GA-X58A-UD3R weird power issue

[shirtwearer]

Hi all

Just a quick query about my GA-X58A-UD3R

I recently built a system (full specs at bottom) and theres been a constant issue thats been bugging me, basically whwnever i turn my pc on its fine for about 3 seconds and then it shuts down, then 2 seconds later it automatically powers back on and boots up into windows normally.

Now everything other than this works fine, windows boots normally with no errors, memory is working just fine (checked with memtest), cpu temps are normal, updated to latest bios revision and reset the cmos.

So is this normal and am i just worrying for no reason, or is this the precursor to something much worse?

INTELCOREI7/950
GA-X58A-UD3R
Corsair 6GB (3x2gb)
Western digital 2TB
Nvidia GTX260
Creative Titanium XFI

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

I am guessing that the hard drive is a Green version ?

If so that could well be the cause of your problem as they are not made for booting from as they are slow to start and keep trying to power down.

[shirtwearer]

Yes it is a gren version, checked as soon as i got back from work

well this sucks

But more importantly will this do any short or long term damage to my pc?

[Dark Mantis]

No just the fact that they are no good for boot drives. Fine for data storage but you will need to get yourself a faster drive to use for your C:\ drive. If you can afford it a small SSD is the best way to go but if not try a WD Black or a Samsung F3 etc. Doesn't need to be massive as you only want it for Windows and programs.

[w_tanoto]

i see. i've been wondering about this myself. I was rather worried about this. however in my case, the boot drive is wd caviar black.... (2x Black, 1xGreen)

[Dark Mantis]

You could try putting a hard drive delay in the BIOS of a few seconds and see if that does the trick.

[w_tanoto]

You could try putting a hard drive delay in the BIOS of a few seconds and see if that does the trick.

any suggestion how many secs is okay?
(PS. To be honest, I was worried maybe my CPU overheats, or unstable PSU.)

[Dark Mantis]

Probably 3-5 seconds would be plenty. It is only if the drive is a little slow to initialise and it gives it a chance to wind up first without getting left behind.

Of course there ar other possible causes  but if it was a case of the CPU overheating it would keep doing the on/off/on/off circuit. PSUs are normally pretty good as long as they are decent makes and either work or not.

[w_tanoto]

I'll try 5 secs. I doubt about CPU overheating too, because it only did that once at any time.
I am not in position of trying it now. My Windows 7 SP1 install failed (I heard it is related to Ultimate versions with all language packs installed), which left me with non-functional computer (all data saved because it is in different HDD). I zero-ed my HDDs, and took the opportunity to upgrade 500GB green HDD to 2TB green HDD (I guess from reviews, 2TB has lower RPM speed - the speed was stated as "Intellispeed" instead of RPM unit, but lots of them believe that the speed is 5200rpm). So, now I guess I need to set the HDD delay.

[Dark Mantis]

I didn't realise it was a WD Green drive at first and they are no good for booting from. You will need a Blue or a Black if you want to stick with WD if not try the Samsung F3 they are good.

I have even heard them described as 4800 rpm.

[Diablito]

I can reproduce the behavior in the original e-mail whenever I leave my BIOS memory settings set to AUTO. I have to configure my RAM manually in order to avoid the initial 3 second power-cycle issue you guys are talking about here.

Here's what I found, in case it may help...
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,3425.msg37781.html#msg37781
Read down that thread because I had to make a small correction.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes it is also possible that badly configured memory could cause a start/stop/restart scenario.

[w_tanoto]

Also noted that when I turn off the computer while it is booting up (before "Starting Windows"). The next time I turn it on will have start->stop->restart sequence. Also happened when I changed from WD Green 500GB to 2TB (the first boot with 2TB Green installed). Also happened when I turn off the power completely for a long time.

[Dark Mantis]

Well if you turn off the computer while it is booting (still in the pre windows stage) you can corrupt the BIOS which will the cause the system to go to the Backup BIOS to boot the next time which involves copying it across to the Main BIOS for the actual boot sequence.

[Rebel801]

Check your bios version - for Rev 2.0 boards you need to flash to FE or later to fix the start-stop-start on bootup.

My board had this behavior when I first installed my system and several bios updates later it was fixed.

Just to be sure, does it do this when you boot after the AC supply was off or does it do this on every boot?

For bios updating use Qflash and a memory stick wit the bios file on it - check around to make sure you have all the info for a proper bios update.

Cheers