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GA-Z97X-UD5H just toggles between MBIOS LED and BBIOS LED

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  • GA-Z97X-UD5H just toggles between MBIOS LED and BBIOS LED

    Hello, I have never posted here before, so please excuse my inexperience. I'm not sure how much information I need to provide, so please feel free to ask for more information. Also, this might be a complicated problem which goes beyond the Gigabyte motherboard, but I would like to rule that out one component at a time.

    About a year and a half ago, I got a GA-Z97X-UD5H rev 1.0 as part of a new PC build that I made myself. I use Windows 8.1, and I have two GeForce GTX 970 in SLI with the primary card in the first PCIe slot (closest to the CPU), and the other card in the second PCIe slot. My power supply is an EVGA 850 G2. I have three monitors plugged into the primary video card: one each into the two DVI slots, and another one in the HDMI slot. I also remembered to plug in the extra power cable connecting to the motherboard ATX4P PCIe power connector.

    Here's the problem, and please forgive me because I might not be able to explain it in all the technical terms due to my inexperience:

    When I turn on the computer, the motherboard just toggles between the main bios LED and the backup bios LED about every few seconds. The debug LED code display never shows anything. I presume that for whatever reason the motherboard fails to load the bios and the backup bios. The board keeps toggling between the LEDs indefinitely, and nothing ever progresses. Everything seems to be receiving power. The case fans, cpu fan, and gpu fans spin the whole time. The hard drives and disk drive also seem to receive power because I can hear them spinning up.

    I have tried resetting the CMOS using three methods: the onboard CMOS reset button, removing the battery, and using the jumper prongs. This doesn't have any effect. However, if I press the onboard CMOS reset button while the board is powered on (during the LED toggling limbo), then the computer will reset, but this time it *usually* boots up successfully all the way to the OS. I know that the instruction manual says that you should not reset CMOS while the board is powered, but I have done it many times now. It almost always works. If the board is in the LED toggling limbo for a while before I reset CMOS, it usually doesn't work, so I will have to do it again after about a second, and then it usually works.

    Here comes the second part of the problem. After I boot up to OS, everything seems to work correctly except that one of my monitors in the DVI slot doesn't work. It has power, and it doesn't say "check cable connection". It just has a black screen, and the computer software cannot seem to detect it at all. Sometimes when I update my video drivers, change my monitor resolution, or toggle SLI on/off, the monitor will "kick in" and then everything will be normal again, but this is rare, and I have not been able to reproduce it. If I power down the computer, I have to go through the LED toggling problem again, and it usually seems to end up with this same monitor problem again anyway. I have tried replacing the monitor with one that is known to work, and the same problem happens to the new monitor. I will try to do some additional testing with different monitors and cables, but I don't have very many extra components laying around.

    I thought that the power supply might not be strong enough to support everything. I tried removing all the components. I booted the computer with just the motherboard, cpu, cpu fan, and power supply. The same LED toggling problem happened. I tried adding back my memory, and the same problem happened still. I concluded that there must be something wrong with the motherboard, so I sent it in for an RMA. It was accepted, but when they received it, they determined that nothing was wrong with it. When I got it back, the same problems still happened.

    At this point, my question is, what else should I try? I'm not really sure which component is causing the problem. If I reset my computer enough times, eventually it will work with all the monitors, and then I typically just leave the computer running or use sleep mode, so it never has to be completely turned off. This means that the computer usually works fine for a long time, but eventually it will fail to wake up from sleep and it will have to be powered on normally. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

  • #2
    Re: GA-Z97X-UD5H just toggles between MBIOS LED and BBIOS LED

    Welcome to the forum.

    A quick web search using: gtx 970 sli with 3 monitors recommended video cable connections provided a useful link to a thread at Tom's Hardware.
    Another useful search using: triple monitor sli setup might also help.

    The video says that with an SLI setup at least one of the video cables needs to use a Display Port connection on the video card, even if you don't have a DP connection on one of your monitors. I don't know if your current video cable setup has anything to do with your main/backup bios led toggling. If the toggling setup remains, you might need to play musical chairs with two or three monitors connected and possibly testing with swapping the video cable connections to the monitors.

    Have you checked out the Nvidia Surround Configuration Tool at Surround | System Requirements | GeForce?


    We need detailed information about ALL OF THE HARDWARE in your system.

    We can best help you after you create a detailed hardware list in the System Specs
    portion of your forum profile at the bottom of the profile page or in your forum signature.
    Be sure to include brand names and model numbers.
    When you are done editing or creating your hardware list, save the settings.

    Providing a detailed hardware list in your PC Specs makes it much easier for us to see your complete setup and helps to eliminate errors.




    The video link was from the http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id...-monitors.html thread at Tom's Hardware.
    Q9650 @ 4.10GHz [9x456MHz]
    P35-DS4 [rev: 2.0] ~ Bios: F14
    4x2GB OCZ Reaper PC2-8500 1094MHz @5-5-5-15
    MSI N460GTX Hawk Talon Attack (1GB) video card <---- SLI ---->
    Seasonic SS-660XP2 80 Plus Platinum psu (660w)
    WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB (data)
    Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD (boot)
    SLI @ 16/4 works when running HyperSLI
    Cooler Master 120XL Seidon push/pull AIO cpu water cooling
    Cooler Master HAF XB computer case (RC-902XB-KKN1)
    Asus VH242H 24" monitor [1920x1080]
    MSI N460GTX Hawk (1GB) video card
    Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Speakers
    win7 x64 sp1 Home Premium
    HT|Omega Claro plus+ sound card
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD UPS
    E6300 (R0) @ 3.504GHz [8x438MHz] ~~ P35-DS3L [rev: 1.0] ~ Bios: F9 ~~ 4x2GB Kingston HyperX T1 PC2-8500, 876MHz @4-4-4-10
    Seasonic X650 80+ gold psu (650w) ~~ Xigmatek Balder HDT 1283 cpu cooler ~~ Cooler Master CM 690 case (RC-690-KKN1-GP)
    Samsung 830 128GB SSD MZ-7PC128B/WW (boot) ~~ WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB (data) ~~ ZM-MFC2 fan controller
    HT|Omega Striker 7.1 sound card ~~ Asus VH242H monitor [1920x1080] ~~ Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Speakers
    win7 x64 sp1 Home Premium ~~ CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD U.P.S
    .

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: GA-Z97X-UD5H just toggles between MBIOS LED and BBIOS LED

      Thank you for the feedback. I have updated my hardware list in the system specifications section.

      I have not done too much troubleshooting on the monitor issue specifically. I am mostly concerned with the motherboard, and I figured that I would post the monitor problem as well in case it is related. My current setup, which has worked, uses the two DVI ports and one HDMI port on the primary card in an SLI setup. I have never needed a display port connection, but I also do not use the NVidia surround feature. I just use a multi monitor setup with SLI to "maximize the 3D performance" of the primary monitor. I will continue to post updates as I uncover things.

      Edit: I was able to "fix" the monitor problem by simply toggling SLI on and off a few times in the NVidia control panel, which is pretty much how I've "fixed" it in the past. Still wondering about the motherboard problem though.
      Last edited by Malchar; 01-03-2016, 06:51 PM.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: GA-Z97X-UD5H just toggles between MBIOS LED and BBIOS LED

        My approach to building a system is to install hardware in small steps so that if there are any unexpected issues, it will make troubleshooting much simpler. I test each step with the motherboard placed on a cardboard box beside the computer case. Make sure that you are using usb 2.0 ports for the mouse and keyboard, unless you have a PS/2 mouse or keyboard cable.

        Possible problems include improperly connected wires and/or cables, faulty power or reset switches/wires, improperly connected usb 3.x cables and power supply cables that are not fully seated at the psu or at the hardware connectors. A faulty or failing power supply can also cause random boot problems even if the psu is new. Some problems can be caused by fancy keyboards and/or mice. The last piece of hardware that I connect is an external usb hub and/or card reader.

        It sounds like your boot problem is when you do cold boots.
        See if you have the same problem when you reboot your system (i.e. a warm boot) after the system is warmed up and has been running for at least 10 - 15 minutes.

        Watch the motherboard's LED display while your system is booting. Many of the the individual codes refer to a process that is starting. Some of these codes are diagnostic error codes that refer to where the problem is while your system is posting. The LED codes are in your motherboard user manual, pages 119 - 122.

        Double check that all of the hardware, cables and wires are fully seated in their respective connectors or slots.
        Last edited by profJim; 01-03-2016, 08:59 PM.
        Q9650 @ 4.10GHz [9x456MHz]
        P35-DS4 [rev: 2.0] ~ Bios: F14
        4x2GB OCZ Reaper PC2-8500 1094MHz @5-5-5-15
        MSI N460GTX Hawk Talon Attack (1GB) video card <---- SLI ---->
        Seasonic SS-660XP2 80 Plus Platinum psu (660w)
        WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB (data)
        Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD (boot)
        SLI @ 16/4 works when running HyperSLI
        Cooler Master 120XL Seidon push/pull AIO cpu water cooling
        Cooler Master HAF XB computer case (RC-902XB-KKN1)
        Asus VH242H 24" monitor [1920x1080]
        MSI N460GTX Hawk (1GB) video card
        Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Speakers
        win7 x64 sp1 Home Premium
        HT|Omega Claro plus+ sound card
        CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD UPS
        E6300 (R0) @ 3.504GHz [8x438MHz] ~~ P35-DS3L [rev: 1.0] ~ Bios: F9 ~~ 4x2GB Kingston HyperX T1 PC2-8500, 876MHz @4-4-4-10
        Seasonic X650 80+ gold psu (650w) ~~ Xigmatek Balder HDT 1283 cpu cooler ~~ Cooler Master CM 690 case (RC-690-KKN1-GP)
        Samsung 830 128GB SSD MZ-7PC128B/WW (boot) ~~ WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB (data) ~~ ZM-MFC2 fan controller
        HT|Omega Striker 7.1 sound card ~~ Asus VH242H monitor [1920x1080] ~~ Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Speakers
        win7 x64 sp1 Home Premium ~~ CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD U.P.S
        .

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: GA-Z97X-UD5H just toggles between MBIOS LED and BBIOS LED

          Hello, it's been a while, so I thought I would update. I made some changes, and the problem has been semi-fixed. After doing more research, it turns out that other people using my video card have had similar monitor problems. Apparently, my video card series has had problems with the DVI port. It sounds like it usually fails completely, so I'm lucky that I ever got a signal through. Rather than do another Gigabyte RMA and risk having it sent back with no improvement, I simply upgraded my monitor and shuffled things around so that I'm no longer using the defective DVI port.

          After making this change, I noticed that my boot problem has changed slightly. Now, the computer never makes it back from "sleep" mode, so it always gets stuck in the mbios/bbios led toggle. However, it always works properly after a single cmos reset. Essentially, I just have to reset the cmos once whenever I wake the computer from sleep, and then everything works fine. At this point, I'm not really too concerned with solving the problem, but it is an unusual curiosity.

          As it was with the defective DVI port being used, it kind of makes sense that it would get into a boot loop where resetting the cmos wouldn't necessarily help anything. It could have been some kind of power short or something, but I'm not really sure. I have no idea why the problem morphed and continues to persist, but it's not nearly as annoying as it was before. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone else. Thank you.

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