What is the board (EX58-UD3R) doing during the "all-leds-on" boot-phase?

[genesys]

Hi!

I have the problem that my computer won't start anymore:

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=2752.new%3Btopicseen#new

now i figured out an interesting fact:

I have 3x2GB of ram.

if i remove all ram but the one in slot1 (independant of which rambar i use - same result when switching the bars) then the computer will spend exactly 1 minute in the bootphase where all mainboardleds glow, the fans spinning high but except for that nothing happens. after one minute, the CD drive will start and anfter 1 minute 30 the screen turns on showing the bootprocess

if i leave in 2 rambars, then the mainboard will spend aprox. 2 and a half minute in this phase, then the cd drive will start and the screen turns on at arround 3 minutes

with all 3 rambars it actually boots too if i wait long enough! it takes either 3 and a half or 4 and a half minutes (mostly 3 and a half) minutes until the cd drive starts and half a minute later the screen turns on and booting starts.


Does anyone have an explanation for this behaviour and can tell me what the board is actually doing in this phase?


Thanks!

[Dark Mantis]

Can you list all your hardware please? Also what OS and BIOS version you are using. It is an interesting problem and you have documented it well. Did this happen suddenly or gradually deteriorate?
It would sound like a BIOS problem.

[genesys]

GA-EX58-UD3R
Core i7 920
Zotac Geforce 9800 GT
Be Quiet! Straight Power BQT E6-550W
Mushkin EM3-10666 3x2GB Kit, DDR3-1333, CL9-9-9
2x WD caviar black in a RAID

it appears to me the problem started gradually. at the beginning the coputer would always start normaly. then sometimes it took longer to boot - or it would shutdown after some time, be completely off for a second, and then start normally

but this time got longer (somewhat undeterministic though - sometimes seconds, sometimes minutes)

when i tried to install a networkcard recently, it didn't start anymore at all, even after removing the card.

now after i removed all the ram and determined how long it would take to start it does actually boot again (i'm not sure, maybe after i removed the network card again i didn't wait the full 4 minutes). so far i didn't put the network card back.

however - before i put the networkcard in, i'm pretty sure that i did not have to wait each time for full 4 minutes. sometimes it would take maybe a minute or two, sometimes boot after a few seconds

[Dark Mantis]

Well looking at your specs I would say that your PSU is struggling. How old is it?

[genesys]

it's one and a half year old and the gigabyte support also told me that there can be problems with be quite! pus's

however - the problem is exactly the same if i disconnect the graphicscard which is for sure drawing the most power

[Dark Mantis]

Yes you are quite right about the GFX card using the most power probably. The thing is if the PSU is going duff(to put it in technical terms ) it may not even be outputing enough power for the rest of the system. I feel that it is the most likely problem. What BIOS version are you running and what OS?

[genesys]

it's bios version F1 and there is Vista 64bit / OSX86 dualboot installed

if it's the PSU - how it comes the system boots after a predetermined time depending on how many ram bars are installed? I'll try to find another PSU to test it with

[Dark Mantis]

You are still running with the original BIOS. It is now up to version F11 (although there is a F12i beta). I think it would be worth updating it to the F11 but not in one jump do it in about two stages. It might be worth sorting out this problem first though. Why did you start a new thread?

[genesys]

I started a new thread because it actually boots now and to me it looked like some problem with the RAM.

by updating in stages you mean to uptdate first to let's say F6 and then to F11?

ok i'll try that! thanks!

[Dark Mantis]

OK right well fair enough. Yes update in stages but make it two stages not one. F4, F8, F11

[absic]

OK right well fair enough. Yes update in stages but make it two stages not one. F4, F8, F11

I make that 3 stages DM! 

[Dark Mantis]

OK! I was away the day we did math at school and music.(It was supposed to say interim)

[genesys]

Ok i did the updates - unfortunately it didn't change something about the problem.

another thing i noticed:

after those 1, 2 or 3 (or more) minutes two things may happen:
a. the cd drive starts up followed by a single beep, the fans stop turning fast and 30 seconds later the bios bootscreen appears
b. the computer shuts completely off for one second and then boots again


if b happens and i go into the bios afterwarts and into the the page where i can set cpu stepping and so on, then i get this message in red:

"system has experienced boot failures because of overclocking or changes of voltage. Last settings in this page may not coincide with current H/W states"
although the settings are on default and all the voltage settings are on [Auto]

[Dark Mantis]

OK well in that case I think probably the best idea is to start from a clean slate. Disconnnect the power and clear the CMOS. Once done load the BIOS optimised settings and put your boot sequence in order. Try booting again and see if that has helped and post back if not.

[genesys]

ok did that - after reseting the CMOS it booted one time without problem, but that was aparently only a lucky try (sometimes it boots without problems, but only seldomly) cause after i retried it took long again.
Loading the Optimized defaults didn't help either

Now i tried whether underclocking would help something. i tried once by setting the cpu multiplier to the mininum and once by setting the baseclock from 133 to 110
the first one didn't help anything and the second one put the computer into a boot-cycle so that i had to clear the cmos again :/