Question Static orange light on motherboard - - - No POST until after a hard reset ?

[Hankdp26]

Hi guys!

A head scratcher here, first off my specs:

Intel I7-11700KF
RTX 3080 EVGA FTW 3 ULTRA
2X32 GSkill Trident Royal Elite RAM @4266mhz (they both came in the same package sold as a pair)
Asus Prime B560M-A AC
Cougar 850+ Gold PSU

So, its been a while since this issue has been happening. To the point: everytime there is a update/install or a change in the system that requires a restart to apply/finish installing, it never restarts and it stays a solid black screen (no image) and a static orange light in my motherboard. I've been trying to gather info from the web but it looks like a problem ranging from software to hardware and no exact pinpoint, the most common of the problems being the RAM sticks.

My RAM is has XMP and Dual Channel enabled and while gaming or doing anything I have no problems whatsoever, also did the Windows memtest (I know its not the best but want to exhaust all options before doing the good memtest, which I still dont fully understand) and no problem detected there either. Also, normal restarts PC I just realized also cause an orange light, so basically everytime I need to restart it wont until after a hard reset.

So everytime the no post situation occurs I do a hard reset, a screen that says: "PC has posted in safe mode press F1..." pops I go into the mobo settings, hit save and quit (w/o any changes at all) and the PC reboots and posts fine and goes into Windows fine. So its really a head scratcher as if it was a persistent memory issue I wouldn't be able to post at all if Im not mistaken.

Any ideas where can I start to diagnose and pinpoint the problem? Im really scared that eventually by doing a hard reset at some point I might corrupt something and my machine will become a brick.

 

[Ralston18]

"a static orange light in my motherboard "

Which specific orange light?

Check the motherboard's User Guide/Manual to identify the led and color meaning.

Go into BIOS and configure POST to be verbose. Doing so will add boot time but will also show what all is going on during the boot process.

You may be able to see what occurred when the boot process failed/stopped.

And after the next successful boot also look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, and informational events just before or at the time of the failed restarts. Windows might just be catching something....

Check Update history for any problem or failed updates.

 

[Hankdp26]

"a static orange light in my motherboard "

Which specific orange light?

Check the motherboard's User Guide/Manual to identify the led and color meaning.

Go into BIOS and configure POST to be verbose. Doing so will add boot time but will also show what all is going on during the boot process.

You may be able to see what occurred when the boot process failed/stopped.

And after the next successful boot also look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, and informational events just before or at the time of the failed restarts. Windows might just be catching something....

Check Update history for any problem or failed updates.

Thanks so much for responding!

According to the manual:

The motherb has a Q-LED design: red for cpu, yellow for DRAM, white for VGA and yellow green for Boot Device.

Its all I could find, I guess what its described as yellow I am seeing it bright orange lol, but it is the DRAM light.

Update history shows everything as Succesfully Installed and I cannot see anything in the Event Viewer (looking at Windows log - system, anywhere else I should look?)

I'll try to do the BIOS thing you suggested, but with the info above any culprits you can kinda sort? Thank you again so so much!

 

[Ralston18]

Event Viewer is cumbersome. I start with Reliability History. The timeline and graph format can be very revealing.

For example; if a problem starts on some specific date then you can look for things that may have happened on that date.

Update History may show some some problem update.

Run the built-in Windows troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Also run "sfc /scannow" and "dism"

References:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

How to use DISM command tool to repair Windows 10 image | Windows Central

Objective being to find and fix some buggy or corrupted software. Mostly as a matter of elimination.

The next step will be to do some hardware troubleshooting.

How old is the system and PSU? History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit-mining?

Is my understanding correct with respect to the system initially failing to boot but then does so after an immediate restart?

 

[Hankdp26]

Event Viewer is cumbersome. I start with Reliability History. The timeline and graph format can be very revealing.

For example; if a problem starts on some specific date then you can look for things that may have happened on that date.

Update History may show some some problem update.

Run the built-in Windows troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Also run "sfc /scannow" and "dism"

References:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

How to use DISM command tool to repair Windows 10 image | Windows Central

Objective being to find and fix some buggy or corrupted software. Mostly as a matter of elimination.

The next step will be to do some hardware troubleshooting.

How old is the system and PSU? History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit-mining?

Is my understanding correct with respect to the system initially failing to boot but then does so after an immediate restart?

I'll do all the software troubleshooting steps you pointed out and update if it worked, super helpful, thanks again!

The PC was comissioned on late 2021, everything given to me with box so I understand everything was brand new, so overall age of components and system: 1 and half years.

*Also, I'm not sure it matters but at some point last year I switched the 32gbs of RAM originally included (corsair dominators) for the 64gb Gskill, in doing so (careless and very very stupid) I fried the mother board and had it replaced with the current one. According to the tests done by the shop the GSkills remained intact, the only ones getting fried were the corsair's. I have trouble remembering but this restart problem didn't happen immediately after the motherboard was replaced, but some time after.

Finally, everytime I boot the system (form off to on) it boots fine, all the time, no problems there. The issue comes when I have to restart/reboot the system due to some update or just need to restart for whatever reason, it always fails, when trying to restart the system just stays on, all the RGB and the components stay on but there is no picture and the yellow DRAM orange LED turns on. It is until after I hard reset that the PC boots to the Safe Mode screen then the BIOS then it restarts and goes into Windows fine.

 

[Ralston18]

"It is until after I hard reset that the PC boots to the Safe Mode screen then the BIOS then it restarts and goes into Windows fine. "

By using the reset button on the case: i.e., "hard"?

Or by using the Windows icon "Shut down or Sign Out > Restart ?

If the latter, "sfc /scannow" and/or "dism" may fix the problem by resolving some software bug or glitch.

 

[Hankdp26]

"It is until after I hard reset that the PC boots to the Safe Mode screen then the BIOS then it restarts and goes into Windows fine. "

By using the reset button on the case: i.e., "hard"?

Or by using the Windows icon "Shut down or Sign Out > Restart ?

If the latter, "sfc /scannow" and/or "dism" may fix the problem by resolving some software bug or glitch.

Yup! the on/off button, leaving it pressed until the system shuts down, hence my "I am worried sick that eventually by doing that it'll brick my system"

 

[Ralston18]

If presented, use an on-screen (soft) restart button whenever possible.

Or the Windows Power icon to restart if an on-screen restart button is not presented.

Is there a similar long delay when you restart via onscreen Restart buttons and/or the Windows power icon?

= = = =

You should not need to continue holding in the case "hard" reset button. Just press once, release, and then wait.

Windows needs some time to do some housecleaning and other preparations before restarting. Could take a couple of minutes but the restart should happen.

Could be a faulty restart button. Another possibility is a bad connection/cable between the motherboard and case switch panel. Just a loose connection/plug being the best case scenerio

Power down, unplug, open the case. Check the motherboard to case connections.

While you are at it, verify that all other connectors, cards, RAM, and jumpers are fully and firmly in place.

 

[Hankdp26]

If presented, use an on-screen (soft) restart button whenever possible.

Or the Windows Power icon to restart if an on-screen restart button is not presented.

Is there a similar long delay when you restart via onscreen Restart buttons and/or the Windows power icon?

= = = =

You should not need to continue holding in the case "hard" reset button. Just press once, release, and then wait.

Windows needs some time to do some housecleaning and other preparations before restarting. Could take a couple of minutes but the restart should happen.

Could be a faulty restart button. Another possibility is a bad connection/cable between the motherboard and case switch panel. Just a loose connection/plug being the best case scenerio

Power down, unplug, open the case. Check the motherboard to case connections.

While you are at it, verify that all other connectors, cards, RAM, and jumpers are fully and firmly in place.

No no, whenever the yellow/orange light situation happens there is no picture on the screen, no other way to restart but to hard reset with the on/off button.

"Is there a similar long delay when you restart via onscreen Restart buttons and/or the Windows power icon?" As of yesterday, everytime I restarted with or without necessity (updates, etc) it always failed and didn't boot plus orange/yellow light so hard reset necessary.

However!!! After:

1. I unplugged everything and opened the case, made sure every single connection was properly set (couldn't find anything that pointed towards a faulty connection or anything of the sorts). Blew some air to remove a bit of dust and closed the case.
2. In order to discard any outside interference, I only plugged in the mouse, the keyboard and the monitor (I usually have plugged in: a mouse pad, my headset, a Rocksmith USB cable and and an XBOX controller via USB).
3. Ran all the commands SFC and DISM and system did not find any errors or corrupted files.
4. After all that I pressed the windows icon then restart button (as any normal person haha) and to my utmost shock it rebooted fine! Still need to test if after an update that requires a restart of the system works but I cant find anything to update that needs a restart.
5. This caught my eye in the Reliability History:

Windows Critical Event:

Hardware Error

Description
Status
Not reported

Description
A problem with your hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
Code: 144
Parameter 1: 3003
Parameter 2: ffffe502df79ef70
Parameter 3: 40010000
Parameter 4: 0
OS version: 10_0_19045
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1
OS Version: 10.0.19045.2.0.0.256.48
Locale ID: 2058

Doing a bit of research some of the things that may have been the caused of that are driver related? But couldn't find an exact answer. Also, I cannot remember if at the time this error is showing I had trouble restarting. This Kernel Event is only showing once back on Feb 11.

And another critical one yesterday but only says: Windows was not properly shut down.

What a head scratcher, I've no idea if this is resolved still or not, but narrowing it down, it could be either a faulty driver somewhere OR one of my USB devices could be the culprit as wel... jeez

 

[Elliptic]

any update? and did you get it fixed? I have the exact same problem

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

any update? and did you get it fixed? I have the exact same problem

This thread is over a year old, it's dead.

Please start your own thread.