[tomdrayson]

Hi, my computer has suddenly started taking over 30 seconds to display the POST screen. All the fans and hard disks spin up straight away and there are no beeps or errors, but there is no video output for 30 seconds (which is quite a long time considering the POST used to come up straightaway). When the display comes on it starts from the beginning of the POST, i.e. nothing is happening whilst the display is blank.

I have made no hardware changes, or any software changes that I can think of, and the system seems to run OK. I have cleared the CMOS and this makes no difference. I have checked all seatings and cables etc.

Could it be that a component is failing?

This is my system:-
Windows 7 Home Premium
Gigabyte EP45-DS3
Intel Core 2 Duo E8600
4GB Corsair Dominator 8500
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
Pioneer DVR-212D

Thanks
Tom

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When you cleared the CMOS, the very first thing you should have done after that is boot directly into the BIOS Setup Menu and set/verify the data and time, verify your drives and other hardware have been correctly identified, then - here's the important part - "Save and Exit". Did you do that?

Certainly a problem during post does indicate hardware. I would disconnect everything not needed - including extra USB devices and try again. You may have to go down to bare bones and disconnect ALL drives and all but one stick of RAM. You should still see the POST - then the boot process will stop when it can't find a boot drive. If you don't get that far, swap RAM sticks and try again.

[Digerati]

When you cleared the CMOS, the very first thing you should have done after that is boot directly into the BIOS Setup Menu and set/verify the data and time, verify your drives and other hardware have been correctly identified, then - here's the important part - "Save and Exit". Did you do that?

Certainly a problem during post does indicate hardware. I would disconnect everything not needed - including extra USB devices and try again. You may have to go down to bare bones and disconnect ALL drives and all but one stick of RAM. You should still see the POST - then the boot process will stop when it can't find a boot drive. If you don't get that far, swap RAM sticks and try again.

[tomdrayson]

Moved my graphics card to the second slot and all is well, so it would appear that there is a problem with the motherboard - I hope it's limited to the PCI slot.

Thanks for your help.

Tom

[Digerati]

I suspect if you go through the process and move it back, it will work fine. When changing slots, it forces Windows to actually re-set all the driver settings and interrupts - whereas simply reinstalling the drivers, it seems (no proof but I think this is how it works) Windows will often look, see the driver is already there, and moves on thinking all is fine. I have never done the change slot trick with a graphics card, but I have with sound and network cards with similar success.

At any rate, I am glad you got it going and thanks for the follow-up.

[123Runner]

Or just simply that the contacts were slightly dirty and swapping to a new slot "cleaned" them.
I also suspect that moving it back would also work.

123runner

[Digerati]

Could be - good point. Contacts don't normally get dirty if the mechanical connection is tight and secure to begin with. That said, I often find myself seating and reseating just to scrape contacts clean.