Computer bootup is horrifically slow, sometimes freezes.

[Kabob]

I'm trying to solve my computer illiterate brother's computer issues. Let me give the full backstory. This is a used rig he got off of Hardforum a few weeks ago and it's been fine since.

Yesterday he calls and says he's getting an error, looks like one of his hard drives (the one with the OS installed on it) is bad. I went to the BIOS and tried loading the fail safes and booting to see if it might just be some other error, no-go. I then load the optimized settings. Pulled the hard drive, reformatted, etc.

Now it gets stuck in the "DrMos" BIOS flash for over a minute (it used to only flash for a few seconds). I can hit tab to skip to POST but I don't know what's causing the error. Also, sometimes when loading Windows it simply freezes.

Mobo is an MSI X58 Platinum, not sure what BIOS version is running. Any ideas? Will clearing the CMOS do anything?

Thanks!

 

[core2kid]

I had a similar problem on mine. Problem ended up being the SATA cable. Check that first.

 

[Kabob]

I checked all the SATA cables before I pulled the HDD yesterday, guess I could have knocked one loose afterwards though, I'll check again.

 

[Maldian]

When it comes to a system locking up... there are a couple of variables involved.

1. It may be a ram chip overheating
2. It may be the CPU overheating. Check the fan and make sure it is properly seated and has plenty of silver thermalpaste between the CPU and the fan.
3. Go barebone and take everything you have as far as expansions off to ensure you have just the board. Most video is onboard.
4. If you dont find the problem by then... reply back and I will see what I cna do to help further.

 

[mindless1]

BIOS should've been left as-was in case there were settings made that were required for the system to work (in a perfect world this wouldn't be needed but sometimes it is).

Return the BIOS to failsafe defaults for now, we cant be sure optimized settings work stable.

Go into the bios hardware/health monitoring page and see if it shows anything overheating... leave it sitting on that page for several minutes as temperatures will climb a little due to not being able to use OS power management modes.

Disconnect the HDD and boot to Memtest86+ on a thumbdrive or CDR, etc. Let that run for several hours to check for memory errors and general system stability. At this point, leave all external peripherals (USB) disconnected. If system works so far, add back the peripherals and see if the problem reappears. Next, add back the HDD but attempt to boot to memtest86+ again, if it hesitates you may have a faulty HDD... then run the HDD manufacturer's utility to check its fitness.

If you can get it to finish booting windows, also check for errors in windows' Event Viewer. Next, run Prime95 or an equivalent stress test and monitor CPU temperature with any appropriate utility.

If problem still continues, create a boot log to see where it stops, or of course try a different HDD. Various HDD monitoring utilities can read the SMART data off the drive to see if it has a problem, or the mobo bios may have a smart option which if it is disabled, should be enabled now... same goes for "halt on all errors" or equivalent bios setting.