My computer double starts or stutters when booted….is it busted?

[Aussie Allan]

                                       My computer double starts….is it busted?  

   I thought I’d write this little piece as it’s a subject that continually comes up virtually on a daily basis
Forgive me for the simplistic terms but the scope of technically minded people and ages I’m trying to reach requires me to write it this way …

  Ever wondered why the BIOS are so full of settings marked “AUTO”… Many years ago there were far fewer, and many of these “AUTOs” were in fact just hard number or parameters’ to play with…..changing just one usually brought the system crashing down around your ears……now we have this wonderful thing called “AUTO” splashed everywhere that takes a lot of the theory out of your hands….changing that same setting now will result in the BIOS stepping in and making several other critical changes elsewhere so the system doesn’t come crashing down.

   The BIOS is now a very complex piece of programming ….how big?…..for some perspective….let’s call our BIOS 2MB in size for a nice round number….that’s about 5000 A4 sheets of text! …or a lot of data/code!

   Now nothing is perfect…yet!…so when you boot-up after making some changes, the BIOS has a hunt around and reports back and says….”Yeh! I reckon this will fly”, and continues through the boot cycle…..only to find out that it’s not really stable during the boot and… “I need to make changes”….it (the Bios) then shuts the system down really quickly, makes those fine adjustments critical to stability (within the BIOS) and reboots all the way into windows.
 That’s when you say, “Hang on….what was Fa was that”… my system just did a double tap or start for some reason? …it must be busted! …. Or I need to RMA
   If you run your system at stock/default settings…this phenomenon rarely happens …if you tweak your system at all, chances are you will have come across this if you run a Gigabyte Board at some time or another…..I’ve been playing with my X58A and had not two but a series of four or five taps/stutters before it’ll boot up to windows …. Only to find when I eventually go back into Bios that half my changes have disappeared back to Auto……. or even lower figures‼!
   If you clock your system hard, and all the settings are not spot on…chances are you will get a double start/tap. For some reason I cannot explain…sometimes the system can and will make changes that will stick in the BIOS and the double tap only happens once or twice reverting back to normal operation…..but frustratingly, other times it just will not hold the changes resulting in a double tap (or more) every time until you track down the little bugger manually or just not give a hoot and put up with it.

    Through perseverance and tweaking…you can find the culprit and once manually changed …. The double taps or stutters as I call them will go away.
   One last point, to the best of my knowledge other manufactured boards don’t carry this advanced Bios feature and will boot through to windows = more of a chance of instability or a BSOD!
   As I said when starting, this is rather a layman’s explanation and a Gigabyte main-board engineer would probably pick it to pieces … but it wasn’t written for them…enjoy!

  Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Thanks for that explanatory post Allan, hopefully that should help many members understand what this is and why this is happening. I have copied a link to it for future posts.
+1

[Aussie Allan]

     Yes DM..... It was a very hard call as to the length, amount and colour of information included......unfortunately it's rather a big subject and not entirely straight forward

  But it should help no end......be interesting what runn3rs take on it is  ....sanctioned or executed

  Aussie Allan

[Ben]

Thanks for that I often wondered why my board did this now I know.
Ben.
PS hasn't done it for a while so all must be good.

[Dark Mantis]

     Yes DM..... It was a very hard call as to the length, amount and colour of information included......unfortunately it's rather a big subject and not entirely straight forward

  But it should help no end......be interesting what runn3rs take on it is  ....sanctioned or executed

  Aussie Allan

Maybe it will make it onto the FAQ board. It would be a good idea but runn3R likes them to be just so before they are accepted which is fair enough as they are there for a long time and read by very many members.

[Aussie Allan]

  There's no copyright .....he can modify if he sees fit   

  Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

To be fair I expect he will just liase with you over what is the best way to put it and then it should be ok.

[Aussie Allan]

   Technical papers are easy.....it's when you try and reach the 15 to 85 yr age bracket and there interpretation of the DOC

  Aussie Allan

[teknology9]

Yes, that's a very informative piece of writing that Aussie Allan which can only help those who are new or not so new understand why such responses occur. This can only make readers become more interested in PC building and its various facets such as BIOS. May be you might feel inclined to touch on another area covering another area perhaps those who are interested in overclocking and the steps to take....just  an idea. This isn't a criticism but a few embolden sub-headings would make it more structured.

Good piece though.

Teknology9

[Aussie Allan]

  Too true, too true ,....although the idea was to keep it low key and target the 15 to 85 yr age group

  If I structured such a piece to read like some of my reviews......it would loose it's light hearted approach

  Maybe next time with a more solid subject.

   "May be you might feel inclined to touch on another area covering another area perhaps those who are interested in over-clocking and the steps to take"
     Believe me!...... it would read like a biblical novel  .... My standards would let me do nothing else ....but a seed planted maybe
 
Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Personally I would like to see more. You can't have too much information, especially written in a light hearted and easy to read manor like that. We must remember that some people can use a lot more help than others and so it is a welcome post.

[teknology9]

Yes, it's good material and its people like you with your computing knowledge will draw more people to read such articles on this forum. I mean, sincerely, if the Moderators and hero members got together and wrote a book I sure it would sell when considering all of your expertise.....I'm serious.

Yes, your approach is light hearted.....but that's what makes it accessible and folks out there will want to read it.


Teknology9

[Aussie Allan]

  "Touché".....and ...... with Thanks, .....will have to write some more if the reads keep going up!

  Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Thank you for your words of encouragement, although I doubt that a book of any sort is on the cards. Maybe more reviews though! I have enough on my plate already without diversifying any more.