I received my asrock Z77 extreme 4 yesterday, the board came with bios version 1.20. I first started it with only 1 ram stick out of 4 (got a 4x4 GB corsair vengeance kit, CML16GX3M4A1600C9 listed as compatible on asrock site) no problem. I added the other 3 sticks, rebooted, all nice, windows installed with no issues. Then I saw that a new bios, version 1.50 has been released. I updated the bios (official not modded at this point) via instant flash, with success. But then, the mobo failed to post ! The fans are turning full speed for a few seconds, then the board shutdown and this cycle continue a few times, after that, dr debug show code EE or eventually 20 (not referenced) I first though it was a bad flash, but it was not. After clearing cmos, waiting for condensers to discharge, still a no go, startup / shutdown loop without any post. I then removed the memory, just keept one stick on A0 bank. Here it is ! boot ok ! I then reinstalled all the four ram modules. Fail with startup / shutdown loop again. I added another, stick (in single channel ok). The board refuse all four sticks now ! The problem is that same config was running fine with bios 1.20. The update to 1.50 screwed up my rig ! But I'm not sure that's the 1.50 itself, it may be the 1.30 or 1.40. I suspect something bad was made in 1.40 because changelog indicate "patch G-SKILL F3-17000CL11Q-16GBXL memory". Tonight, I'll test going back to 1.30 and 1.40 to see if it works, if not I'll go for 1.20. Any thoughs or opinions ? Update : I just seen asrock released another new bios today, 1.60. The 1.50 was released yesterday... perhaps they corrected it in a hurry.
It seem's that the new 1.60 bios fixed the startup / shutdown loop on my rig. Flashed it and it booted ok with all four ram installed. Currently running memtest, no error so far Asrock reacted promply on this one, although it was their fault ps: It appear that I posted on the wrong forum, sorry for that. Feel free to move the thread to better suited place