GA-Z170X-UD3, M.2 EVO 960, XMP, GTX950, No Display During Cold Boot Post

[rossb]

I've been running a Z170X-UD3 along with an EVO 850 SSD, RipJaws DDR4-3000, and a GTX950 for over a year and it has been trouble free. My setup uses an i7-6700k at 47,47,47,46 along with the RAM in XMP mode.

This past week I installed a Samsung EVO 960 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVME M.2 drive and now when I cold boot my PC I get no display during POST. I get display when Windows boots and when I reboot display returns during POST as well.

• Turning off XMP results in the GTX 950 display working properly during cold boot POST.
• Disabling the on-board SATA controller does not resolve the issue.
• I tested the setup with the IGFX solution and the display works properly during POST with XMP and the NVME drive installed.
• I removed the NVME drive and my GTX 950 once again displayed video during POST with XMP enabled.

Basically the combo of the NVME drive, GTX 950, and XMP enabled results in no cold boot display during POST, but normal video in Windows and/or after a reboot. I tried everything I can think of in the BIOS but have been unable to resolve the issue. I am running the latest version of the BIOS (F23e). I also tried rolling back to BIOS F21.

Has anyone else seen this issue?

[shadowsports]

Greetings,
What display are you outputting to?
Are you using an adapter of any sort?
Which NVMe slot are you using for the 960?

What does this statement refer to? "i7-6700k at 47,47,47,46 " Are you over clocking?

Have you tested without OC?

Sticking with F21... Suggest you perform a BIOS reset Use default settings, changing only what is required for the system to run.  What are those results?

[rossb]

Thanks for the reply.  I run this GFX card:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N950WF2OC-2GD-rev-10#kf

I am using DisplayPort, but I've checked the other ports when the issue occurs and they all lack display.

The integrated graphics solution does not experience this issue at all, but I don't plan to use iGFX.

I run my i7-6700k with an OC of 4.7 (1-core active), 4.7 (2-cores active), 4.7 (3-cores active), 4.6 (all cores active).  Turning off the OC does not resolve my cold boot display issue.

I run this RAM:

https://www.gskill.com/en/product/f4-3000c15d-8gvr

• Turning off XMP and running my RAM at 2133 DOES resolve my cold boot display issue
• Resetting the BIOS to the Defaults resolves the issue because that will turn off XMP
• Turning XMP back on will cause the issue to return.
• Removing the Samsung EVO 960 NVME drive resolves the issue

Issue description:

• Cold boot after the PC has been sitting for a few minutes with no power to the PSU (PC switched via a Power Manager)
• I get the proper POST beep
• The motherboard LEDs show no errors
• I get no video during POST and my monitor shows "No Signal"
• I can hit DEL and enter the BIOS, but I get no video display
• I reboot the PC via my case Reset button and the video display comes back during the reboot

or

• Cold boot after the PC has been sitting for a few minutes with no power to the PSU (PC switched via a Power Manager)
• I get the proper POST beep
• The motherboard LEDs show no errors
• I get no video during POST and my monitor shows "No Signal"
• My Boot Manager loads (multiple Operating Systems), but I can't see anything
• I blindly hit the hot key in my Boot Manager for a reboot and the video display returns during the reboot

or

• Cold boot after the PC has been sitting for a few minutes with no power to the PSU (PC switched via a Power Manager)
• I get the proper POST beep
• The motherboard LEDs show no errors
• I get no video during POST and my monitor shows "No Signal"
• My Boot Manager loads (multiple Operating Systems), but I can't see it
• I blindly hit a hot key to boot Windows and the display returns in Windows.

[shadowsports]

Great scenario descriptions of the issue.  Sounds like an issue with hardware for sure.  It doesn't sound like anything is defective, its just a combination of the kit running in your environment.  I didn't see any FW updates for your 950 and you already said you tried with multiple BIOS revs.

Other things you can try:
>If you have Fast Boot enabled in BIOS, disable and retest

>Page 31 user manual - VGA Support - Try the Auto setting

>Disable OC, run stock speed, XMP on = results (you tried this already yes?)

>What about leaving XMP off and setting your memory timings manually for 3000?

[rossb]

I've tried Fast Boot On, Ultra Fast Boot On, and Fast Boot Off.  The issue remains with all three.

Fast Boot - VGA Auto results in 5 short beeps during POST.  Even with the 5 short beeps I get video during a warm boot and when Windows loads.  I still get no video during cold boot POST.

The issue remains when I run OC off (stock clocks) and XMP on.

I turned off XMP and manually set the memory multiplier to 30, Latency to 15-15-15-35, and DRAM voltage to 1.35.  This did not resolve the issue.

Gigabyte hasn't posted any BIOS updates for my video card, but I found two at Techpowerup.  I tried them both with NVFlash and the issue remained.

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/?architecture=NVIDIA&manufacturer=Gigabyte&model=GTX+950&interface=&memType=&memSize=&since=

When I remove the NVME drive or run the stock memory clock (2133) the issue goes away.

My standard setup is with the PC connected to a Power Manager and the BIOS is set to turn on after AC power loss.  I normally turn off my Power Manger after the PC shuts down to kill the power going to my PSU when I'm not using the PC.  When I turn my Power Manager back on, the PC boots (on after AC power loss).

I changed the BIOS setting to remain off after power loss.  I shut the PC down and left the Power Manager on so that my PSU continued to receive power.  I let the PC sit for about 10 minutes while it was shut down, but still on power.  I then hit the power button on my PC to turn it on.  The issue remained, no video during POST.

This is very odd.

[shadowsports]

You are being very thorough, but are running out of options.  Next test should be with another video card.  As previously stated, I think this is a result of the combination of hardware.  You can open a ticket with support as well, won't hurt to hear what Gigabyte has to say. 

[rossb]

It turns out when I was running XMP and cold booting it was outputting video to one DVI-I port I didn't check.  I have no idea why it was outputting video there with XMP cold boots as I've never used this port.

I used the DVI-I port for a boot cycles earlier tonight and then switched back to the DisplayPort output I normally use.  It seems to be working ok now.  I'll see if it continues to work.

[shadowsports]

That is strange behavior.  But displays usually go in this order...(depending on how the card is equipped) VGA, DVI, HDMI, Display Port.  So using the DVI port one or more times has now allowed cold boot display on a Display Port at POST where it wasn't previously present?

No explanation for that.  Glad you figured it out.

 

[rossb]

I have HDMI and DisplayPort cables connected, with my main monitor on DisplayPort and my GTX 950 has always defaulted to DisplayPort display when I cold boot.  For some reason the combination of XMP plus the new NVME drive were causing the GTX 950 to output to DVI-I when cold booting.  Warm boots were going to DisplayPort.

After using the DVI-I port for a few boot cycles and then switching back to DisplayPort it is now back to defaulting to DisplayPort even with XMP and NVMe.  I have no reasonable explanation for this behavior.