Rpasma Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Hopefully the problem described below will be an obvious one you can help me with. Where I am at now: A brand new ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 MB with one Corsair CMX16GX3M2A1600C11 8 GB memory module, will start the BIOS setup menu, however fails to boot the Windows 7 64bit OS. The Windows 7 splash screen starts with the Windows title at the bottom of the screen. After several seconds four different colored dots appear and start a jerky circular movement. Before they get very far the OS shuts down and restarts the BIOS boot. Where I have been: A MSI 970A-G46 MB, two memory modules, and most of my current components was not recognizing a DVD drive and causing an occasional OS freeze, requiring a power or reset button push. Memtest86 did not indicate any problems with memory. Unplugging and exchanging components along with different cables did solve the problem As the MB seemed to be the problem the ASUS board was purchased figuring, even if I was wrong, a better MB would be gained. What has been done: The Asus MB BIOS was updated to Version 1903. To minimize memory problems only one of the 8gb memory modules in recommended DIMM Slot A2 was used. Doing this with each of the memory modules produced the same result. The Dram frequency was left at 1333 MHz and the DRAM timing was reduced to 11-11-11-32 with a voltage increase to of 1.5 volts (Factory recommended specification) with no effect. Observation: None of temperatures or voltages displayed by the BIOS menu after running for over 15 minutes showed any variance, or were excessive. The other stuff: CPU: AMD FX-8120 BIOS reported voltage 1.368v Power Supply: Antec 500W GPU: ASUS HD7770-DC- -V2 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB One 2 TB Hitachi and one 2 TB Western Digital SATA hard drives. Both have bootable copies of Windows 7 and both fail in the same manner described above. I am at a total loss as to what the problem might be or what to do at this point. Any comments or suggestions towards solving this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Rich Pasma:biggrin: Edit: This problem was also submitted to Asus tech support and placed on the Asus forum. A reply from Asus tech support is supposed to be given within 48 hours (Probably Business Day Hours). Once the problem is resolved, the solution or lack of one will be posted here. In the past both Asus and Corsair have given me excellent tech support. Asus would seem to be in a better position to answer this question since the Bios on this motherboard has a gazillion memory setting. Corsair’s staff would without a doubt understand all these memory settings, however, I wonder who else in the working, forget the consumer level, would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 I don't see anything there that would point to a memory issue since both sticks come up clean in memtest and neither one run individually makes any difference. I think you need to have that board replaced. With most AMD systems, you may need to set your DIMM voltage to 1.6v and see if that makes any difference. If that still fails to produce any sort of headway, just RMA your board. In the past both Asus and Corsair have given me excellent tech support. Asus would seem to be in a better position to answer this question since the Bios on this motherboard has a gazillion memory setting. Corsair’s staff would without a doubt understand all these memory settings, however, I wonder who else in the working, forget the consumer level, would. Most of those are actually more or less MB related and are best left on auto. Set the first 4 values and leave everything else on auto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rpasma Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 Hi Peanut94z, Thank you for taking the time to read through my last post and for your opinions and recommendations. I increased the DRAM voltage to 1.6v and still failed to boot Windows. Given my last system had problems and now with a brand new motherboard I still have problems makes me wonder if the problem might be somewhere other than the motherboard. I never thought the problem was with the memory, unless it was compatibility problem. I just wrote here because it is an excellent source for knowledge and experience. What I did not say earlier (who knows why) was the motherboard correctly read the timings for 1333 MHZ. What I had done was decreased the timings to those recommended for 1600 MHZ, with no improvement. Given the motherboard seems to do everything properly (Correct settings and stable voltages, and a Bios upgrade) except boot Windows, I wonder if it could be the CPU. Are CPU’s like light bulbs? They work or they don’t, there is no in-between. If it is a possibility I am sure Asus’s tech people will be pointing in that direction. The solution to this problem, once found, will be posted here. Thanks again for your time, and opinions. All the Best, Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Given the motherboard seems to do everything properly (Correct settings and stable voltages, and a Bios upgrade) except boot Windows, I wonder if it could be the CPU. Are CPU’s like light bulbs? They work or they don’t, there is no in-between. If it is a possibility I am sure Asus’s tech people will be pointing in that direction. Sure, it possible. Although CPU failure isn't quite as common as a bad board. But it does happen from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rpasma Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 Peanutz94, Asus's tech support came through on this one. The SATA ports on my MB have three settings. IDE, RAID and AHCI. The default is AHCI. Changing this to IDE allowed my computer to boot. Since my disc drives are less than two years old and 2 TB drives, I am surprised they do not work with the AHCI setting. There are still drivers to remove and install before I am finished, but all looks good for now. Thanks again for your assistance. You were correct in pointing out the problem was with the motherboard. All the Best, Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennonNZ Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Did you move the HDD from one computer to another? When you installed the original machine it would have been set to IDE Mode so windows disables the ACHI drivers so you cannot boot the machine when you try ACHI. There are ways to enable ACHI drivers (search the net) if you want to use ACHI but for a single drive is really makes no difference (leave it at IDE) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rpasma Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 LennonNz, Thank you for the comments. The OS system was originally installed with another MB. I do have two non-RAID 2 TB hard drives but the system appears to be running well. About all I was going to do was install drivers for the motherboard disc controller (if Asus has them on the installation disc) and retry the ACHI settings. Just a couple more notes. My motherboard has two banks of SATA ports 1-4 and 5 and 6. As far as I know there are not any settings you can change for the two eSATA ports. The motherboard manual mentions it may be necessary to temporarily change the SATA setting to IDE if installing Windows from a optical drive. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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