New build has issues booting

[Gav86]

Hi guys, just found this place, hopefully you can help with my annoying issues!

Built a new PC in the week. Specs are:
MSI Z77A-G43, Intel Z77 Motherboard
Intel Core i5 3570K,1155, Ivy Bridge CPU
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 RAM
60GB OCZ Technology Vertex (used for Windows 7)
1TB Seagate Barracuda (used for data, music, games etc)
500W Silverstone SST-ST50F-ES Power Supply
1GB XFX Radeon HD 7850

Got Windows installed the other night, no problems. Went through and installed all the drivers etc, and everything was fine. Tested Steam, iTunes, all good. Shut it down for the night.

The next day, it wouldnt boot to Windows. It would get (at most) as far as the Windows Loading splash screen, then reset itself. It would get to a different point in booting every time, but always rebooted itself. Eventually got it to Windows. Installed updates, checked drivers etc. It would reboot on command and load back up, 100% fine. Thought i had solved it.

The next day, same thing. Tried taking USB keyboard and mouse out, and this didnt help. Well, it would reboot three more times, then would boot into Windows again fine without them plugged in. Again, changed drivers, updated things. PC would reboot when i told it to and load up again with no problems. Turning it on an hour later was also fine.

This morning. Reboot loop again. Sometimes getting as far as desktop for a split second, then rebooting. So i formatted the SSD, reinstalled Windows, reinstalled all the drivers and again, everything was up to date and would reboot on command. Even boot up an hour later.
I went out 4 hours ago, just got in and it wouldnt turn on again. Rebooted 6 or 7 times, and then finally let me in. Im typing this post on the PC now.
The annoying thing is, i can make changes, but wouldnt know if it made any difference unless i turned the machine off for a good few hours.

Does anyone have any ideas?
Many thanks!

 

[x BlueRobot]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219533-troubleshooting-windows-7-failure-boot.html

Hope this helps,

Harry

 

[edwar]

Sounds like a faulty PSU. It just isn't supplying enough power until it warms up, which takes several reboots, works fine after it is warm and for some period of time after it gets warmed up.

Test by replacing it with another. I know who has multiple PSUs sitting around.

 

[Gav86]

I've been through a lot of the things in that list already, with no joy.

The PSU answer sounds like it could be a possibility. As i say, its fine an hour or so after shutting down, but any longer and it takes a few boots, which would match what you say about needing to get more power.

I'll need to find another PSU from somewhere to test it!

 

[gregrocker]

Make sure you also followed the Best Practices for Win7 install as given in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which are same for retail. If you are handling drivers the same as for XP then it is not correct.

Try wiping the HD with Diskpart Clean Command before next reinstall to clear any bad boot code.

 

[Gav86]

Make sure you also followed the Best Practices for Win7 install as given in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which are same for retail. If you are handling drivers the same as for XP then it is not correct.

Try wiping the HD with Diskpart Clean Command before next reinstall to clear any bad boot code.

Thats useful, thankyou. I have found a spare (smaller) PSU which i will try in the next day or two - if there are enough connectors! But if that doesnt work, i will follow this to the letter.
I wasnt far off doing this anyway, with the only drivers i manually installed being the ATI GPU drivers and one from the MOBO disc.

 

[gregrocker]

Did you wait to see which GPU and mobo drivers Win7 wanted you to use via optional Updates after enabling Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware ?

If you have the full chipset installed by the installer and subsequent Updates then I'd run with that for awhile to see if using the drivers Win7 wants helps.

Of course you want to supply a GPU driver if you're left with only Standard VGA, but otherwise I'd also run with what Win7 gives first.

 

[Gav86]

Did you wait to see which GPU and mobo drivers Win7 wanted you to use via optional Updates after enabling Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware ?

If you have the full chipset installed by the installer and subsequent Updates then I'd run with that for awhile to see if using the drivers Win7 wants helps.

Of course you want to supply a GPU driver if you're left with only Standard VGA, but otherwise I'd also run with what Win7 gives first.

I didn't, to be honest, no. There were a number of exclamation marks in device manager which the mobo driver disc sorted. And it was Standard VGA to start with, but I correctly installed the ATI drivers.

Would it even boot at all though if there were problems with these drivers? When it does finally fully boot, it works flawlessly. And i can restart the machine with no issues.

Apologies if this is all basic stuff, its been a good 5+ years since my last PC build.

 

[Layback Bear]

You power supply is at the bare minimum watts and amps for you video care.
Your P/S is 500W and 34 amps and the video card requires 30 amps minimum.
You would be working a Silverstone way to hard. I doubt it can handle the job.
I would recommend a Corsair or Seasonic 750 W or higher.

 

[Gav86]

You power supply is at the bare minimum watts and amps for you video care.
Your card is 500W and 34 amps and the video card requires 30 amps minimum.
You would be working a Silverstone way to hard. I doubt it can handle the job.
I would recommend a Corsair or Seasonic 750 W or higher.

Interesting. Yeah, a bigger PSU might be the solution.

 

[gregrocker]

Did you wait to see which GPU and mobo drivers Win7 wanted you to use via optional Updates after enabling Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware ?

If you have the full chipset installed by the installer and subsequent Updates then I'd run with that for awhile to see if using the drivers Win7 wants helps.

Of course you want to supply a GPU driver if you're left with only Standard VGA, but otherwise I'd also run with what Win7 gives first.

I didn't, to be honest, no. There were a number of exclamation marks in device manager which the mobo driver disc sorted. And it was Standard VGA to start with, but I correctly installed the ATI drivers.

Would it even boot at all though if there were problems with these drivers? When it does finally fully boot, it works flawlessly. And i can restart the machine with no issues.

Apologies if this is all basic stuff, its been a good 5+ years since my last PC build.

It is actually new in Win7 where MS has made such an investment in getting the drivers into the installer and via optional Windows Updates that it often pays for building them itself under WHQL so it has them first, and manufacturers won't hold out.

So the recommended procedure is to do all of your Important and optional Windows Updates first after enabling Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware, and only then import any missing in Device Manager. You can then test performance to see if you need different drivers, and you will know if the issue is present with the baseline drivers Win7 wants.

There are exceptions with the GPU since Standard VGA is only meant to be a placeholder driver except for the oldest hardware.

I would pursue the Power Supply issue Layback brought up equally since it is a good possibility.

 

[Gav86]

Many thanks for the replies guys. I will look into another PSU tomorrow.

Please, excuse my ignorance, though, but i have another question (just trying to understand all of this!). If the PSU was having issues powering the computer/GPU upon boot,would it not have issues doing something more intensive? I've just tried some Team Fortress 2 and it ran super smooth with everything on high. No GPU issues or reboots.

 

[Layback Bear]

I understand the confusion. My major point is when you work a power supply at its upper end and your have a middle of the road power supply at best it's cause for concern. When you work a power supply at it upper end it creates a lot of extra heat.
Many time when a power supply goes bad it sometimes damages other thing motherboard, video card and can destroy your computer. In your cheaper power supplies expansion and contraction due to varying heat can cause it to work different at different temperatures. They put that thick case around a power supply for a reason. When they blow its like a little bomb. I had one blow about 4 months ago. What made it blow I have no idea but it did blow the tops off of every capacitor in it.

 

[edwar]

Please, excuse my ignorance, though, but i have another question (just trying to understand all of this!). If the PSU was having issues powering the computer/GPU upon boot,would it not have issues doing something more intensive? I've just tried some Team Fortress 2 and it ran super smooth with everything on high. No GPU issues or reboots.

Maybe but if the PSU had some poor solder joints they would not pass, conduct, current very well when cold/cool and make a better connection when it gets warmer.

Most all components will draw the same amount of power whether sitting idle or doing something. Actually there are no parts in a computer that sit idle. HDD are always spinning, CPU, GPU and RAM are always drawing power. They get hotter when you put a load on them but they won't draw much more power under that load. It's not like a Power saw that is binding up or a car going up a steep hill.

 

[Gav86]

Ok, so i have put in a new PSU (also larger, at 750W).

It booted to Windows straight away, then after about 15 seconds reset itself.
It rebooted straight into Windows again and so far no issues.

So. Its better. But it still did it the first time!

EDIT: Wow. Not 30 seconds after i posted this, it turned off. Ugh. Back to square one.

 

[Gav86]

Event viewer posted this at the time of both crashes this evening:

- System

- Provider

[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
[ Guid] {331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}

EventID 41

Version 2

Level 1

Task 63

Opcode 0

Keywords 0x8000000000000002

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2012-10-15T16:51:23.389201500Z

EventRecordID 4675

Correlation

- Execution

[ ProcessID] 4
[ ThreadID] 8

Channel System

Computer Gav-PC

- Security

[ UserID] S-1-5-18


- EventData

BugcheckCode 0
BugcheckParameter1 0x0
BugcheckParameter2 0x0
BugcheckParameter3 0x0
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0

I Googled the error and found this:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f299/solved-kernel-power-41-63-error-434613.html
I have 2 Audio Drivers here, so have disabled one. Will this stay disabled at all times or restart itself when i reboot?

So i will see how this goes when i turn the machine on tomorrow morning!

Edit: Sorry to keep posting. Event viewer is showing error 3221225485 - Kernel-EventTracing fairly often. Im not sure what to do about this. If anything?

 

[edwar]

Ok, so i have put in a new PSU (also larger, at 750W).

It booted to Windows straight away, then after about 15 seconds reset itself.
It rebooted straight into Windows again and so far no issues.

So. Its better. But it still did it the first time!

EDIT: Wow. Not 30 seconds after i posted this, it turned off. Ugh. Back to square one.

Not really square one as it wasn't Doing that before? Was it?

Do a Clean install of the OS.

 

[Layback Bear]

Can you post the site showing the power supply you selected?

 

[Gav86]

I can do yeah. I dont think thats the problem though.

It has taken a long time to boot this morning. I stopped counting the reboots when it got to twenty...
Running now, but with no idea what the issue is.

 

[gregrocker]

Are there any drivers missing or in error in Device Manager?

Work through these other Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7