Z790 PRO takes 16 minutes to boot

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   I built a system a few months ago - used a Z790 AsRock Pro RS.  All worked great until about 2 weeks ago, when it began taking a long time to boot up.  Once it boots it works flawlessly.  No errors, no indication anything is wrong.  When I start it, though, it gets to the AsRock screen (where it states you can select F2 for BIOS setup etc).  Then it just hangs there.  While its hanging, the hard drive light will alternate between On and Off - staying on for about 30 seconds then off for 30 seconds.  I timed it today and after about 15 minutes the text on the lower right of the screen disappeared (AsRock logo is still on the center of the screen) and about another 1.5 minutes later the Windows boot started and all worked OK.  

I'm suspicious of the board - seems like its never making it out of BIOS - but wondering if it could be an SSD issue, although once it starts its fine.  Looking for help/advice!  The BIOS seems current and all drivers are updated.  

Thanks in advance!

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
scubajohnsonben Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Mar 2023 Location: San Diego, CA Status: Offline Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote scubajohnsonben Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Z790 PRO takes 16 minutes to boot Posted: 30 Mar 2023 at 11:28am
	I built a system a few months ago - used a Z790 AsRock Pro RS. All worked great until about 2 weeks ago, when it began taking a long time to boot up. Once it boots it works flawlessly. No errors, no indication anything is wrong. When I start it, though, it gets to the AsRock screen (where it states you can select F2 for BIOS setup etc). Then it just hangs there. While its hanging, the hard drive light will alternate between On and Off - staying on for about 30 seconds then off for 30 seconds. I timed it today and after about 15 minutes the text on the lower right of the screen disappeared (AsRock logo is still on the center of the screen) and about another 1.5 minutes later the Windows boot started and all worked OK. I'm suspicious of the board - seems like its never making it out of BIOS - but wondering if it could be an SSD issue, although once it starts its fine. Looking for help/advice! The BIOS seems current and all drivers are updated. Thanks in advance!
	Scubajohnsonben

threadzipper1957 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 05 Mar 2022 Status: Offline Points: 9365	Post Options Post Reply Quote threadzipper1957 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Apr 2023 at 10:59pm
	Are You using XMP memory profiles, in Combination with 4 memory modules, because the memory controller is integrated in the CPU, and with 4 modules can get problem, with XMP Try default BIOS settings, also disconnect all M.2 SATA, and USB cardreaders, normally the board will run into BIOS by itself. Or use the support form and check your spam folder https://tw.asrock.com/events/tsd.asp
	Kind Regards

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25073	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Apr 2023 at 11:32pm
	As Threadzipper1957 suggested, remove all USB devices other than keyboard and mouse. I had a similar issue myself a while back, I was even getting what looked like boot sector corruption on my boot drive. It turned out to be a USB flash drive I had connected and forgotten about (low profile). I pulled it from the system and all was perfect again. Good luck.


scubajohnsonben Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Mar 2023 Location: San Diego, CA Status: Offline Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote scubajohnsonben Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 26 Apr 2023 at 5:32am
	Just to close the loop on this - I fixed it. Apparently a carry-over SSD I had installed failed. It was a WD .5 TB SATA SSD which showed up on the directory list but could not be accessed. I unplugged it and now boot had returned to normal. Not sure why the system wouldn't do a better job of identifying that, but happy that's all it was. I had no critical data on it so I'm just happy it wasn't a mainboard...
	Scubajohnsonben

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25073	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 26 Apr 2023 at 2:08pm
	Glad to hear you got the issue resolved without too much trouble. The first thing to check in a slow boot situation is always your boot chain. Bootable devices in the order the system checks them. USB drives, optical drives (where used), other boot medium, hard drives/SSDs etc. Fault checking on SSDs is handled by the SSD's firmware. If it doesn't flag itself as bad the system has no way of knowing it's bad and continues to try to access it. In the past there probably would have been a timeout counter in the BIOS but with how complex and large modern UEFI has become, there are restrictions on size. I would imagine AMD/Intel determined it would be more efficient to simply trust the firmware on the drives rather than waste space coding fail-safes and timeouts. Typically, drive manufacturers try to be very reliable with error reporting given the value of data today. False flags ("all good here") are very rare and typically only happen on older drives that don't meet the newer data safety standards.