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Bizzare boot loop

Ivan Grozny

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2019
Messages
6
Hi,
I have a very bizzare boot loop problem and it's driving me crazy. It started when I replaced an old GPU with a new one, and then dissapeared when I reversed back to the old one.
Let me start at the beggining. My initial old setup was this:
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68AP-D3
CPU: Intel i5-2400, 3.10GHz, 4 cores
GPU: XFX RADEON HD 6870 1Gb
RAM: 4 x 4 Gb Corsair vengance
HDD: WD500
SSD: Samsung 860 EVO
PSU: CHIEFTEC GPS-550A
Monitor: U2412M

Because I couldn't play any newer games, I wanted to breathe some new life into this PC before it got completely outdated. So I got a Sapphire RX 570 4Gb dual pulse and replased the old XFX HD 6870. I did a by-the-book instalation: removed the old driver with DDU, and installed the up-to-date new one for the new GPU. So, everything was working fine for 2 days, and then this problem started happening: I turn on my PC once a day and let it run until the evening when I shut it down. Every 2 or 3 or 4 times I would turn it on, and then a couple of seconds after the first beep and into the first pre-windows screen (I don't know what's it called, it's the screen during which you can get into the BIOS), it would shut down, and then stay that way for 3 or 4 seconds, then turn on again, and then repeat everything. It would keep boot looping forever (probably), but then I shut down the PSU and wait for half a minute and turn it on again. This would resolve the boot loop most of the time, but sometimes I had to repeat it a few times to get past the point of shutdown.
But here's the crazy part: when it would successfuly pass that point of rebooting, the PC would be working just fine. Perfect, that is. I even did a stress test on the GPU, and it worked perfectly. So, there were no issues past that point.
But, sometimes the problem would occure after extended time in sleep mode, but not always.
So, here's what I tried to do, at first:
  • tested all the RAM sticks and slots – all were good
  • checked all of the power connections – all were good
  • blew the dust off, tho there wasn't much of it
  • removed the BIOS battery
  • updated BIOS to the newest version
All of this didn't resolve the issue. So my conclusion at the time was that it was the PSU. So I replaced it with a brand new Corsair VS550. Still no luck. My final thought was that the GPU was faulty, so I returned it to the store. A month later the e-mailed me that I can chose to have my money back or that they could send another GPU of my choosing. So now I chose XFX RX 570 RS 8GB XXX Edition.
After I installed it, guess what? The same problem started happening again. So I'm out of ideas.
The bottom line is, the problem is kind of random, but statisticaly it happens every 3 to 4 boot ups.
Also, in my opinion, there shouldn't be any reason for a RX 580 not to work with my PC.
Please help.
 

KaptCrunch

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 23, 2008
Messages
4,382
Location
Ontario
USING same slot, Try another PCIe slot. Remove all storage and optical drives(x-rom) only keep boot windoze drive . Report back
 

KaptCrunch

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 23, 2008
Messages
4,382
Location
Ontario
Hope you used the correct bios, for are 2 versions of your MB model.
LOOK on MB for printed model name, look for Rev.x.xx near there or lower left on MB ( tower setup ). Did you use gigabyte update app to flash bios
 
Last edited:

sswilson

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
24,652
Location
Moncton NB
Is the hard drive just storage (can it be removed without mucking up your OS boot) ? The randomness makes me think it might be a power draw on boot issue... there used to be a setting in bios' that allowed you to delay hard drive boot by a second or more... maybe check to see if you've got that kind of setting and if so set it to hold off HDD boot for 3 seconds?

You're not going to like my other suggestion which would be to try a fresh install of windows.... :)
 

Ivan Grozny

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2019
Messages
6
Hope you used the correct bios, for are 2 versions of your MB model.
LOOK on MB for printed model name, look for Rev.x.xx near there or lower left on MB ( tower setup ). Did you use gigabyte update app to flash bios
I did it through the BIOS itself, it went smoothly. It was a F7, as it says it improved power on issue...

BIOS.jpg
 

KaptCrunch

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 23, 2008
Messages
4,382
Location
Ontario
Sorry I messed up ment revision of Mb not version like F7 bios. Reason revision is different hardware with same model name and has it bios written for that Rev: x.xx of MB with the different chips. Cause done this mistake before and had to flash correct bios matching MB Rev, was getting shut downs playing games.
Fixed after correct bios flashed
 

Ivan Grozny

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2019
Messages
6
Mine is rev 1.0, so i had the right BIOS update. Didn't do the latest F8 version, tho. But I was looking into a way to install UEFI BIOS on this mobo. There is a possibility that without it, newer GPUs can't work perfectly with old motherboards. Any thoughts?

Is the hard drive just storage (can it be removed without mucking up your OS boot) ? The randomness makes me think it might be a power draw on boot issue... there used to be a setting in bios' that allowed you to delay hard drive boot by a second or more... maybe check to see if you've got that kind of setting and if so set it to hold off HDD boot for 3 seconds?

You're not going to like my other suggestion which would be to try a fresh install of windows.... :)
I'll try that, thx. HDD is just storage at this moment. And also, I installed fresh win 7, but off course, that didn't do any good...

USING same slot, Try another PCIe slot. Remove all storage and optical drives(x-rom) only keep boot windoze drive . Report back
I tried the other PCIe slot before, no change. I'll try with removing drives this weekend (hopefully).
 

Ivan Grozny

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2019
Messages
6
Mine is rev 1.0, so i had the right BIOS update. Didn't do the latest F8 version, tho. But I was looking into a way to install UEFI BIOS on this mobo. There is a possibility that without it, newer GPUs can't work perfectly with old motherboards. Any thoughts?


I'll try that, thx. HDD is just storage at this moment. And also, I installed fresh win 7, but off course, that didn't do any good...


I tried the other PCIe slot before, no change. I'll try with removing drives this weekend (hopefully).
USING same slot, Try another PCIe slot. Remove all storage and optical drives(x-rom) only keep boot windoze drive . Report back

I finally removed HDD and optical drive, but the result was the same...
So I'm still confused....
 

MvSlainXVII

Active member
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
Messages
29
May be that your VRM of the motherboard are failing? might be the best case. Did you do overclocking on the graphics card? But since you have cleared the CMOS settings might be not due to overclocking.
 

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