Glitchy problem; I'm beyond aggravated.

C

ceffalo

New Member
Hello, I am ceffalo and I'm new here. Thanks for any participation in my threads. I am a computer novice when it comes to building PCs and have just built the first one.


Ok, my problem is not significant. I don't think.


I have a system running an EVGA X58 LGA 1366 motherboard, a Corsair HX750W power supply, an i7 930 class chip, a WD Caviar Black 500 GB HDD, and an XFX Radeon Video Card.


So, here's what's happening:

From a cold start the system will power up but not boot up. Now, and I think this is important information, when I power down and then immediately power up within 30 seconds the system then will boot properly every time. Every single time. So, any ideas what's happening?
 
Which video card? 5770, 5850? we need a model number.

At the moment it appears to be the motherboard/bios. I would try clearing the CMOS (if you are overclocked this will reset that as well) and seeing what happens.
 
Yeah, try resetting the CMOS first, or if that doesn't work, try re-installing/re-seating all the RAM, video card, sound card, etc...
 
linkin said:
Which video card? 5770, 5850? we need a model number.

At the moment it appears to be the motherboard/bios. I would try clearing the CMOS (if you are overclocked this will reset that as well) and seeing what happens.
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It's a 5770.



I've cleared CMOS more than once and it seems to have no affect on what's happening.


One person I talk to thinks it might be the CMOS battery. I'm not sure why it would work on a 2nd start up, though. That's the funny thing about it. Every single time on he 2nd start up it will boot. If hasn't failed to do so yet.
 
ceffalo said:
One person I talk to thinks it might be the CMOS battery. I'm not sure why it would work on a 2nd start up, though. That's the funny thing about it. Every single time on he 2nd start up it will boot. If hasn't failed to do so yet.
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This is just wild speculation here, as I'm not sure on nitty gritty details of CMOS batteries, but maybe the first time you try to turn it on, it won't boot because the battery is dead, but in its attempt to start, the battery is charged just enough to power on the rig and then stay on. Over the course of the next 30 seconds it dissipates this accumulated charge unless you turn it on? That's more or less a wild guess though, however, checking to see if your motherboard settings are saved between power cycles would be a good way to check if your battery is dead or not.
 
Do you have to reset the system clock every time you start up the computer? If you don't then the batteries fine...
 
DCIScouts said:
Do you have to reset the system clock every time you start up the computer? If you don't then the batteries fine...
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No, I don't, which led me to conclude that the battery is fine.

I looked into the system a little earlier and all the wires and cables are connected fine. I did reseat the RAM but that changed nothing.


I honestly think this is a miscommunication in the system of some kind. I've seen a testimony that the system might not read the hard drive properly if it doesn't spin up quickly enough, and other than a cold start the system will boot fine. So, I dunno...


I'm basically lost at this point, and to be honest it's probably not a major problem. But, it nags at me because I don't know for sure.
 
I don't know what this would prove, but after turning it on the first time, feel next to the CPU heatsink and feel if it's actually heating up.
 
ScottALot said:
I don't know what this would prove, but after turning it on the first time, feel next to the CPU heatsink and feel if it's actually heating up.
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1. With the CPU fan I have this is an impractical approach.

2. I am just as likely to make the mistake and actually touch an item with current running throught it, so this approach is out.



I'm thinking of just letting it go and not worrying about it, but as I said this is a problem nagging at because I don't know if it's a sign of a bigger problem. With all I've observed so far I'm inclined to believe it's not.




One thing I can report is that sometimes from a cold start it seems like the fans spin up really fast. The power supply doesn't have any selection toggle for going from 110 to 220 volts, or back, so I wonder if whatever tech inside it might get confused over how much power to throw out on the cold start.

The thing is that if that's the problem then it's the most consistent power problem I've ever seen. But, this is all pure guess work and my power supply is one of the highest rated in the business, so far as I've read.
 
I think you'd be blowing stuff up at 220 so I wouldn't worry too much about that. You say it doesn't boot, but if you leave it running for more that a second does it send a signal to your display? or just power and running but wont go further than that?
 
ceffalo said:
1. With the CPU fan I have this is an impractical approach.

2. I am just as likely to make the mistake and actually touch an item with current running throught it, so this approach is out.
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You're not going to break anything by just putting your hand around the heatsink... anywhere towards the back of the case is fine.
 
ScottALot said:
You're not going to break anything by just putting your hand around the heatsink... anywhere towards the back of the case is fine.
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I'll check it tomorrow.


Windows 7 just crashed on me, but I got it back up. I'm not sure what happened, but it's got me wondering if my hard drive might be bad.
 
Now it's sounding like hard drive issues. Have you tried plugging it into a different SATA port on your mobo?
 
ScottALot said:
Now it's sounding like hard drive issues. Have you tried plugging it into a different SATA port on your mobo?
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Yeah, I've changed it out with the SATA from the DVD twice now. The DVD, currently in SATA 1, works perfect. No problem there. The Hard Drive is currently in SATA 0. I've got like six SATA connections on the mobo.

One thing to note is that the day I built this system I did fumble the hard drive. I didn't drop it, but I did have to catch it and it wasn't a particularly soft catch. There's also the fact that the drive was an OEM packaged drive and that it wasn't secured in it's packaging all that nicely. I purchased most of my parts from Tiger Direct; in fact, all but the power supply came from there.

Also, my anti-virus program is showing signs of imminent failure, too. It keeps giving me warnings even though it was installed with full updates just a week ago.
 
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