PC start-up problem

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Talisman
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PC start-up problem

Post by Talisman » Sun Aug 01, 2021 4:21 pm

Hi Folks,

Perhaps someone with PC skills, which I don't have, could help me with the following:

On start-up, out of the blue, my PC has now started to present me with a scary screen telling me something about the BIOS and loading optimised defaults and tells me to change SATA mode to RAID mode. To get around this, I spoof the PC that I have made changes and to save them, although I don't make any changes, and then sometimes the PC will then start as it used to.

What is going on? Why for years have I not had this issue and now I do? Could Windows updates or something like that be causing this issue?

I don't have a clue how to change from SATA to RAID and am very reluctant to do so anyway, as it might lead to even more issues for me. I don't understand the terms SATA and RAID and have never had such issues before with any PC.

Just starting my PC is now an issue. Can anyone shed any light on this. Help would be gratefully received.

Happy landings,

Talisman
Spitfire! 'That's no aircraft, that's a bleedin' angel'

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Donkey
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Re: PC start-up problem

Post by Donkey » Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:07 pm

You almost certainly don't have RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) which is used to build the kind of HDD setups you have in servers or NAS boxes. You almost certainly do have a RAID controller on board that you could use if you so choose. Although I wouldn't really recommend it for a desktop machine.

Loading optimised defaults is not anything to really worry about, it normally appears after an overclock crash and chooses safe values for things like memory timings and cpu voltages.

Could you maybe take a video or some screenshots of the different messages you are getting and put them somewhere I can see them?
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Talisman
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Re: PC start-up problem

Post by Talisman » Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:02 pm

Hi Donkey,

Very kind of you to respond. Bit of a problem for me to take screen shots as PC not always starting up. However, I have written down some things below.

On reflection, the first thing might be to say that the PC no longer immediately responds, like it used to, when I press the case button to turn it on. Now, when I press the button to turn on the PC, it looks/sounds like it might start as usual, but then stops and then after a pause of about 4/5 seconds, decides to start to power up.

When the PC has powered up, I no longer get the option to sign in with my password. Instead, I get a black screen with the following message:

"Please enter setup to recover BIOS setting.
After setting up Intel (R) Optane memory or the RAID configuration was built, SATA mode selection must be changed to RAID mode to avoid unknown issues.
Press F1 to RUN SETUP."

What I then do is press F1 and then I press F10 at the bottom of the page for the option to SAVE AND EXIT. I am then told that I have not made any changes to the BIOS settings. However, I click OK and then sometimes, but not always, my PC will start as normal and I can sign in. But sometimes it will not allow me to sign in and goes back to the screen telling me to "enter setup to recover the BIOS setting"; I then go through the same sequence again and hope to get proper start to allow me to sign in.

Thanks again Donkey.

P.S. My PC specs are detailed below.

Happy landings,

Talisman

Processor: Intel Core i7-8700K Coffee Lake CPU, 6 Cores, 3.7 - 4.7GHz, overclocked
Case: Fractal Design Define R6 Case - Black
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Graphics Card
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H100x CPU cooler
Motherboard: Asus STRIX Z370-F GAMING
Memory: 32GB DDR4 3000MHz Memory (2 x 16 GB Sticks)
OS Drive: 1TB Samsung 970 EVO M.2 PCle Solid State Drive
Optical Drive: 24x DVD-RW Drive
Power Supply: Corsair RM850x 80 PLUS Gold 850W PSU
Sound Card: Onboard High Definition Audio
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Monitor: Samsung 2433BW 24" TFT, 5ms response time, resolution 1920x1200

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MFG Crosswind Rudder Pedals
Pimax 5k + VR Headset
eDimensional AudioFX2 FF Vibration Headset
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Donkey
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Re: PC start-up problem

Post by Donkey » Mon Aug 02, 2021 5:37 pm

Remove your overclock, that's almost certainly it. Bluntly your pc is unstable, and the most likely cause of instability is the overclock - either on the CPU or the memory timings.

If you don't know how to remove your overclock then choose reset to default (it will be a bios option somewhere) and then F10 to save and exit., that should fix it - and it should also show you *what* you've changed. It should not mess with SATA/RAID config or boot sequence, but if you take a photo of the changed screen using a mobile phone you will know what's changed and how to revert if needed.

The implicit question is, of course, why the overclock has failed. It could be many things - bad memory module, cooler getting old and less efficient (build up of fluff in the radiator reducing cooling power/old or bad thermal grease between the cooler and the CPU) etc...
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Talisman
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Re: PC start-up problem

Post by Talisman » Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:43 pm

Many thanks Donkey.

No idea how to remove overclock, so I will try the reset to default. No idea how to overclock either, so hope I don't lose too much performance for my VR set up.

Thanks again.

Happy landings,

Talisman
Spitfire! 'That's no aircraft, that's a bleedin' angel'

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Donkey
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Re: PC start-up problem

Post by Donkey » Tue Aug 03, 2021 5:03 pm

Good luck - but *do* take a photo of what's changed. Will be really useful if you ever decide to reapply the overclock. Also, it may be worth looking at the cooler's radiator, that may just be clogged reducing your cooling potential and making the overclock unstable.

Finally I don't really expect you'll notice removing the overclock - overclocking only yields meh results in my experience.
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