Cold boot Problem

Chrish_1 · 4 Aug 2014 at 20:18

Hi,

System specs
Intel Core i5-4690K
Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 motherboard
Corsair Hydro H100i cooler
Crucial MX100 256GB
TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit
HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card from my old PC
Corsair RM850 PSU

Since building this new system I've had problems booting from cold where the system will boot loop. When it does this the system does not post, it just turns on, all the fans spin up then after about 10 seconds it powers down again.

After leaving it boot looping for about 5 mins eventually it will boot into windows. The motherboard debug LED displays code 15, which means Pre-memory North-Bridge initialization is started.

I decided to play around and found that the system boots up fine when the graphics card is not in the system and using the on-board graphics. The system also boots up fine when the graphics card is in the bottom x8 pci-e slot.
Though this is no good as I want to get another 7950 to run them in cross-fire if possible.
I also tried using an old power colour 4780 card in the x16 pci-e slot, in this case the system booted up fine. So seems to be a problem between the 7950 and the motherboard? Maybe only when its using the pci-e 3.0 x16 as the 4780 is only pci-e 2.0.

I've also tried reseating the cpu and checking for bent pins, they all looked ok.
Anyone got any ideas what is causing this and how to fix it?
Thanks.

Chrish_1 · 4 Aug 2014 at 22:40

Thanks for the replies,
Ill try the latest F7b bios, see how that works out.
When you say increasing the VTT and IMC voltage, that's the system agent voltage in the bois right?

Chrish_1 · 5 Aug 2014 at 06:21

Ok, I updated the bios to f7b and tried increasing the system agent voltage to +0.2 volts. It's still boot looping for about 5mins before it starts.

Chrish_1 · 5 Aug 2014 at 17:04

I unplugged all usb devices including the front panel usb 3.0 connection from the motherboard.
Still does not work :/. Starting to think it might just be best to rma the board now?

Chrish_1 · 5 Aug 2014 at 22:36

Hey, thanks for trying tony, tried that but still no luck. I worked out the system will boot ok with the graphics card in the top pci-e slot if I force the slot to run at pci-e 2.0 in the bios.
But obviously this is not working correctly and not sure if it has enough bandwidth for the graphics card.

Chrish_1 · 5 Aug 2014 at 22:44

I've looked for a bios update for the gpu, but could not find an official one. There does seem to be plenty of custom ones about though such as in this thread http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18539905&highlight=7950+bios+update.
I might try one of those.

Chrish_1 · 5 Aug 2014 at 22:53

ok cool thanks wazza, you reckon cross-fire will work ok at pcie-2 if I get another 7950?

Chrish_1 · 6 Aug 2014 at 06:22

I guess I'm happy running the cards in gen 2 pci-e if there is no performance loss. Who knows maybe gigabyte will release a bios update in the future fixing this problem.