Hold any key to freeze GA-790FXTA-UD5 during boot

[jim-j]

Has anyone else seen this issue? I've reported it to Gigabyte, but they're asking if it's specific to my keyboard or RAM. I'm just using a plain (ancient) PS2 keyboard, Phenom II X4 905e Deneb 2.5GHz CPU and this RAM:
CT2KIT25672BA1339 - 4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM , DDR3 PC3-10600 from Crucial.com
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspe...KIT25672BA1339
* Module Size: 4GB kit (2GBx2)
* Package: 240-pin DIMM
* Feature: DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)
* Specs: DDR3 PC3-10600 - CL=9 - Unbuffered - ECC - DDR3-1333 - 1.5V - 256Meg x 72

If you can reproduce the problem, what RAM, CPU and keyboard are you using?


My question to Gigabyte support is listed below:

********************

If you hold down any key (for example the "J" key) on the keyboard while booting the computer will freeze right after leaving the BIOS POST message screens (i.e. immediately before the first SATA controller screen). When this happens there is always a green square and a Ñ (a "N" with a tilde ~ above it) on the frozen screen (see the attached screenshot).

This issue is more common then you might think. If you're a little late hitting F12 for the boot menu or END for Qflash you can easily accidentally freeze your PC with this bug.

[jim-j]

I just reproduced this problem with a USB keyboard (I was originally using a PS2 keyboard). It also occurs with load optimized and load failsafe BIOS settings.

Am I the only one with this issue?

[jim-j]

Am I the only one with this issue?

It's starting to look that way. Gigabyte support can't reproduce this issue. Only thing they can think of is that it's related to my video card. I have an ATI Radeon 4550.

[artdrivers]

No I have seen this issue several times when browsing the forums.
example.
GA-MA790FXT-UD5P problem
I previously saw it with a Geforce 240 and linux. I can't dig up that old thread though.
Have you tried changing Standard CMOS Features?

Standard CMOS Features
Date (mm:dd:yy) Tue, Jan 6 2009
Time (hh:mm:ss) 18:25:04
 IDE Channel 0 Master [None]
 IDE Channel 0 Slave [None]
 IDE Channel 1 Master [None]
 IDE Channel 1 Slave [None]
 IDE Channel 2 Master [None]
 IDE Channel 2 Slave [None]
 IDE Channel 3 Master [None]
 IDE Channel 3 Slave [None]
 IDE Channel 4 Master [None]
 IDE Channel 4 Slave [None]
Drive A [1.44M, 3.5"] None
Floppy 3 Mode Support [Disabled]
Halt On [All, But Keyboard] No Errors
Base Memory 640K
Extended Memory 510M

[jim-j]

No I have seen this issue several times when browsing the forums.
example.
GA-MA790FXT-UD5P problem
I previously saw it with a Geforce 240 and linux. I can't dig up that old thread though.
Have you tried changing Standard CMOS Features?

Thanks for reply. Glad to know I'm not the only one suffering. :) This is a tough problem to search for, since you can't search for just "Ñ".

I tried changing the Standard CMOS settings, no help. I've referenced the other thread in my Gigabyte ticket. Now that they can see I'm not the only one with this problem maybe they'll try to fix it?

[profJim]

If you hold down any key (for example the "J" key) on the keyboard while booting the computer will freeze right after leaving the BIOS POST message screens (i.e. immediately before the first SATA controller screen).

Are you holding down a key or are you only quickly pressing a key once?

[jim-j]

Are you holding down a key or are you only quickly pressing a key once?

Yes. :)

There seems to be a brief period (maybe half a second) between the first BIOS POST screen and the first SATA BIOS screen that if you push a key the computer will lock with a Ñ. So yes, you can briefly hit a key to get this freeze if you hit it at the right time.

However, instead of worrying about my timing I just hold a key down the entire time my computer boots. This produces the same freeze.

[profJim]

If your bios has these options, give it a try:
Full Screen Logo Show = Disabled
Delay for HDD (Secs) = 5 (or more)
These might be in the Advanced Bios Features of the bios.

This isn't a fix, rather it's a rude and crude workaround.

[artdrivers]

Could be caused by the ECC memory.
GA-790FXTA-UD5 is a new motherboard with many DRAM Configurations.
You may want to change some Bios settings to see if you can narrow it down. One at a time takes time. It would be helpful if that helps isolate the issue. If for some reason you can't get back into BIOS after changing settings. Just clear cmos.
Here are a couple of more you may want to try.

OnChip IDE Channel [Enabled]
OnChip SATA Type [Native IDE]
x OnChip SATA Port4/5 Type IDE
Onboard ESATA controller [Enabled]
Onboard ESATA Mode [AHCI]
Onboard SATA3 controller [Enabled]
Onboard SATA3 Mode [IDE]
GSATA RAID Configuration [Press Enter]
} Onboard LAN device [Press Enter]
Onboard Audio Function [Enabled]
Onboard 1394 Function [Enabled]
Onboard USB 3.0 Controller [Enabled]
OnChip USB Controller [Enabled]
USB EHCI Controller [Enabled]
USB Keyboard Support [Enabled]Disabled
USB Mouse Support [Disabled]
Legacy USB storage detect [Enabled]Disabled
Onboard Serial Port 1 [3F8/IRQ4]
Onboard Parallel Port [378/IRQ7]
Parallel Port Mode [SPP]
x ECP Mode Use DMA 3

[jim-j]

Thanks for the suggestions artdrivers and profJim. Changing these settings had no affect:
-USB Keyboard Support
-Legacy USB storage detect
-Full Screen Logo Show

I couldn't find a "Delay for HDD" setting to change.