[SOLVED] PC boots only on the second try with XMP enabled, happens only with iGPU ?

agonydear

Honorable
Nov 26, 2018
42
7
10,545
Hello everyone.

So, I've sold my GPU yesterday and now get this strange issue with XMP enabled. I boot my PC, but the monitor stays black. Then I turn it off, boot again, everything boots and works without BSODs or errors. Then I shut the pc off, turn it on and again, it goes black, but shut it off and then on and it boots again! This happens all the time. I found out that this happens only when XMP is enabled, but the thing is, it didn't happen at all when I was using RX 6600 XT. Now that I changed to iGPU is when it started happening.

Specs:
i9 10850k stock
MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Plus
Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB Dual Channel 32GB 3600 CL18
Corsair RM750 PSU
Samsung SATA SSD
Windows 10

I've tried turning off fast boot, but the same issue happens. Only disabling XMP is when it gets fixed. My question is, can it be my CPU's memory controller? Or PSU, or the motherboard? Is there a way to identify this? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: just tested, this happens with EVERY frequency I set to manual, even if it's lower than the default 2666mhz. This issue stops only when I choose "auto" for the memory. Very weird.
 
Last edited:

agonydear

Honorable
Nov 26, 2018
42
7
10,545
XMP is usually 1.35V on the DRAM. Try bumping the voltage upto 1.38V and see if it becomes stable.

That's true, but why is this happening specifically now that I'm using an iGPU? Plus this happens even when choosing 2400mhz, which is lower than Auto (2666mhz). It seems like a bug to me at this point, but what exactly is creating it is my question. Is it the motherboard? RAM? Or maybe my CPU. Such a weird issue.
 
That's true, but why is this happening specifically now that I'm using an iGPU? Plus this happens even when choosing 2400mhz, which is lower than Auto (2666mhz). It seems like a bug to me at this point, but what exactly is creating it is my question. Is it the motherboard? RAM? Or maybe my CPU. Such a weird issue.
Can't say for sure but usually janky stuff like this happens when there's a problem with the motherboard. Try updating the BIOS and see if it fixes the problem. Also try bumping up the DRAM Voltage while using XMP just to see if it fixes things. DRAM Voltage above 1.4V can damage your RAM so I wouldn't recommend it.
 

agonydear

Honorable
Nov 26, 2018
42
7
10,545
Can't say for sure but usually janky stuff like this happens when there's a problem with the motherboard. Try updating the BIOS and see if it fixes the problem. Also try bumping up the DRAM Voltage while using XMP just to see if it fixes things. DRAM Voltage above 1.4V can damage your RAM so I wouldn't recommend it.

I'm gonna sell this RAM and try a different one all together first. If the same happens, then will change the motherboard. Thanks.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
Shutdown using windows. Boot using windows cmos fails. Repeat boot is same as a reset, bypasses the cmos, so is successful.

So somewhere in Windows is something affecting cmos, specifically where it affects ram. Normally is a program, such as msi Afterburner, Ryzen Master or OC software etc that's got programmed values for the ram, but on boot the ram is initially in conflict.

I'd check your system files (sfc /scannow in Admin CMD), use ccleaner to clean out the system of any trash files/temp folders, use DDU to delete the AMD gpu files, use the ccleaner registry tool to clean the registry etc.

Last ditch effort is to reinstall windows, dirty. Loses no user data/files but resets windows drivers and commands that may be hanging up or corrupted.
 

agonydear

Honorable
Nov 26, 2018
42
7
10,545
Shutdown using windows. Boot using windows cmos fails. Repeat boot is same as a reset, bypasses the cmos, so is successful.

So somewhere in Windows is something affecting cmos, specifically where it affects ram. Normally is a program, such as msi Afterburner, Ryzen Master or OC software etc that's got programmed values for the ram, but on boot the ram is initially in conflict.

I'd check your system files (sfc /scannow in Admin CMD), use ccleaner to clean out the system of any trash files/temp folders, use DDU to delete the AMD gpu files, use the ccleaner registry tool to clean the registry etc.

Last ditch effort is to reinstall windows, dirty. Loses no user data/files but resets windows drivers and commands that may be hanging up or corrupted.

Thank you for the detailed response.

Can you please clarify this moment: when the issue happens and it gets stuck, motherboard led also gets stuck on "VGA". Can it still be coming from Windows as you say? Thank you.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
During POST bios checks cpu, gpu, ram and the lights follow that progress. They'll hang if there's an issue somewhere, cpu is very broad based, gpu is the gpu and video in/out connections, ram is the ram and links and memory controller etc.

When you shutdown windows, everything in your ram is saved to cmos, including a list of all the equipment discovered. When bios starts up, cmos provides that list to bios so that bios doesn't need to go discover everything again. So if something in windows is using a specific driver, that driver gets put back into the ram on startup so when bios activates the list, the drivers are already loaded. Vga can hang if there's a version conflict, date code conflict, bad driver, bad settings etc.

If you then shut down and reboot without using windows, none of that happens. Bios is forced to go find everything, all equipment, last good bios settings, system drivers from stored cab files etc. Which were never touched by your software or junk in temp files etc. Once windows starts, any startup programs activate etc, which can include the program that's messing with bios, and then you shutdown and it gets saved to cmos. Again.

Gpu drivers installed using Express method are often to blame. In Express, the installer reads the version. If it matches that specific driver, it gets skipped, no point in reinstallation of stuff that already exists. The problem with that is if the driver is somehow corrupted, it doesn't matter, the version is installed already, so skipped. Should always choose Custom and hit the check box for Clean Installation, which doesn't check versions, just installs everything. Which takes longer.