GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Post/bios looping

[mattmyarse]

Hi, I've just built a system around an GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 with a 4970K CPU which is working normally apart from sometimes looping on the bios splash screen. The splash screen shows and then the system reboots and tries again. Mostly seems to boot on the second attempt but occasionally it runs to 3 or 4 goes. Once running it is fine.

I've moved/removed USB devices as suggested by some people to no avail. I did notice that the Crucial M4 SSD I'm running isn't on the supported list so whether this could be the problem maybe.

This isn't too big a deal, just slightly annoying on a build which otherwise went well and I'm happy with.

Any help would be appreciated.

[autotech]

How much ram do you have in it and what is the speed?

[mattmyarse]

Memory is 8Gb (2 x 4Gb) Kingston Hyper X 2400Mhz in slots 1 and 2 as per the manual. Problem persists whether the memory is running 2400Mhz or 1600Mhz. Today I've seen the bios fail to even show the Gigabyte logo and just hang with a blank screen.

[dmdilks]

Thing is yes the book says that you can run 2400 memory. But the CPU can only run 1333 & 1600 memory without overclocking the CPU a little.

What is happening you are trying set the memory at 2400 and that is why it is looping. What I would do is unplug the computer pull the battery and clear the cmos. Put that stuff back.

Then go in set it to default setting reboot. Set the clock, date, & what you have too. Leave the memory alone. Then see what happens.

[mattmyarse]

Well as I said in my earlier reply I had put the memory back to 1600 and it was still looping. For the record, I have disconnected my SSD and it was still looping. I will try some other ram later but I'm starting to think this is just a flaky motherboard. I am seeing many people with bios looping issues with Gigabyte Z97 boards after searching the net.

I have already had to set my PCI to gen2 (for my gen3 card) just to get the thing to post in a sensible amount of time for another well documented Gigabyte problem with gen3 graphics cards.

There has been no bios update for nearly 6 months on this board which suggests either a faultless board or a lack of support.

[mattmyarse]

Right, I've reset the CMOS, swapped the memory for some standard 1600 DD3 sticks, removed the graphics card, disconnected the SATA devices and removed all USB devices and the boot loop still persists. Only thing I've not removed is the CPU as I don't have a spare and in any case when the PC makes it into Windows it has been working perfectly so must be installed correctly. Sounds like a faulty board to me?

[mattmyarse]

Ok, finally established that the cause of the problem is my DVD drive. swapped for another and the looping has stopped. Very strange because the drive works perfectly and doesn't cause a problem in the system I've swapped with. Anyway, problem solved!