- Nov 19, 2010
- 21,105
- 5,265
- 106,640
I had been having occasional freezes on getting into Windows in a Crosshair VIII Hero/5900X for a couple of months. It was only occasionally a problem and I don't reboot that often, so I let it go as this is the busiest part of the year for me, work-wise. But I decided to get down to the issue and found it was freezing up from failed Windows updates. I was unable to diagnose that so I figured I'd just do a quick wipe of Windows and reinstall.
So, I went to do that, and while installing Windows, it kept freezing. It did that with any storage drive installed and any install media made in multiple ways, no matter whether I used one stick of RAM or not. The panoply of LED codes was not particularly helpful. So finally, since I value my time a lot more than money, I went out and bought a Crosshair Dark Hero. I had a few USB power notices in the last six months, and since I'm always instantly suspicious of any power supply issues, I also hedged my bets and got a Corsair RMx 850 to replace my Super Flower Leadex III.
Everything installed and the exact same freezing was happening. So at this point, I was befuddled. I didn't think the behaviors indicated a GPU or CPU problem, but just in case, I first checked with the 1070 Ti I use for testing and while building and then the the 2200G I keep around for similar reasons. The problems persisted. I even tried installing Windows 10 and still had the freezing before I got to actually installing Windows.
At this point, I started thinking more about the issue. Both the Windows 10/11 had dates of early May and that's actually when I started having occasional freezing issues and update problems. The last time I updated the old motherboard's BIOS was when they first fixed that AMD problem of fTPM freezing Windows for a second a couple times a day, so the BIOS was well before this Windows update. So was the date of the BIOS on the new motherboard, which is basically a step-brother of the last one I had, so it's not bizarre that they may have a similar issue.
So, I finally did the basic thing that I advise people to do around here every week: if there's a stubborn problem, check if the BIOS is updated. And don't just assume the BIOS is current and that it could not be the problem. Like with all the directions in the NO POST checklist, to actually go down the list again item-by-time and actually check rather than nodding that you did that. I installed the April BIOS update for the motherboard and everything fired right up perfectly. So basically, it was a problem that I could literally have fixed in ten minutes, long before I started taking things apart, if I had just not skipped a basic step on my own. I simply didn't think there was any particular update that would have caused this issue, so rather than checking, I just relied on personal knowledge. There aren't any consequences outside of spending some extra money and wasting an entire weekend, but take this as a lesson for very experienced users troubleshooting their own problems: having knowledge shouldn't be a shortcut.
God this was embarrassing.
So, I went to do that, and while installing Windows, it kept freezing. It did that with any storage drive installed and any install media made in multiple ways, no matter whether I used one stick of RAM or not. The panoply of LED codes was not particularly helpful. So finally, since I value my time a lot more than money, I went out and bought a Crosshair Dark Hero. I had a few USB power notices in the last six months, and since I'm always instantly suspicious of any power supply issues, I also hedged my bets and got a Corsair RMx 850 to replace my Super Flower Leadex III.
Everything installed and the exact same freezing was happening. So at this point, I was befuddled. I didn't think the behaviors indicated a GPU or CPU problem, but just in case, I first checked with the 1070 Ti I use for testing and while building and then the the 2200G I keep around for similar reasons. The problems persisted. I even tried installing Windows 10 and still had the freezing before I got to actually installing Windows.
At this point, I started thinking more about the issue. Both the Windows 10/11 had dates of early May and that's actually when I started having occasional freezing issues and update problems. The last time I updated the old motherboard's BIOS was when they first fixed that AMD problem of fTPM freezing Windows for a second a couple times a day, so the BIOS was well before this Windows update. So was the date of the BIOS on the new motherboard, which is basically a step-brother of the last one I had, so it's not bizarre that they may have a similar issue.
So, I finally did the basic thing that I advise people to do around here every week: if there's a stubborn problem, check if the BIOS is updated. And don't just assume the BIOS is current and that it could not be the problem. Like with all the directions in the NO POST checklist, to actually go down the list again item-by-time and actually check rather than nodding that you did that. I installed the April BIOS update for the motherboard and everything fired right up perfectly. So basically, it was a problem that I could literally have fixed in ten minutes, long before I started taking things apart, if I had just not skipped a basic step on my own. I simply didn't think there was any particular update that would have caused this issue, so rather than checking, I just relied on personal knowledge. There aren't any consequences outside of spending some extra money and wasting an entire weekend, but take this as a lesson for very experienced users troubleshooting their own problems: having knowledge shouldn't be a shortcut.
God this was embarrassing.
Last edited:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram