Computer has POST issues after long shutdown

[Drakstyr]

The title only allows me so much to work with, so I'll clarify here:

After overclocking my system to a stable 2.8 Ghz (400x7), I'll run all the tests to make sure that it can handle it.. then when I shut it down for the night and power it back up the next morning, it will not POST. I have to manually reset the CMOS using the 2-pin jumper on the motherboard.

Here are as many specs as I can possibly imagine needed:

MB: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (revision 1)
BIOS: F14 (Latest that I know of)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
RAM: 4 GB Kingston PC2-6400 (2x2GB sticks)
RAM Frequency: 800 (2:2)
CPU Bus speed: 400 (100-700 is range, iirc)
Multi: x7 (6-8 is range)
GPU: PowerColor ATI Radeon 4870 512 MB (Stock)
Vcore: 1.25v (normal is 1.325v)
All other volts: Normal
PSU: Corsair VX550w (fairly new, few months out of the box.. readings seem fine on multimeter)
Case: CM Storm Sniper
Extras: Sound Blaster Audigy, USB External Maxtor HDD (500GB), Canon 3:1 Printer, Copier/Scanner, Fax Machine
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX2


I've poured over as much documentation as I can find, considering the case is tough to google out. Many things point to disabling the Legacy USB Storage support on the BIOS, as that can tend to mess with your settings when booting up. I did that, no help (I even unplugged it altogether). It's hard for me to justify changing any of the OC settings, considering it runs stable through OCCT and p95 without an issue. The reason why I dropped the voltage so much, is because it runs fairly hot with it so high.. and I don't see a reason why it needs to be up there, considering how stable it runs where it's at. I've played with trying to get 3.0 Ghz, but that's another issue altogether. I'm content with 2.8, but I'm baffled as to why it's not holding it. A reboot is fine.. even 30 minutes of chill time. But longer than that and it just won't POST. What am I missing?

 

[Batou1986]

maybe a bad cmos battery

 

[Drakstyr]

That would be.. annoying, to say the least.

Here's what happened today when I booted it up.

Powered on, paused 2 seconds, powered off.
Powered on, paused 4 seconds, powered off.
Third time it powered on, then just stayed at a black screen. That's when I reset the BIOS.

Now, the problem is that today we had a black out. I had the machine hooked into a UPS, but it wasn't on.. so it was surge protected, but I don't think anything was (or should have been) affected.

If it's a bad CMOS battery.. wouldn't it just revert to normal settings and be able to boot?

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Bundy]

I understand your reasons for dropping vcore but are you saying the problems have occured since then? If so, why not look for a compromise voltage somewhere between too hot and not enough?

 

[Drakstyr]

I think I figured it out. Gigabyte has 3 different revisions for this motherboard, of which I was sure I picked the right one when I flashed it..

I think that may be the issue here.

EDIT: Gigabyte ends up having 1.0, 1.3, 2.0, 3.3 - of which the 1.0 and 1.3 are on different pages entirely. I know that if I try the wrong BIOS update, it'll tell me it's the wrong size.. so I'm /fairly/ certain that I did the right BIOS update.

Bundy: That's what I'm trying now. I went back to stock, to see if it helps.. the problem is that the machine needs to be off for a while to produce the symptoms.. makes it -really- hard to diagnose.

 

[stevednmc]

I had similar issues with my gigabyte board. If you turn off the power supply and cycle the power switch a couple times its almost as good as a dead cold boot, helped me solve the problem faster.
Did you say you had your voltages on normal? i would manually set them all to the stock voltages that are displayed on the bios when in set to normal or auto. But do them one at a time, save the bios and go back in and repeat. Worked well for me as well as making sure the bios is updated. Alot of this came from Bundys helping me through it as well. So far i have made 3.51Gz on my q9650 on stock volts (1.25)

 

[Drakstyr]

I had similar issues with my gigabyte board. If you turn off the power supply and cycle the power switch a couple times its almost as good as a dead cold boot, helped me solve the problem faster.

I'll have to give that a shot... I had set all the voltages at normal -except- Vcore, which was 1.25 - .75 lower than stock. I've upped that back up and I'm going to see what happens with that.. thanks for the tip, I'm going to do that now and see what happens.

EDIT: If what you say is true, then it seems to be fine at stock volts. I power cycled the PSU a few times, then booted it up off the bat, all the settings the same. We'll have to see what happens tonight, but so far, so good.

EDIT2: After getting back into windows, the machine ended up rebooting. I'm just plain baffled. I've run this machine stable on both p95 and OCCT.. but now that I go back to stock, it ends up messing up? Back to the drawing/voltage board...

 

[Drakstyr]

So I let it sit overnight.. booted it up this morning and it started showing the same signs. But after the first reboot, it came on.. hurray! Wait.. the BIOS reset itself. Well.. before it wouldn't even get in, so I guess that's a good sign? Either way, it didn't hold the settings.

 

[Bundy]

All isn't lost. When you changed vcore the last time, the system behaved differently. Same as the time before. i'd try more bumping up vcore, a notch at a time until this goes away. You have already proven that at 1.36v that the problem does not occur.

Have you altered the NB volts at all? 400Mhz might be bit fast for stock volts. If when you are trying to find a stable vcore and it seems you are needing too much, shifting the NB volts up a bit is often the cure.

Like stevednmc said too, only change one thing at a time in BIOS, reboot after every frequency or voltage adjustment.

 

[Drakstyr]

I bumped the Vcore up to 1.375, the DDR up .3 and the MCH up .1 - mind you, some of these changes were implemented beforehand. The biggest issue is the time needed to test it out, as the cold booting process that steve recommended doesn't seem to replicate it completely.

 

[kid41212003]

I have similar problems, usually happen when the weather is under 60F.
The 1st POST never successful, but the 2nd POST (boot) is fine. Sometime, it reports the system can't access data on my raid array, but then it's fine after the system is warming up.

It have something to do with the mobo being too cold or something

 

[stevednmc]

Hmm, how many times do you cycle the power switch? it takes a few cycles, and you may even need to unplug it from the wall. Other than that, i would have to agree with Bundy. Reset every thing to manual stock and go one at a time, even if its a small adjustment, saving the bios and getting back in seems to do the trick with gigabytes.

 

[Drakstyr]

Hmm, how many times do you cycle the power switch? it takes a few cycles, and you may even need to unplug it from the wall. Other than that, i would have to agree with Bundy. Reset every thing to manual stock and go one at a time, even if its a small adjustment, saving the bios and getting back in seems to do the trick with gigabytes.

Quite a few times, but I never unplugged it... I can try that afterwards. Was there a certain amount of time you waited between the cycling, or leaving it unplugged?

 

[stevednmc]

nope, i just cycled it several times after turning off the psu and unplugging it

 

[Drakstyr]

Alright.. I unplugged the cord, power cycled the switch a few times, let it boot up. It seems fine.. even acted like a normal boot up for the day. So far, so good. I'll have to wait until I go to sleep tomorrow morning to really play with it.

 

[Bundy]

Will be interested to hear how you go.

 

[stevednmc]

As will I.

 

[Drakstyr]

It's stable now, completely. I made a mistake and upped too many different settings at once, so it's going to be hard to tell which one actually did it. I think I ended up getting too frustrated with the machine and just wanted it to work. The volts right now are as follows:

DDR2: +.3V (2.1V)
(G)MCH: +.1V
CPU: 1.33125V (+.00625 over stock)

Not too much more, but enough to make it run too hot in stress tests. I did, however, do some hefty LAN gaming last night that helped put the machine through the normal rigors to make sure that it would be okay. But I did not heed the advice of changing one setting at a time, so now comes the reverse.. figuring out which setting actually fixed it. I have a feeling it ended up being the MCH, so I'm slowly dropping the Vcore back down to stock (hopefully).

 

[stevednmc]

glad to hear it! thats what i would do, see how low you can run that voltage and be stable. You should fill out your computer specs so we can see them too, make it easier to help ya out, plus you wont have to type out specs on your threads