New Build Slow POST Time

[toxicpeashooter]

Hi,

Thanks for reading. I just completed a new build here are the specs:

Mobo: MSI B150 Gaming M3
CPU: Intel i5 6600K (stock settings)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T2
RAM: GEIL EVO Potenza 16 Gb (8x2) DD4 2400 MHz (stock)
SSD: Sandisk Ultra II 480 Gb
HDD: WD 1TB 7200RPM
GPU: Zotac GTX 1060 Mini 3Gb (stock)
PSU: Corsair CXM 550W
Case: Zalman Z1 Neo (Comes with 3 120mm case fans)
Windows 10 Home
Displays: 2 x Samsung U28D590D (4K)

I'm having issues with very slow POST times (pre BIOS) screen, it can take almost 2 minutes or more to even get to the BIOS screen. It loads the OS from the SSD in 20-30 seconds after that which I think is a normal time. I only have my keyboard, mouse and display plugged in on startup. Keyboard and Mouse are on the recommended ports according to the Mobo manual.

I've played around with my BIOS settings, disabling everything I thought was not necessary(Legacy USB, Parallel I/O, HPET, Legacy USB support, etc). I verified the Boot order lists Windows Bootloader on my SSD first. I haven't changed any components from stock settings. I've also enabled MSI Fast Boost and GoToBios, disabled full screen BIOS splash and yet nothing has changed. After all this I have reset the BIOS settings to default inside my BIOS and have done a clean install of windows and before loading any drivers that windows doesn't load or find on it's own the POST time is still two minutes or more.

Looking at the MOBO debug LED lights I can see that the CPU light is on for 1 sec, DRAM for 1 sec and then a minute or more of no lights followed by the VGA light being on for 45 seconds - 1 min approximately.

When building the PC I made the mistake of putting a bit too much thermal paste on. I realized my mistake before ever powering it on and I cleaned of the excess from my cpu and cooler but a very tiny amount slipped onto the socket. I spent hours cleaning it with q-tips and (90%) rubbing alcohol and then left it overnight. Could this be related to my very slow POST / Boot times?

Thanks again for reading and any ideas you can come up with. I used to frequent this site years ago, but I'm just getting back into the game so consider me noob-ish.

 

[Durvelle27]

Hi,

Thanks for reading. I just completed a new build here are the specs:

Mobo: MSI B150 Gaming M3
CPU: Intel i5 6600K (stock settings)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T2
RAM: GEIL EVO Potenza 16 Gb (8x2) DD4 2400 MHz (stock)
SSD: Sandisk Ultra II 480 Gb
HDD: WD 1TB 7200RPM
GPU: Zotac GTX 1060 Mini 3Gb (stock)
PSU: Corsair CXM 550W
Case: Zalman Z1 Neo (Comes with 3 120mm case fans)
Windows 10 Home
Displays: 2 x Samsung U28D590D (4K)

I'm having issues with very slow POST times (pre BIOS) screen, it can take almost 2 minutes or more to even get to the BIOS screen. It loads the OS from the SSD in 20-30 seconds after that which I think is a normal time. I only have my keyboard, mouse and display plugged in on startup. Keyboard and Mouse are on the recommended ports according to the Mobo manual.

I've played around with my BIOS settings, disabling everything I thought was not necessary(Legacy USB, Parallel I/O, HPET, Legacy USB support, etc). I verified the Boot order lists Windows Bootloader on my SSD first. I haven't changed any components from stock settings. I've also enabled MSI Fast Boost and GoToBios, disabled full screen BIOS splash and yet nothing has changed. After all this I have reset the BIOS settings to default inside my BIOS and have done a clean install of windows and before loading any drivers that windows doesn't load or find on it's own the POST time is still two minutes or more.

Looking at the MOBO debug LED lights I can see that the CPU light is on for 1 sec, DRAM for 1 sec and then a minute or more of no lights followed by the VGA light being on for 45 seconds - 1 min approximately.

When building the PC I made the mistake of putting a bit too much thermal paste on. I realized my mistake before ever powering it on and I cleaned of the excess from my cpu and cooler but a very tiny amount slipped onto the socket. I spent hours cleaning it with q-tips and (90%) rubbing alcohol and then left it overnight. Could this be related to my very slow POST / Boot times?

Thanks again for reading and any ideas you can come up with. I used to frequent this site years ago, but I'm just getting back into the game so consider me noob-ish.

Maybe a hardware check

 

[Jetster]

Try it with no Hard drives, no keyboard or mouse. One stick mem

It should go right to bios. Then add on thing at a time to see whats causing it to hang

Fill this out : https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/account/specs

Just some advice: Always bench test a build before you build it. Just CPU one stick mem and monitor

 

[toxicpeashooter]

Try it with no Hard drives, no keyboard or mouse. One stick mem

It should go right to bios. Then add on thing at a time to see whats causing it to hang

Fill this out : https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/account/specs

Just some advice: Always bench test a build before you build it. Just CPU one stick mem and monitor

Thanks, I've started to do that. I thought it may be an issue with the GPU due to the long time in between the DRAM light turning off and the VGA light turning on. Though since the NVIDIA drivers are already on my computer when I uninstalled the GPU and plugged my monitor into the onboard HDMI I couldnt see anything on my display.
I'm going to start doing this, but should I leave my GPU in while I remove everything else except one stick of RAM? Also I read online that it's preferred to put RAM in slots 1 and 3 through my MOBO manual says 2 and 4. It actually has a warning to always put RAM in slot 2 first, should I try one and 3, what's the risk?

 

[slozomby]

generally i find hard drives cause slow posts most of the time. its normally the 1st thing checked after ram. after disks is usb stuffs.

 

[JunkBear]

Make sure its AHCI selected in thé bios.

 

[toxicpeashooter]

Make sure its AHCI selected in thé bios.

AHCI is the default and is selected, thanks.

 

[toxicpeashooter]

Try it with no Hard drives, no keyboard or mouse. One stick mem

It should go right to bios. Then add on thing at a time to see whats causing it to hang

Fill this out : https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/account/specs

Just some advice: Always bench test a build before you build it. Just CPU one stick mem and monitor

Just did this albeit I left the power cables to the drives plugged in due to not wanting to deal with cable management right now. With just my CPU, GPU and one stick of mem it posted almost the exact same boot time if not worse, I tried 3 times. I'm going to uninstall the NVIDIA drivers and uninstall the GPU.

 

[Toothless]

I'm questioning the 4k monitors on a 3GB 1060.

 

[Aquinus]

I'm questioning the 4k monitors on a 3GB 1060.

I doubt that's why the machine is POSTing slowly but, I guess I could be wrong if it's taking the GPU a long time to initialize.

 

[toxicpeashooter]

I'm questioning the 4k monitors on a 3GB 1060.

Only one of them is plugged in and while I like gaming it's not my #1 priority. They were just a really good price.

 

[Jetster]

Motherboard

Unfortunately you need to take it out of the case and confirm

 

[toxicpeashooter]

Motherboard

Unfortunately you need to take it out of the case and confirm

Just ordered a Gigabyte Z170 GA-Z170-HD3. With a clean install of windows, no drivers since I removed the LAN cable, no HDD, no USB devices, no GPU I'm still getting terrible post times of 2-3 minutes. Hoping to solve this and return the MSI to Amazon.