Problem: Computer suddenly won't boot properly

[Beider]

Right so I bought a new computer a little while back from overclockers.co.uk. The specs are as follows,

Radon Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz @ 4.00GHz Overclocked Bundle - Gigabyte

Contains
- CPU: Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz @ 4.00GHz
- Motherboard: Gigabyte P55-USB3 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
- RAM: Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel
- Cooler: Corsair A50 CPU Cooler
- Artic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

Harddrive
Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1)

GFX Card
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

PSU
Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXUK)

Extra RAM
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C9)


At first this computer was working alright, I had two freezes early on which caused it to boot up saying the overclock (done by overclockers.co.uk) was unstable so it reset it to default settings. I just left it as it suggested and it has been working splendidly... until this morning. Since then I have also kept a keen eye on both CPU temp and GPU temp and have had no problems, they haven't really gone much above 60C, so overheating hasn't been a problem.

The problem
This morning I booted it up and walked away from it for a bit, come back and see the screen is black. I figure it has just been turned off so I move the mouse around and touch the keyboard... nothing.

So I reboot it and it seem to freeze after it says the speed of the CPU (right before it usually says the amount of ram). So I turn it off for a few min and reboot it again.

This time I leave it on after it freezes up and after about one and a half/two minutes it shows the correct amount of ram and resumes the boot. The win7 splash screen shows with the windows logo, it disappears... then black.

And that is pretty much where I am at now.

What I have done so far / Plan to do
I have downloaded and burned ultimate boot cd (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) and I am currently running Memtest86 (v4.10). So far no errors seem to have been found and it is about 60% in.

I figured if that finds nothing I would first try the quick recovery option at boot in case some setting has been set in bios without my knowledge (unlikely).

If that doesn't work I figured I would take out two of my memory modules and try to boot with only 4gb of ram, if it persists switch and try the other two sticks.

If at that point the problem persists I am out of ideas, which is why I posted here now in the hopes of hearing if anyone else have experienced similar things or have any ideas. I will update this thread later on with any results I have from my memory testing / swapping.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[ispano]

With Memtest you want to let it run as long as your sanity allows, usually more than one full cycle, such as running it overnight or while at school/work. I had an issue with my AMD system where one of the memory slots became "loose" and it would freeze like that til I reseated the offending stick. Aside from that, it's somewhat difficult to diagnose a computer when not in front of it. BUt it "sounds" like RAM to me. Also why the hell do they include a SATA3 capable SSD with a board that only does SATA2?! The C300 is not worth it on a SATA2 controller, much better to just get a Vertex2 or similar.

[Beider]

They actually didn't include it, I ordered it with the rest. Didn't notice the mb didn't support SATA3 when I ordered it, had previously spoken with a friend that is more into hardware than me who said SATA3 was usually standard these days. I'll give him a smack (and myself for not double checking).

And thanks for the suggestion about the loose stick, will check that.

---------- Post added 2011-01-18 at 04:17 PM ----------

So I've now reset my BIOS and tested all the memory sticks one at a time. No go. I also unplugged both my HDs just to see if it would get past the BIOS loading faster, it did not.

[RaZz0r]

This Happend to me once i first thought hmm maybe the RAM Got busted.
So i tested my ram one by one but it didn't help so i turned my pc over for repair and apparently my mother board got fried as one of my Ram sticks broke.

[Cilraaz]

It sounds more like a poor overclock than a RAM issue to me. If there is an incorrect voltage, it can often cause strange lockups at different points of system stress, anywhere from POST to BIOS to OS load to an hour after boot.

[Noobske]

If your certain the computer itself is actually running after the windows 7 logo appeared, then your videocard drivers are probably f'ed up. Try booting into safe mode (tapping F8 while booting). If that works, install latest VGA card drivers (www.nvidia.com).

[Cilraaz]

If your certain the computer itself is actually running after the windows 7 logo appeared, then your videocard drivers are probably f'ed up. Try booting into safe mode (tapping F8 while booting). If that works, install latest VGA card drivers (www.nvidia.com).

That wouldn't explain the hanging during POST.

[October]

If it were my computer, I would return everything to default settings. I'd then first focus on maintaining my stability with my RAM. Set the timings manually and get your RAM setup exactly the way you want it. Run memtest and your other stability benchmarking tools. If you're good to go, then start ramping your CPU back up.

Upon first read I would say its a RAM or voltage issue, possibly one in the same.

[Cilraaz]

If it were my computer, I would return everything to default settings. I'd then first focus on maintaining my stability with my RAM. Set the timings manually and get your RAM setup exactly the way you want it. Run memtest and your other stability benchmarking tools. If you're good to go, then start ramping your CPU back up.

Upon first read I would say its a RAM or voltage issue, possibly one in the same.

Actually, most overclockers suggest the opposite. Bottom out your RAM multiplier, bottom out your CPU multiplier, get your base clock as high as you can while maintaining stability, raise your CPU multiplier as high as you can while maintaining stability and good temperature, and then raise your RAM multiplier to get as close to rated speed as possible.

[Beider]

Well I contacted support from overclockers.co.uk and did everything they suggested, at which point they suggested simply sending the MB and CPU back to them as that is probably what broke. I still need to request my RMA number so I guess I will ask if I should ship the ram as well just in case it is broken.

Anyway here is what I have done and tried,

- Reset the bios to optimal and minimal settings.
- Taken out the ram and tried the sticks one by one
- Ran memtest for a single pass (I know I should do more but at this point I severely doubt it is the ram, as that would mean all four failed simultaneously)
- Disconnected all non essential components to see if I still got the freeze at boot, still got it. (Non essential was everything but one ram stick, cpu, gfx card).

I still have left to try my ram in my other computer. And also test my GFX card in my other computer, which I will do tomorrow. However at this point I am thinking it is most likely the MB and will just ship it back to have them fix it / replace it.

[Conzar]

Sounds like it's a dying motherboard as OcUK have said. The only other thing it could possibly be would be a psu with fluctuating power rails (as it's the only other item you haven't swapped), though that's highly unlikely (but real easy to check, as most bioses have a section where you can check the voltages and stuff). I've ordered loads of stuff over the years from OcUK, and haven't needed to send any of it back, but have had tech questions answered by the guys there via email.

[Asera]

Have you tried purging the system of all power? ie: unplugging the PSU, shorting the cmos battery or removing it and leaving it for a few hours?

[Beider]

Have you tried purging the system of all power? ie: unplugging the PSU, shorting the cmos battery or removing it and leaving it for a few hours?

I have not, I might try it over night then, thanks for the suggestion.

---------- Post added 2011-01-18 at 10:17 PM ----------

I actually solved this now, and I am quite shocked what the problem was.

I had moved over stuff to my other comp and booted that up fine, then I decided to just test out something on the broken computer so I hooked in the keyboard/mouse/monitor from other comp and... it didn't hang at all on boot...

Turns out the culprit was my external HD... I have no idea how an external USB HD can cause a boot freeze and prevent my OS from loading, but whatever.

So I booted without it, no boot freeze. Windows was still buggered, but after booting into safe mode and uninstalling the HD from device manager (and just to be sure uninstalled all printer drivers I installed yesterday) it booted into normal mode without a problem.

So yeah, can't get my external HD to work on any other comp so I guess it is dead.

[Cilraaz]

Turns out the culprit was my external HD... I have no idea how an external USB HD can cause a boot freeze and prevent my OS from loading, but whatever.

That would make sense if it were corrupt and trying to force itself as a boot device. The confusing part is how this wasn't found out when you were booting barebones with just the CPU, GPU, and RAM.

[Beider]

That would make sense if it were corrupt and trying to force itself as a boot device. The confusing part is how this wasn't found out when you were booting barebones with just the CPU, GPU, and RAM.

I actually completely forgot about this device, didn't even think about it when I was unplugging stuff.

[Beider]

I have two followup problems now with this computer,

1) It sometimes will just disable the mouse and keyboard after I have left it alone for a while. (I think it is related to sleep mode). I come back and mouse / keyboard won't work. I can press a button and the screen shows but nothing else happens.

1.5) Sometimes after booting the mouse doesn't work, it doesn't even glow under so it seems to have no power. This is a USB mouse which has worked fine for the past months on my old computer. Rebooting once or twice usually help, or if that doesn't help simply turning it off for a little bit and switching the USB port it is plugged into seems to help.

2) Sometimes when I minimize WOW the window will not draw anything when I re-open it, in the end I just have to kill it and restart to get it to redraw the game. I did update my graphic card drivers to the latest versions.

[Cilraaz]

I have two followup problems now with this computer,

1) It sometimes will just disable the mouse and keyboard after I have left it alone for a while. (I think it is related to sleep mode). I come back and mouse / keyboard won't work. I can press a button and the screen shows but nothing else happens.

1.5) Sometimes after booting the mouse doesn't work, it doesn't even glow under so it seems to have no power. This is a USB mouse which has worked fine for the past months on my old computer. Rebooting once or twice usually help, or if that doesn't help simply turning it off for a little bit and switching the USB port it is plugged into seems to help.

2) Sometimes when I minimize WOW the window will not draw anything when I re-open it, in the end I just have to kill it and restart to get it to redraw the game. I did update my graphic card drivers to the latest versions.

1. (and possibly 1.5) Go into Control Panel -> Power Options. Select the option to customize your current power configuration. There will be a section for USB. Disable USB Selective Suspend. This got me for a while after I created a new power configuration. Every time I went to the bathroom, I'd have to unplug and plug back in my keyboard to get it to respond again. Since disabling USB Selective Suspend, I haven't had the issue.

2. Are you running WoW in full-screen mode? I know some setups have had issues with alt-tabbing out of a full-screen WoW session since 4.0 hit.

[Deleted]

The most recent problems mostly looks like some setting problems. As mentioned before. Would suggest trying to update drivers , and a HDD test of SSD cause i know alot of people that their ssd's come close to dying after using them for not too of a long period of time.

[Beider]

2. Are you running WoW in full-screen mode? I know some setups have had issues with alt-tabbing out of a full-screen WoW session since 4.0 hit.

Nope, run WoW windowed.


Thanks for the tip for 1, will give that a try and see what happens. I also turned off sleep mode so will see if that helps as well.