Question PC randomly reboots to BIOS ?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
So I built a new PC and it runs great, except one problem...

The computer will randomly reboot to BIOS, with the M2 NVMe drive not detected. If the PC is fully powered down and then powered back up, the drive is detected and it boots as normal. This only occurs when the computer is idle (though maybe this is a coincidence). It might happen once every 3-4 days, it's frequent enough to be annoying but not frequent enough to interfere with day to day use. I thought at first it was one of the other drives (and this did help me weed out a dying HDD) but after disconnecting them the problem has not abated.

I have tested the M2 drive with chkdsk, crystalmark, hwinfo and HDDscan and every single one returned perfect health reports.

I have updated the BIOS to the latest version and checked the voltages on the RAM. I'm beginning to run out of ideas about what it could be beyond RMA'ing the Motherboard itself with the suspicion that it might be a bad NVMe slot. Does anybody have any ideas??

Build:
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core Processor
MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk WiFi Gaming Motherboard
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER
SAMSUNG 990 PRO SSD 4TB
G.Skill Trident Z6 RGB Series DDR5 RAM 32GB (2x16GB)
Windows 11 Pro 64x

Some technical stuff:
No abnormal temperatures (HWiNFO)
sfc /scannow - 100% verified, no integrity violations
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth – completed successfully
chkdsk – no issues on any drives
wmic memorychip get manufacturer, capacity, partnumber, speed, memorytype, devicelocator, formfactor
Capacity DeviceLocator FormFactor Manufacturer MemoryType PartNumber Speed
17179869184 DIMMA2 8 Unknown 0 F5-6000J3636F16G 4800
17179869184 DIMMB2 8 Unknown 0 F5-6000J3636F16G 4800


EDIT: I noticed that this is about a decade exactly since my last build gave me enough trouble to check for help here, which is perversely neat.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Lutfij

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
Oct 7, 2009
57,096
5,565
178,440
I have updated the BIOS to the latest version and checked the voltages on the RAM.
Please state the BIOS version that you've updated to. Did you clear your CMOS after verifying your BIOS was successfully flashed to the latest version? If you haven't, disconnect from the wall and display, remove the CMOS battery, press and hold down the power button for 30secs and then replace the battery after 30mins.

You forgot to mention the make and model of your PSU. If the unit is recycled from an older build, please specify it's age and what it'd powered during it's tenure.

How are you cooling the processor? Perhaps try and relieve some pressure off the CPU's cooling mount and see if that alleviates the issue.

The computer will randomly reboot to BIOS, with the M2 NVMe drive not detected. If the PC is fully powered down and then powered back up, the drive is detected and it boots as normal.
Do you feel a mild tingling sensation when you touch the metal part of your case and your bare feet are making contact with a tiled(non-wooden, non-carpeted floor)? If so, you might be having a grounding issue.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
Lutfij said:
I have updated the BIOS to the latest version and checked the voltages on the RAM.
Please state the BIOS version that you've updated to. Did you clear your CMOS after verifying your BIOS was successfully flashed to the latest version? If you haven't, disconnect from the wall and display, remove the CMOS battery, press and hold down the power button for 30secs and then replace the battery after 30mins.

You forgot to mention the make and model of your PSU. If the unit is recycled from an older build, please specify it's age and what it'd powered during it's tenure.

How are you cooling the processor? Perhaps try and relieve some pressure off the CPU's cooling mount and see if that alleviates the issue.

The computer will randomly reboot to BIOS, with the M2 NVMe drive not detected. If the PC is fully powered down and then powered back up, the drive is detected and it boots as normal.
Do you feel a mild tingling sensation when you touch the metal part of your case and your bare feet are making contact with a tiled(non-wooden, non-carpeted floor)? If so, you might be having a grounding issue.
Click to expand...
I updated to AMI BIOS 7E12v1E (2024-08-13), the latest non-Beta build available (there are two newer builds that remain in Beta state). The CMOS should have cleared. I suppose I can clear it again?

The PSU is brand new for this build. It is a MSI MEG Ai1300p 80+ Platinum 1300W module.

The processor is cooled through a dedicated heatsink (it comes with one attached). Temperatures on the PSU have not spiked in any meaningful way in any of the monitoring I did (and in any case it has never shut down under load - only when it has been idle for hours). There is no notable pressure on the cooling mount.

There is no tingling issue that I can detect.

Thank you for your response!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
Some addition information...

RAM passes a memtest fine (and is new)
There are two monitors, one connected to the GPU via HDMI, one connected via DisplayPort

I guess I could buy another drive, clone this one to that one as a backup, do a long format on this drive and see if that solves it, because maybe the factory format is bad somehow? That seems like a stretch but it's possible.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
Upvote 0 Downvote
boju

boju

Titan
Ambassador
Jul 7, 2008
21,285
2,410
85,890
Possibly it may be physical connection between Nvme drive and M2 slot. Try reconnect/reseat the Nvme drive, the M2 screw or latch properly fastened at the rear of the card not sitting on it.

Try another M2 slot afterwards if symptoms persist. Don't need to reinstall Windows moving drive location.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
Ralston18 said:
Next I will ask about Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer.

Is either or both tools logging any error codes, warnings, or even informational events just before or at the times of the BSODs?
Click to expand...
There are no BSODs as far as I can tell - it's simply a loss of power (though I've never been awake to witness it). Event Viewer and the rest show nothing whatsoever. There are no log files.
boju said:
Possibly it may be physical connection between Nvme drive and M2 slot. Try reconnect/reseat the Nvme drive, the M2 screw or latch properly fastened at the rear of the card not sitting on it.

Try another M2 slot afterwards if symptoms persist. Don't need to reinstall Windows moving drive location.
Click to expand...
This was my next plan - I will report back, though it may take a few days for the problem to resurface as it's pretty inconsistent.
 
  • Like
Reactions: boju
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
boju said:
Not sure if you've mentioned updating Nvme firmware with Samsung Magician, that's another thing id recommend doing as well. Also no need to reinstall Windows after updating firmware.
Click to expand...
I had not done that, but it turns out that it has the most recent firmware already.

I swapped the M2 to a different slot (M2_4 -> M2_1) so we'll see how that goes.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
Well, here we are about two full days later and the problem has reoccurred, so changing the slot did not fix things. As usual it occurred during a period of full idle, when I had been out of the house for hours.

Given that none of these crashes are producing a log file (noted by the Event Viewer, "Dump file creation failed due to error during dump creation.") my next suspicion is to replace the drive itself even though all diagnostics return that it is in perfect health (and, of course, it's brand-new...) unless somebody has a better interim step. An expensive next step.... these M2 drives are a lot.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
Okay, I'm back with a potentially new piece of data.

I've been experimenting with putting my computer into sleep mode when I'm not actively using it, as the issue only occurs when the computer is idle. I have to date never had the computer restart without hard drive detected while in sleep mode.

What this indicates to me is that this is NOT a power issue, because the power flow is either on or it's off - it the power were cutting out sleep mode should be irrelevant, right? This means it's either the M2 or the Motherboard almost certainly.

If I'm wildly off-base please let me know - I feel like I'm grasping at straws a little bit.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
boju

boju

Titan
Ambassador
Jul 7, 2008
21,285
2,410
85,890
I be grasping at straws as well.

So when you come back to your computer do you still find it sitting in bios still?

Could try another SSD or motherboard but if everything else is running correctly, just a change of operation suggestion, maybe power off completely when leaving house for lengthy times. You might feel better :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
boju said:
I be grasping at straws as well.

So when you come back to your computer do you still find it sitting in bios still?

Could try another SSD or motherboard but if everything else is running correctly, just a change of operation suggestion, maybe power off completely when leaving house for lengthy times. You might feel better :)
Click to expand...
Only sometimes - this is an intermittent problem. I can leave the PC on for two or three days without issue and then sit down, use it for twenty minutes, go eat lunch and when I get back in an hour it's at BIOS. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to it.

I've been testing sleep mode because electricity doesn't care if you're in sleep mode. If the power is cutting out, then it will cut out regardless of what the software is up to. So far, it has never gone to BIOS while in sleep mode. This isn't a perfect solution of course, and it totally precludes remote access.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
boju said:
Any drive in general is a good start to try iron this out. If had a mechanical drive laying around for test purposes without spending money is what i meant, just assuming would have something going back a bit :)
Click to expand...
Ah yeah, unfortunately my mechanical drive kicked the bucket which, combined with a few other issues, is what led to this build coming together as a necessary event in the first place. I filed an RMA with Samsung for the drive this afternoon. They said I could just buy a drive, clone this one to that one, and then return the new drive to them when the RMA is completed. I guess I'm just giving Samsung a few hundred dollars as a loan but it's better than nothing.

One upside is that if the issue persists with a new drive I guess the mobo is the next thing to try...

Once that whole rigamarole is over I'll report back, so I guess I'll see y'all in a few weeks. Or hopefully never! Maybe this will fix it!
 
  • Like
Reactions: boju
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
LordHuffnPuff said:
Ah yeah, unfortunately my mechanical drive kicked the bucket which, combined with a few other issues, is what led to this build coming together as a necessary event in the first place. I filed an RMA with Samsung for the drive this afternoon. They said I could just buy a drive, clone this one to that one, and then return the new drive to them when the RMA is completed. I guess I'm just giving Samsung a few hundred dollars as a loan but it's better than nothing.

One upside is that if the issue persists with a new drive I guess the mobo is the next thing to try...

Once that whole rigamarole is over I'll report back, so I guess I'll see y'all in a few weeks. Or hopefully never! Maybe this will fix it!
Click to expand...
Well, I put in a cloned drive and the problem reoccurred so! I guess it's not the drive??

I guess next is the motherboard.... :cry:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
boju said:
Do a fresh install, since you got a clone copy now, just to 100% rule out something funky with that Windows install and something else with it.
Click to expand...
Did that. Slowly reinstalling all the programs. Fun twist: Windows freaked out after reinstalling the driver software for the 4080 Super and wouldn't allow dual monitor until I moved the GPU to a new PCIe slot. Just bizarre stuff.

Now we'll wait to see if BIOS happens again.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

LordHuffnPuff

Distinguished
Aug 4, 2014
26
4
18,535
We're back. It took four days with the fresh Windows install (and the GPU moved to a new slot) but I got in from work to find the machine back at BIOS.

I'm just at a complete loss here. I guess now it's motherboard time, but if that doesn't resolve things... I cannot imagine what will. I've never had a problem this persistent or challenging to identify.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
boju

boju

Titan
Ambassador
Jul 7, 2008
21,285
2,410
85,890
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom