GA-890GPA-UD3H Cold boot problems

hadir

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May 31, 2010
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So, i have one strange problem going on with my new system i just built. Btw this is my 2nd one so im still somewhat a novice. So to basicly summarize whats been going on. If i cold boot my computer when its been off for more than 8 hours i have to hit the power button more than a few times for it to finally start up. When it does start up however it runs fine, posts and loads into the operating system. Although ive noticed sometimes that when im i go to hit the power button when its 70F in my room it starts up with the first push. When its colder like around 50f it will give me all kinds of problems, ranging from not even starting up to starting up and then turning right off.

Last night i decided to put my pc on sleep (S3) and enabled the bios to allow startup from using any key on the keyboard. So this morning i wake up and hit the keyboard...nothing happens. So i hit the power button a few times and finally it started up and then shut off almost immediatly. After going through this a few times i finally got to the bios, and before i could even touch anything it shut off again. I gave up at this point, and waited until 7pm later that day. Came over hit the power button once, and boom started right up no problems.

So i guess im wondering if anyone has any idea of where to start at since im completly lost.

btw my specs are:
Motherboard: GA-890GPA-UD3H
Processor: Phenom 2 555 black edition 3.2ghz
Memory: Corsair Dominator 8gb 1333 4x2
Hard Drive: Seagate 500gb
Hard Drive 2: Seagate 500gb
PSU: 750TX Corsair Power supply
Video Card: 5850 Sapphire toxic 1gb
Case: Antec 1200 Full Tower
 
Solution
I'd do a full CMOS reset before running it. after the flash; follow the procedure under ...to break a 'boot-loop', in the 'Boot Loops' section. Do you have access to a VOM/multi-meter? Can give you pointers on testing the front-panel power switch - but I can't imagine what could cause one to be flakey when cold? Might want to try firing it up by doint this (carefully, very carefully [:isamuelson:8] ):
power2.jpg

to see if it starts reliably then - just need to touch the pins momentarily...

devt333

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May 25, 2010
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I would try to start it with button wires disconnected, just shorting the [+power-] pins with a screwdriver. You'll know it's a button if you have no problems this way.

After that, swap for a different power supply... see how that goes.

Also, check front panel connector pins and 24x power connector (see that wires aren't coming out of their sockets. Fiddle them a bit)

I've heard Corsairs have strangely made power connectors that not always contact right.
 

hadir

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May 31, 2010
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Thanks for the help devt, i tried your first test with starting the computer up from the motherboard, and it did the same. But before i tried to swap the power supply i turned the power off and checked to make sure everything was seated correctly and nothing was loose. Funny thing is yesterday i started getting a no hpa boot error, which made me think of one of my hard drives.

So i checked my hwmonitor and guess what the one hard drive wasn't even showing. After looking closely one of the power connectors was loosly on and it wasn't all the way in. When i turned the power on the supply back on the computer didn't do one of its start up real fast and turn off, which i didn't think was how it was supposed to work. Hit the power button and everything started right up like a champ.

So in your response to Corsairs strangely made power connectors, im going to say that was right. Ill give you guys an update if i have anymore problems.
 

hadir

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May 31, 2010
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Checked, everything looked fine. So far ive only had one strange occurance where i loaded up Empire tw and maxed out the graphics to test some benchmarks. Upon doing so withing 20 mins the program decided to close along with whatever else i had open and then shut down my computer as if i had hit the shut down button. Was quite strange. Ive tried to recreating what happened and have yet to do so.

It could have been Mcafee which kept telling me to restart my computer. So now ive dropped Mcafee and picked up AVG, no problems as of yet.
 

bilbat

Splendid
If Empire is multi-player, you may have been victim of a 'buffer-overrun' exploit; the problem with MPGs is that most AV packages have a 'gaming mode', where traffic is not scanned at all, in the interest of connection speed; unfortunately, the hackers are well aware of this, and have several possible exploits to take advantage of it. I always tell Intel-based gamers to be sure to keep 'no-execute' protection enabled while gaming (which is still not 100% safe...), but I don't believe the AMD CPUs support that...
 

hadir

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May 31, 2010
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Empire TW is a multi-player game and a single player. I was testing it in Single player mode.

And it seems like my troubles have returned. Came home and hit the power button and nothing happened. Waited 5 sec. hit it again and it started up. When it came up it gave me a Main Bios Checksum Error... then rebooted and loaded into windows. Now from reading around on the forums that can mean multiple things from being bad ram to being a bad battery. I think the battery would be fine since i just built the system not even a month ago. Going to check the memory with a mem test. I also looked on the gigabyte forums and there has been some problems with the 2nd ram slot on my board, that has caused some faulty loads.

Anyways ill keep you guys up to date and thanks for the suggestions.
 

bilbat

Splendid
New case? Old case? What kind of climate are you in? Rare I see a problem where it works warm but not cold - usually the other way around, and mostly, then, the problem is actually humidity, which just happens to follow the temperature up! As for the wierdness issues (CMOS, shutdown) this'll sound strange, but, what do you have in the way of USBs plugged in - GBs are notoriously finicky about certain USB devices - can read about it in the 'sticky', under USB Woes, half-way down... Batteries are often suspected, but seldom guilty - unless there's an actual short somewhere, the life of a CMOS battery in use, is aproximately the 'shelf-life' of the fresh one in the package - it is a cheap substitution, as 'computer junque' goes, though!
 

hadir

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May 31, 2010
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Brand new case, basicly new everything. Room temperature for the most part 50F-75F. Yea i read your post earlier when i started building the computer, and thought about the usb loop idea. However only usb's ive got on right now is my keyboard, mouse, and headset. All of which i have unplugged. Today i did update the bios using the q-flash not the @bios. lol. So once again ive got to wait a while and turn it on to see if the problem is solved.
 

bilbat

Splendid
I'd do a full CMOS reset before running it. after the flash; follow the procedure under ...to break a 'boot-loop', in the 'Boot Loops' section. Do you have access to a VOM/multi-meter? Can give you pointers on testing the front-panel power switch - but I can't imagine what could cause one to be flakey when cold? Might want to try firing it up by doint this (carefully, very carefully [:isamuelson:8] ):
power2.jpg

to see if it starts reliably then - just need to touch the pins momentarily...
 
Solution
G

Guest

Guest
I had a some of the same problems you did. Power button worked immediately one day but not the next until it had to be pressed dozens of times to hopefully turn on. Yesterday is stopped booting at all, if it did power on it could not even post, tried reseting CMOS (took out the CMOS battery and unplugged the power supply, waited 2 hours aka watched a movie), tried another power supply and still no go. Tried using a screwdriver to start up the machine nothing, reseated all my memory and still no go. Ended up replacing the motherboard and everything works fine, so might just be a bad motherboard like mine. I only had mine a week or so before I ran into this problem.
 

hadir

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May 31, 2010
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Well after playing around with the motherboard i found something really odd. The power switch that attachs to the motherboard had the + & - reversed then what they should of been. After switching it and putting it back on in the motherboard i havn't had an issue yet. Kind of funny huh? Anyways thanks for the help bilbat, your solution to testing the motherboard via screwdriver eventually led me to the right solution.
 

bilbat

Splendid
I kind of hate to be the one to tell you this, but someone will, anyway... There is actually no 'polarity' to the power switch connection: no plus, no minus. The switch itself is almost exactly as pictured above - it's a pair of contacts with a little metal bar attached to the 'button-shaped' business end - the only difference from the picture is that the little spring which holds the bar away from the contacts is not shown. If you think about it - using a screwdriver blade proves this - there is certainly no 'directional' or 'polarized' connection happening, then!

As for what fixed it? EEeekk! Dunno! Only thing I can think of, possibly (maybe someone can check me here, and I'll find out for sure tomorrow, as a new board is coming in for a build), is that I'm offhandedly thinking the the 'power' contact on the board is a 'low true' signal - meaning it gets connected to ground by the switch contact. If one side of the power switch connection is shorted to ground, it would 'look' to the board like the power switch was being continuously depressed - which won't work - it's also the 'turn me off' signal! If it remains working the way you'd expect, this is something you can ignore - if you'd like to troubleshoot further, just to rule this out, and have access to a meter, I can instruct...

Have fun with the new toy!

Bill