NF4 COLD/WARM Boot Problems...Read this.

[Quickmcj]

I have the exact same problem.

 

It shows 3 leds when videocard is in, and only shows on led when there is no videocard connected. No boot at all.

 

Please stop saying its the PSU or that we need to clear cmos some more (maybe months who know lol) cause the problem lies in the bios chip.

 

I will hotflash mine in a P4C800 on monday and see if it works then.

 

Btw. my board has never booted with screen lol. Talk about nice QC

[arctic-k20]

yes i am fairly sure it is a bios/bios chip issue and if you flash using the switches that should clear it completely and force the new bios...

[RGone]

@Quickmcj...Make a signature and ALSO post what area of the world you come from. Another note: answers "only" come for use by any to post as a "help"; AFTER the answer is found. Many many problems have been cured by power supply swaps. This problem you experience may not be the same> but until it is proven> wonky power supplies are still suspect as is memory.

 

Muzz I know you are overseas. Quickmcj> don't know either you location OR what you are running becuase you did not make signature as requested before posting. But IF I find one of these type dork ups that stays dorked and NOW it seems to be a thought that it is bios flash related> I could have a bios chip sent to me and flash it and one of the suspect bios chips needs to be shipped to me to test it on my board and see IF it really is a bios flash problem.

 

Also there are going to be some 'unknowns' on any board. Problems that arise out of the 'mist' as it were and throw a roadblock and bad experience in front of some users but not all and not even 50-100 users out of thousands. That type of problem will always be handled by rma of the board. No corporate entity is going to chase a problem for only a small percentage. That sort of problem will be handled by rma of the defected unit> even if it is only a bios chip that is problematic until IT IS DECIDED that incorrect bios flash is causing the problem. BECAUSE engineering needs the defected unit to examine for cause and effect.

 

Also let it be known that AG and I have no effect in any region at all but the US and Canada which service region originates in SJ CA. If you reside in any region other than that and you have a problem > you need to be getting in contact with the region that provides your service. To NOT do so is to leave that region blithely presuming "all is just fine".

 

There are problems without answer in any situation> well short of replacing the offending unit.

 

And just one last observation and it is from me as a board user. Any board or product. I expect my stuff to work. I "KNOW" the period of time for which I can change my mind about a product with my 'online etailer'. I google for a few days to see if I am dumb or slow-witted and logically sort the odds that I have not got the right stuff and how much it plays into whatever problem I am presented with. AS SOON as the odds are that my situation is going down the drain and this usually takes no more than 5 days with any new product> that raggedy non-working son butch is back for rma or swap to another product. PERIOD. No dragging around in forums. No beating my head on the floor, table or wall. And during my inspection prior to return I again figure out if I REALLY just have to have the thing I bought which does not seem to work. If I am certain something else will work as well or better or work without too much hassle> I swap to another unit or product. Too too many kill themselves and raise blood pressure and get ill feelings from holding on too long to a failed dream. That does not do you or DFI any good. NO company knows they have a problem until the returns mount up. Then the bean counters take a look and know that something must be done. Calling tech support for a problem that is new and not seen often is about useless. RMA'ing the product sets up a definite 'flag' if enough do so. But here is the "sticky" part and that is if you recieve a replacement board and you still have troubles> DFI ain't at fault. You or your stuff or your procedures are. Compatibility is the "intergrators" responsiblity and when you do it yourself a configuration it is up to you the system intergator to investigate and attend to compatibility as necessary just as Dell, Compaq, or HP has an engineering staff to do.

 

Now one of you guys in the USA or Canada that has a symptom where in it appears the bios chip is bad> I can have a bios chip shipped to me and I will test it on any of three boards I have and as soon as I get your supposed defected bios chip > can ship out a known working bios chip to you. Then we will have a good chip going to the place a suspect chip was and I have a known good board to test the suspect bios chip in. Put this bios thing to the test. That in effect gentlemen is the long and the short of computer pieces and parts and how I see best to handle errrors or errata.

 

RGone...

 

PS: if you can get to the place where you can try ""arctic-k20's"" work around then do so. I wrote muzz and told him how I flash my bios and most have seen me say it before and it ain't for most since they are perpetually in a hurry. Muzz may try it and see if it helps him and if so he can post what it was. Oh and I almost always flash on the NF4 with Winflash version 1.74 or greater. And if I must flash from DoS, I do use a ton of switches like arctic-k20 uses. RGone...Again...

[RGone]

Me MS red-nake and muss need jography lesson heheheheheh.

 

RGone...

 

I'm actually in MA. RGone.

I am going to try the hotflash with my DFI NF2 chip as I discussed with you earlier.

I'll LYK if it cures my ills.

 

TTYL

 

m

[needmorstuff]

rgone any suggestions for little old me?

[nagini]

Not sure if I am having the same problem as nms but it's similar. I am having the cold/warm boot problem many other appear to have. I have noticed some strange behavior. First, there are times when on cold boot the power light will flash for a few seconds then the system will restart with a post beep. Second when I get a post often the system will sit with the last debug led lit and...nothing. Other times the last led will go out and the system still boots but no video. I have noticed this neat feature while trying to flash up to another version of the BIOS. No video but floppy boots into DOS. Another time a thought I had another failed post and then I come back (after leaving the system on) and the Windows login in screen is on the display!!

 

I mention all this here because I too have a PCIe 6800GT card - maybe related. However, this is a stock setup NO OC!

 

Before I get ragged on my memory let me say a couple more things. When the system does POST and BOOT it runs fine with NO ERRORS. I ran the built in memtest for a day and a half - NO ERRORS and Prime95 for three days while using the system for other stuff.

 

Also, I have TWO identical systems here that BOTH exhibit the same behavior with stock settings - intermittant POST on both cold and warm boots.

 

There is clearly someting going on with the BIOS.

 

I have tried using other video cards from other manufacturers and get the same results. I have tried another PS and same results and YES I have tried other memory too. My last resort is coming tomorrow when some OCZ memory others seen to have had luck with arrives.

 

In fairness to DFI my Asus A8N-SLI was a ball breaker to get running too. It really is true that the nForce4 and AMD64 are very finicky - which is really too bad.

[ozandangel]

I guess I can take some solace in knowing I'm not alone. Needmorstuff, muzz, Quickmcj, nagini, and others... I have the exact same issue as you.

 

Needmorstuff, I could have written your initial post and responses word for word. Down to the video card touching the chipset fan. I haven't removed the thermal tape yet and replaced with AS5, but since it didn't help your issue, I'm in no hurry on that.

 

I've read a bunch of threads on similar issues, but this thread is identical to my problem. As Rgone mentioned - when I get some time, I'm going to start RMAing stuff. I'll start with the memory, and then the board itself. I'm running 3.10 as well. Haven't tried 3.10P yet. We have to get a solution to this, it's incredibly frustrating.

 

It's to the point where I just leave my PC on all the time. If I don't have to coldstart, I never have problems.

 

Thanks,

Bill

[arctic-k20]

this was sent to me from a forum member on xtremesystems (Hardcoreclocker):

 

But I am sick of doin' this everytime I change some hardware so last time I replaced my vid card I tried somethin' else:

 

Didn't remove the battery and didn't touch the CMOS jumper, only plugged off system and changend the vid card. Then I used the safe boot jumper - and bang - it worked.

 

Tried the same prucedure by changing RAM and switching Vdimm jumper - no problems at all.

 

So it seems to me the CMOS clear destroys somethin' on the BIOS chip but the safe boot jumper works fine.

 

that might be of some use to certain members...

[Junkmail]

I would like to add to the long list of users having the boot up problem, i already posted the problem on the forum, under title 'Either GFX or Mobo not working', i was advised by a few forum members that it might be a psu problem, since i am currently using a 20 pin psu when the mobo requires a 24 pin connecter psu, i have ordered a new OCZ Modstream 520W so will post the results of the psu swap hopefully tomorrow. If it still doesnt work then i guess it might be bios prob as suggested.

[nagini]

These last few posts are not giving me hope that differnet memory is going to make any difference for me...I have some OCZ TCCD on the way.

 

Those of you replacing stuff be sure to post back here to keep the rest of us informed of your progress - please!

 

ozandangel, you are scaring me - if your setup isn't working I do not know what will. I recall that arctic-k20 got VX working at some point.

 

arctic-k20 are you stable now with your posted setup?

 

Keep hope alive!

[needmorstuff]

good to see other people are having EXACTLY the same problem as me. eherm I mean bad...

 

I have ocz tccd (don't hold your breath on that fixing the problem)

I have tried an OCZ powerstream 600 (no joy there)

I have a new 6800gt coming maybe tomorrow - will let you know if it helps..

tried several different bios revisions - all the same. cleared cmos loads of times..

starting to wonder why I am bothering

what is the "safe boot jumper works fine"

 

what i would like to see is one of the support ppl to explain the boot sequence of a machine and then explain logically why we have a cold boot issue.

 

does your system start first time if you use a standard pci card aka s3 2mb onboard!!

[needmorstuff]

poll added so we can keep track of how many ppl have the cold boot issue.