Occasional booting problems

[ildamon]

Hello guys,

 

every now and then when I start my PC it will take a while and give a long, slightly stuttering beep. I have read the possible error codes, consisting of short and long beeps. I dont know whether this is due to the quality of the beeper but it seems strange to me that the long sound is so "stuttery" in lack of a better English word. Pressing the reset button or plugging each device out and in again will yield the same results for the next few tries. After waiting for about half an hour it usually works again. Note that this only happens about once every month which is why I am still using this PC although I am looking into upgrading.

 

System specs:

 

OS: Windows 7 Home 64 bit

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE

MB: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 rev 1.0 Bios Version F4

RAM: 4*2 gb DDR3 (Speccy tells me its running at 671 MHz, so I am guessing I have to double that?)

Video card: MSI 280x ITX

SSD: 850 evo 500 gb

HDD: some WD 2 TB

PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 620 W

 

I have tried to update my BIOS with the software Gigabyte provided me with when i bought the MB and by downloading a newer version from their website. Both setups were not succesful, what I got from the error message is, that I need a x86 version of the newer BIOS version which I havent been able to find yet.

 

I should probably add that my motherboard has been pretty hot (>75 °C) most times when gaming due to bad ventilation in my case and loose heatsinks.

 

Help is much appreciated, thank you

 

ildamon

 

[ELSknutson]

It sounds like it could be a power issue to you PC. 

[ildamon]

1 minute ago, ELSknutson said:

It sounds like it could be a power issue to you PC. 

My PSU is only about 1 year old.

also, why would that only cause problems every now and then (curious)?

[jasonB221]

2 minutes ago, ildamon said:

My PSU is only about 1 year old.

also, why would that only cause problems every now and then (curious)?

 

I don't know if it's a PSU issue, but subtle changes in line voltage could be making it past your PSU and causing problems with your PC. Are you running the PC behind a UPS or surge protector?

[ELSknutson]

2 minutes ago, ildamon said:

My PSU is only about 1 year old.

also, why would that only cause problems every now and then (curious)?

the PSU you have is shotty at best an power supply have to filter the voltage coming in form the wall and if it does not filter properly you may not get enough current to allow you system to boot. 

[ildamon]

2 minutes ago, ELSknutson said:

the PSU you have is shotty at best an power supply have to filter the voltage coming in form the wall and if it does not filter properly you may not get enough current to allow you system to boot. 

i am using a basic plugbar

so what do it do from here? buy another psu to test it?

[ELSknutson]

2 minutes ago, ildamon said:

i am using a basic plugbar

so what do it do from here? buy another psu to test it?

do you live in the US?

[ildamon]

2 minutes ago, ELSknutson said:

do you live in the US?

no, germany

[ELSknutson]

well you can try getting a UPS first you may not be getting enought clean power from the wall and this could cause your issue 

the UPS will solve this. but if this does not then I would look into getting a new PSU.

https://www.amazon.de/APC-Back-UPS-BX-Unterbrechungsfreie-Stromversorgung/dp/B00IG2P92I/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1468333048&sr=8-4&keywords=UPS

[ildamon]

3 minutes ago, ELSknutson said:

well you can try getting a UPS first you may not be getting enought clean power from the wall and this could cause your issue 

the UPS will solve this. but if this does not then I would look into getting a new PSU.

https://www.amazon.de/APC-Back-UPS-BX-Unterbrechungsfreie-Stromversorgung/dp/B00IG2P92I/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1468333048&sr=8-4&keywords=UPS

thanks, i will look into that.

does that mean there's to many spikes in the current from the wall and that device makes proper AC from it?

[ELSknutson]

2 minutes ago, ildamon said:

thanks, i will look into that.

does that mean there's to many spikes in the current from the wall and that device makes proper AC from it?

kinda  If the in-put  to your PSU is Low or erratic it causes the voltage coming into you PC to have an erratic DC voltage essentially the voltage to your pc components form your PSU should be a smooth straight line and if have pore power coming in to you PSU and a budget PSU you may get Ripple to your components which can cause all types of issues.   

[ildamon]

one last thing: how sure can i be that this isnt the MB's fault? i will be giving away this pc to a friend soon, so the power from the wall will not be an issue anymore. i would rather buy a PSU and be sure that it works fine than buy a device that additionally drains ~20 W (electricity is quite expensive here)