Cold Boot issues with MSI K9N Platinum

[996GT2]

My computer has recently been having some issues with booting up, sometimes getting stuck before the initial BIOS screen displays. After 2 or 3 tries, it usually boots up properly. I've tested and re-tested with SuperPi 32M and Orthos, and both programs show that my system is stable. I've also played with different clock speeds, from 2.2 to 2.6 GHz, and it exhibits this problem at those speeds also.

In addition, standby does not work properly at the moment, restarting the computer instead of actually going into the S3 standby state.

Can anyone tell me what might be causing this and what I should do to correct it?

 

[996GT2]

bump

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Strip the board bare. Connect only mouse, keyboard, and one boot HDD. Reset CMOS. Boot into BIOS and manually adjust RAM voltage and timing. Retest.

 

[myocardia]

You can't use standby, while overclocking. Well, not if you're overclocking very much, but definitely not @ 290 HTT. As far as your other problem, some boards just have cold boot issues when overclocked, although I'm not sure whether your board is one of them.

 

[996GT2]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Strip the board bare. Connect only mouse, keyboard, and one boot HDD. Reset CMOS. Boot into BIOS and manually adjust RAM voltage and timing. Retest.

My RAM timings/voltages are already set manually (866 MHz, 4-4-4-12@2.1v). I'm thinking about trying your other suggestion though. What exactly would that do if I unplugged mostly everything attached to the board and reset CMOS, then set it back to what it was and plugged all my drives back in?

 

[Atomic Roooster]

Hi 996GT2:

I also have a cold boot problem that I have been trying to troubleshoot. My IP35-E can take up to 20 minutes to get my computer started after being powered off all night (it will reboot fine after I get it running for the day). It doesn't matter how many times that I power down and retry...it won't boot until its ready. The video card and cpu fans spin; but nothing else happens. I'll let it sit in this state...and poof... it will magically boot (usually from 0 to 20 minutes). I have noticed that my NB heatsink and RAM are ice cold during this state (please don't diss my Platinum bling!), so I suspect either a cpu or motherboard problem in my case. I have also tried a different P/S and video card to no avail. I have tried sending a second email to Abit support, so hopefully they'll respond.

I also overclock; but this also happens at stock speeds. My IP35-E is currently out of my case and sitting on its box. The cpu fan, video card, hard drive, and ram are the only items hooked up to it at this time. I'll post back if I hear back from Abit.

Regards

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: 996GT2

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Strip the board bare. Connect only mouse, keyboard, and one boot HDD. Reset CMOS. Boot into BIOS and manually adjust RAM voltage and timing. Retest.

My RAM timings/voltages are already set manually (866 MHz, 4-4-4-12@2.1v). I'm thinking about trying your other suggestion though. What exactly would that do if I unplugged mostly everything attached to the board and reset CMOS, then set it back to what it was and plugged all my drives back in?

Add-on USB devices and cards can interfere with the boot process. I'd drop timing to 5-5-5-15-2T and boot with only mouse, keyboard, RAMs, and one boot HDD connected to MB.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: Atomic Roooster
Hi 996GT2:

I also have a cold boot problem that I have been trying to troubleshoot. My IP35-E can take up to 20 minutes to get my computer started after being powered off all night (it will reboot fine after I get it running for the day). It doesn't matter how many times that I power down and retry...it won't boot until its ready. The video card and cpu fans spin; but nothing else happens. I'll let it sit in this state...and poof... it will magically boot (usually from 0 to 20 minutes). I have noticed that my NB heatsink and RAM are ice cold during this state (please don't diss my Platinum bling!), so I suspect either a cpu or motherboard problem in my case. I have also tried a different P/S and video card to no avail. I have tried sending a second email to Abit support, so hopefully they'll respond.

I also overclock; but this also happens at stock speeds. My IP35-E is currently out of my case and sitting on its box. The cpu fan, video card, hard drive, and ram are the only items hooked up to it at this time. I'll post back if I hear back from Abit.

Regards

Again, you should strip the board bare like you're going to return the MB. Remove CMOS battery and put CMOS jumper in clear position. Wait 1/2 day. Assemble CPU, mouse, keyboard, one stick of RAM, and one boot HDD. Replace battery and CMOS. Boot into BIOS and flash to 12 BIOS. Shut down PC after flash. Go back into BIOS and load OPTIMIZED DEFAULT. Save BIOS and reboot into windows. Go back into BIOS and manually set memory voltage and timing to specs. Retest for boot issue.

Your problem appears to be related to a bad PSU (often Antec or some Corsair units) or overclocking RAMs (non-JEDEC 1.8V DDR2 667 or 800). Antec Earthwatts 380/430/500 work well.

 

[Atomic Roooster]

My power supply is even worse than that. It's an Ultra (muttered while simultaneously coughing). It's the fry-cheapo 600 watt x-finity.

I just pulled the battery, switched the clear cmos, and will put in the 500 watt p/s from my working computer tomorrow after work. I wll also flash to bios 12 from my current bios 13 like you said.

It could be my particular board/cpu just won't let me overclock too high. I was using an overclock of 375 x 9 = 3375 pumping in 1.385V in bios. This was orthos tested for 21 hours in 80F to 89F ambient temps. The highest cpu temp was 71C at 89F ambient. I can overclock higher; but temps get too high in 89+ ambients. Of course, my temps go down dramatically in lower ambients.

P.S. I also noticed that my ram and northbridge was hot today (which indicates they are getting voltage), while yesterday they didn't.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

I'm using the same Ultra X-Finity 600 as my reference test PSU. Board is not the bottleneck. 3.37GHz is not bad for E2180. Those OCZs will require more juice to the NB (1.35-1.45) which may cause problem for your overclock. Manually set Vdimm to 2.1 with 1:1 memory divider and 5-5-5-15-2T timing. Install only one stick and check for boot issue.

 

[Atomic Roooster]

A big thanks to SerpentRoyal for all the help :thumbsup:. I checked out the Antec Earthwatts 430 at Newegg that you recommended, and it so happens that it was on sale for $60 with free shipping and a $30 rebate, so I bought one. I needed a spare p/s anyhow. I will wait for this before I switch out my power supply. Also, I feel as if I've highjacked 996GT2's post. Do you think that I should start a new one?

P.S.
I have started a new post for debugging my memory.

 

[996GT2]

It's ok Atomic Roooster..I managead to fix my problem pretty easily...turns out that my FSP power supply wasn't to blame, but rather my power cable. My machine has been running (and booting) like a dream ever since I replaced the power cable with one that came from a Dell.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Wow...must be really cheap cable. Those usually come with 18 gauge...pretty hard to damage unless someone trips over the cord. Thanks for the update.

 

[Atomic Roooster]

Glad to hear that you fixed your problem 996GT2 . I think my problems were memory-related, so I now have a spare power supply to use as a backup. I'm going to keep using my Antec, and pack away my Ultra X-Finity. The Antec has a >80% efficiency rating, and runs quiet, although it doesn't push much air at all. Good thing I have a 120mm x 38mm Panaflo fan in the back of my case.