess is that "Windows 8" marked AHCI drivers as not required when the system accidentally booted in IDE mode.

Please try the below steps and let me know whether it helps.

1. Open Registry editor and navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci and set the value of StartOverride to 0.

2. The same should be done to AMD AHCI driver. I am not sure how it might be listed but i think it is amdxata or amdsata.

Now reboot and enable AHCI mode.

http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=faq-Windows-8&faq=136


 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
Hi

There is a new Registry setting in "Windows 8" to disable not required drivers at boot called "Startoverride". My guess is that "Windows 8" marked AHCI drivers as not required when the system accidentally booted in IDE mode.

Please try the below steps and let me know whether it helps.

1. Open Registry editor and navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci and set the value of StartOverride to 0.

2. The same should be done to AMD AHCI driver. I am not sure how it might be listed but i think it is amdxata or amdsata.

Now reboot and enable AHCI mode.

http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=faq-Windows-8&faq=136




Your thoughts do echo mine, and I did change not only that setting but error control - and it didn't work (not that it doesn't work in some cases).

But again, I am currently on a machine that is AMD, AMD AHCI driver loaded, boots and works just fine in that mode, and when I go into the registry - override is not 0, and errorcontrol is also not zero (both for amdsate and storahci).

So I do understand your thoughts, and they make sense when booting IDE - yet that seems to not be the case when I look at those same settings on a system that is booting AHCI, and those settings are the same.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
The controller isn't 'changing' per say - this only happened because of the low cmos battery, which was replaced but too late.

I did the safe mode route - and changed the controller. Initially, before doing that - at least I could boot the system
with the bios being in IDE mode, but of course that then screws up any ability to use going forward restore mode,

The board isn't that old, and it works fine as I have tested it - and have put another test drive in and did a fresh install with no problems coming up in AHCI mode. This is a MSI board - the Biostars mentioned are other examples
of what happened with simply accepting an optional windows update driver for AMD sata controller listed - but is
not part of this particular issue. I merely mentioned it because the registry changes/safe mode changes/bcdedit
solutions here often don't fix the problem - so there must be something missing in all of this in why a system - originally installed clean as AHCI, with a simple cmos reset that allowed that system to boot into IDE mode can lead to not being able to go back into AHCI mode without all of this - and why or what that boot managed to change in the registry that caused it.
So your current situation can be summed up as the system will boot using an IDE controller, but will not when using an AHCI controller?

If the controller would have changed due to the bios resetting to its defaults, could there be any other default settings that would now effect the system you have not reset?

Is this system a UEFI or Legacy install? What exactly happens when you try to boot with the controller set as AHCI, after you use the Safe Mode process to change it to AHCI, what messages, which options?

If the system did change controllers on its own, the Windows 8 Repair system would have tried to fix the system. No telling exactly what it might have done. Some information may be helpful to us. Like a picture of the Disk Management window, a full listing of the BCD store, a copy of the Srttrails.txt log which is probably in the Windows\system32\logfiles\srt directory.

And I hate to bring it up, but if the CMOS battery has gone dead on a system that is not very old, it might indicate a problem.

If you still want to keep the overclock, you might just disable the Hardware driver updates for the system.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
So your current situation can be summed up as the system will boot using an IDE controller, but will not when using an AHCI controller?

If the controller would have changed due to the bios resetting to its defaults, could there be any other default settings that would now effect the system you have not reset?

Is this system a UEFI or Legacy install? What exactly happens when you try to boot with the controller set as AHCI, after you use the Safe Mode process to change it to AHCI, what messages, which options?

If the system did change controllers on its own, the Windows 8 Repair system would have tried to fix the system. No telling exactly what it might have done. Some information may be helpful to us. Like a picture of the Disk Management window, a full listing of the BCD store, a copy of the Srttrails.txt log which is probably in the Windows\system32\logfiles\srt directory.

And I hate to bring it up, but if the CMOS battery has gone dead on a system that is not very old, it might indicate a problem.

If you still want to keep the overclock, you might just disable the Hardware driver updates for the system.


I'll try to answer in the proper order here.

1. The system initially was setup as AHCI and booted just fine that way for the 3 mo. it's been a W8.1 system. Prior to that it was for several years an XP system - thus I'm not too concerned with why the cmos battery went low - it's not a brand new system.

1a. The system, after the owner went into cmos and reset date and time to get the system to boot up, and nothing else - but of course that allowed everything else to set to the factory default - but the only thing that affected anything was the fact that it booted up in IDE mode after that. When they brought it to me in that manner, changing the cmos battery and changing the controller choice back to AHCI, the customary 'your pc ran into a problem and needs to restart-diagnosing the system loop' came up. Changing back to IDE at that point I could still get it to boot.

b. AFTER making the various recommended fixes - the registry changes - the safe boot changes - the bcdedit changes - etc, did not fix or ever allow the system to boot AHCI mode, and effectively ended also the ability to boot in IDE mode too - so either in AHCI mode AND IDE mode - the machine then is constant in the loop. I had also tried to do the bootsec /fixboot and fixmbr after that = no joy.


2. Legacy system - no UEFI

3. Windows did try to fix the system - thus the eventual constant loop.

4. Don't know what you're talking about as for overclock - that was never part of the equation and this system was not overclocked.


Note - I pulled the orig drive, put a dummy/test drive in, ONLY changed the controller to AHCI, did a reinstall of w8.1 - and it works just fine - so it's not the board - it's not the cmos settings other than the boot into IDE that caused window to change something - and the settings/changes that most recommend aren't fixing this problem all the time - which leads me to believe there's something we're missing.

As I said, some have had success making those changes - but I don't buy that that IS the definitive fix - specifically when I can look at the setting of the very machine I am typing this on now - and those settings are not set as such - and the system boots just fine using AHCI.

I'd like to find that fix.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
You might check the link below and see if it means anything to you. The part about removing the AHCI drivers from the Catalyst package because of incompatibility, got my attention.

Desktop

Desktop
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
You might check the link below and see if it means anything to you. The part about removing the AHCI drivers from the Catalyst package because of incompatibility, got my attention.

Desktop


That's interesting. It looks to confirm that there seems to be some AHCI drivers that when installed caused
what I had experienced with the biostar MB and windows update (although that driver was dated sometime
in 2013). Would be nice if they took their investigation a step further and determined a way to fix it after it
was installed though. On those MBs, once that driver was installed there was no way to back it out. The
system was stuck in permanent boot/problem/diagnose mode and couldn't be booted in safe mode or
any other mode to get it to desktop. It also couldn't be restored to an earlier restore point because the
repair disk/install disk doesn't recognize any restore points because it sees the original boot drive as 'missing'.

It still doesn't address the MSI when it's cmos battery died and was booted in Native IDE mode and the
inability to change something that allowed it to be restored to bootable condition when switched back
to AHCI.

Thanks for finding that post. I'm going to pursue that with the AMD crew and see where that goes.
I'll make sure to update if they come up with something that not only fixes that (as I can easily duplicate
that failure), but maybe explains and helps general issues with failures related to AHCI changes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
There is another thread I am watching concerning a Gigabyte motherboard with this same situation. Gigabyte has available for download, the F6 version of the AHCI drivers which separates them from the suite. I don't know if your Vendor does or not.

But if you have installed a newer driver, it might be hard to get rid of. There may be utilities which will remove the driver or you may be able to uninstall the driver in Safe Mode and tell the system to uninstall all drivers. Then find the .inf file for the driver you want or see if Windows will install its basic amdsata.sys driver.

Would you open device manager and get us a picture of your setup for the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Then check the properties for the primary Controller and see what driver is being used and the properties of that driver?

The picture attached is for an Intel System, so yours will look a little different.
 

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System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Both Biostar and MSI provide the F6 drivers, but they don't work when loaded that way on install (not all cases, but enough to make it a bad guess to waste time doing that if W8 will already recognize the drive without). The best (better) way is to let W8 load the generic Microsoft AHCI driver, and then update after installed to the more reliable, faster, and more specific capabilities of the AMD sata driver after install - which is what I generally do these days. As I said, the only time I use the F6 driver install now is if Windows doesn't recognize the drive initially to partition and start the install with.

I'd like to show you the screen shot of the MSI/cmos battery system - but as you know - that system will no longer boot to desktop - being stuck in the prob with PC/diagnosing/restart loop. It also won't boot to safe mode either. But this is a screen shot of the WORKING system I am on - a biostar - with the proper AMD sata driver installed - the EXACT same driver that the MSI bd uses.


AMD.gif
 

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  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
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    IE11, FF30.0
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It looks like the configuration you show has two controllers. One is showing as SATA and the other Still IDE. Should I assume the IDE entry on your system is the Primary controller?

As you can see on mine, the Intel controller is the Primary controller with the system drives. The AsMedia one if for a secondary controller.

I did look in the AMD user forum and saw threads going back several months complaining of this situation. Since it seem to only effect certain boards, possibly that board or the Bios it is using allows it to be susceptible.

I think the only way I could help your situation is to get one of the bad boards and test it to see if I could find anything. I will post back if I discover anything relevant.

The Sata driver you show is from an earlier date than the one Gigabyte had for download. I do not remember the version.

But as far as the unintended switch to IDE and what may have happened, I have not been able to think of something that might have caused the system to not boot using a known good AHCI driver.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
It looks like the configuration you show has two controllers. One is showing as SATA and the other Still IDE. Should I assume the IDE entry on your system is the Primary controller?

As you can see on mine, the Intel controller is the Primary controller with the system drives. The AsMedia one if for a secondary controller.

I did look in the AMD user forum and saw threads going back several months complaining of this situation. Since it seem to only effect certain boards, possibly that board or the Bios it is using allows it to be susceptible.

I think the only way I could help your situation is to get one of the bad boards and test it to see if I could find anything. I will post back if I discover anything relevant.

The Sata driver you show is from an earlier date than the one Gigabyte had for download. I do not remember the version.

But as far as the unintended switch to IDE and what may have happened, I have not been able to think of something that might have caused the system to not boot using a known good AHCI driver.


No - there is no such thing as primary and secondary controllers as far as AMD chipsets are concerned - unless you're referencing primary/secondary ON the IDE contoller. Let me clarify. With AMD SB(southbrdge) chipsets,
all the various functions are part of the chip - similar to nvidia chipsets, where SATA, IDE, Video, USB, perhaps
wireless, and other possible hardware is all controlled or part of that chipset.

On AMD - sata and IDE are not 'chosen' as primary or secondary. The BOOT sequence choice determines what the
system looks for to boot from - in whatever order you set.

For instance - I have another more current MSI bd, that has NO ide connections (MS-7641)/760GM-P23 that still
lists IDE in the bios. That's there for IF you choose to set your SATA controller in either Native IDE mode or Legacy IDE mode - or piggyback an IDE controller onto the PCI or PCIe bus. Even though there are no connections on the MB - the CHIPSET has the controllers for that kind of hardware built in.

SO - long story longer - Primary and secondary controller has no meaning on an AMD board, unless you're speaking about primary/secondary (or master/slave) as it would pertain to something connected TO an ide connection. Even then however, setting the bios to boot a sata device (and whichever ID/bus # device that may be) determines ultimately which device is primary.

SO again, the problem - with W8 (because W7 doesn't seem to have these issues - there's always a way to get W7 to recognize again a bios switched from IDE back to AHCI (with that caveat that is determined by HOW the original system was installed -IDE or AHCI) seems to be a matter of we just aren't finding the PROPER places within either the registry or the boot/startup files that causes W8 to lose track of what it should be booting from. When it does get confused - it seems it kind of goes home to momma - and falls back on legacy default sequencing to try to
boot and repair itself - and fails when in AHCI mode - leading to the endless looping in some cases.


There's got to be a way to fix that.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
It can seem to get a little complicated, and without knowing the exact model number of the board, hard to do any research.

But my board had the Chipset Sata controller and on not on the Chipset. Primary Intel controller handles 6 of the 8 SATA ports and the ASMedia handles the other two. You can't put an optical drive on the two ASMedia ports. It just looked like yours was having the same type of configuration. Just inexperience on my part...

I'll post back if I run across anything. I am thinking about getting an AMD board with an A75 chipset to test, probably a Gigabyte.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Well, the MB in question - the dead cmos battery - is MSI - MS-7327 Ver.1.0 (K9AGM2-F / L), in case
you run across anything.

The Gigabytes are very good MBs for AMD equipment, and the higher end Biostars - which I like to use for my own systems. They get along with everything.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    X4 840
    Motherboard
    Biostar
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT220 Nvidia
    Browser
    IE11, FF30.0
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
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