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    Often (but not always) at cold boot, there is a pause of about 10 seconds at the bios screen with no messages and then there is a reboot and windows start normally. Restarting windows also works without issues. Any ideas what might causing this problem?
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    did you try resetting your bios ??
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    Originally Posted by october262 View Post
    did you try resetting your bios ??
    Yes and it did not help.
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    try unplugging any USB drives and have just the keyboard & mouse plugged in
    and see if that helps. what are the specs of your computer and how much ram does it have ??
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  5. Problems on a cold boot may indicate something on the motherboard is failing and may fail completely soon. Maybe a bad cap. A can of freeze spray may help isolate the failing component.

    Or maybe a bad drive. Check SMART stats.

    Sometimes a bad cable or connector.
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    Could also be a failing PSU or bad RAM. Turn on and watch the full BIOS startup sequence, especially the RAM check. You might also try setting your BIOS to all the defaults. Check your manual for instructions.
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    Originally Posted by october262 View Post
    try unplugging any USB drives and have just the keyboard & mouse plugged in
    and see if that helps. what are the specs of your computer and how much ram does it have ??
    Unplugging USB drives does not help. It's an Z97 motherboard with an i5 CPU and 16GB RAM.

    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Problems on a cold boot may indicate something on the motherboard is failing and may fail completely soon. Maybe a bad cap. A can of freeze spray may help isolate the failing component.

    Or maybe a bad drive. Check SMART stats.

    Sometimes a bad cable or connector.
    SMART status seems OK. Cables also seem OK.

    Originally Posted by lingyi View Post
    Could also be a failing PSU or bad RAM. Turn on and watch the full BIOS startup sequence, especially the RAM check. You might also try setting your BIOS to all the defaults. Check your manual for instructions.
    BIOS does not display diagnostic messages such as RAM check. I already tried setting BIOS to default values without luck.
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    try restarting your computer in safe mode and see if you still get the pause issue.
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    Most new MBs have utilities to setup and test the components. Run those if you have them as it may help pinpoint issues.
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    Originally Posted by october262 View Post
    try restarting your computer in safe mode and see if you still get the pause issue.
    The pause happens at the bios screen before Windows start.

    Originally Posted by lingyi View Post
    Most new MBs have utilities to setup and test the components. Run those if you have them as it may help pinpoint issues.
    I don't think I have such utilities.
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  11. What mainboard is it exactly?
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    Originally Posted by flashandpan007 View Post
    What mainboard is it exactly?
    https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z97X-Gaming-5-rev-10
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    Originally Posted by kyrcy View Post
    Originally Posted by october262 View Post
    try restarting your computer in safe mode and see if you still get the pause issue.
    The pause happens at the bios screen before Windows start.

    Originally Posted by lingyi View Post
    Most new MBs have utilities to setup and test the components. Run those if you have them as it may help pinpoint issues.
    I don't think I have such utilities.
    Here's the utilities for your board: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z97X-Gaming-5-rev-10/support#support-dl-utility
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  14. The problem you're going to have is that by the time you get to the BIOS your computer will have warmed up enough to run normally.
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    Originally Posted by lingyi View Post
    I am aware of the utilities, but I don't see a diagnostic one.
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    The Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) has a Stress Test.

    While you're at it, you should check and update your BIOS to the latest if you haven't already done so.

    Other than that, it's the usual PC diagnostics routine. Remove/disconnect everything, including the RAM and HDD and start putting them back one by one.. Boot without the HDD and see if get to the screen where it says there's no OS, then reboot with a live Linux flash drive or disc to see if it hangs there. My first guess is still a bad RAM stick as I've had builds hang and restart like you're experiencing because of a bad stick.
    Last edited by lingyi; 31st Aug 2019 at 22:16.
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    There has not been a bios update for years. I also doubt it's a RAM problem (I am using new memory sticks that are already tested).
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  18. Do you get any kind of a beep code at POST?
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    Originally Posted by Constant Gardener View Post
    Do you get any kind of a beep code at POST?
    There are no beeps at POST, but now at cold boot there might be 2-3 reboots before windows start. Sometimes there is none.
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  20. Do you have system speaker that gives a single beep while POST runs?
    if not, get one.
    Have you tried loading BIOS [original] afresh?

    I did both when faced with similar problem.

    @jagbo's suggestions are important and I had faced problem with cables/connectors.
    Sword is no substitute for kitchen-knife.
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    Sometimes reboots mean your system has issues trying to run the ram at the desired settings,try lowering the setting to see if that helps.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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    Originally Posted by ConverterCrazy View Post
    Do you have system speaker that gives a single beep while POST runs?
    if not, get one.
    Have you tried loading BIOS [original] afresh?

    I did both when faced with similar problem.

    @jagbo's suggestions are important and I had faced problem with cables/connectors.
    I do have a system speaker that gives a single beep while POST runs and there no additional beeps.

    I have already tried loading BIOS defaults settings.

    Originally Posted by johns0 View Post
    Sometimes reboots mean your system has issues trying to run the ram at the desired settings,try lowering the setting to see if that helps.
    I am already using 1600MHz RAM at 1333MHz. I will change settings to 1600MHz to see if it makes a difference.
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  23. Originally Posted by kyrcy View Post
    I have already tried loading BIOS defaults settings.
    No. I had meant refreshing Flash BIOS as explained here
    https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z97X-Gaming-5-rev-10/support#support-dl

    Caution: Please do not attempt, if you are not familiar with this process and the complications.
    Sword is no substitute for kitchen-knife.
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    Originally Posted by ConverterCrazy View Post
    No. I had meant refreshing Flash BIOS as explained here
    https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z97X-Gaming-5-rev-10/support#support-dl

    Caution: Please do not attempt, if you are not familiar with this process and the complications.
    Yes, I re-flashed the bios without luck. I also inspected the motherboard visually and all caps look fine. S.M.A.R.T. status shows nothing suspicious, changing RAM speed made no difference and SATA cables and connectors seem OK.
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    I believe I isolated the problem with an optical drive. The problem does not happen if I remove the drive and happens if I connect it to a different port/cable on the SATA motherboard controller. I think the problem shouldn't be the port/cable, but I will probably need a new drive in place of the old one to be certain.
    Last edited by kyrcy; 25th Sep 2019 at 14:27.
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  26. I had faulty SATA cables in the last 15 years, at home and also at work, I just disconnected the optical drive and the computer started fine, replaced the SATA cable and it started just fine. Several computers. I don't know why, which pin connection is faulty and what exactly is wrong the cable.
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