Booting Problems

[Big Kev]

I've recently been experiencing a cold boot problem with my set up.

The system starts up, then hangs straight away with a frozen cursor in the top left and the number 98 on the bottom right. I have to turn the machine off and on between 2 and 6 times to get it to boot up.

Once in Windows 7, I have no BSOD's, I've taken all USB devices out before booting, but that didn't help.

MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) (Bios 1.14), i2500k @ 4.5g (1.3v), 4gb Corsair XMS3 PC3-12800C9, Thermalright Silver Arrow, Sapphire HD5850 Extreme, Corsair 620w PSU, Coolermaster HAF 912 (with 3 Apache fans - 1 intake, 2 exhaust), Crucial CT128M4 SSD 128GB, Samsung F3 1TB, Old 320G WD HDD, Windows 7 64 bit.

 

[ExRayTed]

At what point does it hang? During POST? After POST but before Windows starts to boot? I'm guessing it's immediately after you push the power button. In that case I'll suggest either the PSU or the RAM. I've had similar cold boot problems where both have been at fault.

 

[Big Kev]

Straight away mate, I get the beeps then it hangs.

 

[DTWD]

Those "beeps" are usually the post beeps, but you should only get one, are you getting more than one? If so, what is the pattern?

If you are getting just one normal beep try the following:

Remove any external devices (excluding monitor but including keyboard and mouse) and try boot up. Do it several times and if it works everytime add one device at a time, each time booting several times. If you get no joy with any of them, also try your monitor. If/when you find the offending device let us know.

If that doesn't work have you added any new hardware recently?

If you get into windows without a keyboard and mouse and you want to shut down just press the power button (soft) and it should power down if you have your bios setup to do so.

 

[ExRayTed]

Straight away would suggest something serious is either going or gone. My bet would still be RAM or PSU (even though the Corsairs are reliable usually) but perhaps the motherboard needs looking at too. Can you see any bulging capacitors or any obvious problems on the board? Try resetting the CMOS jumper too.

Also, as has been already suggested, boot with only the absolute bare minimum connected..RAM, VGA and HDD. Also try the obvious swapping out sticks of RAM.

Problems like these are hard to nail down. Having spare hardware to swap out would help if you had any.

 

[Big Kev]

A quick update, I've tried everything I can think of, various BIOS', one stick of memory, clearing CMOS, but when booting, the thing still comes up with the blank screen and 98 in the bottom right hand corner, until I keep pressing the power button until it eventually boots.

MSI have suggested it could be my psu which needs replacing.

I bought a second hand Corsair 620W about four years ago, but don't really want to fork out another ton or so, if it's still going strong. I don't have a spare lurking around either.

I've got these values from the MSI Control Center, although I'm not sure if it'll help:

3.3v - 3.200v
5v - 4.961v
12v - 11.968v

Cheers peeps.

 

[Baldbloke]

Assuming MSI are in the right ball park:

It's so very difficult to diagnose this sort of problem without trying direct replacement these days. Sad, but true. The days of reliable, accurate diagnostic repair is a thing of the past. I remember the days when you could use a meter and a bit of mathematics to identify a problem area. But I digress. Those voltages shown by Control Centre are obviously ever so slightly (and negligably) low. But then, how accurate are they? Hmmm. Thing is, it's not the passive state voltages that are the clue here. It's the transient voltages. E.g when booting up there may be extra current drain thereby causing fluctuations in voltage due to load. You may have to bite the bullet and try a psu swap just to eliminate (or not) that as a possible cause.
I take it you have no overclock in place? This, I'm sure you are aware, may be causing extra power draw during boot up.



Can you try a minimum hardware boot. Disconnect everything which is not essential to boot. One hard drive. Are all case fans necessary for boot tests? Obviously the cpu fan must remain. Just trying to minimise current drain during boot. Might get you somewhere.

 

[Big Kev]

Thanks for your help mate.

I disconnected everything apart from the SSD drive, GPU, Silver Arrow fans and case fans, but the problem still exists.

If I need to get another psu, I don't want to spend anymore than I have to really, so it would need to power everything in my first post, with the 2500k at 4.6g, would the OCZ ZS750 do, or should I just go with a Corsair TX750M? Not sure if modular is worth the extra either.

Cheers.

 

[Baldbloke]

Have you tried booting with hard drive as opposed to ssd? No other graphics cards to hand?

I'll let someone else recommend a psu. I don't know who makes the OCUK supplies. So couldn't say if the advertised specs are marginal ratings or not.

And, do you experience this problem at stock speeds?