Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H very slow boot

sijones

sijones

sijones

Associate
Joined
21 Feb 2013
Posts
29
Hi All,
With my recent computer problems I seem to be working my way through all the sub-forums...

Just received a nice new graphics card from OCUK, fitted it tonight. Got it working after some shenanigans in the BIOS, looks great so far.

But the computer's boot has now changed: the mobo splash screen now shows for approx 2 minutes before Windows starts. Doesn't sound like much, but it's driving me mental, and it makes a mockery of my previously instant-booting SSD Windows 7. Has anyone seen this before? The only change is the new graphics card.

Unfortunately now the graphics card is in place, I can't get back into the BIOS to make tweaks. This mobo has always been very awkward to boot into BIOS - I see JoHubb has had a similar problem here this week: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18631938

My particular Catch-22s are:
  • The only way I could get the graphics card to work was to entirely disable onboard graphics in BIOS.
  • The PC won't boot into BIOS when there's a graphics card in the PCI-E slot (common problem with this mobo it seems).
  • If I remove the graphics card, onboard graphics still doesn't work: I've previously disabled it.
  • The only way to boot into BIOS and restore onboard graphics is to short the CMOS jumpers & reset the board to its defaults.
  • Once I've done this, the original problem (long wait at the mobo splash screen) goes away.
This isn't a great way to be tweaking things, as of course all my BIOS settings are wiped out. This board has always been prone to not remembering things that I'd set in BIOS (boot order, graphics usage, etc), but it's impossibe to see which settings have been 'forgotten' if I have to void all the BIOS settings just to get in there.

A fiendish conundrum, no? If anyone has had (or even better, cured) similar symptoms - new graphics card creates long wait at the mobo splash screen - I'd be really interested to hear from you. Thanks!
 
Have you ever updated the BIOS?

Not just ones from Gigabyte but the betaBIOS releases from Gigabyte that are posted at tweaktown?

F23 is newest - http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/28441-gigabyte-latest-beta-bios.html

So that might help with your gfx card compatibility.

The BIOS loading screen could be helped by disabling all other boot options and having only your SSD as boot drive1 and all others disabled.
 
Many thanks for these quick replies.

@stulid - No, I must confess I've never updated the mobo BIOS (on the basis that I'm a bit nervous & if it ain't broke don't fix it). But now I've introduced a new component into the mix & got a problem maybe I can't put it off any longer. According to dxdiag, I'm on version 04.06.05, so well behind the times versus official no 22 / beta no 23! Actually, that's a bit embarrassing...

I'm confident my boot order etc is in good shape - I'd already disabled all the other boot devices except for the SSD and a DVD drive, as the mobo was originally sniffy about picking up on the SSD.

@troops - it's an Asus Strix GTX970. Seems to be behaving itself nicely other than this super-long pause on the mobo splash screen. I did see a thread from another user about a dual-boot bios gfx card not playing nice with this mobo, but I must confess I don't know anything about dual-boot graphics (or if I even have it!)

At least the computer is working OK after it gets past the splash screen pause. The real pain is not being able to boot into BIOS without taking the graphics card out & shorting the mobo back to its defaults.

(I've read elsewhere that mobo splash screen pauses means hardware faults / incompatibility, because at that point no software / drivers are loaded - which seems to make sense).
 
GA-Z77-D3H - F23 http://www.mediafire.com/?abkibb98sb28sx2

you need to update to latest beta bios imo,it might cure the detection/long pause of your new gpu

simply download/extract the bios to a usb memory stick and update it through qflash (press delete at splash screen and look for qflash and point it to the bios file)

the bios's are perfectly safe to use and you can always flash back to your previous bios
 
Yep - I'll do that later today... as soon as I can prise my son off the computer. We've been 2 weeks without a graphics card, so he's making up for lost time, and basking in the 4GB graphic goodness of the new card!

Will report back later...
 
Well, you wiseguys have done it again...

After a bit of messing about to get the onboard graphics working again, I flashed the mobo BIOS this evening.

I backed up the old firmware first (contrary to what I'd said from dxdiag earlier I was on v16, not v4), then flashed the v23beta with no real drama.

Then a bit more faffing about to have the SSD recognised again and remembered (this mobo doesn't seem very good at remembering what it's been told...), and I was back in business.

Now when I boot we whizz past the Gigabyte splash screen in the blink of an eye, straight into the Windows load. Stone cold to fully running in just over 35 seconds, just like before I got the new graphics card, maybe even slightly faster.

So it looks like that old firmware was dawdling over the new GPU on every boot. Thanks again everyone, no way I'd have got this fixed on my own.

One of these days I might reach a point where I'm helping people on this forum, not just asking the questions! Cheers, Simon & son
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom