My PC won't start until I remove and reinsert my RAM or turn off PSU after shutdown then turn it on.

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aashish227

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Oct 6, 2017
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After a lot of troubleshooting I have came from computer beeping continuosly (25-30 times before stopping and starting again) and not booting up TO booting up after inserting RAM again TO booting up after turning PSU off and then back on.
Tried changing ram slots and cleaning them nothing helped still have to turn PSU off and back on for it to start up or beeps after beeps after beeps and no display.

Tested ram and it's fine

I can live with that routine of turning off PSU but I don't like it and want to rectify the problem.

Using genuine Windows 10 64bit

Specs are
Gigabyte Mobo B85m-d3h
8GB ADATA RAM
i5 4th gen 4440
GTX 600ti windforce
1TB WD HDD
Cooler master Thunder 600W

Its 2 years and 9 months old system I assembled myself.
No new devices nothing.

My next step of action is resetting windows 10 from its inbuilt reset feature.
Or should I upgrade to creator's upgrade to see if that might solve the issue.

If both of these don't work I might try windows 7 once before checking with another Mobo.

Anything else I should keep in mind?
I think it's a windows issue not Mobo or RAM.

Update:
Right now I can't start pc by turning off PSU and back on neither removing and reattaching RAM.

Any help?
 
Solution
I've been having the exact same problem with my Gigabyte z97x Gaming 5 motherboard for about 2 years now. Right down to the "fix" of removing and replacing a stick of ram.
When I get past the bios everything was always perfect, until a reboot, or a restart, or a cold boot was required, especially cold boots. The problem seemed to get worse and more frequent over time, and the motherboard would never hold a bios for long, always reverting to the backup bios every chance it got.
The people at Gigabyte said they'd never heard of the issue even though "Gigabyte cold boot issue" is on just about every computer forum!
I think either their bios chips are just crap, or else there's some static\leak that corrupts the bios every time a startup...

Colif

Win 11 Master
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See if resetting cmos gets PC to start this time.

Do you have the latest BIOS?

It sounds to me like one of your drivers does not like Windows 10 new power options. If you can get PC to start, I would turn off fast startup - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-turn-off-fast-startup-windows-10-a.html

There is a new version of windows 10 due out next week, so I would wait and update to it rather than getting the 1st creators edition now. Save updating twice.
 

aashish227

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Have latest BIOS.
Reset CMOS

Just not able to start it now like I could before.
By removing RAM or turning off PSU.

Else I had just Install windows 7 and see if that issue persists.

Even removed all power cables and let it sit a while. And then tried.
Still only repeated beeps.
 

aashish227

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Tried a different RAM
still can't start it like I could before by reinserting Ram Or turning PSU off and then on.
At this point I am thinking PSU or Motherboard is at fault.

Which one could it be, how do I check for It.
Also could CPU be at fault too?
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
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is it revision 1 or 2 of motherboard? Your motherboard has dual bios, if you tell me which revision you have we might be able to try boot off 2nd bios.

have you tried bare minimum parts? so only 1 ram and running off onboard gpu?

its hard to say what cause is with it not starting at all. It could be PSU as well given what you have to do to start it.

it could be your motherboard as well given you say it was beeping a lot. Beeps are bios codes in most cases.
 

aashish227

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It's revision 1.1 of B85M D3H
How to boot in 2nd BIOS?

I did Remove power cables for GPU but didn't remove GPU itself from Mobo.
It's just repeated short beeps for 10-15 seconds then it turns off and then back on itself and Same goes on again.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
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on some Gigabyte motherboards there is a way to pick which bios to boot from, yours isn't one of them. How dual bios works is if PC finds it cannot boot from bios number 1, the PC should restart and during the time it is off, copy the 2nd bios over top of 1st one and boot from it. The PC never boots from bios 2, its just a bavkup

can you see the pattern of beeps you get here?

AWARD BIOS
1short beep :System normal
2 short beep :CMOS Error
1 long beep and 1 short beep:Memory error
1 long beep and 2 short beep:Graphic card error
1 long beep and 3 short beep :AGP error
1 long beep and 9 short beep :Memory Error Continuous long beep :Memory not correctly installed
Continuous short beep :Power supply unit failed

AMI BIOS
1 short beep :Memory Error
2 short beep:Memory parity check error.
3 short beep :basic memory 64K address check error
4 short beep :Real Time Clock malfunction .
5 short beep :CPU error
6 short beep:Keyboard error
7 short beep :CPU interruption error
8 short beep:Graphic card error
9 short beep :Memory error
10 short beep :CMOS error
11 short beep :CPU cache memory malfunction
https://www.gigabyte.com/Support/FAQ/816
 

aashish227

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From what I have counted it is 24+ beeps then it turns off and on again.
I will do a recording and send u soon.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
I think you need to contact Gigabyte and see what they have to say.

24 doesn't seem to match any of the codes, since its double the longest above. From what i can tell you have an AMI bios, it mentions it in your manual. Longest code is 11, no where near 24
 

aashish227

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Oct 6, 2017
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For anyone who may read this thread and wonders what was the issue.

Did contact gigabyte and they sent me list of beep codes for my board
List had nothing similar to the beeps I was getting.

Well motherboard had died
Replaced it and everything is fine.

According to the guy who I gave it to for repair/check display chip had died
I just replaced the motherboard as he suggested due to heavy use it might just not hold up more than 20-25 days.
 

gijoe50000

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May 27, 2013
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I've been having the exact same problem with my Gigabyte z97x Gaming 5 motherboard for about 2 years now. Right down to the "fix" of removing and replacing a stick of ram.
When I get past the bios everything was always perfect, until a reboot, or a restart, or a cold boot was required, especially cold boots. The problem seemed to get worse and more frequent over time, and the motherboard would never hold a bios for long, always reverting to the backup bios every chance it got.
The people at Gigabyte said they'd never heard of the issue even though "Gigabyte cold boot issue" is on just about every computer forum!
I think either their bios chips are just crap, or else there's some static\leak that corrupts the bios every time a startup occurs.
I never get beep codes though, it never gets that far.. when I get anything it's one beep, and that means I got a successful boot. Could just be that it's a different part of the bios that's failing.

 
Solution

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
the backup bios never runs the PC, its just for emergencies and its only purpose is to flash the backup bios over the corrupted one at startup if it finds it won't boot. Some Dualbios set ups have a switch you can toggle to choose which bios it uses

What is DualBIOS™?
Motherboards that support DualBIOS have two BIOS onboard, a main BIOS and a backup BIOS. Normally, the system works on the main BIOS. However, if the main BIOS is corrupted or damaged, the backup BIOS will take over on the next system boot and copy the BIOS file to the main BIOS to ensure normal system operation. For the sake of system safety, users cannot update the backup BIOS manually.

that is from page 81 of your manual, pretty sure you can use the BIOS flash utility to update the backup bios as well. Pointless being stuck with the original bios on backup chip

Which version BIOS are you on? Newest is F7 from 18 Sept 2015

Have you tried replacing CMOS battery?
 

gijoe50000

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May 27, 2013
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Yea, I know how the dual bios works alright, I even at some stage, flashed my main bios to the backup bios but I can't remember how I did it. I did mess up a bit though, I flashed it with the voltage too low, like 1.1v on the cpu, and whenever it reverts to the backup bios it bluescreens when it gets to the desktop and I have to go back in and set the voltage again!(I was trying to make a backup bios, with preset voltages and options set, and save time whenever the bios reverted, duh!)
This is a particular pain, since the bios might finally catch, and I get a system boot, and get to windows.. then it bluescreens and I have to start all over again! :-( Basically after the backup bios loads into the main chip, there's always one profile called "4.4 working" (obviously I made this) which just won't go away!

Initially the board came with the F5 bios on both chips, I updated the backup bios to F6. I also flashed the main bios with the F7 a few times, but as I said above it never, sticks. I even tried the F8(a?) from a Gigabyte rep, but it still reverted after a few cold boots (maybe one). So I don't think it's a software issue, but who knows.

Battery is fine. I'm using it in my AM3+ board now with an FX8350 (along with the rest of the old system) and all is good so it's not a psu, gpu etc issue. I'm looking around for another z97 board on ebay, etc, at the moment, and also trying to see if there's a way to get the other board sorted. Don't feel like splashing out €200 on a new z97, or losing my overclocking abilities by getting a cheap h81.

It's a pain swapping around the boards though since it's a watercooled system.. a bit of a Frankenstein build.. So I want to be sure before I rip it apart again. I can swap boards without draining the loop though, but it's awkward..

Usually clearing the CMOS does nothing for it. The board even went through a phase of not clearing the CMOS unless the battery was removed. I wonder if it's like some weird energy residual that doesn't go away until removing a stick of ram "breaks" the circuit. Like a cap that's not discharging correctly or something.. Or a dodgy ground somewhere.

 
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