Hey all,

My new rig is having some problems, such as lengthy POST times, usually during cold starts. Warm re-starts usually are unaffected, there was one instance where it was a bit slow but then jumped into POST. Basically, from hitting the power button it takes anywhere from 1-5 minutes for my computer to actually POST. I've tried a plethora of things, such as re-seating the RAM, and re-attaching the HDD and CDROM drive with different cables.

My specs are:

Core 2 Duo E6400
Asus P5NSLI Motherboard
1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2-667 RAM
GeForce 6800XT PCI-E Graphics Card
Western Digital Raptor 74GB HDD
Plextor CD-RW Drive

The CD-RW Drive and the HDD are from my last PC and work perfectly. The RAM has been tested with Memtest86+ for many hours, and no errors were found. Thus far, the computer has worked perfectly after booting. There have been issues with freezing or hanging and Windows has yet to crash, even while playing games/running 3dMark05. I've messed around in BIOS but there may be some options I've not touched yet. Anyone have any idea what I'm missing?

EDIT: Also, on boot-up after it finds my IDE drives and SATA drives, it reads "CPU or Memory settings have been changed! Please re-enter them in BIOS!" Usually, I just hit continue and proceed to boot and it works fine. All the settings for my CPU and RAM are set to auto in BIOS.

What PSU do you have? A link would be great!

What is os?Has this been a prob since first boot?If not what happened or changed since last time you used flawlessly,if known.Not trying to pry but have you built other succesful pc's.
ill do some research on mobo

Sounds like you have a bad CMOS battery too. I also would like to know what PSU you have..

I'm using a generic 350W PSU from CompUSA (where I work). I had to get my hands on a cheap PSU to test components after my previous failed (It was a generic 400W). Is it possible that the 400W (which worked previous to this build) failed because of this new build's load? I know it operated about 4 hours before giving out (while the system was off, apparently) and I had slow POST times with that one as well. Is it possible that 350W and 400W simply aren't enough for my system? Would this cause POST to take longer?

For Mr. Gasket, I'm using Windows XP Professional. I've been having these issues since first boot with this new rig, didn't have them with the old one with CD-RW and HDD in it. This my third build and I've yet to experience anything like this.

AND my CMOS battery has a fingerprint on it, even though I bought the motherboard new and I've yet to touch the battery, nor has anyone in my family.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
SCOTTY I NEED MORE POWER!!!!!
hehe ill be back let me go pry in my bios

I'm new to sata but have read quite a bit. one thing i see is your hard drive is sataI/1.5 but your mobo is sataII/3.0.
Iknow that sata is backwards compatable(a 1.5 mobo can step down a 3.0 hd)BUT not sure if your 3.0 mobo likes your 1.5 hd(did that make sense? :? . Appearently it will accept it but may be slowin it down?ANY SATA GURU STEP IN NOW . This just look funky to me. If I had an IDE I'd try it.Just remember I'm dumb so this may be wrong

I think this supports my theory.States warm boot(restart) skips post to speed up.
ms support
please let me know if this helps.
Goodluck

Thanks Gasket, but I'm already aware of how cold/warm boots work, and the like. Right now I'm just trying to understand why I keep getting a message telling me that my computer is in safe mode and that I need to enter BIOS and re-enter CPU and memory timings during POST. I have a feeling that this is what is causing the long boot-up, the system is using values that may or may not be correct, or something similar. Any other input?

I'm scratchin my head on this one bud.
Things I THINK I know:
1. NOT software issue since POST happens on mobo.
2.I would go with better psu a good name brand.Gotta love a lot of good clean power .
3. Man i swear that sataI hd on that sataII mobo is throwin a redflag.Like I said Iam new to sata but I'd try a IDE hd.It would be a quick test!
MAN I've googled my eyes out. 8O YUP GONNA POP
Elsewise let me sleep on it.But just know that this will F-up my sleep.
Ill get back to you.

Bump. Could definitely use some help. Does anyone know what the continual "Computer is in safe mode! Please enter BIOS and re-adjust CPU or Memory settings. Press F1 to continue boot, DEL to enter setup." Means? I have settings set to auto, so maybe corrupted SPD in the RAM? It's Ballistix RAM, so maybe I should set it to its overclocked settings?

That sounds like the BIOS battery is bad or the Clear BIOS jumper is set at the wrong location.

try all the different jumper settings on your hard drives and dvd drives restarting after each one, worth a try if you get desperate.

His hard drive wont have any jumpers its SATA. The does not sound like an IDE problem either.

Like I said before, sounds like a faulty CMOS battery.

Ok never had bad cmos battery so cant say one way or the other.however i would think that would be one of the eaysest things to check.Looking at pic on newegg for your mobo looks like you got a lithuim ion between pci and sata.got a volt meter. BUT like i said never had to do this. If he does this he will only have to reset clock correct.Here is a link may know all this but it may help someone.
cmos bat. 101
good luck

His hard drive wont have any jumpers its SATA. The does not sound like an IDE problem either.

Like I said before, sounds like a faulty CMOS battery.

My WD2500KS has jumpers and it's SATA II

Some SATA drives do have jumpers to change between 1.5gb/s and 3.0gb/s. It is needed as older sata1.5gb/s motherboards won't recognize the 3.0gb/s so they have to be changed.

Check your CMOS jumpers on the motherboard. Go ahead and replace the battery on the motherboard. If you're using a SATA 1.5 on a SATA 3, there are no jumpers, to my knowledge. The motherboard should be able to automatically fix the SATA thing. However, if it were a SATA II hard drive on a SATA 1 motherboard, then you'd have to put a jumper in on the hard drive.

Try these things. If all else fails, it's the motherboard

I've had a similar problem with a couple of AMD Asus motherboards where POST took a while and it kept dropping the CPU settings. In one case it was a bad battery and the second it was the BIOS reset jumper being set to the 'reset' position.

Here is an isolation step: If you turn off the power and unplug the system for a minute -- then plug it back in and turn it on, does the BIOS lose the date and time?

If so you might have gotten a motherboard with a bugged BIOS, or one in which the BIOS jumper is on the reset location which will result in the BIOS resetting everytime you cold-boot the system.

Just a thought.

My thoughts exactly...if not the battery or the jumper in the wrong position...then the BIOS itself might be buggered up. Usually issues like this are BIOS related.

Do you have the latest BIOS version? Did you flash the BIOS when building this? If not, flash to the latest BIOS as it may offer some updates for your hardware.

Good luck!