Question Bios resets after sitting overnight

[BakaTheGaijin]

As the title states, I have been having some weird bios issues. Essentially the bios resets itself while the system is shut down overnight. Its also done it a few times if I have the psu switched off but that was also an overnight thing. Now, I will get to the build specs in a second but I want to start by saying I only noticed this after upgrading my cpu cooler and gpu and putting the system in a different case. The only other thing I did, when moving to the new case, was to remove and reseat the cpu (dont have a good reason as to why). I do not know if it had been an issue before as it had been a good minute since I last went into bios. Heres the build: Ryzen 5 3600, X570 Aorus Elite mobo, inland 512gb nvme, sabrent rocket 1tb, 6gb WD Black (which I also think may have an issue, more on that in a minute), 4x8gb Patriot Viper Steel 3733 ddr4 run at 3600 (another issue point I will touch on), an XFX Merc 319 6750xt, a DeepCool Castle 240EX aio, and an EVGA SuperNova 650 G+.

Now, the aforementioned issues. After swapping most of the og build (replaced a 5700 and ninja 5 air cooler with the 6750 and the aio) I did initially get a weird error with windows not wanting to boot that if I remember right gave some error relating to storage (hence thinking it may be the WD drive). But a power cycle solved it and it never happened again. As for the ram issue, I had originally had the ram clocked to 3600 in the bios with timings from the Ryzen ram calculator and everything had been running great for 2+ years until this. Now the only way I can get it to run 3600 is to run the 3733 xmp profile, set the high speed ram setting to level 3, and then manually set it to 3600 instead of 3733. Reason I dont run at 3733 is the system wont post at 3733 on all 4 sticks, but (atleast originally 2+ years ago) it would with just 2 sticks.

After swapping everything over to the new case, installing the new aio, and the new gpu, I was able to play a few games with zero issues. But then I went to reboot so i could go into bios to make sure the aio was always set to full speed only to get the “cmos cleared bios has been reset” notice. I figured it was a one off from having replaced things and didnt think anything of it. But then i started noticing extended boot times when booting it up when I get home from work, and when I went into the bios it would once again through the error.

Here is what I have tried: i have replaced the cmos battery as the board was bought when they first released. I have moved ram sticks around, but kept the paired sticks (two 2x8 sets) to the same slot numbers. I have run the windows memory test with no errors. I have removed rgb fusion. I have turned ERP on in bios (for both this and an issue where rgb would sometimes stay on) . Im not sure what else to try. Well, I could try dropping down to 2x8 ram and see how that goes. But other than that I am not sure what else to check. Could the psu be part of the issue? Im thinking of upgrading to a 750 or 850 for a little more headroom with the 6750. Could it be a sign to get some better/higher quality ram? The viper steel kit I have is Hynix CJR. Now, i will admit this ram is jot on the mobo compatibility list but I have never had issues before. What else should I check? Thank you in advance and I am sorry for the long winded post but figured I should put as much detail as possible.

 

[Zerk2012]

As the title states, I have been having some weird bios issues. Essentially the bios resets itself while the system is shut down overnight. Its also done it a few times if I have the psu switched off but that was also an overnight thing. Now, I will get to the build specs in a second but I want to start by saying I only noticed this after upgrading my cpu cooler and gpu and putting the system in a different case. The only other thing I did, when moving to the new case, was to remove and reseat the cpu (dont have a good reason as to why). I do not know if it had been an issue before as it had been a good minute since I last went into bios. Heres the build: Ryzen 5 3600, X570 Aorus Elite mobo, inland 512gb nvme, sabrent rocket 1tb, 6gb WD Black (which I also think may have an issue, more on that in a minute), 4x8gb Patriot Viper Steel 3733 ddr4 run at 3600 (another issue point I will touch on), an XFX Merc 319 6750xt, a DeepCool Castle 240EX aio, and an EVGA SuperNova 650 G+.

Now, the aforementioned issues. After swapping most of the og build (replaced a 5700 and ninja 5 air cooler with the 6750 and the aio) I did initially get a weird error with windows not wanting to boot that if I remember right gave some error relating to storage (hence thinking it may be the WD drive). But a power cycle solved it and it never happened again. As for the ram issue, I had originally had the ram clocked to 3600 in the bios with timings from the Ryzen ram calculator and everything had been running great for 2+ years until this. Now the only way I can get it to run 3600 is to run the 3733 xmp profile, set the high speed ram setting to level 3, and then manually set it to 3600 instead of 3733. Reason I dont run at 3733 is the system wont post at 3733 on all 4 sticks, but (atleast originally 2+ years ago) it would with just 2 sticks.

After swapping everything over to the new case, installing the new aio, and the new gpu, I was able to play a few games with zero issues. But then I went to reboot so i could go into bios to make sure the aio was always set to full speed only to get the “cmos cleared bios has been reset” notice. I figured it was a one off from having replaced things and didnt think anything of it. But then i started noticing extended boot times when booting it up when I get home from work, and when I went into the bios it would once again through the error.

Here is what I have tried: i have replaced the cmos battery as the board was bought when they first released. I have moved ram sticks around, but kept the paired sticks (two 2x8 sets) to the same slot numbers. I have run the windows memory test with no errors. I have removed rgb fusion. I have turned ERP on in bios (for both this and an issue where rgb would sometimes stay on) . Im not sure what else to try. Well, I could try dropping down to 2x8 ram and see how that goes. But other than that I am not sure what else to check. Could the psu be part of the issue? Im thinking of upgrading to a 750 or 850 for a little more headroom with the 6750. Could it be a sign to get some better/higher quality ram? The viper steel kit I have is Hynix CJR. Now, i will admit this ram is jot on the mobo compatibility list but I have never had issues before. What else should I check? Thank you in advance and I am sorry for the long winded post but figured I should put as much detail as possible.

Run memtest and see if your memory is actually stable.
You could also try bumping the voltage up a bit from 1.35 to 1.37.

 

[BakaTheGaijin]

Run memtest and see if your memory is actually stable.
You could also try bumping the voltage up a bit from 1.35 to 1.37.

I remember doing this when I first set the ram OC 2+ years ago with no issues. But its worth trying again. But please remind me (pc isnt the only thing in my house with apparent memory issues lol), am I supposed to use MemTest86 or just memtest? I just find it weird that settings that worked fine for years now dont with only the gpu as the only major change. I did also just read that enabling power loading can help with this issue.

 

[Karadjgne]

As the title states, I have been having some weird bios issues. Essentially the bios resets itself while the system is shut down overnight. Its also done it a few times if I have the psu switched off but that was also an overnight thing

When and how does the bios reset. When you push the power button, is it a normal boot sequence but with a reset bios? Is the time/date affected? Does the pc boot, then reboot once or twice before going to windows load?

A bios will reset only because of 2 things. No power to the bios chip, which is either a battery issue or a motherboard switch issue (the bios is maintained by the psu when in normal windows off/Standby, only using the battery if the psu/power is fully off) or its a hardware issue and the bios fails post and reverts to last known/default settings.

So if the motherboard switch is stuck open, you turn off the psu, no battery connection, bios resets as soon as the psu caps drain. If the motherboard switch is stuck closed, the battery is always powering the bios, never the psu, and the battery will not last long in that scenario, eventually dead and bios resets every start. Both times it's a silent reset, and doest affect post, so the pc boots as normal and windows automatically resets time/date according to your ISP signal.

It's only with a hardware fault that post fails multiple times and will eventually boot with a default bios setting, if the hardware will pass that.

 

[BakaTheGaijin]

When and how does the bios reset. When you push the power button, is it a normal boot sequence but with a reset bios? Is the time/date affected? Does the pc boot, then reboot once or twice before going to windows load?

A bios will reset only because of 2 things. No power to the bios chip, which is either a battery issue or a motherboard switch issue (the bios is maintained by the psu when in normal windows off/Standby, only using the battery if the psu/power is fully off) or its a hardware issue and the bios fails post and reverts to last known/default settings.

So if the motherboard switch is stuck open, you turn off the psu, no battery connection, bios resets as soon as the psu caps drain. If the motherboard switch is stuck closed, the battery is always powering the bios, never the psu, and the battery will not last long in that scenario, eventually dead and bios resets every start. Both times it's a silent reset, and doest affect post, so the pc boots as normal and windows automatically resets time/date according to your ISP signal.

It's only with a hardware fault that post fails multiple times and will eventually boot with a default bios setting, if the hardware will pass that.

So, the only clue it gives that something is up is the case fans ramp up then down a few times when I boot. Then I either let it load windows and check hwinfo to see ram at default or I can load directly into bios to see the cmos cleared message. I never look to see if the time/date change. And it only does it after sitting off for extended time, as in I turn it off before I go to bed and then its atleast 12 hours before it gets turned back on. And what do you mean by motherboard switch? The only switch (as far as I know) on my motherboard is the qflash switch for bios flashing.

I take that back. It just reset the bios when I shut down the system to boot memtest86. While running regular memtest86 it gave me 2 errors that I noticed before black screening and crashing the system. Well, the system stayed on but no display. Well I say on, but it was just fans and rgb.

 

[Karadjgne]

There's multiple switches on a motherboard, just not user switchable. Sort of like how cruise control will automatically shut off if you turn on the windshield wipers. Same theory.

The psu is only 'off' in 2 conditions. 1. You pull the plug. 2. You turn off the psu switch. At any other time, the psu is actually On. It's just the OS that's off. With the psu on, it sends power to the bios chip through a switch. The psu always powers the bios chip except when the psu is Off. When the psu is Off, that switch gets flipped and the battery now powers the bios chip.

So. You turn off the psu, same as unplugging the pc. The moment you do that, the switch flips and the battery takes over. That's how it's supposed to work. The switch stays in the 'open' position as long as the psu supplies power, open as in no battery connection. Unplug the psu and the switch closes, allows for battery connection.

So if the switch is stuck open, and you turn off the psu, sometime in the near future the capacitors will drain of any residual power they have stored, and no more power to the bios chip, because the switch didn't close and connect the battery.

If the switch is stuck closed, the psu is essentially trying to charge the battery, which batteries don't like, but the battery is always powering the bios chip, not the psu. Every startup, every shutdown, reset, reboot, the battery is responsible for giving the bios power and the bios is constantly running, not held in maintenance mode. It's the difference between your cell phone being off, the battery will last a week. Turn the phone on and it lasts a day. Or less, even if you don't use it.

With the fans ramping several times, that's usually bios doing multiple boots. Change some obvious settings in bios, but do not enable XMP/DOCP, leave ram at default settings. Then see if the bios continues to reset.

 

[BakaTheGaijin]

There's multiple switches on a motherboard, just not user switchable. Sort of like how cruise control will automatically shut off if you turn on the windshield wipers. Same theory.

The psu is only 'off' in 2 conditions. 1. You pull the plug. 2. You turn off the psu switch. At any other time, the psu is actually On. It's just the OS that's off. With the psu on, it sends power to the bios chip through a switch. The psu always powers the bios chip except when the psu is Off. When the psu is Off, that switch gets flipped and the battery now powers the bios chip.

So. You turn off the psu, same as unplugging the pc. The moment you do that, the switch flips and the battery takes over. That's how it's supposed to work. The switch stays in the 'open' position as long as the psu supplies power, open as in no battery connection. Unplug the psu and the switch closes, allows for battery connection.

So if the switch is stuck open, and you turn off the psu, sometime in the near future the capacitors will drain of any residual power they have stored, and no more power to the bios chip, because the switch didn't close and connect the battery.

If the switch is stuck closed, the psu is essentially trying to charge the battery, which batteries don't like, but the battery is always powering the bios chip, not the psu. Every startup, every shutdown, reset, reboot, the battery is responsible for giving the bios power and the bios is constantly running, not held in maintenance mode. It's the difference between your cell phone being off, the battery will last a week. Turn the phone on and it lasts a day. Or less, even if you don't use it.

With the fans ramping several times, that's usually bios doing multiple boots. Change some obvious settings in bios, but do not enable XMP/DOCP, leave ram at default settings. Then see if the bios continues to reset.

Well, yesterday I sat down and went through everything to try using the original settings I had from the Ryzen ram calculator. Shut it off before I went to bed. Just turned it back on about almost 20 hours later and it did not reset this time. I had updated my bios back in May and I just updated it again Saturday to the most recent. From what I can tell some of the settings I needed to set moved or some that were hidden before were able to be changed this time. But, it booted to windows with all the settings I set yesterday saved. It did do a weird thing when I pressed the power button where the rgb turned on then went right back off before it actually booted, but I also turn ERP and power loading on where they were set to off and auto before so I'm guessing maybe that? Gonna give it a few days and see if it does it again, and will run memtest again with the current settings.

As a side question, could an unstable ram oc cause graphics driver issues? Had some graphics driver crashes over the weekend while playing the new MW2, and while I know the crashes have been an issue for ALOT of players (hell my brothers crashed on him while we were playing and he's on an i9 and 3060 build). And by crashes I mean like black screen leading to having to reboot the system.

 

[Karadjgne]

could an unstable ram oc cause graphics driver issues?

Any unstable OC, whether cpu, gpu, ram can and will lead to all sorts of issues. So yes, unstable ram will affect everything and anything.

The Ryzen ram calculator is a guide only. It says it's 'possible' to run your spec ram at those settings, it does not say it's 'probable' and definitely does not imply any sort of guarantee. That calculator says my 16-18-18-39 ram should be good with 14-15-15-36 plus the secondary and Tertiary values, but it's not, I need to leave the Primary's and Tertiary timings alone and only the Secondary actually work, some of which I can run at even tighter settings.

 

[BakaTheGaijin]

Any unstable OC, whether cpu, gpu, ram can and will lead to all sorts of issues. So yes, unstable ram will affect everything and anything.

The Ryzen ram calculator is a guide only. It says it's 'possible' to run your spec ram at those settings, it does not say it's 'probable' and definitely does not imply any sort of guarantee. That calculator says my 16-18-18-39 ram should be good with 14-15-15-36 plus the secondary and Tertiary values, but it's not, I need to leave the Primary's and Tertiary timings alone and only the Secondary actually work, some of which I can run at even tighter settings.

Oh, I know the calculator is a guide. But these are the same timings I had working for over 2 years. The only change I can think that made a difference is that maybe something changed with where the settings are in the bios with the last 2 revisions. The bios resets were happening when I used xmp but changed it from the xmp speeds down to 3600. So far, with xmp off and all the timings and settings set the way the calculator says it has yet to reset, and it had gotten to 200% on memtest with no errors before I shut it down for the night.

Hell, I'll be honest. There's an equally good chance that when I first tried to reapply the ram timings I originally had that I missed a setting. Gigabyte has some of them hidden in some weird places. And some settings are now listed in multiple places. I actually have to go back into bios next boot because I forgot to turn the resizeable bar settings back on.