[SOLVED] BIOS; slow to enter and locked when it appears; Very slow MemTest86

[pkincy]

Ben having a problem for a couple of months. It takes over 2 minutes to enter BIOS when I hit Del. And when it does, my mouse is inoperative but sometimes the arrow keys will work. However after each tap of a direction key it takes about 30 seconds for the UEFI BIOS screen to respond if it responds at all. Suspected memory problem with new memory coming in today, but wonder if that is the problem. Took 18 hours to do a 3 pass MemTest 86 but both sticks (2x16) passed with no errors on all 3 passes.

Slow BIOS bricked my Strix Z370-E by interrupting a BIOS update, Now on a Max XI Hero WiFi on 0602 BIOS. Due to reported problems don't want to update BIOS any farther. Chose this board since it can update BIOS while outside the BIOS. Same GSkill memory however. Same NVMEs (3; M.2-1, M.2-2, and PCIE card) and same SATA drives (5). Next step will be to pull 6 of the drives and only leave the M.2 drives in and try it.

Also trying Win Mem Diag now but that is moving at the same speed as MemTest 86; that is to say, darned slow. All at Auto (F5) with no oc on the cpu or the memory. Running the MoBo MemOK test did straighten it out some yesterday but today it is back to being a problem.

Note: once into Win 10 the computer operates normally and without problems.

 

[pkincy]

Very likely memory issues. Pulled one stick from B2 and left a stick in A2 and it booted quickly and into BIOS easily. Was able to get around in BIOS normally. Made a bit of V tweak for the memory and saved and got out. On reboot that apparent success again failed. Tried memory alone and in each of the 4 slots and together in A2/B2 and A1/B1. No luck. Amazon is about 30 hours late on their delivery promise on the new memory. If/when that shows up hopefully that will solve the problem.

 

[pkincy]

Next check: The PSU. I have a Corsair 750W but it is possible I have a power issue. Pulled the 1070ti to lower the power load and put both sticks in A2/B2 and so far it is working. Well only one screen but that is an onboard GPU limitataion. I have ordered a new Corsair 850w and we will see if that helps out. My old PSU I thought was operating normally but I recall it is a carryover from my 2012 build. So the saga continues, but for now, I am thinking that if my memory gets enough power it will work.

 

[pkincy]

Keeping this updated in case anyone is searching for a frozen or very slow bios situation. I finally got the computer pulled apart and put back together. Due to a slow delivery of the replacement memory I put it back together without the 1070Ti as above and the old memory and it worked. Got the memory in yesterday but before I broke open that package I decided to reinstall the 1070 Ti and see if it would work with the old components and voila! it did. No idea why. So now with all the old components which worked a month ago and then didn't for 2 weeks, it is working nicely.

In summary, it is apparently true that a slow or frozen BIOS situation can be caused by bad memory or a weak psu, in my case I suppose something just had gotten loose as simply reinstalling the old components got it working again. Now in my case all the components other than the psu were new 6 months ago when I built the new I7-8700k and Rog strix Z370-e system. One thing I did do was reset Win 10, however I am not certain how an OS could cause a bios access problem. At any rate. That is my journey. I hope it may help you on yours.

 

[pkincy]

Update 4: Having chased everything, memory, sata drives, psu, mobo problems I was still having problems with a 10 minute boot to OS or 10 minute boot to bios and then a hung bios. Gave up about 3 am this morning. Came in about 7 and everything was working well! I had the computer stripped down to the mobo and one stick of memory and one NVME drive. I called Asus and they had me update the bios to a new version published yesterday and did say my hung Q Code (99) does point to the graphics card. But right now all is working. I hate chasing intermittent problems. So now I have new memory, new MoBo, new 1000 watt psu and all new cabling and do have the suspect EVGA 1070 Ti back in the case and it is working well. Benchmarks are great. Unfortunately I am pretty sure I have not found the problem. I will enjoy it while I can. BTW, my psu tester was only $14.99 and I would recommend one for anybody getting into the innards of a computer.

 

[pkincy]

It is true that my speed and bios problem was generally stopped or at least relieved when I went to igpu rather than the PCIe Graphics Card. However not completely and totally fixed as intermittently even the igpu would exhibit the slow boot and locked bios problem.. As the posts show I had replaced my PSU, my Memory, my SSDs, and my Motherboard and nothing helped. Sunday I decided that the only thing left to replace besides the video card was the actual computer case. So I did that. Yesterday I loaded all the same internals into a new Fractal R6, the same type of case I had been using. And the problems are gone. The igpu works and it also works with my video card installed. Now it has only been 24 hours but at this point all is working well. My boot times are very quick and I can easily get into Bios and do whatever I need within that Bios. It is amazing to me that a stamped steel and acrylic case could have caused that intermittent problem but apparently that is what happened. The R6 does have a PWM fan controller which is the only electrical connection from the case to the rest of the computer or its internals. Maybe that had a short. I only post this to help folks realize that sometimes it is the least likely culprit that can cause you a problem.