PC stuck in boot loop when cold booting using Displayport

[Agent Orange]

Hey guys, I originally posted this in the monitor section but it seems no one knows an answer. I am re-posting here as I know a lot of you guys are gurus but may not delve into the monitors section. I may have to provide a donation of some kind to anyone who can solve this rather annoying problem! (Seriously!)

Hoping someone might be able to help me with an issue which has only started happening with my PC since I purchased an Acer CB280HK 4K monitor recently.

I love the monitor and resolution, and I use Displayport in order to gain the 60hz signal at 4K as required. However, nearly every time I turn the PC on for the first time a day, my PC resets itself after a few moments and gets stuck in a boot loop and will not start up. I have to turn off the power supply switch, unplug the Displayport cable, and then boot it back up with DP disconnected, then plug the Displayport cable back in after I know it's loaded to Windows log in screen.

Just wondering if there's any settings on the monitor, BIOS etc that you know of that I could change to sort this out? It works fine with HDMI on this monitor and my old one - my old one doesn't have a Displayport connection to test that though.

One thing I've noticed since using this monitor/Displayport is that the PHASE LED lights on my mobo are staying on after I turn off the PC for the night. I think this might have something to do with it, possibly with my C states in BIOS, but I have a couple of things I like to charge from USB ports overnight. I guess I could live without that though if it meant this would be fixed! But from what I've seen online, it looks like some weird compatability issue with Displayport and my motherboard and may not be able to be sorted.

I have disabled all overclocking on the CPU and GPU (and I don't overclock my RAM at all), everything is at stock. The BIOS is basically at default settings, except for my hard drives being in RAID. I have also tried disabling the C state that keeps power to the ports when the PC is off, but it still bugs out when I do a cold boot.

My specs are up to date in my sig if it helps any!

Cheers guys,

Adrian

 

[Kaapstad]

Did your monitor come with a driver and are you using the latest version ?

Are you using the latest Catalyst drivers, if the answer to this is yes try a slightly older version.

Does the monitor/PC boot with displayport if set to 30htz ?

Have you tried a different displayport cable and is the one you are using rated for 2160p ?

 

[Agent Orange]

Cheers for the quick reply Kaaps.

I was originally using just the Windows drivers and the issue was occurring, so then installed Acer's current, non WHQL drivers which I am using now.

Using Catalyst 15.4, don't really want to downgrade because my life revolves around GTA V at the moment! (How good is it on PC??) But I will give it a go and report back when I get a chance.

I haven't tried it at 30hz, I will also try that and report back. But it does work fine with HDMI, and those PHASE LED's don't stay on on my mobo with HDMI connected. Also, where should I change it to 30hz, in Catalyst?

Yes the DP cable is rated for 2160p. I don't have a spare one to try. I might try your other suggestions first, report back, and then consider buying another DP cable.

Will let you know how it goes.

 

[Kaapstad]

I haven't tried it at 30hz, I will also try that and report back. But it does work fine with HDMI, and those PHASE LED's don't stay on on my mobo with HDMI connected. Also, where should I change it to 30hz, in Catalyst?

With my Dell it is an option on the monitor itself.

The reason I am asking about 30htz is the 290 series have a weakness with their output signal which can be seen when doing extreme overclocking @60htz/2160p. To get around this for benching, 30htz on the monitor solves this. If you are still getting the problem @30htz it means the problem is somewhere else.

 

[Agent Orange]

Hey Kaaps, I haven't tried any of your suggestions yet, because one thing I've noticed over the last few days is that if I leave the monitor on standby (that is, not turn the power off on the monitor) when I shut the PC down at night, it boots up fine every morning now!

So I think I've found my workaround that I'm ok with, so my wife can use the PC when I'm not home! But thanks heaps for your input and response...appreciate it mate!

 

[Agent Orange]

Grrr no this is not the case! Still got the same problem.

I changed the monitor to 'DP 1.1' mode = 30hz, but still have same problem. I also remember that I was using Catalyst 15.3 when I first got the monitor and it was still doing it then too.

I suppose the next step might be to look at the DP cable, but I bought it brand new with the monitor - not saying it's not the reason but it works fine otherwise, while in Windows, gaming etc - no problems.

I get the feeling it's something to do with power still going to the Displayport cable after the PC is shut down - with those PHASE LED's staying on on my motherboard. But I don't know!

 

[africanos23]

Update your motherboard bios

 

[Agent Orange]

Good thinking but it's on the latest revision - and it's Z68 so it won't be updated again I imagine. Also, I can't roll it back because this is the only version that allows for my Ivy Bridge CPU on Z68 mobo.

Might have to slog it out until I can look at CPU/mobo upgrade...with the minimal performance gains of late I was hoping to hold out on that even longer though!

 

[Phage]

I think corrupt BIOS. Boot loops are usually a symptom of this.
I'd try a re flash anyway.