Question System Hangs at PCI Device Listing ?

[stabgotham]

Not sure if this topic belongs here or not.

I went and booted up my PC tonight and while it was going through its normal process, the system seemed to hang at the PCI Device Listing screen (this is before Windows loads). Usually my PC blows through this screen so fast I can't read anything on it, but tonight and on 5 reboots, it's hung at this screen for around 20 seconds.

I've opened her up and confirmed all plugs are secure and all components are sitting snugly. Nothing odd inside her. Not really sure what to think or do here. Any ideas?

Lian-Li PC61
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 3700+ San Diego
eVGA 7800GT
1GB Corsair DDR
WD Carviar 300gb SATA 3.0gb/s
Creative X-Fi Xtrememusic
Samsung 17" 740N Monitor

 

[Flying-Q]

Hi stabgotham,

You said the machine hangs at the PCI screen for 20 seconds. Does it then continue into windows as usual?

If it does then go into device manager and see if there are any anomalies, if not then I'm guessing it tries and then reboots - Yes or no?

Assuming windows eventually boots and nothing is showing in device manager then next step would be to strip down the machine to the bare minimum to boot - M/B, CPU, one stick of RAM, and the GPU. Add back one item at a time and see if this isolates your problem (remember to swap RAM as well). If you are using integrated peripherals then disable them in BIOS for the same effect.

Another possibility is that this could just be a driver error in your windows setup. Some of windows' drivers are loaded before the screen is refreshed from the PCI load screen you describe. Try booting with F8 pressed to get into safe mode. This will show all the basic drivers being loaded and if there is a pause at or near the beginning of that routine then there is a possible item to investigate. Bear in mind that it will pause after the last driver before refreshing into the safe-mode desktop.

On second thoughts try the safe mode first as that could pinpoint you problem before you strip down the machine.

Tell us how you got on and more info if you don't get the problem straight away.

Good Luck

Q

 

[stabgotham]

Well I think I may have solved my problem but discovered another. I checked my BIOS and found that I had my DVD burner as my 1st priority boot. My system was hanging because I had a disc in the drive so it was checking it to see if it needed to boot from it. I removed it from the priority list and made my HD my 1st priority and it fixed it.

Per your instructions I checked my device manager for any problems. I have 2. Multimedia Audio Controller and Unknown show up with the yellow flag. Through some googling I found out that the Unknown pertains to the AI Booster driver for my motherboard. I downloaded and installed the AI Booster software and it fixed that.

I also found out that the Multimedia Audio Controller pertains to the drivers for my onboard audio. I have an X-Fi plugged into my PCI slot. So do I still install the onboard audio drivers or just leave it be?

 

[mike99]

If you are not using the onboard sound, disable it in the BIOS, or you could mark it as disabled in Device Manager.

Mike.