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Windows 7 - Hangs on Cold Boot (new build)

J

jcutner

n00b
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
31
help!

just put together a new machine on monday
and everytime i turn it on, during the glowing windows flag, it freezes (no longer glowing) and doesn't continue. if i boot into safe mode, then restart - i'm golden. frustrating as hell, and i'm not sure where to begin.

specs
gigabyte p55a-ud3
i5 760 (not OC'd)
g.skill 2x2gb 1600ram (running at the 133mhz bus speed for now)
gigabyte gtx 460 1gb
samsung spinpoint 1tb
d-link dwa-552 wifi card
corsair 750tx PSU

notes
i initially got a western digital black drive, but it was way too loud for my liking so i got the spinpoint instead. same issue existed on both drives with my windows install.

turned off sata3/usb3 in the bios settings, no change.
installed Windows with IDE settings instead of AHCI (didn't know you couldn't change it after, and not sure if it's better either to be honest)

any ideas would be really helpful
thanks guys
 
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It sounds like it is hanging when loading drivers. Do you have anything plugged into the usb ports other than the keyboard and mouse? If so, unplug them and retry.
When you changed HDD's did you reinstall windows?
Also you could try to reinstall the video card drivers to see if that is the issue.
Make sure that your RAM voltage and timings are set to the manufacturer specs (the sticker on the sticks) in the BIOS.
 
Only a G15 and a Razer Imperator mouse

Yup, reinstalled windows on the new HDD.
Installed the drivers from nVidia directly (latest ones)

Will check the RAM timings for sure. (left them on the mobo default)
 
Did you install windows (recommend) with it downloading all the latest updates? If so try it without. If not, try it.
 
seems very intermittent
hit or miss
i can turn it on and it'll go into windows, other times it will choose to hang
i thought it might be my WiFi card, i disabled it in Device Manager, turned it off - back on, and it started up fine.

but then again, this morning, my wifi card was still enabled and it booted up fine, so im not 100% confident it's that.

the intermittent hangs makes it so annoying to pinpoint what the hell it could be
 
Did you check the voltages (both RAM and CPU) as well as timings?

Also, if you can, try to use a generic keyboard and mouse if you have them on hand.
 
Okay, I checked my ram timings, and they are correct at 9-9-9-24.

This is odd, yesterday, it started up fine after several cold boots - no issue.
This morning though, it hung again during the Windows Flag.

lol... simply don't get it :(
 
I am trying to remember the name of a program that helped me solve my intermittent boot hangs and failing utterly, I apologize. It is a program that, when enabled, creates it's own boot log as windows comes up, showing time that each service/driver is taking to finish initializing in a graphical format. If someone else here can remember what it was called, maybe it could help you? I am sorry to say that the best I can remember is that the program icon was a leaf?

EDIT: I believe the program was called "Bootlog XP" from www.greatis.com
Whether it works with Win 7 or there is other functionality to duplicate the effect, I do not know.
 
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At this point, you gotta start swapping out parts man or try them in another PC.
 
update (possibly)

this morning, it wasn't going in at all. not after safe mode, boot logging, nothing.

i pulled the other stick of ram, (tried pulling the 1st, no diff) this time i pulled the 2nd one.
booted up.
put it back in, restarted - hung
pulled out - booted in...

likelyhood of RAM causing windows to hang at the Windows Flag?
 
heh, I was actually having this same issue last night. I couldn't figure out what the problem was, but it occoured after I stripped the computer down and put everything back together (moved it into another room).

as soon as I logged in, the entire session would freeze requiring a hard reboot/shutdown. I unplugged all of my USB devices, minus the KB and mouse and it worked just fine. Once windows loaded up, I was able to plug each device in without any problems. I can only assume that it has something to do with the USB hub or loading drivers.
 
both sticks x 133 bus speed = hang
1 stick x 133 bus speed = boot

both sticks x 160 bus speed (stock ram speed) = boot

but then turbo boost doesnt work on the cpu if it isn't at the cpu's stock bus speed
 
Try the monitor on another system to rule out dead pixels.

Also try a different motherboard.
 
Danny Bui said:
Try the monitor on another system to rule out dead pixels.

Also try a different motherboard.
Click to expand...

it's happened 2 or 3 times when hanging on the boot
otherwise it's perfect (the monitor)

another mobo is tricky, cause i dont have another with that slot unless i RMA

other thing i can try is a PSU
 
jcutner said:
both sticks x 133 bus speed = hang
1 stick x 133 bus speed = boot

both sticks x 160 bus speed (stock ram speed) = boot

but then turbo boost doesnt work on the cpu if it isn't at the cpu's stock bus speed
Click to expand...

whoa. Are you using a app/utility to designate clock speeds? Or done in BIOS?
 
indokyne said:
whoa. Are you using a app/utility to designate clock speeds? Or done in BIOS?
Click to expand...

no no, all in the BIOS
if i leave the i5 760 proc at the default BUS speed of 133mhz, then the ram clocks at that too

and i notice that intel's turbo boost works too
but if i set the bus speed to 160mhz so it matches the ram, then turbo boost doesn't work (might be normal, no idea)
 
Update - from what I've noticed, and makes no sense to me at least

If i leave it at 133mhz bus spd on the gtx 460, it won't boot in, hangs on windows flag
if i set it to 160mhz bus spd, it ALWAYS boots in.

133mhz on an 8800GTS, boots in fine.

only concern is, at 160mhz bus spd, the intel turbo boost doesn't work :(

but... how does any of this make sense?
 
is it a possibility i have to tweak the voltage to the video card, or would that be unrealistic for this situation
 
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