Possible mobo issue?

ViperZS · 9 Nov 2010 at 13:43

Hi all.

I have had my current set up for almost 4 years now. Gigabyte P35-DS3R with a stock Q6600, 6gb 1066mhz and a nVidia 8800GTX.

It's all been running fine until recently.

When I have gone to start it up it will freeze on the first bios screen. It will always freeze BEFORE it shows the RAM information. I have to reset the computer numerous times before it will boot properly. When it does finally boot it runs with no issues.

The newest thing it is doing is freezing like I have mentioned above but then it will boot past the bios to the "Starting Windows" screen, then it will BSOD and go back and freeze at the bios again :mad:

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Orcvader · 9 Nov 2010 at 13:59

Try and see if you can get a memtest done, so we could rule out the RAM. Test each mem stick one at a time.
Also could try a CMOS reset, or replacing the CMOS battery, it could help.

ViperZS · 9 Nov 2010 at 14:16

Can memtest be run from the PC after it is booted or does it have to boot onto memtest from USB?

If it's the latter I can see it being a very tedious process.

Orcvader · 9 Nov 2010 at 14:27

You need to run it off a USB or a disk. Could be a pain though seeing if you have BIOS problems, so I would try the CMOS reset/battery first.

ViperZS · 9 Nov 2010 at 16:31

I can't get it to boot from the USB

I downloaded memtest 4.0 and unzipped it to my USB stick and selected USB from the bios list and it doesn't do it.

Any ideas? :S

1Day · 9 Nov 2010 at 17:48

Have a check and see if you have a faulty keyboard or mouse. IF they are perfect have a look see if there are any other USB type devises attached to the PC.

Soundly like the system if failing the first round of diagnostics.

A good idea would be to pull the plug of the PSU and remove the battery of the motherboard - then clear the CMOS. Let the system stand for an hour or so and put all together again.

If it was a corrupted CMOS then that will sort that particular error out.

ViperZS · 10 Nov 2010 at 12:33

I have just done the CMOS reset and it seems to be booting well so far.

I will still test the RAM if I manage to get it to boot memtest.

Thanks for your help Orcvader and 1Day!

1Day · 10 Nov 2010 at 18:40

Sweet mate - happy to have helped.

ViperZS · 11 Nov 2010 at 14:38

Unfortunate update to this.

I had the exact same issue this morning

1Day · 11 Nov 2010 at 14:49

Time to start being a good boy and hope that Santa is really generous I think.

Might be worth your while to update your BIOS. Please do not use the Windows bios update tool. Yes it will most probably work but most of the problems I get with bricked motherboards are from a failed update that was tried in Windows. Even if you are current just redo it. Your system sounds like a messed up BIOS. Oh and think about changing the battery for your CMOS.

Cheers