HELP - Wierd and very annoying POST/boot issue

[kevpuk]

OK, so here is my problem

Recently my PC started failing to boot on occasion, getting stuch early in POST with all power on, fans etc., and just no video output (and assuming no BIOS) etc. From hitting the power button, system spins up and the the gfx card fan comes on at a decent level and the system just sits there.

I tried resetting, powering down, disconnecting power from mains, resetting CMOS, swapping a different gfx card in (6200 Turbocache !) and nothing worked. So, I removed the CMOS battery and left the machine for an hour or so - went back and it powered up as normal with no faults listed, and any diagnostics I could come up with reported nothing abnormal.

Well, my conclusion was this was a motherboard issue and (as if I needed an excuse !) I went off and got me a shiny new ASUS Maximus Formula SE Installed everything and powered on (with my regular gfx, per sig) and same thing ! Now quite annoyed......so went through same steps as above (reboot, power off etc.) and even put in the 6200 back in with no success......until leaving it for a while again allowed the system to POST and then boot !

Now, the Maximus comes with the natty little LCD Poster and this tells me that is stops on VGA BIOS, apparently - however, before that is Check DDRAM, I think......not sure how the VGA Bios can be the fault as I have the same problem with 2 gfx cards.......

Please, please, please, can someone put me out of my misery.....any ideas ?

[Fraz]

Well, I think is fairly safe to assume that neither the motherboard or the graphics card are the cause of the problem. So... like you say the RAM has got to be the next suspect. Have you got two sticks? If so, try one and see if you can get the fault to repeat or not. That's pretty much the only suspect left, other than the PSU.

Edit: Could the RAM be undervolted? What spec is it?

[Domino]

Edit: Could the RAM be undervolted? What spec is it?

Quick question, i have sort of the same problem, brand new p5k motherboard (had 2 previous with same problem) but theres also no display. Am i right in assuming that if the ram isnt good enough (i have 2 different value sets of ram (1 corsair and 1 kingston) everything will work, just that the ram isnt good enough to let the display come on?

Ive been quite annoyed with the no display problem as my graphix card works with a normal dell motherboard and so does the ram. I havnt left the batt out for an hour before, i may try that and see if it works.

[kevpuk]

Well, I think is fairly safe to assume that neither the motherboard and the graphics card are the cause of the problem. So... like you say the RAM has got to be the next suspect. Have you got two sticks? If so, try one and see if you can get the fault to repeat or not. That's pretty much the only suspect left, other than the PSU.

Edit: Could the RAM be undervolted? What spec is it?

I agree, now, that it sounds highly unlikely that the 8800 GTX or motherboard(s) are at fault.....2 x gfx card and 2 x motherboard.....so RAM :

I have 4 1GB Sticks of Geil Ultra DDR2 (4-4-4-12 @ 800MHz) which is set for 2.15v in BIOS. I did try removing 2 sticks (yeah, probably should've tried only leaving in 1 !!!! ) and made no difference.....

But, can these sort of things just start to happen ? Never had any issues.......ran the Vista Memtest thing on boot quite recently with no problems.....

PSU is pretty new, about 4 months ? and is an Enermax INFINITI 650w......would like to discount this, but don't have a spare except a weedy generic 400w.......

Stoopid question, perhaps, but can some kind of CPU 'error' be a possibility ?

[Fraz]

A CPU being flakey (rather than working/not working) is something I've never ever heard of, but nothing's impossible.

If you've got a spare PSU, I'd try it. Use a cut-down system (your old graphics card) and your 400 watt PSU should be more than up to the task. A flakey voltage rail could be causing this maybe? And it's the next thing on the list to swap-out and discount.

[Winkle]

I think i have a similar problem, recently built my PC, booted up fine the first time i switched it on, OS installed and all good, however i then started experiencing exactly the same problems (PC powers on fine, all fans running but no display), i tried chnaging a number of power settings in the bios when on occasion it would work, but nothing helped, i did have a few issues installign the gpu though, having not seated it correctly initally. I rma'd the card to ebuyer and they told me it was faulty. I just wonder if they say that automatically without actually testing the cards?

If its not the GPU i'm guessing it's either the Mobo or ram, of course by ram what we really mean is that the mobo doesn't like the ram rather than faulty ram. The new Asus boards seem a bit flakey, quite a few people on these forums with problems.

Perhaps you could try updating the bios the next time you get it to boot?

[edp33]

Think i've had a similar problem to that, my tft monitor just kept saying no signal, fans, beep on boot etc all worked as normal. Only way I found to get around it was to unplug the monitor power lead (from the wall) wait a few seconds then plug it back in. Do you get any sound at all? post beep, beep if you hold keys down, windows startup noise etc?

If you have spare monitor try using that also.

[kevpuk]

Guess the RAM & PSU test are next, then....

Worth noting that the RAM has always been fine in my P5WDH, albeit with stooopid SPD settings .....and the 4x1GB have been in place for some time. This just suddenly started happening, so I kinda discount incompatibility with the motherboard.....mind you, with the Maximus there could be an issue - trouble is, it is so new there are no 'choices' around BIOS !

[kevpuk]

Think i've had a similar problem to that, my tft monitor just kept saying no signal, fans, beep on boot etc all worked as normal. Only way I found to get around it was to unplug the monitor power lead (from the wall) wait a few seconds then plug it back in. Do you get any sound at all? post beep, beep if you hold keys down, windows startup noise etc?

If you have spare monitor try using that also.

I really don't think the system goes anywhere, it seems to just sit there !

Last night, however, whilst working on the motherboard transplant, I had the PC plugged into my LCD Tv rather than its usual Dell 2005FPW......running over a VGA cable........and on a couple of occasions the TV displayed Out Of Range and locked up ! Only way i could get the TV to respond was to pull the plug ! Very strange.....suggests that the gfx card is up to no good........trouble is, I can't remember if this was with both cards or just one of them........

[rabbid]

Its normally RAM settings or RAM incompatibility causing issues such as fans spinning up but no boot.
Following that possibly memory controller and then CPU issues.

Are you running the latest BIOS?
When it fails to boot after its been reset, powered on and run, what settings have u altered, to what and why from default?
It sounds that something you are changing is beyond the operating limits as the system runs at default (cmos reset) settings correct?
Go back to basics and change one thing at a time then retest to see what is killing it.

[kevpuk]

Good advice, but still not sure why it has suddenly occurred - the BIOS and settings were not changed for some time leading up to this......BIOS was pretty much latest on P5WDH and obviously it is the only available one on the Maximus - and there is a point, even with factory defaults on this new board, the same problem manifested.......

[Winkle]

Same here, my bios was still set to default settings, then things started going weird, i reset the cmos and it had no affect at all. I'm really hoping it's the gpu in my case and when i get a replacement fingers crossed all will be fine.

No idea why your's is playing up kevpuk, i would suggest stripping out 3 sticks of ram and seeing if that helps, try all the different slots, make sure the any additional pci card and dvd drives are also disconnected. Just see if you can get a bare bones sytem to work.

Of course it could be the mobo again, just because its a different model doesn't mean its working.

[kevpuk]

Thinking of picking up some Patriot RAM (2x1GB PC6400 C4 Extreme Performance) - anyone know about these ?

[kevpuk]

I am now back to thinking it is solely the gfx card (BFG 8800GTX OC) as I simply cannot get the PC to work with it in place, but the lowly 6200 starts up always !

i tried each stick of RAM individually, to no avail, and just cannot get the GTX to work

[shaithis]

I had the identical problem when setting up my Asus Blitz Formula!!

The odd thing for me was swapping the PCI-E seemed to fix the issue but that was no good to me due to the routing for my WC loop and raid cables......

Finally tracked it down to a dodgy PCI-E fitting.....try unscrewing the gfx card from the case and pull it out a bit, then wiggle it back in BUT DONT SCREW IT IN AGAIN.

In the end I got a replacement backplane for the gfx card that was only single-height and haven't had the problem since.

[kevpuk]

I had the identical problem when setting up my Asus Blitz Formula!!

The odd thing for me was swapping the PCI-E seemed to fix the issue but that was no good to me due to the routing for my WC loop and raid cables......

Finally tracked it down to a dodgy PCI-E fitting.....try unscrewing the gfx card from the case and pull it out a bit, then wiggle it back in BUT DONT SCREW IT IN AGAIN.

In the end I got a replacement backplane for the gfx card that was only single-height and haven't had the problem since.

Now that is an interesting thought......not tried the other PCI-e slot........