Intermittent Boot Problem

[jaxx]

Hi Carbies,

Would appreciate your input on this intermittent issue I am having with my PC.

A few weeks ago I started having this problem when booting where the machine would post, but once in the Win10 loading screen (rotating progress circle), the machine would suddenly power off. If I reboot it sometimes boots fine (assuming Win10 repair does not initiate) but sometimes the same happens.

Every now and then, I'll also get an intermittent post error (3 beeps, 2 times), which according to google refers to a RAM fault. But this does not happen all the time.

If I do manage to boot, the PC will run fine for hours until it is restarted, at which point either of the above could occur again.

My machine specs:
Asus Z170s
I5-7600k @ 3.8ghz, 212x cooler
2x 8GB DDR4@2133mhz (It's 3000mhz Corsair RAM though)
MSI 1070 Armor (default clock)
650w PSU
Intel SSD + 3 HDDs
I'm using the Asus optimised setting on EZ tuner

What I've tried so far:
- reseated GPU
- reseated RAM (confirmed correct slots)
- reseated all power connectors
- tested PSU (shorted pins 13/14) and confirmed voltage levels on the main connector, fan runs fine
- tried disconnecting all USB devices before booting

Any ideas as to what I can do next before attempting to replace components randomly?

Thanks in advance.




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[Sola Scriptura]

whats the make and model of your PSU?

 

[jaxx]

whats the make and model of your PSU?

Hey,

XFX PRO650w (Bronze), bought in 2012/3.

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[hof27]

Did you have the problem before you started using the Asus Ez tuning?

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[jaxx]

Did you have the problem before you started using the Asus Ez tuning?

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EZ tuning has been set at optimised since I got the HW in Jan this year - so that hasn't been changed.

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[hof27]

Mmm. Maybe do a ram diagnostic.. Might be that the board is having trouble with the ram speeds or your bord could just be faulty. I've had 3 bords swoped out with similar issues.

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[hof27]

You can also check that your bios is up to date and do a health check on the SSD

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[jaxx]

Mmm. Maybe do a ram diagnostic.. Might be that the board is having trouble with the ram speeds or your bord could just be faulty. I've had 3 bords swoped out with similar issues.

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Thanks, but wouldn't RAM issues show up while windows is running as well? I only have this issue during boot.

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[jaxx]

You can also check that your bios is up to date and do a health check on the SSD

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SSD is 100% according to HDD sentinel. Is there another test I should do?

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[hof27]

Ram diagnostic and a disc check on all your drives . Could be that one ram chips is giving errors so use one stick at a time when booting until you find the culprit . But I think it's your mobo that's faulty....

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[jaxx]

Ram diagnostic and a disc check on all your drives . Could be that one ram chips is giving errors so use one stick at a time when booting until you find the culprit . But I think it's your mobo that's faulty....

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Thanks, I'll check those, then initiate RMA if everything checks out. Any chance this could be PSU related?

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[hof27]

Thanks, but wouldn't RAM issues show up while windows is running as well? I only have this issue during boot.

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Supposed to yes. When I had issues my pc would boot with no beeping sounds but sometimes it would take longer than usual. Started getting random blue screens. Clean installed windows. Same issues. Hdds were all 100% so I eventually got gatvol and took it in as everything was still under warranty. So they swoped out the ram first. Worked for about 6 months then the same happend again. I didn't even try and figure out what was wrong I just took it in as I still had Warrenty on all the parts. Eventually it came down to the ram slots on the mobo being faulty.

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[dash09]

[MENTION=22286]jaxx[/MENTION] you should uninstall ez tuner and restore your bios to default settings first, see if the problem persists, if it does then do memtest. I found its best to test 1 stick at a time, a couple hours in each slot. I mentioned ez tuner because that software gave me problems with 2 asus motherboards and was actually a bitch to remove, after uninstalling the settings in bios remained and that needed to be restored as well. I dont think its well optimized software honestly and doesnt do a whole lot more than say afterburner or precision x, only handy feature is the fan control but you can just do that in bios

 

[jaxx]

[MENTION=22286]jaxx[/MENTION] you should uninstall ez tuner and restore your bios to default settings first, see if the problem persists, if it does then do memtest. I found its best to test 1 stick at a time, a couple hours in each slot. I mentioned ez tuner because that software gave me problems with 2 asus motherboards and was actually a bitch to remove, after uninstalling the settings in bios remained and that needed to be restored as well. I dont think its well optimized software honestly and doesnt do a whole lot more than say afterburner or precision x, only handy feature is the fan control but you can just do that in bios

Thanks. Ez tuner came preinstalled when I bought MBB here earlier this year, so I didn't know this was an add-on to BIOS SW. Just to clarify, I should not only disable the EZ Tuner settings, but I should remove the app itself from BIOS?

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[dash09]

Thanks. Ez tuner came preinstalled when I bought MBB here earlier this year, so I didn't know this was an add-on to BIOS SW. Just to clarify, I should not only disable the EZ Tuner settings, but I should remove the app itself from BIOS?

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Depends on what you set ez tuner to do, is it overclocking the cpu at all?

 

[hof27]

I think if it was psu related the pc would shutdown as it boots. And besides you said that you've tested the psu...You can always just try a different multi plug cause I've seen that give a blue screen as well.

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[Sola Scriptura]

Thanks. Ez tuner came preinstalled when I bought MBB here earlier this year, so I didn't know this was an add-on to BIOS SW. Just to clarify, I should not only disable the EZ Tuner settings, but I should remove the app itself from BIOS?

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you cant remove it from the bios, just uninstall it from the OS, and disable it in the bios.

 

[jaxx]

Depends on what you set ez tuner to do, is it overclocking the cpu at all?

It's set to optimized, and the boot screen say 10% overclock, so yes it CPU is OC'd.

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[dash09]

It's set to optimized, and the boot screen say 10% overclock, so yes it CPU is OC'd.

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Disable the oc, restart, uninstall ez tuner (you can download it later again from the asus website), restart, go into bios and check that the clock speeds are at stock, if not then restore to default settings. Once everything is at factory settings then you can test the pc properly

 

[Sola Scriptura]

if you want to OC, please do it in the bios.

 

[jaxx]

Thanks for the advice. I will do and report back.

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[souljazk]

Basics:

1)Make sure latest BIOs is installed.
2)Test ran for 24hours with MemTest 86, no less... Some RAm issues only show up after ~20 cycles of testing. To answer Q, no not all RAM errors will show up in Win. Those blocks need to be used, and in most cases, stressed, before "breaking".
3)HDD sentinel is NOt for testing SSD's MY Samsung PRo is 79% healthy under HDS, but under SSD Life Pro its 100%.
4)When it does boot, use Intel Burn in test, or Prime 95 + a GPU stress test, leave it to run for 1-2hours, keep an eye on temps.. If the GPU+CPU are pulling their max load / amps, and the PC is still stable, then you can safely rule the PSU out.

BTW, are you running off a multiplug? Try tun straight from the wall for now and with a new kettle plug, the ones with the red head.

 

[SCHUMI4EVER]

Sounds like an unstable overclock or a stuffed PSU.

 

[jaxx]

So it seems that the BIOS update did the trick - booting normally for the past 24 hours since the update. Ran the RAM test for 3 hours - no errors.

It's odd that the BIOS release that was fine for 6 months, suddenly starts to cause boot issues.

I will monitor in the coming days / weeks, but thanks all for the help - saved me from a costly swap out exercise. Much appreciated.

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