Hi Guys, Not have the best of times with computers at the moment, another annoying and hard to diagnose issue. My system doesn't seem to like cold boots, almost every time I attempt a cold boot the system posts (according to the LED debugger and event logs) but there is no display image. I have to press the power button which rather than giving a usual Windows (again according to the event logs) shutdown it doesn't shut down cleanly, akin to pulling out the power cable. EDIT 4th July 2015 - Turned out to be (rather comically) some sort of strange compatibility issue with the Asus X99 motherboard and the Asus GTX970 4GB Strix GPUs. Changed them for Gigabyte GTX970 Windforce models without changing anything else and I've not had any cold boot issues for over a month. The system when booted is perfectly stable, I've used it without issue in both gaming and general desktop usage for many hours without problem including demanding titles like GTA V and benchmarks like Heaven 4.0. Does anyone with experience of this sort of issue have any suggestions of things to try or likely culprits? I've not tried changing the BIOS power / energy saving settings, but if someone feels that tweaking those would make a difference I'm open to suggestions on specific options. Things to note: Running the latest BIOS Version Windows 8.1 is up to date Using the latest WHQL drivers for GPU, Chipset etc No overclocks on CPU or GPU above the factory clocks Ram running @ Stock (2133MHz) & Passes Memtest86+ Windows Power Settings set to High Performance BIOS has been reset many times and running @ near to optimised defaults as possible The system is stable under GPU load GPUs have been reseated Power Cables & Display Cables have been reseated Specifications Intel i7 5930K Corsair 16GB DDR4 (4x4GB) Asus X99 Deluxe Asus GTX970 4GB Strix x2 in SLi M.2 SSD Coolermaster V850 PSU (Seasonic OEM) Asus ROG Swift PG278Q Running 1440p @ 120Hz Thanks, Mark
Ive seen this once before and it was a silly one that was like it was booting to quick for the SSD, almost like it needed to wake up.. Try disabling fast boot in the bios and see what happens. On a normal boot it was fine. Also try disconnecting any usb devices just in case it a flakey USB port
Also if you have the RAM on XMP profile try turning it off.. Mem test isn't 1005 it some times passes it but it can still be a dodgy stick. One way to find out is the old one stick at a time trick
Thanks for the suggestions Jeff, I'm trying out the system with Fast Boot disabled at the moment. As for the RAM I'm not using the XMP profile otherwise it would be running at 2800MHz, wanted to pick the least stressful speed and timings setup to start with. So it is being run at stock settings using the lowest SPD profile. I agree that memtest86+ isn't fool proof, but my system doesn't have any of the other symptoms of a faulty RAM stick like BSODs. I will test the memory with Windows own memory tester and see what happens, but I'm fairly certain it is fine.
The Samsung SM951. Yup, secure boot is enabled by default as far as I'm aware. I also installed Windows 8.1 in UEFI mode.
That's what I've got, with Secure Boot enabled. I am, therefore, out of suggestions! (If you run the RAM above 2400 (I think) it ups the base clock to 125MHz, but you aren't, so that's a moot point. Sorry - I wish I could assist!)
No worries, appreciate the help regardless. I didn't have an issue with cold booting this morning after disabling fast boot last night, however that is just one cold boot. I'm fairly certain it will happen again, shall update the thread after I have a chance to do a bit more testing.
Let's Hope that is the problem. The reason I said about that was because W8 boots so quick I have seen it out run the HDD/SSD then just hang on a blank screen. Other Suggestions to rule out the SSD would be to install windows on another drive and test it that way. Even if you don't have one lob off a 40gb partition on a storage drive and put it on there to see what happens. It's possible your windows could be corrupted. As a long shot try reinstalling the bootloader with something like easy BDC . As a last resort, drop a grenade in the case. Fix the cover back on and run like mad.
Indeed, I'm hoping but not hopeful... lol! It is a clean install, so I would hope that it wouldn't be necessary but it was on my list. I do (at least at the moment) have a spare SSD, so that is an option. No storage drives though as I moved it all to a NAS a few years back. Thankfully these days Windows installs are nice and quick, so no waiting best part of an hour! Ah the good 'old days! At this stage with all the niggles I've had the grenade option is looking increasingly attractive I have to say.
I had something similar happen a while back, in the end pinned it down to the PSU not being Haswell C-something state compatible IIRC, swapped it out and all was fine with my Seasonic XP860. I even disabled the state but it made no difference which was odd, as it should have fixed it. Those pesky problems are the ones that want you to take a hammer to the PC or pull your hair out. All the best.
Well happened again this morning upon the first cold boot. System is definitely booting into Windows properly as I tested it with a Steam friend who sent me a message. I also noticed that the sticky notes I have were not in their usual place, they were pushed over to the middle like the computer was running in a much lower resolution. It did seem like they were happening less frequently with Fast Boot disabled but I guess it is just completely random. Thanks, unfortunately the V850 is Haswell compatible, but I guess it could still be a PSU issue as I've seen it mentioned as the cause. Still like you say these sort of problems are the worst, hard to diagnose and a pain in the rear. Going to try another shorter DisplayPort cable today as I've heard about issues with longer ones. If that doesn't work I'll swap the GPUs around and clear the BIOS with the battery again.
I've pulled one of my GTX970s and have been running the other on its own for a week or so now, got cold boot issues and nVidia driver crashes a few times. Switched to the other a couple of days ago, got a driver crash and this morning another cold boot issue. I've downgraded to 350.12 with DDU and so far no driver crashes but it hasn't solved the cold boot issue. Seems to indicate something else is the cause, motherboard maybe or the PSU. God I love computers! lol jinq-sea - As we are running the same board and SSD, I'm curious as to what PSU you are using and what other hardware we have in common.
Silly one, have you changed the CMOS battery, It could be that. It could explain the problem. I had 3 new mobos on the trot all with dead or dying batteries that caused me problems. All from the same shop. Other than that possible PSU or mobo problem as you say. It could explain the cold boot issues but not so much the driver crashes. As a shot to nothing thing, throw your windows disc in and tell it to do a repair. Nothing to loose but 15 mins of your time.
Shall pop it out and test it with the multimeter when I get a minute. Appreciate the suggestions regardless of the outcome as I'm running out of ideas.
This might sound silly but have you pulled the power on the monitor and plugged it back in when you get the cold boot issue? My Asus 4K monitor will on occasion not display anything even though the pc is booted, and all I have to do is pull the power on the monitor and plug it back in and then I get Windows being displayed.
I've not no, I have actually heard of that issue though. Next time it happens I'll give that a go, thanks!
One thing I have noticed is that it sometimes doesn't happen as often and it will depend on what Nvidia have done with the drivers I am running at that time, I cannot remember the last time though it didn't happen each boot or couple of boots but it was a while ago. With the latest drivers it happens almost every boot, or every 2 boots.
I thought you had nailed it but alas, no luck. Pulled the plug out, left it a minute, plugged it back in and still the "no source" notice. Also tried again right after just in case I didn't leave it out long enough, but both times I got the ROG logo up which seems to indicate a full reboot of the screen. Just noticed that the LED debugger states AA on a successful boot with display, but on that particular cold boot with no display it states 40. Which according to the manual is "System is waking up from the S4 sleep state". Strange thing is, this board has "ErP Ready" disabled as default. I've changed it to "Enabled (S4+S5)" in the hope that it will sort it. That being said that code might not show on every cold boot no display issue, but I'll keep an eye on it regardless from now on. Main issue with troubleshooting this is that the cold boot issue doesn't happen every cold boot, mostly on the mornings but not every time. So it'll take a least a week of successful boots at least to confirm its sorted.
