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The strangest problem

G

Geryon

n00b
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
48
I've had a stable overclock of my Q6600 to 3.2GHz for 2 or 3 years. Never had any issues.

However, recently the PC has started failing to POST until I carry out a very specific set of steps.

Reverting the overclock to stock settings makes absolutely no difference. I simply get no display output and can't boot into Windows 7 unless I follow this pocedure exactly:

  1. I remove one stick of RAM. This can be any stick from any of four slots. It doesn't matter which one.
  2. The PC will now POST and complain about a failed overclock, then give me the option to continue with defaut BIOS settings, or begin BIOS configuration.
  3. I start BIOS configuration and restore my overclock profile, then save and reboot.
  4. The PC now boots but locks up during Windows startup, before it gets to the login screen.
  5. I restart again and the PC asks if I want to repair Windows startup, or start normally.
  6. I start normally, and this time the PC gets to the Windows 7 login screen just fine.
  7. I power off the PC and put the fourth stick of RAM back in.
  8. I power on again and the PC works perfectly, throughout the day, until I switch off for the night.
  9. The following day, the problem returns and I have to repeat the procedure.

I'm at a loss to explain this. If any particular piece of hardware was failing, surely it would remain unbootable, or cause random crashes or other issues while using the OS?

The RAM passes a memtest, so it's not a dodgy stick stopping the POST, and as I said, taking out any one of the four sticks allows the POST.

I get no graphical corruption, or freezes/crashes while gaming heavily or running any other software.

I just don't know what it could be, and I don't want to waste money replacing random parts until it works again, when the PC is 5 years old.

Any suggestions?
 
Well its certainly not a failed hard drive as you use an SSD to boot, but try this:
1. reset your CPU to stock clocks, and anything else you overclocked.
2. reset your cmos, either by removing the cmos battery or using a jumper or if you have a reset button on your motherboard use that.
my guess is that the motherboard is the culprit here.
 
Unfortunately, I already tried both of those suggestions when the problem occurred for the first time.

I cleared the CMOS and left all the mobo settings at stock values, and it still wouldn't boot to Windows with all 4 sticks of RAM in, until I figured out the steps in my previous post.

I really don't get it :confused:
 
Is the 8-pin ATX12V power connector plugged in? I know the manual says it won't boot without it but sometimes they're "optional".

Do you have fans connected to the motherboard for power? Are you able to instead plug them directly into one of the PSU's 4-pin molex power connectors?
 
8-pin connector is plugged in, yes. Do you mean I should try unplugging it?

I have fans connected to a fan controller powered from the PSU. No fans plugged into the mobo at all.
 
No, you should definitely leave it plugged in. I was thinking the problem sounds like a power issue but only on cold bootups.

Try taking the motherboard battery out for 15 minutes. If that doesn't help, then replace it unless you've done that recently.
 
That motherboard battery method just resets the CMOS, he already did that.

But maybe go to fry's or something buy a $50 motherboard see if your stuff posts with it and if it does then you problem is the motherboard.
 
After trawling the internet for a bit, I did some further experimentation by switching the PC on, leaving it powered up for 10 minutes in its non-POSTing state, then rebooting.

This time, it POSTed and gave me the failed overclock error, as with step 2 in my first post.

I was then able to restore the overclock profile in the BIOS and boot straight into Windows with no further issue. I did not have to remove any sticks of RAM, and Windows did not hang before reaching the login screen.

This makes me think it's possibly my PSU wearing out? Perhaps, upon a cold boot it can't supply enough juice, but after "warming up" and rebooting, it can handle the load and the PC then works properly.

Does that sound plausible?
 
Geryon said:
After trawling the internet for a bit, I did some further experimentation by switching the PC on, leaving it powered up for 10 minutes in its non-POSTing state, then rebooting.

This time, it POSTed and gave me the failed overclock error, as with step 2 in my first post.

I was then able to restore the overclock profile in the BIOS and boot straight into Windows with no further issue. I did not have to remove any sticks of RAM, and Windows did not hang before reaching the login screen.

This makes me think it's possibly my PSU wearing out? Perhaps, upon a cold boot it can't supply enough juice, but after "warming up" and rebooting, it can handle the load and the PC then works properly.

Does that sound plausible?
Click to expand...

No not really, most PSUs i've had fail just don't power anything on at all, no fans spinning or anything. There was one time when a computer kept shutting down on its own because the PSU was dying but since urs isn't doing that I can't say its the PSU.

Anyway, the simple fact that you have to go through these rituals is reason enough to blame the motherboard.
 
Actually, it sounds like a failing capacitor to me. Inspect your motherboard for "crowning" or leaky caps. It could also be any of a number of failing components, but caps are by far the easiest to fail with symptoms like this.. I have a Samsung monitor (one I currently use and have used for at least 4 years), that developed a problem where it would not turn on all the time, but once it was on, it would stay on until I turned it off.. it finally "died". I tore it down, found a crowning cap, replaced it and it works great to this day.
 
Geryon said:
I've had a stable overclock of my Q6600 to 3.2GHz for 2 or 3 years. Never had any issues.

However, recently the PC has started failing to POST until I carry out a very specific set of steps.

Reverting the overclock to stock settings makes absolutely no difference. I simply get no display output and can't boot into Windows 7 unless I follow this pocedure exactly:

  1. I remove one stick of RAM. This can be any stick from any of four slots. It doesn't matter which one.
  2. The PC will now POST and complain about a failed overclock, then give me the option to continue with defaut BIOS settings, or begin BIOS configuration.
  3. I start BIOS configuration and restore my overclock profile, then save and reboot.
  4. The PC now boots but locks up during Windows startup, before it gets to the login screen.
  5. I restart again and the PC asks if I want to repair Windows startup, or start normally.
  6. I start normally, and this time the PC gets to the Windows 7 login screen just fine.
  7. I power off the PC and put the fourth stick of RAM back in.
  8. I power on again and the PC works perfectly, throughout the day, until I switch off for the night.
  9. The following day, the problem returns and I have to repeat the procedure.

I'm at a loss to explain this. If any particular piece of hardware was failing, surely it would remain unbootable, or cause random crashes or other issues while using the OS?

The RAM passes a memtest, so it's not a dodgy stick stopping the POST, and as I said, taking out any one of the four sticks allows the POST.

I get no graphical corruption, or freezes/crashes while gaming heavily or running any other software.

I just don't know what it could be, and I don't want to waste money replacing random parts until it works again, when the PC is 5 years old.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with a Asus motherboard rocking a Athlon 64 3000+. It had 3 DDR 400 slots IIRC. Don't know why it happened, but it was just like you described. I just took out the 3rd RAM stick. It worked fine with 2 sticks.
 
Well the board uses polymer caps so, as I understand it, there shouldn't be any venting or leakage?

I inspected the caps anyway, and there's no visible sign of any damage.

The reason I thought it might be the PSU was, I saw a forum post somewhere on the net where someone described how they'd had a similar problem with their PC needing to "warm up" before booting successfully, and they opened up their PSU and found the caps in it were degrading. They replaced the PSU's caps and the PC worked perfectly again.
 
Well.. There are caps in the Power Supply too. It could be the PS. I did look up your MB after I posted and saw it's supposed to have high quality Japanese caps, but then I remembered the thread about counterfeit caps..
 
Why not just get an el cheapo motherboard and an el cheopo power supply and test it out, even junk parts last long enough to do basic testing.
 
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