x99 Godlike MB refused to boot -- thoughts?

[Cera]

Hi there! This hasn't happened to me before, I'm hoping someone can shed some light.

I stepped away from my computer, returned to it being powered off. When I attempted to turn it on again, it wouldn't. So I flicked the power switch on and off (cycled the power), and everything in the tower would turn on for about 6 seconds (long enough to POST), and then would shut off again. It never reached the BIOS screen, my screens didn't even turn on. I thought it might be the RAM needed reseating, so I tried that, but it didn't affect anything.

I have the MSI x99 Godlike Gaming Motherboard, so I pressed the CMOS button -- which didn't APPEAR to do much, just blinked blue -- so after powering on and off again, I also then pressed the 'reset' button on the Motherboard itself (under the power button on the MB).

After that, it booted up to a black screen that said "all settings were reset to default values. Press F1 to run SETUP. Press F2 to Continue."

My keyboard wasn't responding even though it was lit up -- so I tried putting in another keyboard (tried three keyboards). Nothing responded, so I just reset the whole computer. When I reset, it booted past BIOS and to Windows no problem.

I am now afraid something might happen again. Or maybe something is failing. I don't OC, so I'm not sure what the problem is. I'm sort of afraid to put it to sleep or power off, hah.

Thoughts on what happened? What could the culprit be?

x99A Godlike Gaming MSI Motherboard
32gb G-skill RAM
Geforce GTX 980-ti graphics card
Intel i7 5930k

And system information is below since it includes the BIOS info:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Version 10.0.14393 Build 14393
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer MSI
System Model MS-7883
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5930K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3501 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 1.10, 7/22/2015
SMBIOS Version 2.8
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer MSI
BaseBoard Model Not Available
BaseBoard Name Base Board
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.14393.206"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 31.9 GB
Available Physical Memory 28.2 GB
Total Virtual Memory 81.9 GB
Available Virtual Memory 77.8 GB
Page File Space 50.0 GB
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

 

[JackNaylorPE]

1. Clearing the CMOS via buttom requires holding down for like 10 seconds... I don't have your MoBo so yours may be different.

2. When did it go off... open Event Viewer and see what event was recorded at that time... this woill tell you what happened.

3. It appears that your BIOS was fudges whenever whatever happened.

4. "so I just reset the whole computer." what does that mean ? What specifically did you do. One of the solutions which should always be tried.... a) shut it off b) tank plug c) g eat dinner , smooch with wifie / GF , watch a TV show... come back in an hour and try again.

5. If none of those work, we can try some more ... or being "Godlike" maybe parying will provide some insight :0

 

[Cera]

1. Clearing the CMOS via buttom requires holding down for like 10 seconds... I don't have your MoBo so yours may be different.

2. When did it go off... open Event Viewer and see what event was recorded at that time... this woill tell you what happened.

3. It appears that your BIOS was fudges whenever whatever happened.

4. "so I just reset the whole computer." what does that mean ? What specifically did you do. One of the solutions which should always be tried.... a) shut it off b) tank plug c) g eat dinner , smooch with wifie / GF , watch a TV show... come back in an hour and try again.

5. If none of those work, we can try some more ... or being "Godlike" maybe parying will provide some insight :0

HAHA if it were truly godlike it wouldn't have booped on me -- false advertising, MSI!

"So I just reset the whole computer" -- I just hit the regular reset button. Not the MB reset button. Nothing was responding keyboard wise, so I didn't know what else to do -_-

I've never looked at event viewer before -- I can try that, just need to google how first! I may also try resetting my computer and if it pulls the same stunt starting up, I will hold down the CMOS for 10 seconds see if that is a more permanent fix, maybe? Either way a little worried nonetheless. Will post again after I do the above.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

HAHA if it were truly godlike it wouldn't have booped on me -- false advertising, MSI!

"So I just reset the whole computer" -- I just hit the regular reset button. Not the MB reset button. Nothing was responding keyboard wise, so I didn't know what else to do -_-

I've never looked at event viewer before -- I can try that, just need to google how first! I may also try resetting my computer and if it pulls the same stunt starting up, I will hold down the CMOS for 10 seconds see if that is a more permanent fix, maybe? Either way a little worried nonetheless. Will post again after I do the above.[/quotemsg]

In short, you rebooted. The turning power on and off part was throwing me. After a cold start, if ya hit a snag just do a warm reboot (restart / reset)

As for finding event viewer, assuming ya still have a start button, type 'event" in the window that says "search programs and files" ... or go to Windows help and type "event viewer"

I wouldn't reset CMOS unnless all else fails. But you should read Manual for correct way to proceed... all MoBos are different. If system reboot fixed it, no reason to go further and trying this and that may fudge things up.

 

[Cera]

In short, you rebooted. The turning power on and off part was throwing me. After a cold start, if ya hit a snag just do a warm reboot (restart / reset)

As for finding event viewer, assuming ya still have a start button, type 'event" in the window that says "search programs and files" ... or go to Windows help and type "event viewer"

I wouldn't reset CMOS unnless all else fails. But you should read Manual for correct way to proceed... all MoBos are different. If system reboot fixed it, no reason to go further and trying this and that may fudge things up.

Ah! Yes, rebooted. Sorry, I know I was confusing myself with all the various ways I restarted. Plugging/unplugging, power switching, CMOS buttoning, MB resetting, actual rebooting.... sigh. I dunno the right lingo anymore!

I did an event viewer:
There was a Level: Critical (kernel-Power) task category 63 -- this is probably around the time my computer shut off unexpectedly. It said that "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

And listed as an error around the same time: It failed to resume from hibernate with an error status of 0xC0000411.

Maybe related, my Adobe Photoshop has recently begun crashing due to scratch disk errors. And there's like a dozen or so errors saying something along the lines "The Open Procedure for service "(insert name of thing here)" in DLL "C:\WINDOWS\system32\(name of thing here)" failed. Performance data for this service will not be available. The first four bytes (DWORD) of the Data section contains the error code."

I'm going to shut off my computer and restart. We'll see if it occurs again. I'm hoping I don't I need to update BIOS -- I'm using 1.10 and the latest for my MB looks to be 1.8... however I've never been a fan of updating BIOS. Too many scary stories.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Those "scary stories" are mostly parrotting of ancient posts when this tended to be a risky proposition. I have done BIOS updates usingt he included MSI / Asus auto update utilities > 100 times..,... never had an issue on a modern board

 

[Cera]

Well ... I was away for a couple days and I left my computer in sleep mode while I was gone. Came back to the same problem only my previous method of booting up isn't working.

I have to cycle the power for anything to start running at all, so I've started taking out items from the pci-e slots to see if that's a culprit. I only have two items plugged in to pci-e slots (the graphics card and a SSD). No effect when they are removed. Went down to one stick of RAM in a different a slot and no effect either.

when it does boot it posts the code 04 b0 04 b0 b8 b0 b6 b7 bd b9 bF 33 . It shuts down after about 8 seconds, the monitors don't even have the chance to turn on.

🙁

 

[Cera]

Those "scary stories" are mostly parrotting of ancient posts when this tended to be a risky proposition. I have done BIOS updates usingt he included MSI / Asus auto update utilities > 100 times..,... never had an issue on a modern board

Downloaded the MSI quick update tool thinger, even though I know there's a different BIOS version than the one I have, it says it's up to date. So I left it as is. Just updated some small software bits it recommended instead. So no BIOS update.

Well -- I disconnected every single USB on my tower to see if it was any of those things. I know, this should have been one of the first things I tried... it just didn't occur to me because I didn't think booting would be affected by a USB. Well It worked. For a bit. I managed to get my computer going and could do things, but I wanted to be able to actually work so I needed my drawing tablet plugged in. It had been operating fine with restarts, so I didn't hesitate to shut it down entirely. Plugged the cintiq cables in... and boom. Won't start up. So I unplugged every USB just like I did last time. Still nothing. I am now currently attempting to make it live again.

The debug code is now flashing 04 b0, 04 b0, bF and 33.

Sighhhhhh no idea wtf is happening with this board. My dad suggested maybe the power supply is not working properly but I think it's a motherboard issue. I honestly don't know.

EDIT: waited a little bit longer before turning it on this time, and now it's booting up. What the actual heck is happening. It refused to boot when I tried cycling the power 3x about 10 minutes earlier. Now it's going but nothing changed except I waited longer till I turned it on.

Also going to shut it down, it takes a *long* time to shut off. Everything spins and is lit up in the tower (monitors are off).

Second edit: won't turn on again. I think I will try putting a new PSU in just to see if it is in fact the culprit (RAM, pci-e, usb slots have all been fiddled with to see if one of them was the problem -- the only thing I noticed was I have to unplug every USB for a reliable boot if it boots at all). And I find this weird considering bios boot settings were checked and it's not prioritizing USBs.

Lost. So lost. If anyone has any suggestions please comment -- if the PSU thing doesn't work I think I'll have to take it in to the shop.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Old Timer story ... back in 1993 or so, my brother was visiting. he was checking out this new fangled computer gaming stuff with a CD ROM drive and was playing "The 7th Guest". When wifie called for dinner ... he just hit the off-button w/o shutting down. I spent 3 days trying to get it to work. While waiting for TS to respond, my KB had a built in LCD calculator ... so I booted the machine leaving monitor off so I could work (engineers do math all day). While making lunch, my 2nd born 3 year old was doing his best Jerry Lee Lewis impression on the KB.

I quickly turned on the monitor so that I could see if any "more damage" was done. Everything was fine. When TS called me later that day, told them everything was fine and they advised that the SCSI controller "held a charge" longer than most PC components. In other words, if a setting something gets borked because of an improper shutdown, whatever buts got flipped in the firmware, would stay that way for while.

So that's why I gave you troubleshooting action No. 4 above

One of the solutions which should always be tried.... a) shut it off b) yank plug c) geat dinner , smooch with wifie / GF , watch a TV show... come back in an hour and try again.

As far as the PSU .... I don't see how it would boot occasionally if it was PSU. Again ... best thing is to call MSI TS and have them walk you thru the problem.

 

[Cera]

Old Timer story ... back in 1993 or so, my brother was visiting. he was checking out this new fangled computer gaming stuff with a CD ROM drive and was playing "The 7th Guest". When wifie called for dinner ... he just hit the off-button w/o shutting down. I spent 3 days trying to get it to work. While waiting for TS to respond, my KB had a built in LCD calculator ... so I booted the machine leaving monitor off so I could work (engineers do math all day). While making lunch, my 2nd born 3 year old was doing his best Jerry Lee Lewis impression on the KB.

I quickly turned on the monitor so that I could see if any "more damage" was done. Everything was fine. When TS called me later that day, told them everything was fine and they advised that the SCSI controller "held a charge" longer than most PC components. In other words, if a setting something gets borked because of an improper shutdown, whatever buts got flipped in the firmware, would stay that way for while.

So that's why I gave you troubleshooting action No. 4 above

One of the solutions which should always be tried.... a) shut it off b) yank plug c) geat dinner , smooch with wifie / GF , watch a TV show... come back in an hour and try again.

As far as the PSU .... I don't see how it would boot occasionally if it was PSU. Again ... best thing is to call MSI TS and have them walk you thru the problem.

Thanks for all your replies Jack -- you're the only one who cares haha.

You are definitely on to something in regards to some device/controller holding a charge longer, I think. The only difference being I think there is something deeper down that is complicating matters -- because if a device holding a charge longer was the only issue, then if I left it alone and restarted it, it would be hunky dory right? But it's only hunky dory until I turn it off to plug in my peripherals. Then, peripheral or no peripheral, it has been bugging up like this. 🙁

But you're definitely right it has to sit a while before I can even think about turning it on, or it won't turn on at all.

Last night it wasn't cooperating at all again, so I left it over night and yes, it turned on now. It gave me the opportunity to complete a new BIOS installation. Of course I don't think that'll fix the problem, it was just a last ditch effort thing. See... my x99A motherboard has two available BIOS so if one forks up, I can flip a switch and use the other. I did that earlier and it was still the same problem. That suggests to me it's not necessarily the BIOS.

As for the PSU: It's working right now, so I don't want to assume it's the PSU either. If it was, then would unreliable power charges be responsible for something like this?

Now the BIOS is updated I'm just going to go about turning it off and on again. I have the feeling it will be pulling all the same stunts. But I guess I have to try.

I am trying to avoid calling MSI TS... my board is still under warranty at the shop I bought it from I'm pretty sure. So if it comes down to it, I'll be bringing it in there and maybe they can figure it out, or replace the board. I wonder though if I should try connecting a new PSU first. :/

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Does that have the killer elite NIC ... if you got that, there are two things associated with that...as I recall from a build we did 2 years ago.

a) You can install the driver, or
b) You can install the software suite with driver

You wanna do b). The thing I recall from that build was that the software suite w/ driver package only came on the MoBo CD. I went to the web site and the driver only was not a download option ... so I looked at some less costly MoBos w/ same chipset where the "super duper bonus software package" [note sarcasm] that you got with the more expensive board wasn't available, only the driver. Using that the problems went away. Found it later too on Killer web site.

 

[Cera]

Does that have the killer elite NIC ... if you got that, there are two things associated with that...as I recall from a build we did 2 years ago.

a) You can install the driver, or
b) You can install the software suite with driver

You wanna do b). The thing I recall from that build was that the software suite w/ driver package only came on the MoBo CD. I went to the web site and the driver only was not a download option ... so I looked at some less costly MoBos w/ same chipset where the "super duper bonus software package" [note sarcasm] that you got with the more expensive board wasn't available, only the driver. Using that the problems went away. Found it later too on Killer web site.

Yeah, it has the Killer elite NIC. Part of the recent MSI software update I did downloaded some drivers for it, I think. But to be honest, I actually disable them in my device manager because they are SOOO bad. I'll try to make sure it's not the Killer Elite stuff that's causing the issue.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The driver is fine ... the software utility has been known to cause issues.

 

[Cera]

The driver is fine ... the software utility has been known to cause issues.

Ahh I see! Well, there were a load of Killer updates when MSI Live Update did its scan, so it's possible it updated the software as well.

Ever since I waited over night to update the BIOS, it worked well enough so that I could update all the possible software/driver updates for my MSI motherboard stuffs, disable Killer, update the GPU, update Windows.... and it seems to be working. Being optimistic, I have now one-by-one installed the remaining RAM sticks, monitor connections and USB devices. Everything is working (only snag being when I put a stick of ram in to the wrong slot... but the debug code told me what I did wrong heh).

I'm not sure what the problem was, I know I didn't think it was the BIOS because I did the switch on the MB to BIOS2... but maybe it was? Maybe my then version of BIOS got jiggered, but using the default version of BIOS was not compatible -- so it needed an updated BIOS? Clearing the CMOS alone didn't work, but clearing the CMOS + installiong the latest BIOS perhaps was what did it? Only I had to wait until whatever it was preventing me to boot actually allowed me to boot. I have no idea.

I'm still worried it might be a problem with the board itself, but it's fine now and I guess I'll just see what happens as time goes on. I really do appreciate all your help -- I don't think I could've figured it out on my own!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I'm not sure what the problem was, I know I didn't think it was the BIOS because I did the switch on the MB to BIOS2... but maybe it was? Maybe my then version of BIOS got jiggered, but using the default version of BIOS was not compatible -- so it needed an updated BIOS? I have no idea.

Be aware that if you don't have the latest BIOS installed, some vendors (listening Asus ?) won't even talk to you.

Sometimes ... in order to use latest drivers, you need latest BIOS. So if you revert back to an older version, might eb a conflict.

 

[Cera]

I'm not sure what the problem was, I know I didn't think it was the BIOS because I did the switch on the MB to BIOS2... but maybe it was? Maybe my then version of BIOS got jiggered, but using the default version of BIOS was not compatible -- so it needed an updated BIOS? I have no idea.

Be aware that if you don't have the latest BIOS installed, some vendors (listening Asus ?) won't even talk to you.

Sometimes ... in order to use latest drivers, you need latest BIOS. So if you revert back to an older version, might eb a conflict.

Haha totally understand that.

Honestly, if it was because it was an outdated version, I'm surprised that I still wasn't able to even access BIOS. The whole thing where I had to let it sit for over an hour for it to even turn on without shutting itself down after 5 seconds.... very frustrating. I feel fortunate I was even able to update to the newest BIOS. It was so unreliable starting up, I was worried it'd shut off during the installation process -- which it kind of did. Knowing the trick to let it sit, I decided to let it sit over night mid installation. When I started it up in the morning it did a soft reset on its own, then completed the BIOS installation successfully. I was quite relieved. I'll have to make a note to myself that if this happens again, it's a two part process once you reset the CMOS and are left with the outdated BIOS:

1. Cycle the power and leave it off for an hour or more.
2. Update the default BIOS with a prep'd thumb drive.
3. Pray to the 'godlike' mother board it works.

Three steps I guess.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Unfortunately, that's an SOP (standard operating procedure) thing ... if something gets borked or stops working in windows, you reboot. If something gets borked restarting ya machine, you do a cold boot. If it still doesn't work, you reset CMOS or just kill power for 10 - xx minutes and one of those will get ya going 99% of the time.

 

[Cera]

Unfortunately, that's an SOP (standard operating procedure) thing ... if something gets borked or stops working in windows, you reboot. If something gets borked restarting ya machine, you do a cold boot. If it still doesn't work, you reset CMOS or just kill power for 10 - xx minutes and one of those will get ya going 99% of the time.

Yeah! I think my problem was a bit more complex as it needed ALL those steps + some specific BIOS fixes + USB interference... but honestly, this is probably the first time I've ever actually had a BIOS go bad on me with the additional requirement of needing the latest release. I'm just so pleased it worked out without needing to bring it in. I've flashed BIOS on my previous systems before but it was never because of something like this. Thanks for all the help! I think I would've given up if you didn't bother to post + share your nuggets of knowledge!

So in case anyone else stumbles upon this thread looking for help in a similar way I should probably outline what was what.

Problem: Computer shuts down on its own. Computer won't power on afterwards AND if power is achieved, it shuts itself off before booting only to not respond to power again. If it does power on, the Debug Code goes crazy (stops at 33, for me), and shuts down.

Answer:

1. Cycle the power (turn off the power supply, wait for the motherboard to turn off, turn it all on again). If it doesn't work and no power goes through, then leave your computer sit for an hour or so and try again. Power might be lingering that needs to dissipate.

1 b. If that doesn't work, and you have a 'BIOS' switchboard, try switching to BIOS2 and seeing if that works. If not, switch back and read on.

2. If your computer powers on at this point but then powers off again before the boot process, then while it's off unplug all the USBs and peripherals, making sure everything else is plugged in correctly (cords from the power supply, etc). Take yourself down to one stick of RAM that you know works in a slot that works. You can figure this out by watching the debug code -- if it says the code for NO MEMORY INSTALLED (55, in my case), you know it's suspicious. Make sure RAM is plugged in properly. You can also disconnect your graphics card because at this point, all you want to know is if it will boot. One by one plug things in and see if that new additional element is your problem. If yes, you know what it is! If not... keep reading.

3. If it still doesn't boot, reset your CMOS (hold for 5-10 seconds, make sure power is off). Does it work now? Good! No? Keep reading.

4. If it still doesn't work properly... (powers on, boots, but when you turn it off again it won't power on).... you might need a new BIOS because the default BIOS isn't cutting it. So! If you're like me, you might be able to boot up your computer by leaving it off for an hour or more, unplugging every USB, and powering it on after that hour or so has passed.

5. Because they had to be unplugged for the boot process, you can now plug in the required USBs once Windows starts up. From there, I did a quick scan for new BIOS/MB software and firmware and did some installations, but had to manually download a new BIOS because it said my BIOS was up to date even though I knew there was a newer version. Check this out by going to your Motherboard's support page. Save it to the root folder of a thumb drive, unzipped. Additional info: I also made sure my Killer Wifi was disabled in the device manager, because my recent software update made some changes to it and I personally never use it.

4. For me personally, I went to BIOS straight from Windows and clicked the 'update BIOS' option. If you don't have this, then restart your computer, hope it starts up again without needing the power cycled, and enter your BIOS. Install.

5. Your computer will prepare for the new BIOS installation and will have to restart during this process. If you're like me, it will crash and shut off and need the power cycled again. Yes I know it warns you not to shut your computer off during this process, yes I was concerned it would brick... but personally, mine worked out in the end. I played it safe and let it sit overnight. Then in the morning, I unplugged all USBs (including the thumbdrive) and hit the power button -- wherein I promptly put the thumb drive USB back in to the exact slot I removed it from. It then continued the BIOS installation. Yes, my BIOS installation happened over the course of 12 hours... simply because the power needed cycled and I wanted to be sure it'd start. Heads up: Unplugging the thumb drive for any length of time, even if you are fast like me, is not the safest option... so you might want to try leaving it in.

6. VOILA. That should have hopefully fixed your problem. To be sure there aren't any additional conflicts, before you turn it off, make sure all your Windows + device softwares are up to date. Power on + off a couple times to make sure it works, and then power off so you can put your other RAM sticks and remaining peripherals back in.

Disclaimer: I'm making assumptions as to the problems/solutions above, I'm just saying what worked for me. Maybe it will help you figure out your own problem.

Thanks again to Jack for all his help as I tried to figure this out! If anything in there looks unnecessary to you please feel free to point it out. I was kind of doing everything I could do solve the problem and probably went a bit overboard :<

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Again, just because you did 10 things, doesn't mean that if ya skipped No. 5, then you wouldn't get the same result.

I once asked a user what he did exactly when he was troubleshooting as i was trying to figure out which step solved the problem. One of those steps was he "got frustrated, turned off PC and ate dinner". That was how he solved the problem .

I listed them in that order cause each step involves a bit more work. For example I used to test each RAM stick individually:

Test 1 = Stick 1
Test 2 = Stick 2
Test 3 = Stick 3

Now I just do both sticks ... yes I might have to go back and test 1 at a time and maybe each one in each slot. But 95% of the time, there are no issues. Yes I may have wasted the time on that test by skipping right to 2 sticks ... but 19 outta 20 times all is good and I skip 57 tests