X99-E Cold Boot Issues

[Bersagliere]

Hello

I have searched and tried every suggestion I have come across regarding my Asus X99-E cold boot issues. I have the latest firmware and drivers on everyone of my devices and add on cards, including the motherboard. Yet the issue persists. I have done away with any overclocking and it makes no difference. Overclocked or not, once the PC boots it runs perfectly, on occasion it will boot on the first attempt, most of the time it takes 2, 3 or 4 tries. The problems seems to be between the BIOS and Windows 10 as it stops when the Windows logo appears.

Other than taking the PC apart I don't know what else to try. Here is my system information, any feedback is appreciated:

Operating System: Windows 10 Home, 64-bit
DirectX version: 12.0
GPU processor: GeForce GTX 1070
Driver version: 390.77
Direct3D API version: 12
Direct3D feature level: 12_1
CUDA Cores: 1920
Core clock: 1607 MHz
Memory data rate: 8008 MHz
Memory interface: 256-bit
Memory bandwidth: 256.26 GB/s
Total available graphics memory: 24530 MB
Dedicated video memory: 8192 MB GDDR5
System video memory: 0 MB
Shared system memory: 16338 MB
Video BIOS version: 86.04.26.00.70
IRQ: Not used
Bus: PCI Express x16 Gen3
Device Id: 10DE 1B81 62763842
Part Number: G411 0020

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Version 10.0.16299 Build 16299
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer ASUS
System Model All Series
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU All
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6800K CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 1801, 8/11/2017
SMBIOS Version 3.0
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
BaseBoard Model Not Available
BaseBoard Name Base Board
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.16299.201"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 31.9 GB
Available Physical Memory 25.2 GB
Total Virtual Memory 36.7 GB
Available Virtual Memory 29.1 GB
Page File Space 4.75 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Device Encryption Support Reasons for failed automatic device encryption: TPM is not usable, PCR7 binding is not supported, Hardware Security Test Interface failed and device is not InstantGo, Un-allowed DMA capable bus/device(s) detected, TPM is not usable
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware No
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

[Silent_Scone]

If the system is hanging with code AE, it can point to instability. However, if happening when the system is at optimised defaults and no overclock is applied it can be caused also by USB devices that are not fully xhci compliant.

[Bersagliere]

Silent Scone wrote:
If the system is hanging with code AE, it can point to instability. However, if happening when the system is at optimised defaults and no overclock is applied it can be caused also by USB devices that are not fully xhci compliant.

Hello and thank you for the feedback Silent Scone.

The only USB 3.0 PCIe card I have is from StarTech and I have the latest drivers installed. How can I tell if the card is XHCI compliant?

The system is currently set to "Optimized Defaults", no overclocking at all, although it has made no difference. The thing is I read other people with Asus X99 MOBOs are having similar issues, in some cases solved by only going to a different MOBO.

Having said all this, I will try and remove the card and test it a few times to see what happens.

Thank you!

[Asus-User]

I had a very similar problem but not with your type of board. I have the rampage v extreme. My solution was to disconnect the ROG panel. Shut down your computer, disconnect all cables of the ROG panel, turn off your power supple, keep pressing the power button of your computer for 30 seconds, turn on power supply and after that your computer. This solved my problem and it never came back.

[Bersagliere]

Asus-User wrote:
I had a very similar problem but not with your type of board. I have the rampage v extreme. My solution was to disconnect the ROG panel. Shut down your computer, disconnect all cables of the ROG panel, turn off your power supple, keep pressing the power button of your computer for 30 seconds, turn on power supply and after that your computer. This solved my problem and it never came back.

Hello and thank you for the feedback. When you say "disconnect all cables from the ROG panel" you mean the motherboard?

Cheers!

[Asus-User]

Bersagliere wrote:
Hello and thank you for the feedback. When you say "disconnect all cables from the ROG panel" you mean the motherboard?

Cheers!

Yes, the ROG panel has 2 cables which are connected with the motherboard. And after unplugging them and before you turn on your computer again, disconnect every usb device or usb hardware.

[Bersagliere]

Asus-User wrote:
Yes, the ROG panel has 2 cables which are connected with the motherboard. And after unplugging them and before you turn on your computer again, disconnect every usb device or usb hardware.

Asus-User

If I understood the procedure, I turned the power supply switch off, disconnected the 2 motherboard power supply cables, held the power button for 30 seconds. Reconnected the power cables to the motherboard, switched on the power and booted the PC. Unfortunately this did not help, let me know if this is what your instructions were.

Thank you.

[Silent_Scone]

Bersagliere wrote:
Hello and thank you for the feedback Silent Scone.

The only USB 3.0 PCIe card I have is from StarTech and I have the latest drivers installed. How can I tell if the card is XHCI compliant?

The system is currently set to "Optimized Defaults", no overclocking at all, although it has made no difference. The thing is I read other people with Asus X99 MOBOs are having similar issues, in some cases solved by only going to a different MOBO.

Having said all this, I will try and remove the card and test it a few times to see what happens.

Thank you!

It's the devices I'm referring to, not the USB card. Some USB 2 devices are notorious for not being fully compliant. One of the most common ones you find online, is the PS4 controller - obviously common among fellow gamers.


As per my previous post, though, it can often point towards instability. If you're applying XMP please remember this is classed as overclocking.

[Bersagliere]

Silent Scone wrote:
It's the devices I'm referring to, not the USB card. Some USB 2 devices are notorious for not being fully compliant. One of the most common ones you find online, is the PS4 controller - obviously common among fellow gamers.


As per my previous post, though, it can often point towards instability. If you're applying XMP please remember this is classed as overclocking.

Hum, I do have quite a few devices connected since I use this PC for sim racing. I have the AccuForce wheel connected to the add on PCI-e USB 3.0 card, a DSD button box, a DSD shifter, and Fanatec pedals connected to the motherboard USBs. However they are all reputable companies, I would imagine they are compliant. Then again so is Sony 😛

I will disconnect them one at the time during cold boot and get back to you in a few days. What I don't understand is why only "cold boot" or first time in the day boot, all other boots or reboots have no issues at all.

Thank you!

[Bersagliere]

Silent Scone wrote:
It's the devices I'm referring to, not the USB card. Some USB 2 devices are notorious for not being fully compliant. One of the most common ones you find online, is the PS4 controller - obviously common among fellow gamers.


As per my previous post, though, it can often point towards instability. If you're applying XMP please remember this is classed as overclocking.

Silent Scone

I unplugged every USB device except for the Logitech unifying USB receiver needed to navigate. No improvement, the PC either displays the Windows logo and stops there or it continues but all 3 monitors are without signal. Sometimes one of the 3 will turn on but the PC behaves badly and the mouse cursor is not present.

I ordered a new PCI-e USB 3.0 card to test out but there is no improvement. The PCI-e slot I am having to use sits right next to the NVIDIA card, I don't know if this could be causing a problem, I doubt it but I may swap the ASUS Xonar sound card with the USB card to see. All devices have the latest firmware and drivers.

Given I read many of ASUS X99 boards have displayed some sort of cold boot problem, I wonder if their boards chipsets are flawed somehow. I have had boot problems with the X99-E since I built the PC, I used to get around it using a utility (Launch Later) to delay the driver and app load sequence, however I continued to encounter random cold boot issues.

I don't know what else to try other than buying a different motherboard.

Thank you.

PS; I should note I used to be able to run 20% overclocking despite the cold boot issue, now I cannot run any OC% at all.

PS2; I came across this video] on YouTube, I tested what the guy suggested and the PC booted twice without issues. I will test it again for a couple of days and update here.


PS3; After a week+ of testing it seems that following the video instructions above seems to have resolved my issue with the cold boot. I am still baffled but there you have it. Cheers and thank you for the feedback!