Sasquatch Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 I've got a Biostar board i3 running Windos 10. Couple of weeks ago I installed a couple of USB2 PCI cards and on rebooting found it wouldn't complete the boot process. It took several attempts to get it to boot. Now I've removed the cards it's not as bad but still happens at least the first attempt when strangely everything loads then dies, followed by a successful second try. Legacy USB devices are enabled in the BIOS, there is a warning mesage telling me a BIOS setting is causing boot failure but not which setting it is! I've tried changing just about every setting it's safe to and loaded defaults instead, but that just shuts down the PC and leaves it trying to boot again even though I haven't pressed the on switch. It's three years old and Biostar are not exactly top of the range so I'm wondering if it's not just a board malfunction playing tricks with the BIOS. I've tried updating the BIOS which seems to have worked but same message and same problem. I am perplexed. I'm even prepared to endure streams of questions of no obvious relevance like someone who's taken their car to some old geezer backstreet mechanic. all thoughts appreciated and yes I have thought of binning it but that's where I got it from when the students went last year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrrichiet Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Sounds odd given that it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Have you tried taking everything out, including RAM swap-outs? Still getting the same problems? If so, I'd suggest it was the mobo dying (given that you've tried flashing the BIOS) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDG Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 (edited) Not sure about the Bios settings message but re-seating the ram would be the first thing i'd try if ive been inside the case moving stuff and then get a failed boot. e2a: mrrichiet beat me to it, the next thing id also try is remove everything as he suggested. Edited February 2, 2016 by BDG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudman123 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 ha ha ha I thought I was going to help with footwear Muddy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 Mrrichiet I'm inclined to agree with you. BDG I didn't go anywhere near the RAM cards, both still register in the BIOS at boot stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrrichiet Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Definitely check out the RAM. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vince noir rock n roll star Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 id be checking the uefi part of the bios to make sure thats compatible . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 Helpful guys, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaqen H'gar Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 (edited) id be checking the uefi part of the bios to make sure thats compatible . If you have a uefi you don't have a bios, uefi is the replacement for bios. turning off all the secure boot settings might sort the problem, uefi is a pain in the arse in my experience and its generally the secure boot settings that are the cause. Edited February 2, 2016 by Jaqen H'gar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 The RAM cards are running OK, I checked UEFI and found it was disabled. Enabled it and no improvement . I doubt it was disabled when all this started but I've changed so many settings to see if that warning message goes off i can't remember. Twice today the graphics have gone off about 5 minutes after successfully booting up, two weeks ago the screen would go off accompanied by a grating buzzing sound from the speakers. This sort of fuckery makes me suspect. something drastic to do with the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 What do people reckon to those board testing gadgets, the things inserted in PCI slots or LPT ports (my board hasn't got one) ? Don't tknow anything about them but I'm guessing they don't do much but test various voltages, which might or might not help much. They can be bought for under a fiver, worth a punt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenfinger53 Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Try disconnecting the power from the motherboard and remove the battery for a few minutes, you may also need to short out a couple of pins on the motherboard to clear the CMOS or press the power button (whilst its all still disconnected from power). You might aswell pull the ram out whilst you are in there and put it back in again, sometimes thats all it takes. Download 'Memtest' and run that for two full cycles, it could take a few hours. put it on a CD or flash drive and run it from boot. HDtune to check the hard drive once booted in to windows, look at the S.M.A.R.T section and anything showing yellow or red is bad. Most hard drives have about 5 years warrenty so its always worth running the serial number on the manufactures website if you have a bad one. Most diagnostics programs are on hirens boot cd, give it a google. the only testing hardware i've ever used in a PSU tester, a faulty powersupply can cause all sorts of random issues. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 Lots of helpful suggestions there Greenfinger, thanks. i haven't tried the battery-out thing yet, seemed too obvious, or removing RAM cards. i've tried windows resource monitor and a monitoring programme called Speccy, by Piriform, which didn't reveal anything. SMART tests have shown the HDD is getting old with a lot of reallocated sectors but they haven't increased recently and it's otherwise OK. Faulty PSU sounds interesting but the faults are of a consistent pattern so I doubt it's that. Back later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 (edited) Tried taking the battery and RAM cards out, nothing obviously different but I noticed a 'CMOS fail' message when I booted up. Still running OK though, could all this be down to a dead clock battery? e2a : the fail message has gone to be replaced by a message in the Performance tab in BIOS saying something about clearing the CMOS if computer fails after boot. It booted OK so I'm wondering if that isn't just some automatic thing not really relevant. might try CMOs cearing if and when the boot fails again. Edited February 3, 2016 by Sasquatch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenfinger53 Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Cmos should have cleared when you took the battery out 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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