Booting issues after upgrading PC

B

boukebuffel

New Member
Hello everyone,

I seem to have run into some problems after upgrading my PC. I upgraded the mobo, processor, vid card, RAM and added a SSD. I kept my previous PSU, since it was supposed to be a good one and I think it has enough power for the upgrades (I think). I also kept the audio card and the computer casing.

Here are the specs:

Intel Core i5-3570k 3400Mhz
MSI Z77A-G43 Motherboard
8gb d3 Vengeance RAM 999-1600Mhz
XFX 1GB Radeon HD6870
OCZ 180gb Agility 3 SSD
old PSU: Corsair HX 620W

The problem I am having is that when the computer boots, the first thing that appears is a black screen, with a _ in the topleft corner, and in the bottomright corner it first shows B4 and after a few seconds A2. This screen stays on for about a minute and it takes about 10 minutes for windows to - try to - start.

One thing to be aware of is that the PSU has a 4-pin CPU cable, while my motherboard has an 8-pin connector. I have read that it's ok to just use the 4-pin into the 8-pin, but still, maybe that - or insuficient power - could be the underlying problem?


I have been trying to solve this problem for about 2 weeks now, searching google and, well, basically approaching things amateuristically because I don't know what I'm doing :D

I will now write the things I have tried.

At first I tried to start it with my old Hard Drive connected. Windows couldn't start, but that was anticipated. It booted fine atleast, so I was happy. I then hooked up my SSD to try and install Windows from the CD. That's when the error I mentioned first appeared.
I learned that the problem might be a faulty SATA cable, so I switched it, and voila, problem fixed. For 2 days I installed programs and installed windows upgrades, but at some point, out of nowhere, it booted really slow, and even if I waited 5-6 minutes for it to boot, Windows said it needed repairing, which also failed.
I then read about USB devices such as keyboards and mice could cause issues. Removed both, and voila, problem fixed. I put it in sleep mode after a while and boom, blue screen of death.

Finally I proceeded to mess around with the SATA cables and devices, and at some point I got my computer to work again by only connecting my SSD with a yellow SATA cable, in a yellow SATA port in the motherboard. My system ran perfectly for about 4 days. I booted many times and played some games etc. So, after semi-confirming that my system was now stable, I tried to see if I could start adding STA devices again. I first wanted to use the SATA-3 cable for my SSD and connect it in the white SATA 3 port in my mobo. Didn't work. But even worse, even after changing things (only the SSD disk connected with yellow SATA cable) back to where they were in the previous 4 days, my system shows the same black screen again.

I hope someone can help me fix my system, because this problem defies my logic :P
 
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Have you tried reinstalling windows on your old HDD without the SSD installed? I've seen a few people have similar issues with a defective SSD. If its just the SSD giving you problems you could try upgrading it's firmware to see if that helps, otherwise you'd have to RMA.

Have you changed anything in the BIOS? If so reset back to defaults though the BIOS screen or by removing the CMOS battery for about 15 seconds.

One other thing you could try is disconnecting your power supply from the outlet, holding the power for 15 seconds, removing all your RAM (remember to ground yourself by touching the case), holding the power button for another 15 seconds, then reinstalling everything and powering on.
If there is any static/power stuck on the board it could cause intermittent issues.

On that note you could also double check to make sure you have all the motherboard's standoffs properly in place and that the back of the motherboard is in no way touching the case, which would cause a short. (I think this would be a stretch in your situation, but its worth taking a glance)

I'm by no means a professional here, but I thought I'd throw out some suggestions since no one else has yet.
 
Hello Quickpaw, thanks for answering!

I checked the standoffs, that wasn't it.

Connecting my old HDD instead of the SSD did work :) I have installed windows and am now running upgrades and installing devices and stuff. It seems to be running stable again.

Asuming my system stays stable, is it possible there are more problems than just my SDD? Or that some other underlying problem is causing connection problems with the SSD? It just seems odd to me that I had no problems at all for 4 days. Hmm, one other thing I didn't mention, is that I haven't mounted the SSD.. It just sits in my computer case freely, because I couldn't attach it to anything. Maybe that could cause the irregularity of the problem I had?

Also, I didn't try the 15 seconds-power on-Ram removal etc idea. What was that supposed to test? If it's still useful, I could still try it maybe.

Thank you for your time so far:)
 
Thank you Benny Boy,

if I remember correctly, after I changed one white SATA cable with the other white SATA cable I had, I booted from CD, formatted the SSD, and then installed Windows 7 on it without any difficulties.
 
I have now installed windows 7 on my old HDD, plugged in my SSD and updating the firmware on the SSD. This wasn't possible before since I was booting from the SSD. Fingers crossed :)
 
This is weird. The Firmware update tool said I already had the lastest firmware version. Maybe it installed the new firmware automatically (as I booted from the old HDD, windows automatically installed the SSD). Anyways, I can now boot again from the SSD, but I have no way of knowing it is stable, and I cannot risk loosing half a day of work if the computer suddenly decides to crash again, so I'm wondering:

Could the problem have been that I installed windows on the unupgraded SSD, thus preventing it from upgrading the firmware later on, as I was using the SSD as booting device? Specifically, could that cause the booting process to run into problems within the first 2-3 seconds of booting?
 
boukebuffel said:
Could the problem have been that I installed windows on the unupgraded SSD, thus preventing it from upgrading the firmware later on, as I was using the SSD as booting device? Specifically, could that cause the booting process to run into problems within the first 2-3 seconds of booting?
Click to expand...
It's possible but doesn't sound likely. Sounds like the FW was up-to-date.
Maybe the install is corrupt and that's why it has/had problems booting.
Could boot from the SSD sometimes till your comfortable it's stable.
Or reinstall os now using a specific setup procedure.
 
Is your HDD install still running alright?
Try doing a reinstall on the SSD using the same port on the motherboard that your HDD is currently plugged into.
If your problem comes back, that should be an indication of where the issue lies.
 
Hmpf, I just found out it's not stable. It has the booting problem again, even though I didn't change a thing. Changing the bootpriority in BIOS to my HDD didn't fix the problem btw, I had to remove the SATA cable to my SSD. Also, I don't know if I already mentioned this, but the BIOS menu itself is incredibly slow and laggy aswell, taking 5 seconds for each command to 'land'.

Benny Boy said:

Or reinstall os now using a specific setup procedure.
Click to expand...


Yeah I'm gonna try reinstalling it from my HDD tonight. Would need to find some guide on how to do it properly. Did you have any specifics in mind when you said a 'specific procedure'?

Try doing a reinstall on the SSD using the same port on the motherboard that your HDD is currently plugged into.
Click to expand...

I could try that, but I have a question about that. At some point I would like to install the SSD on the white SATA 3 port, assuming that that is actually faster than plugging it into a yellow SATA 2 port. Is that assumption correct? If it really doesn't matter, I could just install it in the yellow SATA 2 port to test if that fixes things, and then keep it there if it's fixed. If it does matter, even one bit, do I have your permission to install it on the white SATA port? haha
 
Disconnect all hard drives and cd drom drives and then access bios to see if still slow. Basically only have attached mouse, keyboard, 1 stick of memory, video card, remove any addon pci cards. Then try accessing bios and see if speed is faster. We need to determine if this is a hardware issue. I would also suggest updating bios if there is one available.
 
I tried installing it 'properly' now, using this guide: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

First time I tried it, it went well untill it started being really slow with formatting, basically being stuck at 95%. I tried to repeat the process with the sata connector plugged in the same port that my HDD used, but it's still got the slowness problem. Interestingly enough, it doesn't boot slow, and the BIOS menu isn't slow. But when I start to format, it just gets retardedly slow (15 minutes per percent)

I am truely at a loss now:eek:
 
Oh, forgive me, I did not see your reply JohnB.

I tested this before (though I probably didn't mention it) and I am now running without the vid card, sound card. To be sure, I tested it again now, with only the RAM cards installed, and it's very fast; no problems.

The BIOS is also up to date
 
Yeah I guess so... I have taken it up with OCZ on their forums now, as the problem seems to be the OCZ SSD.

If they come up with some solution, I will share the information with you here

Thanks for the help :)
 
I have stumbled into something quite peculiar now :D

I have successfully reinstalled Windows 7 and installed all the updates. All in all I think the system ran fine for about 20 boots (1 day). This time, when I inserted the vid card and audio card, it became slow again.

BUT! I noticed something odd. I have some ventilators in my computer case. They aren't attached to the motherboard, and don't switch on automatically. As soon as I switch them on, the computer starts acting normal again, but only when I switch the vents on during bootup. If I let it boot slowly (5 mins) and wait for windows to start before I switch the vents on, the comp will stay very slow.

A heat problem seems plausible, as I opted for the :eek:stock CPU cooler:eek: this time... However, how does one explain that it only effects my computer pre-windows?
 
I have no clue whats going on, may have to take it in to a computer shop and have them diagnose whats going on.
 
johnb35 said:
I have no clue whats going on, may have to take it in to a computer shop and have them diagnose whats going on.
Click to expand...

Seconded, thats a strange situation you've got going. I wouldn't blame the stock cooler unless you're overclocking. It could be many different issues.

I'd take it to a shop to have it diagnosed with hardware testing or start RMA'ing parts if possible.
 
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