Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master Bios Unusably Slow

Hardware Hub Motherboards
1

I have an X670E Aorus Master that is SUPER slow doing anything in the bios. When booting it posts in a somewhat reasonable amount of time, but then sits on the splash screen for about 4 minutes or so before starting to load windows. If I actually do get it into the bios it takes 10+ seconds to move the selection down a single line. Basically completely unusable.

If I power it down for a while before turning it on I usually can get a brief period of normal opperation. This is making me think it is possibly something heat releated, but I don’t know what. The system is cooled with an open loop, it seems like there should be enough airflow over everything, and all temperatures that can be read in the OS seem well within reason.

For a while once I got into Windows it would behave/perform as expected. Then I started having networking issues, where speeds over ethernet dropped to ~20 mpbs (1 gbps connection, tested fine with other systems) and wifi broke entirely. Updating network and chipset drivers have done nothing. Then at some point in the last few days of trouble shooting I started getting audio cracks and skips. Running LatencyMon seems to suggest this is due to DPC routine execution times spiking frequently to 80ms+, and interrupt to process latency spiking to 30ms+. My understanding is spikes over 2ms can cause audio issues. I think a Windows reinstall might fix these things, but when trying to load the installer USB it was going so slow I was concerned the install wouldn’t be successful. Will attempt again if necessary once I get the hardware problem worked out.

Current theories:

  1. Memory incompatibility. My memory is not on the Memory Support List, but the EXPO version of the same kit is and I am running stock SPD speed so I doubt that is the issue? Seems like this would cause instability and memory errors in windows? I am experiencing neither, but have no other DDR5 to rule this out conclusively.
  2. Motherboard is a lemon. Not the most technical description but I don’t really have anything more specific than that.

Things I have tried with no success:

  • Cleared CMOS (many times), currently running completely stock settings
  • Re-seated RAM
  • Tested 1 stick of RAM at a time in different slots
  • Ran memory test overnight, 0 errors
  • Removed all USB devices except keyboard and mouse
  • Updated bios to F8c, this took around an hour to complete when they say it should be only a couple of minutes.

Specs:

  • X670E AORUS MASTER
  • Ryzen 7950X
  • 64GB G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB (F5-6000J3238G32GX2-TZ5RK)
  • Samsung 980 Pro 2TB boot drive
  • Asus Strix RTX 3090

In trying to figure this out I recorded the debug led at 240fps next to a stopwatch and transcribed every code and how long it took if anyone is interested in that.

Full boot debug LED readout

Times are ± 4ms, as that is the frame time it was recorded at. For codes that only lasted 1 frame (4ms) it was sometimes tough to tell if it was a code or the display caught mid refresh. Any codes longer than that should definitely be accurate though, and any codes shorter could potentially have been missed entirely.

The string of firmware error codes (F0, F2, F3) near the bottom seem concerning.

Code Time on Code (ms) Description From Manual
00 37
C1 37 Reserved
00 4
E5 4
65 4 CPU DXE initialization is started.
90 4 Phase transfer to BDS (Boot Device Selection) from DXE.
06 4
46 608 Reserved.
00 4
80 4 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
00 50
08 266
05 4
15 133 Pre-memory North-Bridge initialization is started.
00 100
08 4
00 62
09 4
C9 29 Reserved
00 4
55 12 Memory initialization error occurs.
00 4
08 4
00 54
88 8 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
00 125
11 12 Pre-memory CPU initialization is started.
36 4 CPU PEI initialization.
01 4
06 25
00 4
22 66 Reserved.
15 8 Pre-memory North-Bridge initialization is started.
0A 100
4A 620 Reserved.
50 12 Memory initialization error occurs.
90 4 Phase transfer to BDS (Boot Device Selection) from DXE.
31 4 Memory installed.
50 8 Memory initialization error occurs.
29 4 Reserved.
49 270 Reserved.
15 4 Pre-memory North-Bridge initialization is started.
94 4 PCI Bus enumeration for detecting how many resources are requested.
90 4 Phase transfer to BDS (Boot Device Selection) from DXE.
54 33 Memory initialization error occurs.
33 162 CPU PEI initialization.
2B 2,604 Memory initialization.
41 58 Reserved.
42 554 Reserved.
82 83 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
84 29 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
85 29 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
86 141 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
8A 133 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
82 91 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
84 33 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
85 37 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
86 145 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
89 95 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
7B 120 Reserved for AMI use.
???? 4
F0 12 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F3 1,070 Recovery firmware image is found.
4F 58 Reserved.
60 29 DXE Core is started.
61 87 NVRAM initialization.
82 4 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
5F 25 Reserved.
0F 4
4D 4 Reserved.
E5 4
15 4 Pre-memory North-Bridge initialization is started.
95 4 Check PCI device requested resources.
03 4
38 4 IOH PEI initialization.
87 4 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
37 8 IOH PEI initialization.
45 4 Reserved.
63 4 CPU DXE initialization is started.
F0 4 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F8 4 Recovery PPI is invalid.
70 1,275 PCH DXE initialization.
42 116
25 4 Reserved.
38 4 IOH PEI initialization.
39 8 IOH PEI initialization.
15 108 Pre-memory North-Bridge initialization is started.
94 279 PCI Bus enumeration for detecting how many resources are requested.
95 4 Check PCI device requested resources.
96 66 Assign PCI device resources.
5A 254 Internal CPU error.
07 108
42 33 Reserved.
49 4 Reserved.
99 50 Super IO initialization.
42 91 Reserved.
98 4 Console input devices connect (ex. PS2/USB keyboard/mouse are activated).
97 2,504 Console Output devices connect (ex. Monitor is lighted).
98 441 Console input devices connect (ex. PS2/USB keyboard/mouse are activated).
99 1,495 Super IO initialization.
9C 820 Detect and install all currently connected USB devices.
B4 4,020 USB device hot plug-in.
9C 3,137 Detect and install all currently connected USB devices.
B4 16,604 USB device hot plug-in.
98 762 Console input devices connect (ex. PS2/USB keyboard/mouse are activated).
B4 370 USB device hot plug-in.
9C 2,587 Detect and install all currently connected USB devices.
B4 120 USB device hot plug-in.
98 75 Console input devices connect (ex. PS2/USB keyboard/mouse are activated).
B4 795 USB device hot plug-in.
B8 4 Reserved.
94 4 PCI Bus enumeration for detecting how many resources are requested.
B4 3,183 USB device hot plug-in.
92 287 PCI Bus initialization is started.
A0 157,291 IDE initialization is started.
A2 11,141 Detect and install all currently connected IDE devices.
99 579 Super IO initialization.
F9 4 Recovery capsule is not found.
F0 416 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F3 150 Recovery firmware image is found.
40 195 Reserved.
3A 300 IOH PEI initialization.
02 48,120
62 4 Installation of the PCH runtime services.
E6 8
E8 4
29 2,437 Reserved.
F0 675 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F8 4 Recovery PPI is invalid.
F0 504 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F8 4 Recovery PPI is invalid.
F0 375 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F3 4 Recovery firmware image is found.
29 454 Reserved.
???? 4
30 262
2A 437 Reserved.
8A 4 Reserved for OEM use (OEM DXE initialization codes).
42 4 Reserved.
51 758 Memory initialization error occurs.
5D 4 Reserved
A3 4 Activated all currently connected IDE devices.
F3 529 Recovery firmware image is found.
F0 495 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F3 954 Recovery firmware image is found.
A2 4 Detect and install all currently connected IDE devices.
F3 1,691 Recovery firmware image is found.
F0 1,191 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F3 4 Recovery firmware image is found.
F2 120 Recovery is started.
F3 4,712 Recovery firmware image is found.
F0 183 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F3 5,087 Recovery firmware image is found.
F0 960 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F3 8,280 Recovery firmware image is found.
F0 560 Recovery mode will be triggered due to invalid firmware volume detection.
F3 780 Recovery firmware image is found.
2C 860 Memory initialization.
B1 6,340 Runtime AP installation ends.
AC 60 Reserved.
AA 37,730 Reserved.
70 220 PCH DXE initialization.
76 2,610 PCH DXE initialization (PCH module specific).
A0 IDE initialization is started.
2

That looks like quite a useful log. What does Gigabyte say?

Just to cross t’s and dot i’s I would try increasingly simplifying the setup in order to better pinpoint the issue:

  • Take out GPU
  • Take out SSD (not necessary to replicate your issue)
  • re-seat the CPU

If, after that, the board’s still not working, I’d call Gigabyte for an RMA.

My 2c

1 Like
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I have a ticket in with them but they have not yet responded to it. In one of their support Reddit threads I made a post and an someone with the flair “GIGABYTE Marketing Team (US)” responded that I had tried everything they would have suggested. They said they would ask around and get back to me, which they never did. Can’t really fault them though, I assume managing social media isn’t a super technical position.

I think I might have just cracked it though. I had already done everything you suggested, but it got me thinking I had only actually removed the boot SSD. After removing all drives it seemed better. Trying a bunch of combinations it seems that having an SSD, any SSD, in the third slot (one of the chipset ones) causes the problem.

I am thinking that as the SSD heated up in that slot some bad contact was made, and caused either signal integrity issues on the chipset PCI bus or bombarded it with bad signals. Could explain why it was breaking networking and causing audio interrupts. The only thing that doesn’t make sense to me is why I was still able to get somewhat decent speeds from the SSD.

A bit disappointing that one of my NVME slots might be effectively dead, but I am not going to go through the hassle of an RMA if that’s what the issue was. I don’t really need the slot anyway.

Will need some more time to be sure, but initial indications are looking good. Bios is functional, and DPC execution times and interrupt to process latency seem back in line with what I would expect.

1 Like
4

I think I have this MB too - and I noticed in the manual some talk about the PCIE lanes that the NVME uses are also used by the GPU - or something like this…

I have not had the same issues because my boot drive is actually an older standard SSD not an NVME - but it was something that made me double take when I saw it in the manual.

5

Gigabyte is on my shit list for weird quality issues like this

I’ve had good luck with msi

2 Likes
6

I have had issues with every motherboard I have used in my own PCs.

My first full custom build used an MSI Z87-GD65. This one was physically fine, but had “killer networking” and I could never get their drivers to stop causing really bad memory leaks.

Next was a Supermicro C9Z390-PGW which was fine with 32GB of RAM, but I could never get it to run stably with 64GB, even at slow speeds. Tried a couple of 2x32GB kits and one 4x16GB kit, nothing worked. In trying to get that working I had a bad bios update and had to ship it back to Supermicro to get it fixed.

And finally this one, with apparently a bad m.2 socket.

I’ve built plenty of systems for other people and have never had a motherboard issue. Seems like I just have bad luck for my own stuff.

7

try plugging your mouse into a usb 2 header if you have one.
my mouse chugs in bios/uefi if i have it in usb 3.1 or higher on my x470 aurous wifi.
might be the same issue for you.

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