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#1
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press 4 to unlock core
Having 'increasing' probs with my 8-core AMD destktop. The board is an asus-xhair-IV Boot often doesn't even begin and pops the subject error message which includes "or F.. to load defaults" and words of this nature. CPU temps never above 50c. BIOS should come up by touching "Del" but it takes a dozen attempts for that to work with my new usb gaming keyboard. This morning bios just would not detect 2 of my data drives in sata slots 3 & 4 (using a 5-bay rack with 1-4 sata reserved). After I don't know how many reboots bios still wasn't detecting but "fdisk -l" finally picked one of them up. On the last boot bios detected it too, got it mounted, and it's presently taking 1tb of backups. I would just like some ballpark hunches to start with, what do symptoms like this suggest? Mobo, rack, bios? |
#2
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press 4 to unlock core
On 2020-10-22 11:40, KenW wrote:
On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:07:15 -0400, bad sector wrote: Having 'increasing' probs with my 8-core AMD destktop. The board is an asus-xhair-IV Boot often doesn't even begin and pops the subject error message which includes "or F.. to load defaults" and words of this nature. CPU temps never above 50c. BIOS should come up by touching "Del" but it takes a dozen attempts for that to work with my new usb gaming keyboard. This morning bios just would not detect 2 of my data drives in sata slots 3 & 4 (using a 5-bay rack with 1-4 sata reserved). After I don't know how many reboots bios still wasn't detecting but "fdisk -l" finally picked one of them up. On the last boot bios detected it too, got it mounted, and it's presently taking 1tb of backups. I would just like some ballpark hunches to start with, what do symptoms like this suggest? Mobo, rack, bios? Battery cr-2032 could be going bad (low voltage) KenW thanks, I forgot them buggers are not rechargeable! gonna check it out |
#3
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press 4 to unlock core
KenW wrote:
On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:07:15 -0400, bad sector wrote: Having 'increasing' probs with my 8-core AMD destktop. The board is an asus-xhair-IV Boot often doesn't even begin and pops the subject error message which includes "or F.. to load defaults" and words of this nature. CPU temps never above 50c. BIOS should come up by touching "Del" but it takes a dozen attempts for that to work with my new usb gaming keyboard. This morning bios just would not detect 2 of my data drives in sata slots 3 & 4 (using a 5-bay rack with 1-4 sata reserved). After I don't know how many reboots bios still wasn't detecting but "fdisk -l" finally picked one of them up. On the last boot bios detected it too, got it mounted, and it's presently taking 1tb of backups. I would just like some ballpark hunches to start with, what do symptoms like this suggest? Mobo, rack, bios? Battery cr-2032 could be going bad (low voltage) KenW Making note of any special settings, before replacement. As you'd have to put back the settings afterwards. Sometimes taking digital camera pictures of the BIOS screen in advance, is a good enough method. Some Asus motherboards are famous for their bad defaults choices in the BIOS, requiring things to be corrected over and over again. Later Asus boards have a "profile manager" and you can load a saved profile after a battery replacement. My newest system has that feature, and I have two profiles saved in it. The interface in the BIOS screen for that, is less than intuitive (you can't tell what you're supposed to do). If you have a multimeter, you can take a voltage reading off the top of the CR2032, using any I/O mounting screw as an alligator-clip ground. If 2.3V or less, replace. When brand new, they can be in the 3.1V range. If you unplug a computer with brand new battery, and leave it in the junk room, the battery lasts for three years. Paul |
#4
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press 4 to unlock core
bad sector wrote:
Having 'increasing' probs with my 8-core AMD destktop. The board is an asus-xhair-IV / No, it's "Crosshair" --- but which model is unspecified. If you want to severely narrow down the responses to only those that have this product to know you meant crosshair instead of x then don't use abbreviations that would be uncertain to other users. In order for other users (not of this particular motherboard) to be able to lookup the product to know what it is to help you, don't make them guess as to what you have. From what I found in searches, the product's name could be: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula or ASUS Crosshair IV Extreme Didn't know which to pick, so I first picked the Formula product. That was introduced around April 2010. Then I checked on the Extreme model which looks like it came out around November 2010. From forum posts, looks like both were discontinued around 2014 (replaced by Rampage). You didn't say how old is whichever one that you have. At 10 years old, that is way too long for the CMOS battery. Even at 6 years, CMOS batteries go weak or die by then. I replace mine about every 3-4 years. During boot, the settings from the battery-powered CMOS table are used, if usable, but if corrupt then the BIOS will try to retrieve the defaults stored in the EEPROM chip(s). It's a cheap troubleshooting step for an old computer exhibiting boot problems: buy a CR-2032 coin cell battery, and replace the old and likely dead one in the computer on the motherboard. Since both the Formula and Extreme models are motherboards for desktop PCs, replacing the CMOS battery is easy. Laptops are a bitch. Boot often doesn't even begin and pops the subject error message which includes "or F.. to load defaults" and words of this nature. The CMOS battery is probably dead. It cannot maintain the contents of the CMOS table, so the contents of that table are corrupt or invalid forcing the BIOS to load the defaults from the EEPROMs. Replace the CMOS battery, reset the BIOS (use a jumper to short the 2-pin header on the motherboard) to ensure the defaults get loaded into the CMOS table, and retest. I would just like some ballpark hunches to start with, what do symptoms like this suggest? Mobo, rack, bios? Most likely needs a new CR-2032 battery. I get a bunch of them at a time for cheap at eBay, but make sure you aren't buying counterfeits there. Ask the seller if the pic they show in their auction is of the product, or a stock photo. If a pic of the actual product for sale, often the packaging will indicate authentic or counterfeit (and there are sites showing you pics of authentic vs counterfeit packaging). I have lots of devices using the CR-2032 batteries, so I buy a bunch to replace them all or have spares on hand when they die off. At Walmart, it'll cost more (~$5), but you only need the 1 for the mobo for another 4 to 6 years before needing to replace it again. I usually stick with Sony for the coin cell batteries. |
#5
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press 4 to unlock core
On 2020-10-22 15:41, VanguardLH wrote:
bad sector wrote: Having 'increasing' probs with my 8-core AMD destktop. The board is an asus-xhair-IV / No, it's "Crosshair" --- but which model is unspecified. If you want to severely narrow down the responses to only those that have this product to know you meant crosshair instead of x then don't use abbreviations that would be uncertain to other users. In order for other users (not of this particular motherboard) to be able to lookup the product to know what it is to help you, don't make them guess as to what you have. Noted, my sincere apologies. From what I found in searches, the product's name could be: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula or ASUS Crosshair IV Extreme it's Crosshair IV Formula The CMOS battery is probably dead. It cannot maintain the contents of the CMOS table, so the contents of that table are corrupt or invalid forcing the BIOS to load the defaults from the EEPROMs. Replace the CMOS battery, reset the BIOS (use a jumper to short the 2-pin header on the motherboard) to ensure the defaults get loaded into the CMOS table, and retest. I put a new one in it, no cigar, same problems |
#6
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press 4 to unlock core
On 2020-10-22 12:53, Paul wrote:
Sometimes taking digital camera pictures of the BIOS screen in advance, is a good enough method. Some Asus motherboards are famous for their bad defaults choices in the BIOS, requiring things to be corrected over and over again. new battery I do take pictures of the monitor when hot onto something but for now I'm still poking around in the dark and there seem to be multiple issues involved For starters i bought this DURGOD usb gaming keyboard and 2 out of 10 boots I have to cycle it into another usb port or I don't get to see BIOS with 'Del' nor get to select anything from the frozen boot menu. Another solution is to immediately plug in my old keyboard to bypass this issue. I don't know if it's a keyboard or a mobo fault. Another problem might revolve around the sata rack with mobile drawers for the drives. The last dozen or so attempts I could not get any drive plugged into the #4 slot detected. Suspecting the drive that usually goes in there I plugged it in bybassing the rack and then it got detected although I also wondered if its 22,000 hours could be a factor. When I initially posted this drive was taking a backup, now recognised OK on a direct sata cable fdisk showed it as a dos drive with no partition. Gdisk showed the gpt table and the only partition but on mounting it it was empty. When I plug this drive into its usual #4 slot it doesn't get detected, if I plug it into the #3 swapping with the one in there then neither #3 nor #4 ger detected. A lot of this is way over my head. The boot drive is a brand new ssd and booting one of the installations on it I got a filesystem error, yet fsck from another installation proved it 'clean'. This was a Suse-Leap partition, and subsequent boots on it went without any problems. So I'm like exhausted for right but will next connect all drives directly bypassing the mobile tray setup and using the old keyboard. Later |
#7
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press 4 to unlock core
bad sector wrote:
On 2020-10-22 12:53, Paul wrote: Sometimes taking digital camera pictures of the BIOS screen in advance, is a good enough method. Some Asus motherboards are famous for their bad defaults choices in the BIOS, requiring things to be corrected over and over again. new battery I do take pictures of the monitor when hot onto something but for now I'm still poking around in the dark and there seem to be multiple issues involved For starters i bought this DURGOD usb gaming keyboard and 2 out of 10 boots I have to cycle it into another usb port or I don't get to see BIOS with 'Del' nor get to select anything from the frozen boot menu. Another solution is to immediately plug in my old keyboard to bypass this issue. I don't know if it's a keyboard or a mobo fault. Another problem might revolve around the sata rack with mobile drawers for the drives. The last dozen or so attempts I could not get any drive plugged into the #4 slot detected. Suspecting the drive that usually goes in there I plugged it in bybassing the rack and then it got detected although I also wondered if its 22,000 hours could be a factor. When I initially posted this drive was taking a backup, now recognised OK on a direct sata cable fdisk showed it as a dos drive with no partition. Gdisk showed the gpt table and the only partition but on mounting it it was empty. When I plug this drive into its usual #4 slot it doesn't get detected, if I plug it into the #3 swapping with the one in there then neither #3 nor #4 ger detected. A lot of this is way over my head. The boot drive is a brand new ssd and booting one of the installations on it I got a filesystem error, yet fsck from another installation proved it 'clean'. This was a Suse-Leap partition, and subsequent boots on it went without any problems. So I'm like exhausted for right but will next connect all drives directly bypassing the mobile tray setup and using the old keyboard. Later I have had a Western Digital drive damage a SATA port on my Southbridge. My Typing Machine only has five working Southbridge SATA ports at the moment. The sixth port is dead. The hard drive that did this is "retired" and is not used as a spare for OS installs either. The SATA interface has a limit on common mode voltage range. I don't know if a SATA driver on one hardware, can manage to create enough voltage to damage the receiver interface on a second device. It really should not be able to do that. Yet... I have a dead port. Paul |
#8
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press 4 to unlock core
bad sector wrote:
BIOS should come up by touching "Del" but it takes a dozen attempts for that to work with my new usb gaming keyboard. USB is a polled interface. PS/2 is an interrupt-driven interface. If the computer gets super busy, the USB device may not get its chance at the next polling interval, and why USB keyboards can lag in video games compared to PS/2 keyboards. Just because a product says "gamer" in its product name doesn't mean it really qualifies for that type of use. Did the keyboard come with a USB-to-PS/2 adapter? If so, the keyboard has the logic to switch between the different hardware protocols. If your computer has a PS/2 port then I'd use that for the keyboard. Gamers prefer PS/2 to USB because there is less delay or lag on keypresses with PS/2, and PS/2 supports more concurrent keypresses than USB. That's why some gamer mobos still come with a PS/2 port. Also, no reason to toss the availability of a USB port if a PS/2 port is available. I found: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards...pecifications/ where it mentions one PS/2 port (for keyboard). If your USB gaming keyboard came with a PS/2 adapter then it supports both USB and PS/2 hardware protocols (internal logic has it switch between them). If the keyboard did not include a PS/2 adapter, it is a USB-only keyboard. You cannot simply plug a USB-only keyboard into a PS/2 adapter since the USB-only keyboard doesn't support the PS/2 hardware protocol. You can get an active hub that converts from USB to PS/2 to let you connect a USB-only keyboard to a PS/2 port, but those are more costly than just getting a USB+PS/2 or PS/2 keyboard. It has been a long time since I've seen this, but some old BIOSes must be configured in their settings to "Support legacy devices" which includes the PS/2 ports. If you see that setting in the BIOS then enable it should you decide to get a PS/2 keyboard or get a USB+PS/2 keyboard and use the USB-to-PS/2 adapter. Which USB "gamer" keyboard do you have? |
#9
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press 4 to unlock core
bad sector wrote:
After I don't know how many reboots bios still wasn't detecting but "fdisk -l" finally picked one of them up. fdisk? I haven't see that available since the ancient MS/IBM-DOS days, or in Linux. What OS are you running on this computer? I'm not sure the OS is important since the problems you describe are accessing the BIOS or its POST screen not listing all your devices. The POST screen presents its findings before any OS gets loaded. Do you even see the POST screen? Or is the BIOS configured to display some ad banner, like "Hey, you're using ASUS"? I'd get rid of any ad banner display during boot up, and have the BIOS show its POST screen. The ad banner is worthless. The POST screen shows valuable information. |
#10
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press 4 to unlock core
On 2020-10-22 19:40, Paul wrote:
bad sector wrote: On 2020-10-22 12:53, Paul wrote: Sometimes taking digital camera pictures of the BIOS screen in advance, is a good enough method. Some Asus motherboards are famous for their bad defaults choices in the BIOS, requiring things to be corrected over and over again. new battery I do take pictures of the monitor when hot onto something but for now I'm still poking around in the dark and there seem to be multiple issues involved For starters i bought this DURGOD usb gaming keyboard and 2 out of 10 boots I have to cycle it into another usb port or I don't get to see BIOS with 'Del' nor get to select anything from the frozen boot menu. Another solution is to immediately plug in my old keyboard to bypass this issue. I don't know if it's a keyboard or a mobo fault. Another problem might revolve around the sata rack with mobile drawers for the drives. The last dozen or so attempts I could not get any drive plugged into the #4 slot detected. Suspecting the drive that usually goes in there I plugged it in bybassing the rack and then it got detected although I also wondered if its 22,000 hours could be a factor. When I initially posted this drive was taking a backup, now recognised OK on a direct sata cable fdisk showed it as a dos drive with no partition. Gdisk showed the gpt table and the only partition but on mounting it it was empty. When I plug this drive into its usual #4 slot it doesn't get detected, if I plug it into the #3 swapping with the one in there then neither #3 nor #4 ger detected. A lot of this is way over my head. The boot drive is a brand new ssd and booting one of the installations on it I got a filesystem error, yet fsck from another installation proved it 'clean'. This was a Suse-Leap partition, and subsequent boots on it went without any problems. So I'm like exhausted for right but will next connect all drives directly bypassing the mobile tray setup and using the old keyboard. Later I have had a Western Digital drive damage a SATA port on my Southbridge. My Typing Machine only has five working Southbridge SATA ports at the moment. The sixth port is dead. The hard drive that did this is "retired" and is not used as a spare for OS installs either. The SATA interface has a limit on common mode voltage range. I don't know if a SATA driver on one hardware, can manage to create enough voltage to damage the receiver interface on a second device. It really should not be able to do that. Yet... I have a dead port. While trying to connect the sata cable into it I broke the high-time drive's SATA connector... I guess the gods spared me a lot of useless grief minutes before the debate With this drive now out of it, I placed it into slot #4 leaving #3 empty, bios picked it up no problem so that clears the sata circuit including the disk rack I still get the 'press 4' stuff and complaints about no overclocking, I answer the keyboard issue in another answer, plus I have a strictly OS issue that I will take to the suse group. Soooooo, it looks like still a multiple-cause issue with ONE culprit down, the old WD spinner. |
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