5 beeps when using (ultra) fast boot

[Wouter]

Hi, So I've a problem for maybe a year now, and it's annoying me more and more. I have a G1 Sniper B7 motherboard, and when fast boot or ultra fast boot is enabled the system beeps 5 times when post, but the system boots fine. The reason I'm posting this a year later is because on Windows, the problem appeared only after an restart or when windows fast boot was disabled, when windows fast boot was enabled is was (most fo the times) fine. Since I'm now using macos (hackintosh), which doesn't have such fast boot option, the 5 beeps are always when I power it up and that's very annoying. As I said, my whole system is working. I think it appeared after an bios update. But several bios updates later it's still there. Any suggestions to solve this problem? Resetting the bios doesn't help.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,
5 short beeps is POST failure.  Normally this could indicate a faulty or failing component.

Based on your description however, since the system runs and has done so consistently, this is less likely.  What comes to mind.

A connected device or component might have a compatibility issue
Are you overclocking memory or CPU
Have you tried reseating your RAM
Have you ever tested your RAM
Is it on the QVL for your board
Power supply could be tired, under-powered or faulty
BIOS updates can impact system behavior

Fast or Ultra Fast Boot might cause an error condition.

I'm just speculating because I don't know anything more than what board you have.   
 

[Wouter]

Greetings,
5 short beeps is POST failure.  Normally this could indicate a faulty or failing component.

Based on your description however, since the system runs and has done so consistently, this is less likely.  What comes to mind.

A connected device or component might have a compatibility issue
Are you overclocking memory or CPU
Have you tried reseating your RAM
Have you ever tested your RAM
Is it on the QVL for your board
Power supply could be tired, under-powered or faulty
BIOS updates can impact system behavior

Fast or Ultra Fast Boot might cause an error condition.

I'm just speculating because I don't know anything more than what board you have.   

Hi, sorry for the later reply, I was in an exam period. So I'm going to try a few options of what you've said and see if that works. I'll give an update on that. Also, what can be handy as you said, my system specs are:
mobo: G1 sniper B7
cpu: Intel core I5-6400
ram: 8 GB ram, don't know the manufacturer (yet)
gpu: nvidia geforce gtx 950 (this could be the problem, since I was getting problems with in in windows 10. It probably isn't related to each other since it looked like a driver issue, but who knows)
drives: Samsung 960 evo 500GB ssd, 2TB seagate hdd, 250 GB seagate hdd
power supply: 450W
os: macOS 10.13, macOS 10.14, Windows 8.1

I'll put these specs also in my profile
Thanks in advance,
Wouter

[dmdilks]

  I think it appeared after an bios update.

Why did you do a bios update?  Were you having a problem or felt that you needed to do it because it was there.


Here is the beep codes for that board. It is pointing to the CPU error. I would look at that to see if you might have a bent pin.

 https://ddr4motherboard.com/beepcodes/GIGABYTE-G1.SNIPER-B7-REV.-1.0

[Wouter]

  I think it appeared after an bios update.

Why did you do a bios update?  Were you having a problem or felt that you needed to do it because it was there.


Here is the beep codes for that board. It is pointing to the CPU error. I would look at that to see if you might have a bent pin.

 https://ddr4motherboard.com/beepcodes/GIGABYTE-G1.SNIPER-B7-REV.-1.0

Thanks for replying. I did a bios update for 2 reasons. First, I bought an m.2 ssd and there was better compatibility with it in a bios update. Secondly, I would think bios updates fix bugs and improve the stability so why not. For the cpu error: I already searched for the beep codes, and also found that as an issue. But why would that only cause the 5 beeps with fast boot? I mean, isn't the meaning of fast boot to skip some tests to boot faster? It should then also give an error when I boot 'normal', but it just gives one beep, so everything should be right. Also, I don't really want to start fidgetting with the cpu. It was working before and I was also careful with my pc. I didn't build the pc myself and I think I don't have the right screwdrivers to undo the cpu cooler.
I'll see further what I can do, I'll keep you updated. First, I'm going to try a few of the things that are mentioned in the second post, and see if that solves anything. Sorry if it takes a bit longer for answering, but I don't have a lot of time atm.

[shadowsports]

What dmdilks is trying to point out is BIOS updates are not generally indicated unless you are trying to correct a problem, add features or address a security issue.  Unless you know the system will not work with a BIOS / hardware combination, it's usually better to test first before you flash. 

Sniper boards are notoriously finicky about RAM.  Your beep codes indicate something in the early stages of POST / CPU initialization.  Could be a CPU issue, might be memory compatibility.  You also have 3 drives, 3 different OS... you haven't said anything about how these are being managed...  boot manager, just selecting the drive you want to boot from on the fly, etc.  I'm not saying this is a problem, but it adds another layer of complexity. 

Any add-in cards besides the GPU?   

What BIOS rev are you running?  Latest beta or?

I'm using standard SSD's in RAID 0.  My system cold boots in like 12sec.  I don't even bother with FAST/Ultra Fast Boot.  If you are booting to an m.2, I'd imaging it would start even faster.  Or not if you are using a boot manager?

If this system works without Fast Boot enabled, its hardware compatibility like I mentioned earlier.  If you want to troubleshoot further, you can strip the system down and bench test, enabling Fast Boot to determine where the problem is....  but I personally would not bother.   

[Wouter]

What dmdilks is trying to point out is BIOS updates are not generally indicated unless you are trying to correct a problem, add features or address a security issue.  Unless you know the system will not work with a BIOS / hardware combination, it's usually better to test first before you flash. 

Sniper boards are notoriously finicky about RAM.  Your beep codes indicate something in the early stages of POST / CPU initialization.  Could be a CPU issue, might be memory compatibility.  You also have 3 drives, 3 different OS... you haven't said anything about how these are being managed...  boot manager, just selecting the drive you want to boot from on the fly, etc.  I'm not saying this is a problem, but it adds another layer of complexity. 

Any add-in cards besides the GPU?   

What BIOS rev are you running?  Latest beta or?

I'm using standard SSD's in RAID 0.  My system cold boots in like 12sec.  I don't even bother with FAST/Ultra Fast Boot.  If you are booting to an m.2, I'd imaging it would start even faster.  Or not if you are using a boot manager?

If this system works without Fast Boot enabled, its hardware compatibility like I mentioned earlier.  If you want to troubleshoot further, you can strip the system down and bench test, enabling Fast Boot to determine where the problem is....  but I personally would not bother.   

Okay, so I think I found the issue.
After you said these kind of boards are doing difficult with RAM, I did some more tinkering with it. So, I reseated the RAM and it's all doing fine and I don't get any beeps in POST, so fast boot is enabled and didn't detect any issues(no fast boot gives one beep). But believe it or not, when I turn my pc vertical (I don't really know how to explain this, you know, a tower, so your motherboard is laying vertical), the mobo starts giving error beep codes again! So when the tower is flat on the surface (horizontal), there are no beeps, when vertical, there are. I'm pretty sure this is correct, cause I reseated the RAM 3 times and tested all kinds of reboots, boots and shutdown, forced and OS shutdown. Everything is working fine, until I turn my pc vertical. Can anyone explain why this can cause errors?
Thanks

[dmdilks]

I reseated the RAM

The memory controller is in the CPU. So if you do have a memory stick that might not be seated all the way. The CPU will give you a error. The MB's are a little harder to troubleshoot today than yrs ago.

When they really put the controller into the CPU fully it change a lot. So you might think it is the CPU, but it could be the memory. They both will give you the same basically problems at boot. But one good thing you found your problem.

[Wouter]

I reseated the RAM

The memory controller is in the CPU. So if you do have a memory stick that might not be seated all the way. The CPU will give you a error. The MB's are a little harder to troubleshoot today than yrs ago.

When they really put the controller into the CPU fully it change a lot. So you might think it is the CPU, but it could be the memory. They both will give you the same basically problems at boot. But one good thing you found your problem.

The weird thing is that it is all working fine when I don't move the pc. I'll try again and see if I can get it to work without the annoying beeps.

[dmdilks]

I'm using standard SSD's in RAID 0.  My system cold boots in like 12sec.  I don't even bother with FAST/Ultra Fast Boot.     

I really don't care how long it takes. All I care that it boots into windows. LOL LOL

Been doing this for 35 yrs. I remember when you turn your computer on then went and made coffee. LOL

[Wouter]

I'm using standard SSD's in RAID 0.  My system cold boots in like 12sec.  I don't even bother with FAST/Ultra Fast Boot.     

I really don't care how long it takes. All I care that it boots into windows. LOL LOL

Been doing this for 35 yrs. I remember when you turn your computer on then went and made coffee. LOL

Since I use macOS as my primary system, the boot is quite slow as it has to go to a custom bootloader, detect apple file system, boot into macos and than load nvidia drivers. So yeah, every second faster comes in handy

[Wouter]

I think I found a "solution". I was searching around a bit in bios settings and since I now know it's a RAM "issue", I went looking into memory settings. There I found an option called memory fast boot. So I enabled fastboot for the memory and now it skips the memory check when it boots, so no annoying beeps anymore . I'll hope this will be a permanent solution and just hope there's nothing wrong with my RAM. Thanks everyone for giving possible solutions and tips. If I didn't had them I probably wouldn't have found it was the RAM.
If there occur any new problems, I'll keep you updated.
Wouter

[shadowsports]

Thanks for the follow up.  Glad you appear to have fixed it.