NF4 cold boot Troubleshooting

Just like everyone else that wanders into the dfi forums, we all know how stubborn and nit picky the nf4 boards can be , ESPECIALLY when it comes to booting them after say adding a hdd or flashing to the bios or what not. Ive had my fair share of problems, freaking out because all i can get to is a splash screen. I encountered this same problem yesterday when i updated my bios. i Thought i had everything under control , but after my usual list of things to do it still would not boot. Since i think i figured out a method to getting cold boots to go away i figured id post it here for everyone else.

If your getting beeps (aka more than 1 red led)
first thing to do is to clear the cmos, by setting the jumper to the clear position, located next to the battery and sata ports. Set it in the clear position, wait a few seconds and then set it back*. Then power on the computer. In my experience this just gets the thing to stop beeping.

So your still at the logo screen
switch off your psu, and turn the on the computer to discharge the remaining electricity in the mobo. try a few resets

... logo screen, how did i guess ...
take out the battery from the mobo for atleast a half hour to an hour. The reason i say 30-60mins is because i last night i took out the battery for maybe 20 mins to no avail. Note: if your components are still warm like the northbridge or cpu heatsink you havent waited long enough, i actually put a large window fan next to my computer too cool everything down why i waited. So after a good 30-60 mins put the battery back in.

... still no boot, logo screen or black screen ...
dont worry the promise land is soon ...
give it a hard reset by pressing the reset button while its on. Doing this a few times should solve the problem (atleast it did for me). If youve gone through this and its still not working, try the discharge and clear cmos and battery removal again. Sometimes it seems that i have to do those things multiple times before i can get it to boot.

This method should also solve cold boots from the utt ram/timing/voltage problem,
because clear cmos sets everything to default including timings. therefore i recommend saving atleast one setting in your cmos reloaded with the memory timings cpu volts and whatnot that your accustomed to using. so after a clear cmos you can load your specialized settings.

I almost lost hope last night that i would be able to get this to boot because my battery trick didnt work the first time . My patience payed off, good thing too because i didnt want to see a 200$ mobo become a piece or roadkill.

You know I've had no cold boot problem. Running 270 x 9 with Corsair BH-5 at 221MHz 2-2-2-5 with 3.0v. I can shut down and boot back up no problem.

You know I've had no cold boot problem. Running 270 x 9 with Corsair BH-5 at 221MHz 2-2-2-5 with 3.0v. I can shut down and boot back up no problem.

Click to expand...

Yea as far as the ram problem goes i never have had that problem either but i know some ppl were/are. But for the logo screen issue, i definetly have experienced this, and Its a super pain in the a$$

edit: ive heard the cold boot issue applies more to UTT ram like my redlines

Sounds good but not sure if u meant:-

If your getting beeps (aka more than 1 red led)
first thing to do is to clear the cmos, by setting the jumper to the clear position, located next to the battery and sata ports. Then power on the computer. In my experience this just gets the thing to stop beeping.

Click to expand...

- Power on with jumper still in clear position.??

So your still at the logo screen
Reset the cmos jumper back to original position. Then switch off your psu, and turn the........

Click to expand...

Powers still on when your switching jumper

Have always been taught never to have power on with cmos jumper on clear.
May screw a few newbs if they take it literally.

luck

whats wrong with turning the computer on with cmos jumper in position ? id imagine it would just clear the cmos nothing more ...

Turning on with cmos jumper risks killing the mobo

From p27 of Manual

1. Power-off the system.1. Power-off the system.
2. Set JP2 pins 2 and 3 to On. Wait for a few seconds and set JP2
back to its default setting, pins 1 and 2 On.
3. Now power-on the system.
If your reason for clearing the CMOS data is due to incorrect
setting of the processor’s ratio/clock in the BIOS, please proceed
to step 4.

Click to expand...

From Here is the 'official' DFI way of clearing the CMOS:

No where do these guides have the power on with jumper in clear position.
Most Mobo Manufacturers have a big warning not to apply power at this stage. I can't c dfi been any different.

ok ill edit my post

even clearing cmos with power supplied to the power supply can hurt a board
Just don't do it