Installed i7-2920XM and now issues

Hopefully I am missing something easy and stupid and this is an easy fix:

I installed the CPU, BIOS recognized it immediately, installed new drivers, required a reboot. Once that was done I tried playing around with the modded BIOS to OC the chip (unsuccessfully I might add) and shot a PM to someone for some help. Decided to re-run the WEI assessment just for the hell of it and it failed to complete while running the CPU performance assessment. Checked Windows Help but that of course was useless. Do I need to re-flash the BIOS or remove the modded and go back to the basic?

 

Installed new drivers... why? and which ones. I'm guessing the BIOS was already previously flashed with the 3720QM correct? and had no issues? Honestly it should be plug and play since it is a supported CPU in the BIOS. I am almost leaning toward faulty CPU (worst case), if all else you might want to pull the CPU (after trying troubleshooting first) check the pins/socket for integrity as well.

I am assuming with normal clock settings it runs fine under load using vantage/3DMark11, run some test and post results (try the standard OC levels 1-3).

-Mike

 

Previous CPU was a 2760. Haven't been able to run any tests aside from Wprime 1.55 and it didn't look promising.......11.xx seconds for the 64m test with 4 threads.

I'm really hoping it's not a bad CPU since I just bought it from a fellow member here. I'm in Afghanistan and he's in the UK, wouldn't be easy to return it. It was shipped from the UK to my home in PA and then forwarded to me out here. Still in the original packaging that the seller shipped it in.

HWINFO ID's it as a 2920 so I don't think it's a CPU issue. I'm going to try to reflash the BIOS back to A08 from the modded A08 that I have now. I'm wondering if that could be a part of the problem since my BIOS screens don't look anything like the screens posted by Widezu69 in his OC guide and he said that was a modded A08.

This is an M17x-R3 not an R4.

 

For some reason I was thinking it was your m18xR2. Since it is an R3 it most likely is the bios, flash it to a known working bios for that CPU.

 

The A08 modded Bios should work. I'm going to reflash it when I get back to my room and if that doesn't solve it I'll roll back to the A08 un-modded and see what that does. Too many people are running the 2920 with the A08 modded so that should not be an issue, but then the screen shots of the A08 modded that Widezu69 posted in his guide to overclocking don't look like the screens I get when I go into BIOS so maybe I have a difference version even though it reads as A08.

 

There is hardly any difference between 2760QM vs 2920XM, why did you upgrade?

 

So I could overclock it.

 

Flashed plain A08 and re-ran the assessment and it failed at the same place, while running the CPU assessment. Starting to wonder if maybe there isn't an issue with this CPU. That would really irritate me given the amount of money spent and the time spent waiting on it.


I'm going to re-try the A08 modded once again but if anyone has ANY ideas I'm all ears. If I can't fix this I'll have to contact the seller as the only other possibility is a defective CPU.

 

Put everything back to stock mate, then run it @ stock with a stock bios to see if that's fine. Then re-flash per widezu guide - there's nothing wrong with that CPU, used it a bit in my MSI and that was perfectly fine I'm sure you will figure that out.

edit: just saw your post - that's strange. Can you reset the CMOS ? Leave everything at stock - I can't believe it doesn't perform ok at stock...it's a good overclocker too but that's another story.

Can you run a TS Bench 8 threads and post the results ? Is the clock stable at 3.2ghz @ 4 cores during a 32M or 1024m test ?

 

I'm backwards here you are referring to a 29 not 39, my bad, yes it should work lol. If you have settings correct in bios for the extreme chip, I see no reason It should not work. Sorry for the confusion.

 

Also please try to run XTU CPU stress test as well as Intel Burn test - I don't know why WEI is crashing to be honest, it could be because of a corrupted installation - if you have a spare HDD/SSD and could do a quick fresh W7 installation, that will help a lot.

edit: also you can try to restore the system back to when you just installed the 2920xm (or earlier) and didn't overclock it yet.

edit1: monitor temps+clocks too

 

Paul,

That's what's really screwy about the whole thing. The CPU seems to be running good and exactly at the specs it was meant to run at. The ONLY problem I'm running into is when I attempt to "re-run the assessment" for the WEI. It fails right at the very end of the CPU portion of the test and gives me the error message.

I have A08 un-modded installed now and was able to follow Widezu's guide for everything from the BIOS flash to OC'ing the chip to 4.0 and it's working exactly as it should. I'm at a complete loss as to why it won't run the WEI assessment. Certainly don't see how it can be a bad chip given the above mentioned conditions, but I don't have any idea what else it could be given that it's the only thing I changed.


Edit: I attempted to run the WEI before I did anything aside from installing the chip so there was no OC involved. I don't have a spare drive and don't want to do a fresh install if it can be avoided. It is running like it should from all appearances, so if I can't figure out the WEI issue it'll just have to stay un-assessed until I get home next month and have a solid connection to try from.

Thanks for the input though Paul, really appreciate it and hope you didn't feel as though I was pointing any fingers.......still believe you're a stand up guy and would deal with you any time.

Edit again: Temps peak at 90C when running 1024 Wprime 4 threads for about 3 - 4 minutes but drop immediately back to 49C - 50C when I shut it down. Xtu shows clocks at 4Ghz (oc'd now) and HW Info shows 3994Mhz.

 

When you got some time to waste, do a fresh installation and I'm sure it will run the WEI successfully - I don't know why it wouldn't.

I hope you feel comfortable with it - to test stability I like running ITB and XTU CPU Stress test - they are reliable enough. Any concerns, let me know

 

I'm going to have to pull it apart and check on the paste job, it's throttling almost immediately (15 - 20 seconds) at 92C on core 2 when I run the XTC stress test.


Even with a repaste (Arctic Silver Ceramique 2) it throttles less than a minute into testing.

Still doesn't pass the WEI.........which it did with the 2760 installed. Going to remove the OC and run a stress test on it and see what happens.

 

Removed the 2920, re-installed the 2760.........WEI passes.

No matter what I do I can't resolve the issue. Not going to waste time on a fresh windows install when it's working with the other CPU. Computer seems to run stable aside from the fact that I must suck at applying thermal paste. I've pasted 3 times and cannot get the processor to stay cool enough to pass the XTU stress test at 5 minutes........I can't even get a full minute out of it.

I see others with 2920's in their R3's, what trick am I missing here? I'm at wits end.

 

When pasting are you spreading a nice thin amount over the whole of the cpu? It should be thin enough that it's nearly see through.

Are the fans kicking in to 100%?

 

I had a throttling issue when OCing in which I had to reset Bios and pop CMOS battery. Re-OCed and all was fine, your prime temps seem fine. You might have to custom set parameters to prevent throttling/down clocking. The best solution is a clean boot as mentioned earlier, use a backup SDD if possible. Also run a deep registry scan and clean up potential clutter/errors.

 

Use this guide to overclock your XM CPU: [Guide] Overclocking the 2920XM/2960XM CPUs in the M17x R3 with/without Modded bios.

If running WEI is your problem, try this:
Go to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSat\DataStore and delete all the .xml files that are in there. Then try running WEI again.

 

I did use the guide when I OC'd the chip. Deleted the XML files and am re-running the assessment right now. Will edit this post with the results.

Edit: Deleting those files fixed the problem. Ran the assessment and it completed.

Processor: 7.7
Memory: 7.8
Graphics: 7.6
Gaming Graphics: 7.6
Primary Hard Disk: 7.9

Thanks for the assist........now to figure out how to cool this thing down!! Is there a better heatsink available for the R3? My idle temps are between 49 and 52 across the 4 cores, ambient is right at 22 or so.

 

Assuming the R3 and R4 use the same 2Pipe, i have yet to find a different heatsink. You can always order IC Diamond paste, best on the market IMO and im sure many others can agree (soak the Tube in really hot water for 5min to soften for easy application, G-Wiz info ). Also as some may tell you spreading out the paste is "Definitly a NO, NO."

Parts for R3
Internal Parts And Assemblies

Read for "proper application"
Application

 

I'll order some of that and see if it makes a difference. I just did yet another repaste, exactly as described in the link you posted. Idle temps are still between 48 and 51 and it throttles running 1024 Wprime as well as the XTU stress test (within 30 seconds on this test).

I'll try the IC Diamond but at this point I'm beginning to think that for whatever reason my POS won't do a 4.0Ghz OC. I can't even get it to complete 1024 or XTU stress test without an OC.

 

I'm glad the problem with WEI worked out.

The heatsink in the R3/R4 just simply can't take the heat being dumped into it by the XM chip. Running 40/40/40/40 regularly is pretty much impossible and unnecessary; that's pretty much only for benching. I run 40/39/38/38 for regular use and while the chip does run a little hot under medium to heavy load (up to 90+), idle and light load temps are generally great at 30 to 40 across all cores idle and about 40 to 50 during light load.
With the 1024 and XTU stress tests, I haven't found anything that will help with the heat. The heatsink just simply can't handle the heat.

 

Yeah I'm starting to believe that. I can't order the IC Diamond and have it shipped out here, guess Amazon thinks we'll do something bad with it since we're in Afghanistan or something. I'm seeing idle temps in the 40 - 43 range with a custom fan profile set a 2000 - 4000 depending on temp of the "Core Max" sensor, best I've gotten so far. It seems stable at 4.0 across the cores for every day usage, it just won't pass any stress or the big 1024 wprime test. Seeing 6.19 - 6.25 scores on the 64m test. Think I'll leave it alone for now, maybe see if I can find some info on sticking the 2920 in an M18x-R2 and trying it there. Not sure if Ivybridge will recognize it or if I'll need some sort of custom BIOS.

Guess I'll read some more on here and try to find out. haha

 

Your reporting 90C temps at max from what you tested, is that correct? You should not see throttling, I've peaked at 94C and it just downclocked about 200Mhz, but never throttled. Plus members reported OCing the 3920xm on the same heatsink in the R4 with no issues. Yes i agree with Aznpos531 on the 2pipes integrity, but it should not act that way at stock. View my link in my sig as it has HWinfo comparison with the IC Diamond vs the Arctic MX-4, for reassurance and comparison, *Note i have CPU OCed to 40,39,38,38.

 

I've actually seen as high as 99C and XTU reports Thermal Throttling when it fails the stress test. I'll play with it some more when I can order the IC Diamond (next month) but for now I'll be happy as long as it keeps working. lol