Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Delbiie Great idea in theory, but this will also clear EXPO (AMD XMP equivalent) forcing the RAM to run at JDEC speeds. You'd need to manually go into the bios and enable EXPO again. Unless they hard-coded the RAM speeds and timings, but I do have my doubts. I'm open to be corrected on this. Unless you know roughly what you're doing, I cannot recommend a CMOS reset. Reply
hwertz That color code thing to access different recovery modes using just the power button is VERY clever. Delbiie said: Great idea in theory, but this will also clear EXPO (AMD XMP equivalent) forcing the RAM to run at JDEC speeds. You'd need to manually go into the bios and enable EXPO again. Unless they hard-coded the RAM speeds and timings, but I do have my doubts. I mean they did say in the article that the post clear reboot 'may' take longer due to memory retraining. I don't have first hand experience with any enthusiast setups but i think retraining is niot a thing at jedec speeds. I. e. it wipes the EXPO/XMP timings (as a CMOS clear should) but presumably factory default in the Steam Machine BIOS is EXPO/XMP enabled. This does make it a bit unusual compared to a standard console since you'll get some system to system variation depending on exactly how high the RAM in your particular unit clocks. But it's nice (as long as the training ensures stabulity) to get the best possible speeds rather than making them all uniform. Reply
CelicaGT Delbiie said: Great idea in theory, but this will also clear EXPO (AMD XMP equivalent) forcing the RAM to run at JDEC speeds. You'd need to manually go into the bios and enable EXPO again. Unless they hard-coded the RAM speeds and timings, but I do have my doubts. I'm open to be corrected on this. Unless you know roughly what you're doing, I cannot recommend a CMOS reset. Neither the Deck, nor the Machine run overclocked RAM by default. Clearing the CMOS simply resets everything to how Valve had it. It's a perfectly fine step to take when troubleshooting either. Note that you can change CPU/GPU and SoC voltage offsets but in my experience the effects are marginal. Reply
ezst036 Does the fix actually fix though? Do we have confirmation on that? Reply
teeejay94 Delbiie said: Great idea in theory, but this will also clear EXPO (AMD XMP equivalent) forcing the RAM to run at JDEC speeds. You'd need to manually go into the bios and enable EXPO again. Unless they hard-coded the RAM speeds and timings, but I do have my doubts. I'm open to be corrected on this. Unless you know roughly what you're doing, I cannot recommend a CMOS reset. Think more console less computer. Ram probably runs standard 4800MT for DDR5 or whatever equivalent Reply
cyrusfox What a horrible misname meant to grab headlines… It can't be a red line of death unless it is actually dead like the ring of death was on the xbox360, not an appropriate name at all. Red line of memory error with simple resolution upon first google search. While the Red Ring of Death was essentially a death sentence for the console, due to cracked solder joints beneath the GPU, Which happened due to intense heat cycles which caused the mobo to warp and the high clamping force of the heatsink. That was usually unrecoverable, this is a minor inconvenience. Reply
palladin9479 teeejay94 said: Think more console less computer. Ram probably runs standard 4800MT for DDR5 or whatever equivalent Website is mostly PC enthusiasts so they always want to compare everything to the desktop gaming rig they built. Steam Machine is absolutely a console, just an unlocked open console where the user can install anything they want on it. The manufacture, Valve, doesn't lock the console down to only their signed firmware, of course they won't support anything you do that isn't their firmware but that's why you can always reset to factory defaults. Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/mini-pcs/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/mini-pcs/steam-machines-with-the-red-line-of-death-get-a-simple-official-cure-clear-the-cmos-clearing-the-cmos-can-revive-flat-red-lining-cubes#main
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