A8N-E Boot Question

[tkistre]

I got my AMD Tech Tour Combo Thursday at the Houston show. Started on it Friday and built this system:

Asus A8N-E motherboard
AMD A64 3200+
1GB Corsair PC3200 (2 x 512MB)
2 - Hitachi 160GB SATA2 Hard Drive (RAID 0)
NEC DVDRW
Floppy
Windows XP SP2

Everything is up and going. This is my first RAID setup for myself. My question is that when the BIOS post, it reads memory & processor, then sits there for about 35-40 seconds, then lists IDE devices (which is only NEC DVDRW), then RAID BIOS (showing status of RAID) and then continues through a normal boot. Is this normal for RAID setup to take this long? Aside from this, the system runs great. I was mainly curious. I did update to the newest fixed BIOS, 1005, not any BETA's, to see if that would help, but no difference. I also tried to disconnect the only IDE device, the NEC DVDRW, and it also did not make a difference. Any thoughts?

 

[ProviaFan]

Clear CMOS and reset to defaults? Then make sure that quick boot is enabled? I have no other ideas at the moment, but I'll poke around in the BIOS on my next reboot (come on MS, release another patch so I'll have a good excuse, lol) to see if I see anything else that might be worth trying.

 

[tkistre]

Quick boot was enabled. I cleared CMOS, reset to defaults, checked Quick Boot again, but still takes about 35 seconds. Curious to see if anyone else was taking this long.

 

[BigWookie]

Is it checking memory during this time?

 

[tkistre]

It has already read memory & processor. It's when it is reading IDE devices that it seems to hang for about 30 seconds. I only have a DVDRW on IDE, but it does this even if I disconnect it.

 

[RobbyG]

Do you by chance have a USB 1.1 hub attached? If so, then disconnect it and see if the problem still occurs.

 

[tkistre]

No hub connected. I have a wireless Logitech PS/2 mouse and a wireless Logitech keyboard that does connect through USB. I could plug in a regular PS/2 keyboard to see if that makes a difference. I'll post later.

 

[Gerbil333]

I've seen boards do that when there's a jumper problem or some kind of BIOS configuration problem with the IDE drives.

Try removing everything except for a single optical drive (and of course make sure its jumper is set correctly). Let it boot to a memtest86 CD or something and see if that boots quickly.

 

[tkistre]

Thanks for all the advice. I tried everything listed above but no help, it still had that slow boot. Like I said, it was mainly a nuisance. Aside from that, the system ran stable and quick. But, I did locate the problem.

I was using a 350w power supply. Using the power supply calculators online, none claimed I needed above a 300w with the equipment I had in it, so I used the PS I already owned. I wanted to add another drive, so I decided to order a 550w PS, to have room to grow. After installing it yesterday, the PC does not have that 35-40 second delay anymore. Weird? It also fixed another nuisance I listed in a separate posting earlier. The hard drive light stayed on. It would never flicker like it should from reading and writing. Now it works too. Seems weird to me, but I have seen stranger things before. Just thought I'd update for everyone who was losing sleep over my problem. Heh! Thanks!

 

[ProviaFan]

Thanks for the update! I continue to be amazed at the vast array of symptoms that show up when an inadequate or broken PSU is used. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that your system is working properly now.