Nothing But "Loading Operating System" on Z68XP-UD3

wagerrard

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Jan 18, 2012
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My motherboard is displaying "Loading Operating System..." and then not booting.

It's a Gigabyte Z86XP-UD3, rev. 1.3, F8 bios, an i7-2600k, the boot drive is an OWC 240-gig SSD, it has 16 gigs of Corsair memory and is not over clocked.

This began earlier today. I've tried every BIOS adjustment. I've pulled the CMOS battery. No change.

The case is off. Nothing is loose.

I've put a Windows 7 install DVD in the DVD drive and tried to boot off that via F12. The same "Loading Operating System..." message appears and there is no evidence the DVD is being accessed. I.e, no sound and no glowing LED on the front of the drive.

Just before this began to happen, the BIOS flashed a message that the system had been experiencing failed boots due to over clocking. Again, the system is not over clocked.

I've also seen the "Waiting for ME" message that, based on Googling around, seems connected with Gigabyte boards getting stuck in a boot loop.

I'm running out of ideas. Anyone got some new ones?

 
More:

I disconnected all drives except the CD/DVD and one HDD. The HDD is on SATA3_0, the first Intel port, and the CD/DVD is on SATA3_1. With the boot order at CDROM, then HDD, and a Linux install CD in the drive, it boots immediately and I was able to install the OS, and boot from it, on the HDD.

However, when I disconnect that HDD and put the SSD -- the previous boot drive -- on SATA3_0, the machine will not boot off the CD, either via boot order or F12.

It does boot off a CD with all other drives disconnected.