cuddlesthefox

I have trawled the internet in search of a solution to this strange problem but with no luck so far.
I have a Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi motherboard with a Pentium E6850, 4GB corsair XMS2 PC6400 running on the latest bios (not the beta version).
What happens everytime I cold boot is everything starts, briefly for like 1 second, stops totally for around 2 seconds then starts again and carries on booting as normal. This only ever happens on a cold boot. I have yet to tinker with the Bios settings and everything seems very stable... apart from this annoying double boot.
It is only irritating and doesnt cause any other problems apart from me being reluctant to OC whilst it is going on.
It seems like a fairly common problem according to a few reports but there seems no solution that I can find. Has anyone on here any ideas?

mattlock

What power supply do you have?

cuddlesthefox

The PSU is a Zalman ZM600-HP Heatpipe Cooled 600W Modular. I never gave the PSU a thought as it seems stable.

rodney36

I would like to comment on your posts:

What you observed with a cold boot of your PC, that it powers on briefly, goes off completely, only to power itself on again automatically is apparantly intended behaviour by ASUS.

I have no idea what the purpose of this is exactly, and no idea if this also occurs with other brand mainboards with the same chipset.

We are a computer store and have had some problems with customers who got confused with their PC. When cold booting their PC, it would go off and they would press the power button a second time thinking the PC didn't go on, which actually resulted in the PC going off again... (And when powering up again showing a "overclocking failed" message because the mainboard detected an incomplete POST)

I even found that PCs with this product line of mainboards can power on briefly (a second) and would go off for as long as 6 seconds(!) until finally powering on normally and staying on. As long as power is not cut from the power supply, after this initial behaviour it will not happen again.

Actually we are using the P5K-VM but it exhibits the same behaviour. We use Antec cases with Antec's Earthwatts EA-380EC power supply.

I believe this behaviour comes from the mainboard itself and not from the Power Supply.

If anyone knows how to turn off this behaviour please post here...

I was hoping this feature would be gone on the P5E-VM but apparantly not...

Rodney

dai

i am using the same setup but with the e6750 and have no problems
same m/b
same ram
5 h/d's
3dvdwr
7600gs
floppy
water cooling
silverstone zeus 650w
current day computers usually require a min of around 550w because of the high amps required by pcie on the 12v line
single pcie=26amps
dual=36amps
2x 12v lines at 18a do not equal 36a output,the available is around 28-30a
because it occurs on a cold boot i would suspect the psu

samcboulder

My board does the one second restart deal as well, however i have a second issue. Basically i have to cut the power to the power supply for a few seconds for it to boot, otherwise i just get a black screen when i try to boot up. I basically cut the power, wait a few seconds, then boot with the on, off, on boot process as described in this post.

Question#1 - does anyone else also have the issue where they have to drain the power. I have seen this on other forums.

Question#2 - do you think this behavior could have negative effects on the life of components.. or is it just annoying?

either way it is kind of a pain, and has caused me to waste several hours searching for a solution.

Thanks ;)

dai

that indicates your psu is faulty and or underpowered
start your own threads for your own problems

rodney36

samcboulder I believe your occasional no-POST problem might be related to memory issues, try setting the correctly matching memory frequency in the advanced - jumperfree section of your BIOS to match the frequency of your memory. First load bios defaults, then change only all the necessary BIOS settings that you need and then set 'overclocking' to 'standard', 'DRAM frequency' to the correct setting of your memory's specifications. Sometimes it also helps to take out the memory DIMMs and reseat them, sometimes they can be loose especially in the middle(check if all contacts are in all the way deep), or simply have some loose contact. This might happen when first building a PC or sometimes after a few years of use. You should do both the things I mentioned and then test again. If that doesn't work, try carefully taking out the CPU, putting it back in again, and test again. If that doesn't work, try the memory DIMMs seperately, or replace your memory, after that, maybe it's your power supply after all. If all fails, your VGA card or mainboard might be faulty.

back on subject:

Generally speaking when a PC powers on and stays on, I assume the power supply is sufficiently strong. It depends on how many devices/memory/what CPU are inside your PC, but I am talking about a simple, normal configuration standard PC. (E6550 CPU, 2Gb mem, 160Gb harddisk, DVD drive, DVD burner, floppy drive and cardreader). If you have a lot of devices, remove the non critical ones to test if the problem goes away.

The behaviour I have seen when a power supply is not sufficiently strong is that the PC doesn't respond at all when you try to power it on, nothing happens, or sometimes there is a repetitive (hissing, for lack of a better description)noise coming from the coils on the mainboard. If the PC runs at all, it might power off suddenly due to the PSU going into overcurrent protection or simply fails.

I also believe from my own experiences that newer ASUS mainboards are protected by power sensing circuits which will prevent the PC from powering up if certain power lines cannot supply enough current. (make sure you are using a 24 pin power connector and not a 20)

I believe it is not about the total amount of watts but more about how much current at which voltage that makes the difference whether a certain board runs properly with a certain power supply. I ever measured the total amount of watts a PC with this P5K generation mainboard consumes and I remember it being very low, around 80-90 Watts, at 100% CPU load. Of course it depends on your configuration, what processor, how much memory, how many harddisks etc. Again I am talking about a basic PC here like mentioned above because we are talking about the power on, off and back on again issue which I believe is an ASUS design issue rather than insufficient power.

To get back to the problem: For example, I experienced this off and back on after several seconds(stays on after that) issue even with a P5K-VM board with a celeron 430 and using onboard Intel VGA, which is very minimal. It is no error or fault as such but more an occurrance.

Even with a E6550 and a 500Watt Antec Phantom power supply, same behaviour. I believe this is related to the ATX power circuits and the power management related circuits onboard and their configuration by ASUS.

If anyone solved this problem somehow I am very interested to know... I wish it can be disabled somehow in the BIOS.

Steps to reproduce the behaviour:

- Unplug power chord
- wait until onboard led on mainboard goes off
- plug mains power chord back in
- press ATX power button once and observe front power led and fan activity of CPU, both going off for a second and then after a few seconds, back on

dai

draining the power resets the power supply and warms componants up,but the underlying problem is it is underpowered and will eventually fail
also check the default voltage for ram is not set to low

pepe1914

As i said in the "RAM and Power Supply Support" Forum i have the same problem. I think it's not a PSU problem (mine is Antec Neo power 550w). My needs according eXtreme PSU calculator are:
System Type: Single Processor
Motherboard: Regular - Desktop
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 6750
CPU Utilization (TDP): 85% TDP
RAM: 1 Stick DDR3 SDRAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce
Video Type: Single Card
IDE HDD 7200 rpm: 2 HDDs
DVD/CDRW Combo Drive: 2 Drives
Floppy Drive: 1 Drive
Fan Controller: Yes
Fans
Regular: 1 Fan 120mm;
Keyboard and mouse: Yes
System Load: 90 %
Recommended Wattage: 237 Watts
According Asus PsuTester are 400W.

So i think it's not a PSU problem I think is a default in the design of the Asus series P5k or Bios
In the many forums including Asus are a lot of topics about this problem but no solutions.
I hope Asus will correct this problem soon.

rodney36

pepe1914: I couldn't agree more with you. I have exactly the same experience about this.
I suspect that since the Intel "33" and "35" chipsets something fundamentally differs from before these chipsets. That is what I believe is why we are having these experiences.

The P5E-VM boards for example are also exhibiting strange behaviour. When plugging in the power to the PC case it powers up by itself. Then powers down and powers up again. Sometimes there is no picture at first and only after a while suddenly comes the POST beep and the PC starts booting. Same happens sometimes at a reboot, the PC is quiet for a while and suddenly comes on.

I wish that users would be given an option in the BIOS to disable these advanced power functions of the mainboard and go back to 'legacy setting' or something so that it behaves the same as for example the i965 chipset when powering on.
This kind of behaviour is ok for IT people once we know it but for an average user it is completely puzzling. A situation is being created now where we are receiving calls from customers who claim the PC is defective when actually the PC behaves strangely by design.

I wish someone from ASUS would reply about this and offer an alternative BIOS or something.
A lot of loyal users would be grateful for this.
I don't want to change the brand of my favourite hardware manufacturer that I have been selling and promoting for years...

pepe1914

In another thread Davi says: "Will the system boot first try after a cmos clear?"

So...
I just clear cmos.
The system boot fine but...
I must wait and see tomorrow if the problem has been fixed.
I'll say you my experience. I "hope" the system work fine.

Thanks

ranger10x

I'm having the same issues with the following signatures with my new P5K-E with a Q6600 with VISTA 64 bit & BIOS 906;
1) Any time I change the BIOS settings for over clocking and save and exit it briefly powers off and then back on and boots up just fine. Only occurs when I’m tweaking over clocking in BIOs. Other BIOS changes do not have any impact.
2) After a Cold Startup (Power Supply has been off) it briefly powers off and then boots up just fine. Power Supply is a 500 Watt Antex.

3) It boots up just fine if no BIOS changes or from a Warm Startup (Power Supply is on after I shut down the PC from Windows).

I called ASUS and they told me it was my Antex power supply so I decided to buy a new different brand Power Supply from Frys (Sale rep told me I could bring it back for a refund if it did not fix the problem) and had the same issues. This must be a Motherboard issue. I called ASUS again and got up to level 3 Tech support and he told me to clear the CMOS and hung up which I did with no luck.

My question is other than be annoyed with this issue is there anything to worry about like damage to the motherboard or components?

The motherboard seems to work great with my current OC settings and I can still exchange or get my money back from Newegg.

Hope somebody can give some advice since I tried at the ASUS forum with no luck.

Note the Max that I have OC it so far is 3 GHz (9x333). Temps are cool on air around upper 20s on all four cores.

pepe1914

The nightmare continues...
Today in a cold start the pc didn' boot, any beep.

To Boot I MUST unplug the power cord, wait ten seconds, plug it again and a I heard a short beep, it boots without run BIOS setup and then works fine.

I'm waiting still an answer from Asus Technic support team.

I'll tray set a little more voltage for ram as Dai says.

I'll tell you.

ranger10x

This is what I found out from ASUS Level 3 about Cold Boot and BIOS changes which is under the faqs section for the P5K MBs;

My system sometimes may need to power up and down twice before entering OS.
Is this normal?

Answer

This is normal if any of the following conditions are true:
1. The very first time for system to power up after AC power off.
2. Has just save and exist BIOS setup screen after setting system to overclock to an extensive level.
3. Have just adjusted memory or FSB setting in BIOS.

System will require a complete system reset (i.e. cold off) to stablize system clock if any of the conditions listed above are true.

pawn

MY p5k won't even get to the bios screen, well it did twice but didn't keep going long enough to do anything...brand new from the box, did the barebones bit.....no difference, tried letting it keep going hoping it would finally kick in, nope, unplugged the power then plugged it in and tried again.....xp media, qtec psu 550 watt so it should be ok, but will try to scrounge another and see if that makes any difference .

pepe1914

To ranger10x:
1. It's no the first time I boot it. It works almost everyday since January, 10.
2. I don't set the system to do OC. I allways save and exit.
3. i've adjusted DRAM frecuency on BIOS. No Auto.

And now, the nightmare continues..
The system get worse. Now I must take out the memory DIMMs and reseat them in order to boot the system.
Once booted it runs perfect. Now I'm writing from it. Only the system goes slower when Jmicron IDE controller is enabled.

Any new suggestion?

Thanks to all posters.

pawn

got it to boot by buying a jeantech storm 700 psu,then windows just wouldn't install, spent hours trying and it would freeze at randome time, finally got it to work by disabeling all the overclock functions and setting the memory manually to ddr2-667, even though it is actually 800. even now of i raise rthe memory speed or try to use the overclock functions it just aint happy. p5k here by the way....hope this helps somebody else out.

just to add that these boards seem to be VERY sensetive to ANY change in the voltage or amps supplied, a tiny variation seems to knock them out...my old psu was an older 500watt, but obviously it could't hold the rails accurately enough. i think that alot of problems with the fans spinning but no boot could be caused by this( as in my case)?? make sure your power supply is good enough to keep voltage / amps nailed solid with everything connected......not saying it is the only problem, but it sorted it out for me, good luck :)

dai

asus p5k series of m/bs are not all clumped into one
each has their own bios version
this thread is on the Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi and only fixes for this board should be posted here
any other version of the board should be in their own thread for that paticular m/b
the common factor through most of the posts is a low powered psu

rodney36

to pepe1914 and others:

For what it's worth, a tip:

Recently I have discovered something: it does seem to make a difference which power supply is used with the mainboard after all. But this only relates to post/reboot problems, not to the other problem where the PC powers on briefly, then off and back on and normal boot after that.

For a while we have used Antec's Earthwatts 380 power supplies which were included in the PC cases we use for our PCs. As it now turns out, some of these Antec power supplies are having problems, and some don't. (!)

Now we have switched to using empty PC cases and we are currently trying ASUS A-45GA power supplies with those. Up to now we have not had any post problems anymore with our PCs, except the fact that sometimes at cold boot the PC powers on, briefly off and automatically back on. But besides this, the other problems with no post and no VGA and such seem to be solved by the change in powersupply.